Social media has become an important part of most people’s daily routine.
According to a recent study from Pew Research CenterNearly half of Americans use Facebook several times a day, and 70% access it at least once a day.
Social media platforms provide us with a variety of ways to interact with each other, share information, and connect with brands. Because of this, it has become imperative for companies to prioritize their social media strategy.
But this is easier said than done.
As most social media marketers and business owners know, it’s not always easy to consistently create engaging content, especially if you need to post daily to stay relevant and reach your target market.
In addition, there are more 3.8 billion users across various social networks. The number of mobile device owners continues to increase at a rapid rate.
This means that companies can reach millions of potential customers who are actively involved in these sites with the right strategy.
So here are some tips to help you create engaging content that will reach your target audience:
1. Less text, more video
Have you ever stopped scrolling on social media to read a huge piece of text? Probably not, even if you like the account you belong to.
But if you do, I’m sure you usually lose interest and keep scrolling. Or you might be thinking,He got to the point already. “
The message of this story should be clear and direct. If you’re marketing your brand on social media, make it a rule to add an image or video to everything you post.
Get creative with your brand. This way, you can hit the key points of creating a post direction. Post photos or videos that speak to your audience and watch those likes and comments skyrocket.
2. Take your photos
If you’ve been using stock photos in your social media posts, it’s time to stop. but why? They are very easy to find and look pretty, right?
Well, the stock images do not perform as well as the original images. As a result, they are bad for SEO.
To prove this, Experiments Marketing tested an actual photo of its customer against the best-performing stock photo.
Results? The visitors who saw the actual photo were 35% more likely to register. A recent survey reported that 62% of consumers said high-quality product images were crucial to their purchase decision.
Here are three tips for getting unique photos for social media:
- Hire a local photographer to take photos that fit your editorial calendar.
- If you’re starting out, you can take your photos with a high-spec smartphone and some simple props.
- Make sure your images match the text around them. Images should summarize concepts and drive the main points, not just break up text.
3. Reuse your evergreen content
Did you know that people remember visual information 65% longer than the text?
To take advantage of this, repurpose your best evergreen content into infographics, charts, graphs, and social media images.
When creating graphics, remember these tips:
- Show the main points of your content.
- Pull quotes from your content or paraphrase your main points to make them shareable.
- Use tools and templates from platforms like Canva and Piktochart to create high-quality graphics.
4. Share customer testimonials and reviews
Imagine this: You are about to buy a new product but you want to know more about it first.
When searching for information, who do you trust? A salesperson selling the product or an honest review from a customer?
we will, 78% of consumers say they trust online reviews, and 67.7% say they influence their purchasing decisions – honest and descriptive reviews are important to businesses.
fact, 72% of consumers will not buy a product until they first read a review on it.
If that says anything to you as a marketer, feedback from happy customers is a powerful magnet at your disposal.
Highlighting reviews from customers who are satisfied with your products, services, or customer service is a great way to show people love and trust your brand.
And while you’ve probably already posted them on your website and blog, make sure you don’t leave social media behind.
Choose your best testimonials and reviews, design them into easy-to-read segments, and craft engaging comments to go along with them.
5. Find the latest visual trends
So, you want to post a lot of visuals on social media. But first, you need to know which visuals work and which don’t.
Discover visual trends on social media platforms and search Google to find out.
You can also take a look at your social media analytics and insights to see what has been doing well over the past couple of months.
Here’s how:
- Visit Pinterest’s Most Repinned Page. This page shows you the Pins that users like.
- Search using the most popular hashtags on Instagram. for example, #love is one of the most popular hashtags on Instagram, with over 2 billion shares. So, go through the posts with this hashtag and notice the posts with high engagement.
- Check your competitor’s hashtags and search online for your industry’s hashtags to see which ones work well.
- Search Google for popular image trends. You can browse the top-ranking sites for photo trends, like the one on this one Guide from Canva.
- Offer your insights on Facebook and Instagram to see how your most recent posts are performing to help fine-tune your next social media strategy.
6. Host contests
A sure and quick way to grow your audience and gain a lot of engagement is by running contests on social media.
Here are three that work:
- Like, comment, and share to join. Users like your post and share it with friends to get ahead of your competition.
- Add a tag to a friend. The more friends your audience refers to, the more entries they get.
- User generated content. Users create posts according to a topic you select and tag your work to join.
Remember, always stick to the contest rules set by each social media platform. Since every platform has different rules, review them first before spending time drafting your competition.
Here are some things you should be aware of:
Competition rules on Instagram and Facebook
- You are responsible for the legal operations of your competitions (eligibility requirements, official rules and regulations regarding prizes).
- You should not require users to tag images inaccurately (eg, do not require users to tag images if they do not appear in them).
- It would be helpful if you acknowledge that neither Instagram nor Facebook is sponsoring your contest.
Go here For the full list of Instagram contest rules and here to Facebook rules.
Twitter competition rules
- Discourage users from creating multiple accounts (for example, users may create multiple accounts to receive multiple entries in your contest).
- Don’t ask users to post the same tweet repeatedly (avoid “whoever retweets this post the most wins”).
- Stay away from content that puts users’ safety at risk, such as content that contains violence, abuse, terrorism, hateful behavior, and adult content.
- Avoid spam, and do not post other people’s private information.
paying off This guide For the full list of Twitter contest rules.
Snapchat Competition Rules
- Do not use the Snapchat trademarks and logos.
- Do not encourage illegal, illegal or otherwise unwanted behavior.
For more rules about what you should and shouldn’t do in Snapchat contests, check out Snapchat guide.
7. Tag the influencers and bloggers you quoted in your post
Using quotes from influencers on your blog is a great way to generate engagement. But don’t stop there.
Make sure to give credit to the influencers you’ve quoted by mentioning them on social media:
- Tag them on social media with a link to your content.
- Create an engaging graphic and tag the influencer in a social message.
They will definitely appreciate it! Plus, it’s a great way to get the attention of their followers.
8. Add social media buttons to your email newsletters
Do you think social media and email are competing marketing channels? Think again.
Social media and email go hand in hand. Adding social media buttons to your email newsletters is a great way to use them together.
This works because the readers are only checking emails and buttons stand out from the text In an attractive and eye-catching way.
So, before you email those newsletters, add the social media buttons below so your readers can check out what you’re up to on their favorite platforms.
9. Use the right hashtags
Hashtags can be tricky to get right. But when marketers use them wisely, hashtags can put your content in front of a much wider audience.
For example, hashtags on Instagram make your post appear on the hashtag page. like this Posts with hashtag #tbt.
But remember that hashtags do not work equally on all social platforms. For example, they gain a lot of engagement on Instagram but don’t do much for Facebook posts.
Follow this guide for how many hashtags to use on each social platform:
- Twitter: one to two
- Facebook: one to three
- Instagram: five to 30
- Pinterest: Two to five
10. Light it up with stories and reels
Should you take the time to post stories or reels to Instagram and Facebook? The short answer is yes.
The longest: Reels provide the opportunity to create 67% More posts than videos.
And with the rise of TikTok at last 100,000,000 Monthly Active Users People engage with these short videos more consistently.
Plus, stories and reels can be fun and inspiring. It is therefore essential to move with the trends and incorporate these interactive opportunities.
11. Add riddles, quizzes, and riddles to connect with users
Is this you? You panic with 100 projects to work on and 200 assignments from your college night professor.
But instead of knocking them right away, take a quiz to see what kind of cheese you’re using. (Yeah, that’s me too. Just kidding. I don’t have 100 projects to work on.)
The truth is, quizzes are irresistible. So, if you want to enjoy that extra engagement, plan a fun, challenging, unique contest, or mysteryand publish it on social media.
12. Engage with industry news
One way to connect with your audience is to show how much you care about the same things they do. The secret is to respond quickly to current events your audience is interested in.
Additionally, thought leadership content can help with SEO and build authority for your brand.
So whether it’s industry news you have an opinion on or you want to share some insights you have faith in for your brand, use it in your social media strategy.
You can also share content from blogs you’ve created about industry news and share them across social media, which can help drive traffic back to your website.
Final thoughts
As you can see, social media marketing is a powerful tool for achieving results. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
With creativity and effort, you can create engaging content that will drive traffic to your website and increase brand awareness.
More resources:
- 10 reasons why social media is important to your business
- 4 ways to improve your content using social media
- How to Dominate Social Media Marketing: A Complete Strategy Guide
Featured image: Daxiao Productions / Shutterstock
