Act 3: creating content and posts to boost engagement

Undoubtedly, you probably have heard the phrase ‘content is king’ at some point in time. While this statement is very true, social media typically focuses around two topics: content and engagement.

In this blog, we’re going to break down those two focal points to get you thinking about new content ideas for your own social media strategy to build more brand loyalty and drive more sales to your business.

Why do people use social media?  

Ever since the spike in social media popularity, these platforms have become spaces of expression, creativity, learning, community and more. Every platform allows users to engage online in a variety of ways at the tips of their fingers. As your business grows, understanding how your audience engages with social media will be your guiding light in your content development plan.

Types of Content

1. Text: This one is pretty obvious. Many platforms are text heavy when it comes to post styles. However, there has been a major behavioral shift where video content has dominated in the engagement category. Keep this in mind as you consider how you craft your post messages. Get a second opinion on your copy by plugging it in to the HemingwayApp.com. This website analyzes your copy and makes recommendations to improve your message.
2. Visuals: If you’re reading this on your smartphone, chances are you already have the perfect tool to kickstart your social media visual game. From photos to infographics to GIFs, there are so many ways you can take your message and turn it into a compelling visual. Here’s a link to a list of Design Resources to bring your message to new heights!
3. Animated GIFs: Use GIFs to take complex ideas and break them down into step-by-step visuals to keep your message clear and easier to understand. Start making your own GIFs online using Giphy.com.
4. Video: We’ve talked a little bit about video, so we won’t dive in too deep here. We know video has become the content most consumed by users online. And if the stats we dropped before weren’t enough, here’s one more: 59% of executives agree that if both text and video are available on a topic they are more likely to choose video – Hubspot.
5. Quizzes, Surveys, and Polls: Ask the audience! If you’re wondering what your audience thinks of your product, service, or even a topic of interest, use one of these tools to gather data to influence your marketing strategies. When companies directly ask for feedback from their customers, it shows that you’re not just trying make money, but you’re actively seeking their opinion to better service them.
6. User Generated Content: UGC is content NOT created by your brand. Rather, it’s your audience creating content themselves about your brand, product, or service. This content isn’t always positive and its important to not ignore any negative UGC. This is your opportunity to learn about their experience and ways you can do better to service them.
7. Influencer Content: Word-of-mouth marketing has transformed into what we call Influencer Content. Influencers are people online who have built large audiences around certain ideas and topics. Partnering with influences is often a cost-effective way to increase your brand reach online.

The #Hashtag

Let’s talk a bit about hashtags. Hashtags are words and short phrases included in posts that are most helpful when searching on social media platforms. They can be used for tracking campaign efforts along with user generated content. Instagram is a platform known for a heavy use of hashtags. Users and brands alike include multiple hashtags in posts to further the reach of their content. We highly recommend hashtags in our clients’ social media to help them extend their message reach and hopefully increase followership.

Choosing Your Content Style Based on Your Data

When it comes to deciding which social media content your brand should be sharing with your audience, the first step is understanding your audience behavior. Collect analytics from all the platforms your brand uses and compile engagement data with your posts. You can take this analysis further by analyzing by post type to identify which areas of content saw the most engagement. Go one step further and do this process for your top competitors. Your competitors may lacking in video which could give you the insight you need to start implementing your own branded videos. By knowing which content performs better for your brand allows you to spend more time focusing on what works and less time on things that don’t work.

The social media content calendar

When building your social media plan after you’re analyzed all of your social media data, it is important to know which members of your team will be accomplishing which tasks. It is one thing to say you’ll be making posts multiple times a day every week, when in reality you’re a team of two who also work on many other tasks in a day. Your social media plan should equal the amount of time and dedication you intend to give to this as a tactic. Posting to simply post without your efforts leading back to your KPIs really doesn’t provide you with accurate data you need to accomplish your goals.

With your plan in place of post frequency, assignment tasks, campaign hashtags, you can build a social media content calendar to prep for upcoming weeks and months. A calendar allows your team to stay on task with what topics, graphics, and messaging will be happening at which times to keep your process efficient.

When it comes to content on social media, knowing your audience and their social media behaviors will be your guiding force. If you’re just starting out with social media for your business, simply experimenting with content ideas is a great way to learn what resonates and what doesn’t with your audience. If you’ve been in the social media game for some time, consider auditing your posts to identify gaps in your content that may rejuvenate your efforts.

This wraps up Act 3 of Social Media September Spectacular! The grand finale of this month long series will be released next week. Keep following along on social media for continued tips, tricks, and trends you to help you better promote your business!