About our Guest Author: Ivy Lin is the Social Media & Marketing Communications Intern at Business on Market St. Currently pursuing a degree in Communications from the University of California, San Diego, Ms. Lin enjoys researching and creating marketing campaigns surrounding the various ways people communicate on the web.
Social media engagement is now the quickest way to direct traffic and attention to your business. There are several vital aspects to creating relevant and engaging social media content, however, before creating anything, keep in mind that your message should aim to educate, entertain, inspire, and convince your audience in one way or another.
The content of your message can vary in several ways. The most important thing about a social media message is that it should be creative, meaningful, and consistent. It goes without saying that the content of your message should be grammatically correct and to the point, but is there more you can do to better your social media reach?
Here are a few tips:
Keep it short and sweet. Some social media messages can be flat out boring or annoying when they’re too long. They often lose the attention of people scrolling through newsfeeds as well. Keeping your message short but well thought out will ensure you’re getting the strongest viewership.
Add an image. Messages with graphics always perform better than those with simple text. Visuals often act as a grabber, leading people to click on your link, and (hopefully) subscribe to your social media platforms. Don’t miss out!
Know the right time to post. This is more important that you might think. Test out different times of the day on your social media platforms to see what receive the most attention from followers. You can then use this experiment to identify prime posting times and create a solid schedule for future posts.
Plan ahead. If you’ve ever thought that some of the most famous social media users don’t plan their content ahead, you’re kidding yourself. Planning content days in advance gives you a chance to drop consistent posts, which lure viewers and add credibility to your company.
Interact with your followers. When possible, use your messages to interact with other businesses or people. Embed other users in your message. For example, if your company is working with another company, make sure you are connected with them on every social media platform. Give them a shout out or mention them in your posts. This gives you the advantage of potentially receiving views from their followers.
Don’t be shy to call out big name brands. This can be tricky because you want to make your post relevant to your business, but you never know — you might just get a reply from a big name company, which can do a great deal for your following.
Do your best to answer whenever people interact with you. Always remember to address questions or complaints people bring up on your company’s social media platform. Personalized customer service gives people the sense that your company cares and has the customer’s needs as priority.
Would you like more tips on social media? Pay a visit to the Business on Market St. blog for other great social media posts, such as The Social Media Image Size Cheat sheet.
