15 May 10 tips on creating social media content
Read time: 8 minutes
As the final addition to our “10 tips” blog series, we have collated our top 10 tips on creating social media content. It is important that your social media content is both engaging and in line with your business goals. By giving yourself the time to brainstorm and plan content, you can create engaging social media posts that add value to your business.
10 tips on creating social media content
1 . Understand what your target market is looking for
The basis of creating social media content starts with your target market. Think about your target market’s demographics as well as their interests. Are they interested in hearing about your latest news or are they looking for content they can relate to? Does your audience enjoy scrolling through memes or do they enjoy looking at aesthetic photographs? Do they want to be inspired or do they want light-hearted, relatable content? Understanding these needs will help you plan content that your audience is more likely to engage with.
2. Look at what works on the platform you’re posting to
Content will perform differently across different social media platforms. Before creating your content, take a look at what tends to work on the social media platform you are creating for. For example, we find that interactive posts work well on Facebook and Instagram stories, while inspiring imagery performs best in the Instagram feed. What kind of content are other similar brands posting on the platform you’re planning to post to?
3. Plan your content in advance
Engaging social media posts rarely happen in the moment. In fact, last minute posting can undermine the quality of your posts. Unless you are live posting from an event, or sharing something that is relevant and timely, it is best to plan your post in advance. Pre-planning your social media content helps you create quality posts that your audience will engage with.
Pre-planning helps you compare each individual post so you can keep track of duplicate/overused content, and to see how the images you’re using work together to create an aesthetically pleasing feed. Seeing the bigger picture can also help you create a balance between promoting your products and engaging your audience.
4. Use eye-catching visuals
Consumers casually scroll past hundreds of social media posts a day. This makes it hard for businesses to stand out. As a lot of social media is visual, using eye-catching photos and videos can gain the interest of your audience. If you are creating social media content for the first time, take a look at what your competitors are doing. What kind of visuals do they use, and are they capturing the attention of their audience? What could you be doing to stand out against them?
Clear imagery, bright colours and bold text can help your social media content capture the attention of your target audience.
5. Ensure your content is on brand
It is vital to keep your brand in mind when planning your content. Ensure both your artwork (the image or video) and the voice of your text is on brand. This helps communicate a clear message so that your audience know what your brand is about. Consistency in branding is also key in building a memorable brand image.
6. Promote your products and services
Your customers likely follow your social media accounts to learn about your products and services – so promote them! We recommend consistently featuring what you sell throughout your social media content. However, it is important to not make your followers feel like you are always trying to sell to them. Make any content you post about your products and services informative and exciting and try to encourage customers to ask questions or share with their friends.
Instagram is great for promoting products. The platform has a shopping feature that allows brands to tag photos of products and directly link customers to their online shop. If you sell products online – this is a must!
7. Focus on interacting with your customers
Social media is social! Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn give brands the opportunity to form two-way connections with customers. When planning your social media content, try to make it interactive. Give customers an opportunity to tag their friends, leave comments and ask questions. The more engagements you can attract on your content, the more exposure you’ll gain on the social media platform.
8. Keep track of trends
To maximise engagement on your page, take advantage of current social media trends. This could include specific topics that are currently being discussed in your industry or viral social media trends.
Using trending content on your page will ensure your brand is staying relevant with what your audience is already connected to.
9. Put out promotions
While engaging with your customers is important, the ultimate goal of social media is to support your sales. A great way to do this is to put out content regarding promotions on your feed. As customers are already engaged with your brand and your business, they’re likely going to be excited to find out about your latest promotions, products and services you’re offering!
10. Review the performance of your posts
Take time to regularly monitor the performance of your posts. Was there any posts that had significantly more engagement than others? Was there content that didn’t do as well as you expected? Making notes on the performance of your posts can help you plan for more successful posts for your next schedule. If you feel that your content is engaging but it’s not reaching your audience as well as you would like, you may need to consider making other changes to your social media strategy.
We hope you found these 10 tips on creating social media content helpful! Redsteps turned 10 in mid-2019, so we’ve been celebrating with a series of ’10 tips’ blogs to help you with your business’ marketing. This is our last of the ’10 tips’ series but we have lots of informative and exciting content to follow! Follow us on LinkedIn to be notified when we upload our next blog.
If you are looking for help on marketing your business on social media, contact us today. We offer social media packages that are tailored to your business and brand!