Social media is a great way to interact with and build relationships with your audience. With more and more people using social media not just for entertainment but also for brand interaction and identifying products and services they may wish to purchase it is becoming even more important to get the content produced right. Posting on social media isn’t just uploading random pictures and updates. It requires strategy, understanding of your audience, and creativity.

Let’s have a look at some hints and tips that can help you on your way to being a master of social media content.

Creating engaging content

Once you know who you’re talking to it’s time to create some content they’ll be interested in:

• Storytelling – Connecting with your audience is a powerful way of making your content successful. Tell stories that connect with them emotionally. These should be relatable and authentic whilst highlighting the brand narrative.
• Visual appeal – It must look good. Visual appeal will help catch your audience’s eye and attract them to your content. Invest in quality visuals, such as photos and videos and encourage your team to embrace their passions. If you have someone who loves videos and pictures, or graphic design have them involved in the capture or creation of these visuals.
• Educational – Audiences are growing tired of seeing the same type of content. What can you offer them beyond simple entertainment? Use your content to help educate your customers in your area of expertise. Offering hints and tips, insights and directions to resources can strengthen your brand image as you help your audience solve their problems.
  UGC – Why are you doing all the work? User Generated Content is a great way to build trust and authenticity whilst also showing a fresh perspective.
• Consistency – Be consistent. Regular posting and a consistent brand message and identity will keep your audience engaged and build ongoing relationships.

Optimising for different platforms

Where are you posting your content? Different social media platforms have their own characteristics and audience base. You should be adapting your content to fit with these.

• Tailored – Don’t just copy and paste your content across all the platforms. Your content should be optimised for each platform to engage with the audience there. What your audience is looking for on Instagram may be very different to LinkedIn.
• Strategic use of hashtags – I know it can be easy to just add hashtags for what is trending or may seem the most obvious. However, taking the time to research industry-specific trending hashtags to make them relevant can massively help your content’s discoverability.

Audience engagement

Relationships are all about having a two-way conversation. Don’t just talk at your audience but interact with them. Make your posts engaging and also take the time to reply to comments and posts.

• Ask questions – Questions are a great way to gather feedback and get people talking. People love to share their opinions and experiences.
• UGC – They also love sharing their content. Sharing and celebrating their posts can help keep audiences engaged. Sharing encourages participation and builds a sense of community with your brand.
• Polls and surveys – Polls and Surveys are another great way of increasing engagement as well as gaining insight into preferences and opinions.

Measure success

Continuously measuring performance can help you refine your social media content strategy.

• Track key metrics – Monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rate, conversion rates, shares and likes can help you see what content your audience is engaging with and its effectiveness.
• A/B testing – A/B testing will help you identify which areas of your content may not be having the impact you want. You can then experiment with different ideas to see what works.
• Analyse competitors – Keep an eye on your competitors, what are they doing on social media and how can you take inspiration from their content?

Social media content creation is an evolving process that requires patience, creativity, and adaptability. Understanding your audience, producing engaging content which is tailored to different platforms and actively interacting with followers will allow your business to build a strong online presence, connect with your audience and successfully promote the brand.

For support or guidance with this talk to one of Rebellion Marketing’s social media experts today.