In the past decade, the rise of social media has totally revolutionized the way products and services are browsed, researched and eventually purchased. Accordingly, businesses have had to educate themselves on how to take advantage of social media, so they’re not left in the dust by more tech-savvy competitors.
The problem, however, is that there are many social media platforms – and each platform necessitates a different approach when it comes to content creation. This can be tough to master. Here, we’ll go over a few tips that will help you maximize the effectiveness of three major social media platforms at your disposal.
It seems logical to start with Facebook – the most popular social network by a long shot. At over 1.32 billion daily active users (as of June 2017), it’s undeniable that the platform can serve as a valuable resource for your company.
So, how should you use it?
- Keep it short. Nobody logs into Facebook to read massive blocks of text. As a matter of fact, a study by Track Social made it abundantly clear that shorter posts are more apt to rack up high levels of engagement.
- Post links. If your website is properly constructed, Facebook will automatically convert your link into a website preview featuring a photo and a brief description of the content.
- Take advantage of Facebook’s ad features. The social media giant offers a host of options to promote your business, including a carousel ad feature, which allows you to display 3-5 images with headlines, links and calls to action. This feature’s horizontal-scrolling design offers ample opportunity to get creative with your imagery.
- Post consistently. A strategically crafted posting routine will help your audience become more familiar with your brand.
- Have a hook. Always consider the “why?” when posting content to your Facebook page. Make sure that there’s a compelling reason for your audience to engage with your content.
Although there aren’t nearly as many active users on the platform, Twitter is still a marketing dream come true – when it’s used correctly. Numerous differences set Twitter apart from other social media platforms, the foremost of which is probably its 140-character limit. This limit can be worked around with ease, however, by following these steps.
- Develop a voice. Injecting a little character into your Tweets is an easy way to distinguish your content. But make sure your voice is consistent with your brand’s image.
- Tweet regularly. After factoring in various statistics, CoSchedule settled upon 15 Tweets per day as the recommended number. Most of your Tweets should take place during business hours – but bear in mind that the business hours of your audience may vary. Regardless, due to Twitter’s fast-paced nature, it’s important to Tweet several times daily to maximize engagement.
- Keep it short. Noticing a pattern here? That’s right: a number of sources agree that, like Facebook posts, shorter Tweets receive greater engagement.
- Be timely. Twitter has made a name for itself as a platform where news is broken. Likewise, you can use the platform to chime in on trending topics while tailoring the content to suit your needs, helping to prove your brand’s relevance.
- Don’t just Tweet text. Twitter is more than just text – you can post videos, images, polls and links, each of which can help boost engagement.
Due to a focus on imagery rather than text, your Instagram content creation process is naturally going to be significantly different that that used for Facebook or Twitter. The captions, however, require the same sort of discretion you’d use on platforms that strictly focus on text posts. Here’s how to attract Instagram followers for your business.
- Create Instagram style guidelines. If your company is specific about its presentation, make sure that your Instagram posts follow suit. Consider using the same filter on each post to unify your account from an aesthetic standpoint.
- Only post high-quality images. The photographs you post don’t have to be professionally shot, but they should look good nonetheless. This isn’t likely to be a problem thanks to the powerful cameras integrated into modern smartphones.
- Always remain relevant. Though your posts need not address the products or services you offer, they should make sense. A view from your office window, for example, isn’t going to make a sale, but it will probably look great and could benefit your business from a recruiting standpoint.
- Keep it short. While a longer caption might provide welcome context for an image from time to time, Instagram isn’t all that different from other platforms in that most captions should not be essay-like in length.
- Use hashtags effectively. Hashtags can work wonders for expanding your account’s reach. Common recommendations suggest using three to five hashtags per post and blending unique, company-specific hashtags with popular options, such as #tbt and #nofilter.
Connect With Us
That wraps up our miniature social media content guide. Did we miss anything important? Be sure to drop a comment below to let us know what works for your company. Plus, make sure to connect with us on social media.
Are you thinking about outsourcing some or all of your conent creation? If you're wondering what you should consider when choosing a content creation agency, download our free guide, Outsourcing Content Creation: 6 Essential Questions for Choosing the Right Partner.
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