The best posts we create at Full Stacks are the ones where we sat down and asked ourselves “who is this post for?”

Here are a few recent examples:

• So You Need a (New) Website—The small business owner who is struggling with making the right decision on how to create their website. There are a lot of options, and they all promise great results. But who to trust, and what’s right for you?
• The Link Building Olympics—The director of marketing who has been working with a digital marketing agency for two or three months and is wondering when this whole link building thing is going to turn into higher rankings for their most competitive keywords.
• A Wild Natalie Appeared!—The marketing coordinator who is new in their career, subscribes to our newsletter, and likes keeping up on what’s going on at Full Stacks.

Each of these personas keeps us on target with our own marketing efforts. In fact, this post has a persona as well.

When you define your brand values, you make the right decisions for your business.

You will know you have the right team working together when a month of flooding and working from home doesn’t keep you all from collaborating on a new concept for Dana DiTomaso to present at MozCon. Or from launching a (totally real [fictional]) baked potato company.

You will know you made the right decision to fire an employee because the tension goes away and everyone is relieved and ready to step up within their roles.

You will know you made the right choice to not respond to an RFP for a website with a tight time frame and unclear goals, when you notice that four months past the desired launch date, there’s still no new website.

You will learn to say no, and then say no again, because no good ever seems to come from conceding and working with less budget than you actually need to do great work. Saying no is a powerful way to build trust. Embrace it!

When you live your brand values, you also learn to say yes.

Yes to adopting Sketch as your program of choice for designing websites, in order to streamline your workflow and make your developers’ lives easier.

Yes to developing a spur-of-the-moment website to help your fellow citizens, because it’s fun and because it’s also 100% necessary for everyone who has to park at Full Stacks.

Yes to updating your website content to better reflect what you do and who you are.

Yes to canoeing down a river as a team, because nothing else bonds you like the sharing of awkward tan-lines.

At Full Stacks in 2016, our brand values became the lighthouse we turn to to make sure we don’t crash into any rocky shores. They’ve brought us together as a team, because we can all rally around our values and make decisions together. For example, when we’re unpacking an RFP or initial lead email, we discuss our first impressions about whether or not the project aligns with our brand values. Is there a clear goal? Who will champion this work on the client-side?

What would our goal be in pursuing this work?

We’ve always talked about everything. When we discuss potential clients and current projects, our open and constant communication is in the interest of efficiency and doing great work. Eliminating silos and committing to being vocal has enabled us to take full advantage of the varied skills and backgrounds of everyone at Full Stacks.

But when we would talk about everything else, specifically internal things — our own strategy documents, posts, ideas, hopes, dreams, etc — we would become way less efficient because the answers were less clear.

• Who are we writing this blog post for?
• Should we sponsor a youth soccer team?
• Is Y a person we should consider for Z role?
• Do we need to post about X?
• Do we need to respond to Y?
• Is Z something we would say on Twitter?
• Do we even need to have a Full Stacks Facebook page?
• Would we share this in our newsletter?

Sticking to your brand values puts you in a powerful position, one where you are confident about executing major decisions — for internal things, like “should we get matching shirts?” — and for client things, for those times when you’re in an established relationship and you first gently, and then firmly, push your client in the direction of a rebrand, because sometimes that’s what is needed.

Living your brand values can become second nature, but it’s important to continue to be intentional in how you think of them. Think of them as cast iron pans. Tried, tested, true, and reliable — but you gotta treat them right and keep them seasoned.

When your organization makes a decision together, or any one person does something that exemplifies one of your values, discuss it. When you realize you’ve fallen into a situation where something feels off-brand, discuss it. How did you get there? Which value took a back seat? To what? And why? What will you do differently next time? Make the time to respect your brand values, and don’t treat them like the shoemaker’s children.

Not all client-agency relationships are a good fit. However, when all of your communications are guided by your brand values, your relationships have a much better chance of being mutually beneficial and rewarding.

Before we were actually living within our brand values at Full Stacks, we would often miss signs of ill-fit during the prospect/lead stage of client relationships. Even when a client mentioned that we would be the fourth agency they were “trying out” within the year during an early sales call, we still pursued the project. Regrets, oh, we have a few.

In mid-June, we had been working with that same client, an online mattress distributor based in Arizona, for nearly two months and were three weeks into implementing a 9-month link building strategy for them. One of the co-owners emailed to say that they were cancelling that part of their contract, because he hadn’t seen “significant high value links come in yet” — remember, this happened three weeks into the execution of a 9-month link building strategy!

Guess what? You can’t build high value links to content that does not exist.

The kicker was the fact that their team was in charge of managing the content strategy we developed for them, but none of those content pieces had been published yet. We could go on and on about how you can’t build high value links to content that does not exist, but suffice it to say, this relationship was falling off the rails.

Yet, as they were cancelling one portion of their agreement with us, they were also asking for our help rebranding their company. If you work in this industry you know that being part of a rebrand can be supremely rewarding, so even though we were uneasy about the company’s dismissal of how legitimate link building works, we remained intrigued by the opportunity.

However, two emails later, a schedule was presented to us that required the rebrand be completed within two and a half weeks (and completely ignored our recommended five-week research and goal setting period). Was the money being dangled in front of us attractive? Of course! Was putting our team on the line for a company that danced from one thing and one agency to the next worth it? No, not at all.

We went back to the initial proposal stage when we debriefed the project and reread all of the emails between our company and theirs. The red flags were much easier to spot then. Hindsight, right?

Do we actually regret this experience? Well, we regret the stress it put on the team. To develop a strong SEO strategy and then not be given the opportunity to fully execute it? That stings. However, this situation highlighted how important it is to respect our brand values, integrate them into our decision-making process, and ensure our communication with current and potential clients is always intentional.

Your brand values become your lighthouse — steering you clear of misfortune and disaster.

When brand values are defined, they become the foundation on which you base every decision you make. They become your lighthouse — steering you clear of misfortune and disaster. With strong values, your entire team can be asked a question about what is right for your company and each person will give the same answer. Sure, they might use different words to get their points across, but the intent of each answer will be the same.

Don’t just print your values, frame them, and put them on your wall. Discuss them in everything you do, cultivate their meaning, let them evolve over time, and celebrate the impact they have on your success.

Live Your Values.

People who use social media personally often think using it professionally is no different.

But your business’s needs go beyond posting memes of minions and tweeting about the wicked!!!!! #party you went to last night. Social media is an important part of your digital strategy. If you treat it right, it can make all your dreams comes true.*

*help you reach your business goals.

If you want your social media to start working for you, you need to understand why it’s important. People searching for services or products are going to do their research (aka Google). If you have a successful organic search strategy, you will win the eyes and clicks of the searcher (yay), and this potential customer will go to your website to see if you look legit. Of course, you do (double yay), and being the savvy business owner that you are, you have links to your social media on your site. Your potential customer is happy with what they see until…

Twitter is a barren wasteland. Facebook sounds like six different people took posting into their own hands. Not even going to bother with Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, YouTube, and Google+…

Your competitor just gained a new customer. All because their social media matched their brand.

Too often, people pay someone to manage their social media only to discover that person had no actual experience doing it. They started selling a service based on the belief that social media was easy (they use it every day, so how hard could it be?). The results you get aren’t more sales or better website traffic. Your audience isn’t more engaged. You see no returns on the investment. And sometimes, you have to spend twice as much time (and money) reversing the damage.

As a small business owner with no marketing team, you’re not going to be trained in the dos and don’ts of social media — and that’s where we come in. Before you throw money at a sinking ship, consider these five strategies you can use to make your social media work for you.

Problem One

If your brand voice isn’t speaking for you, who is?

Think about your business as a person: what would they say? How would they say it? Every business owner should know their brand voice — it’s what guides everything that is posted. At least, it should. Your audience should be able to tell that everything posted on your social media is coming from your business (not a random employee of your business). When your brand voice doesn’t speak loud and clear for you, it confuses your audience and makes you look less trustworthy.

Solution

Develop a brand voice guide if you haven’t already. Without a solid understanding of who your brand is, your content will sound disconnected and unprofessional. Consistency in how you post content or speak to your audience will help you gain authority and make your audience want to read what you have to say.

Pro tip: Don’t talk about your business as an outside entity (or @yourself on Twitter) — this is the social media equivalent of talking about yourself in the third person…and it’s kind of weird.

Problem Two

If you don’t make time for social media, your audience won’t make time for you.

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make on social media is twofold: they try to have ALL THE PLATFORMS, and then they don’t plan content (so it only happens when they remember it should). Without a plan, content lacks purpose, and one or more of your platforms gets forgotten like a jar of olives that you bought on a whim and buried in the back of your fridge when you remembered you don’t even like olives.

Your audience can tell that you slapped something together without a second thought — and they’re not impressed. Or they’ve given up on you because you’ve neglected your Twitter feed for too long.

Solution

Focus on two or three social media platforms where your target audience is most active. Check out your competitors and see where they live on social media. If they have good engagement on Facebook and Twitter, it’s probably safe to say your target audience is active there. Focusing on fewer platforms gives you more time to create content that really speaks to your audience. Thoughtful content = happy users.

Problem Three

Not all social media platforms were created equal.

Social media sites have graciously banded together to “help” users link content directly from one platform to another. As a business owner, you might think, “Easy! Helpful! Post one thing to all the places!” But you’re wrong. Auto-posting from one platform to another frustrates your audience — and frankly, it’s lazy. Picture posts on Instagram appear only as links on Twitter, and your audience doesn’t want to click a link to another social platform — they want the picture and a short caption.

Posting from Twitter to Facebook also results in @twitterhandles and #hashtags creeping in where they don’t belong.

Solution

Users on one platform will behave differently than users on another, and they’ll want to see content in different ways. You might have audience groups strictly on Facebook who will never see you on Instagram — but you also might have people who will follow you everywhere. Varying the content slightly will show users who do follow you everywhere that you are taking time to tailor your content.

Problem Four

Vary your content, or the wee millennials will get bored.

This is true of anyone, but Millennials seem to elude marketers at the best of times. If your content is the same old, same old all the time, your audience will get bored. They will move to greener pastures where the content is fresh and new. This is a fact. If you’re only ever posting links to your latest blog post with a, “Check out our latest blog post!” caption, your audience is going to hard pass on that. They want pictures, videos, thought-provoking content — not a link to something that, from what they can tell, is no different than the thing they read last week.

If your content is the same old, same old all the time, your audience will get bored. They will move to greener pastures where the content is fresh and new.

Solution

Find content that interests you and is relevant to your brand and then share it, instead of just sharing links to your own site. Keeping up with what’s going on in your industry helps position you as an expert and shows your audience that you’re not mindlessly posting links to your site to fill the social media void. If you’re a small local business, posting interesting content about things going on locally will also help engage your audience. Be mindful that you’re not posting content that speaks to only one of your audience groups. Not sure? Check out our blog post on building personas to give your content purpose.

Problem Five

Loner links look like super spam.

When it comes to content, nobody likes a lonely link. When you post a link to a web page or video without adding context, your audience will assume it’s spam and won’t bother clicking it — even if it’s the most interesting thing on the internet. If you consistently post loner links, your audience will get used to ignoring you, and then you’ll be just as lonely as your links.

Solution

Add your perspective on what you’re sharing, especially if it’s a link to someone else’s content. Your audience is following you because they care what you have to say. They value your why you’re sharing it and why you find it valuable. Relating content to your business and your audience will help them feel more connected to you.

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You don’t have to be an expert to handle social media yourself, but successful social doesn’t happen overnight. Consider your business goals and whether or not you have the resources on hand to figure it out yourself. If not, consider working with someone who does.

People consume content every day. News articles, blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, web pages—the list goes on.

The internet is full of content that is generic and screaming out to anyone who will listen. Do people listen? Sometimes. But creating content without a focus is a waste of alphabet.

Producing content that is relevant and useful to your audience is important. Do you envision who you’re speaking to when you’re writing? Developing personas will direct your content so it serves a distinct purpose.

What are personas?

Personas are realistic descriptions of your target audience. A persona includes demographics such as age and gender, the stage of life the person is in, goals they’ve set, and challenges they may face. A strong persona also includes information about interests and attributes outside of demographic data—is this part of your audience active on a particular social network? What kind of things do they share? What other brands does this persona group value?

There are a lot of different ways to write personas, but what’s important is that the persona provides valuable information that helps you write better content.

Writing personas will enable you to better understand your customers or clients and their needs. You may have multiple personas that you are targeting, but the content you write should be directed to a specific audience (persona) and serve a trackable purpose.

How to write personas

The first step in writing personas is identifying your target audience(s). Using a real estate agency as an example, it’s easy to identify several different target audiences—such as first-time homebuyers or a retired couple looking to sell their old home. These two audiences are very different, so it’s important that you talk to them differently too.

Once you’ve identified the different audiences you want to target, do your research. Personas should be based on real information and facts. Research can come from a lot of different places, like analyzing available customer data, talking and listening to customers, or social-stalking people on Facebook and LinkedIn. Demographics are important, but it’s imperative to dig deeper than surface-level information. You need to find empathy. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes will help you write great personas. For example, think about:

• What motivates them?
• What information do they want to know?
• How do they prefer to be communicated with?

Now that you’ve established your target audiences and have done some research, it’s time to write! Writing fictional biographies of your audience can be weird at first, but it gets easier over time. Here is an example persona:

Jason and Amy — First-Time Homebuyers

Jason is 28 years old and is currently renting an apartment in Edmonton with his girlfriend Amy. Jason works for a construction company, and Amy works a nine-to-five office job. The couple has been living together for four years, and they are interested in upgrading and buying a house. Together, they have saved up enough money for a down payment of $55,000. They are looking for a house that will let them grow but won’t break the bank. Sometimes Amy posts housing listings on Facebook and asks for her family’s opinions. As it’s their first time buying a house, the couple is unsure on when they should buy their new home and what they should look for.

Putting personas to use

So you have multiple personas written down—now what? Write meaningful and engaging content that your personas will find useful! Give content a purpose—have a goal in mind.

You can also use personas to generate content ideas. What would Jason and Amy want to know? By putting yourself in their shoes, you can see how scary yet exciting buying a house for the first time can be. Content that they would be interested in includes:

• 10 Things to Look for When Completing a House Inspection
• What You Should Know Before Signing a Contract for a House
• Edmonton’s Housing Market 2016: Is it a Buyer’s Market?
• Everything You Need to Know About Mortgages

Using personas doesn’t just stop at content idea generation—personas should also guide the way you write. Address their needs in your content and organize the information so what you want heard is communicated effectively. For example, a blog post about mortgages would be written differently if it was addressing a first-time homebuyer or someone who has bought and sold a few times.

Remember to keep track of who you’ve been talking to—is there an audience you’ve been ignoring lately? If you only focus on communicating with one audience group, you’ll lose the interest of everyone else.

Your content deserves direction. So, what are you waiting for? Start researching your target audience, write some personas, and give that content some meaning!

Guest Post by Jill Scheyk.

Lately I can’t look at my Twitter feed without stumbling across a marketer moaning about Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation.

It’s ruining their lists! It’s destroying their business! The marketing apocalypse has arrived!

We all need to take a big breath here. This is not an emergency, do not sound the alarm.