How to Create Engaging Social Media Content
The Social Media Era
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer brands a unique opportunity to reach target audiences directly. Users are eager to share their opinions about products and services, which is why it’s vital for any brand to understand how to create engaging social media content. To stay competitive in today’s marketing landscape, every business must be able to produce high-quality content that resonates with customers.
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Meanwhile, users are already well-acquainted with the Internet and enjoy browsing through blog posts and articles as much as they like sharing their own thoughts. Creating engaging social media content is more challenging than posting an ordinary blog post but also more satisfying. And that’s because it shows you cared enough about your audience to make them feel important rather than just another click on the virtual page.
Let’s look at some key tips on what to keep in mind when creating your own engaging social media content:
Why your business needs social media?
Social media is a great way for businesses to connect with customers and engage online. The more social media content you produce, the more connected your brand becomes to its audience. The biggest benefit of using social media is that it’s an affordable and accessible tool for connecting with people. Social media doesn’t have the same promotion cost as advertising on TV or radio. And because it allows companies to reach potential customers directly, it also requires less time per conversion compared to traditional forms of marketing.
Nowadays, users browse social media platforms for information about a brand or product. You want to ensure that your business harbors a solid social media strategy that appeals to its target audience. Create engaging content, as this is what users will remember about your company.
How social media affects business?
Social media allows businesses to create an online presence and community of users that promote their brands. Social platforms enable increasing brand awareness and recognition as they expose companies’ images through engaging and relevant content. Users can create content about your company, also known as “user-generated content” (UGC). This is an opportunity for companies to present themselves as authoritative images in their industries, increasing the chances of generating leads.
Social media allows you to engage with your customers and better understand their needs. This way, you can formulate a successful content strategy that convinces them to hire your products or services.
Finally, social media allows for successful commercial procedures to occur as users can easily purchase items from platforms without needing to go to the store.
Finally, social media allows for successful commercial procedures to take place as users can easily purchase items from platforms without needing to actually go to the store.
If you want to get the most out of your social media strategy, start investing time and resources in your social media posts and attract potential customers to your company.
Challenges of using social media for business
Social media is a great way to connect with your audience, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to keep them engaged. One of the main challenges with social media content is that users are exposed to content without any context. In other words, they don’t know why you’re posting or what your message is, so they have no idea how to react. To stay relevant, businesses must also consider increasing user engagement and retention. When users interact with your content online, it helps build a connection between you and your target audience. In addition to encouraging more interaction on social media, this connection provides an opportunity for business growth in the future as long as brands take it seriously.
Another challenge of using social media for business is visual stimulation. With less text-based messages than blog posts, brands need to be creative when it comes to engaging their audience visually by adding images or videos into their social media post and article descriptions. When creating engaging post and article descriptions for your business on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, remember these tips:
- Make sure you include keywords in your description so people can find your content on search engines
- Use photos or videos instead of text because visuals are more appealing than text
- Articulate the value of what you provide in the form of a call-to-action and define how you want the reader to react
Creating engaging content
A part of building your brand is generating fresh and engaging social media content. Creating an endless amount of social media content can prove a challenge without a solid strategy. RealTop, one of the leading digital marketing agencies, recommends employing the Five Pillars of Social Media Marketing.
Pillar 1: Educate
Education is typically considered the most crucial pillar within social media marketing. The educational content on social media aims to teach your audience about your brand. Examples of posts within this pillar include:
- Hacks
- Tips
- How To
- Tutorials
- Do’s and Don’ts
New businesses generally want to gear their content within this pillar. Until you establish your company, content should tend to stay almost exclusively in this category.
Pillar 2: Showcase Work
More established companies can move outside of creating only educational posts. If your brand has a proven customer base, you can highlight past, current, and future projects. Examples of content used under this pillar are:
- Before and After
- Testimonials
- Completed Work
As an example, you can post a review shared with you by a satisfied customer. Alternatively, if you worked on a construction project, you could show what the home looked like before and after your efforts.
Pillar 3: Community
Community posts are helpful for established businesses but should not make up the majority of your content. Brands tend to remain stagnant within the third pillar. Community posts can be:
- Events
- News
- Bulletins
- Entertainment
Try to showcase only the most essential community content. For instance, a medical office may generate a YouTube or TikTok video to display a relatable side of the staff. You may also use the pillar to blast out time-sensitive updates to your followers.
Pillar 4: Corporate
Businesses tend to recycle corporate content on their social media pages. More often than not, announcing awards and employee recognition won’t make a meaningful impact on your marketing efforts. These types of posts can be sprinkled in sparingly and include:
- Employee Recognition
- Awards
- New Hire Announcements
Pillar 5: Promotional
Many social media pages are dedicated only to promotional content. However, most brands should not have a majority of their content announcing sales. Only about 20 percent of your content should be promotional in nature. Promotional posts featured under this pillar are:
- Sales
- New Services and Items
- Coupons
- Limited Offers
For most businesses, RealTop recommends putting up a single post per day—with a total of 30 posts per month as a starting point. With that figure in mind, 10 posts should be under the Education pillar, while the other pillars should have 5 each month. Newer brands may even have 20 educational posts per month to build their following and add value to their pages. Avoid constant posts in the promotional and corporate columns. Promoting your brand constantly goes against RealTop’s acronym: WIIFT (what’s in it for them?). Note engagement numbers and change posts accordingly. Another tip from RealTop is to pre schedule your content ahead of time to make social media posting go smoothly. Get a Free Marketing Plan today from REALTOP and improve your social media content strategy!
Best regards, Nik Tsoukales, CEO
Direct Line: 617-315-1138
Main Line: 800.676.8350
Skype: nikitastsoukales
Email: nik@realtop.comÂ
FAQs
How to post social media content for business?
When it comes to social media marketing, there’s no right or wrong way. However, there are a few tips that can help you get started on the right track. First, choose a platform that fits your brand’s needs and your target audience’s preferences. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the most popular social media platforms, so you’ll likely find an audience on one of these sites. Second, be consistent with your posting frequency and content type.
If you try to post frequently without offering consistent quality content, your efforts might be undermined by spammy competitors. Stick to posting high-quality content that’s genuinely relevant to your customers. Third, put effort into SEO (search engine optimization) and website design if you’re planning on using a website to promote your social media presence. This will help your website rank higher in search results and attract more potential customers.
What social media platforms are best for business?
The social media platform you decide to use for your business will depend on your target audience. However, the following are some of the top social channels in the market in 2022:
- Facebook: ideal to market your products through visual content such as carrousels, videos, or photos
- Instagram: allows you to create a business account and sell your products there. Ideal for creating short videos (reels) and attractive content ideas.
- YouTube: ideal for creating engaging content in video format
- TikTok: a fun platform to create entertaining videos.
- LinkedIn: ideal if your target market is in the professional industry.