Photo Credit: Stuart Miles, Free Digital Photos

Photo Credit: Stuart Miles, Free Digital Photos

It would be a rare marketing agency that didn’t know about the importance of social media posts. The problem is, many don’t have the time to create and publish posts consistently or even know where to begin. Many marketers also don’t completely grasp the purpose of social media posts. They might assume that promoting their company or client’s company is the only reason to publish posts on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and other social sites. However, building brand awareness, loyalty, and customer relationships is just as important.

What Types of Content Interests Your Followers?

People follow your company’s social networking sites because they are interested in the products and services it offers. It’s safe to assume that they have many related interests as well. Imagine for a moment that you manage an account to promote second-hand computers. Your followers might also appreciate content about where to find inexpensive printers, graphics, and other supplies they need to go along with their computer. Providing your followers with genuinely useful information builds trust that leads to loyalty and retention. Some other types of posts you may wish to consider in addition to promotional content include:

  • Responses to other posts: You don’t always have to create new posts yourself. Replying to or sharing posts from other businesses that relate to your own helps you look knowledgeable about the industry and customer needs.
  • Tips that address client pain points: This goes along with posting valuable information for your followers without expecting anything in return. If you word things just right, your tips may get them to use your company’s products and services anyway.
  • Job openings: This is an ideal way to find new talent, especially if your organization caters to a younger crowd that grew up on social media.
  • Interesting and non-promotional information about your company: Do employees at your company volunteer in the community? Consider posting pictures to let your followers know about the causes important to your organization. Sharing photos from company events, such as the annual summer picnic or Halloween costume contest, allows people to see a different side of your business and connect with it on a more emotional level.

Determining the Ideal Posting Schedule

It would be nice to know exactly how often to publish new posts and on what channels, but the answer is different for every agency. You may need to experiment for a while to see what type of engagement you get posting different types of content at various times of the day. Keep in mind that things move quickly on social media and the first several minutes after you hit the publish button are the most critical. If people aren’t liking, sharing, or responding to the post before the end of the first hour, you may need to re-evaluate its effectiveness.

Some organizations become overzealous about social media posts at first and overwhelm their followers with content that offers them little value. This could cause them to unfollow your brand. Before you submit a post, make sure that you have something valuable to say. Additionally, consider what followers expect from your business and industry. For example, people would expect news organizations to send out multiple posts each day as new information became available. Retailers and service organizations should reserve their posts for breaking news or the types of content discussed above.

Tips for Creating Shareable Posts

Writing social posts is a skill that takes practice just like anything else. You shouldn’t expect to have your content go viral right off the bat. In addition to publishing useful content, here are some best practices from Socialmouths to consider incorporating into your own posts:

  • Don’t underestimate the power of the headline. After all, a great headline hooks readers so they want to learn more while a bland one makes them move on to the next post. We published a blog post on the different types of headlines and how to write them in February 2016 entitled Writing a Headline is Like Going on a Blind Date.
  • Create longer posts when the platform allows it. LinkedIn allows you to publish articles up to 1,900 words while Facebook gives you up to 60,000 characters, although people see the “Read More” message after 400 characters. Longer posts tend to attract more and better quality engagement such as comments and shares. Since you only have 140 characters on Twitter, make sure your words are clear enough to point people towards the longer version of your article. See this Social Media Character Count Cheat Sheet for more information.
  • A picture is worth more than 1,000 words, so make sure you choose a high-quality images or graphics that summarize what you’re trying to say in a single glance.
  • Know your audience. If your company hasn’t created a customer persona yet, this would be a good time to do so.

Hire Content Runner Writers for Social Media Posts

You say that you don’t have the time or the skill to create social media posts? No problem. Our writers can do it for you. Just search our writer directory or offerings page to find a writer who can help. Feel free to contact us at 1-877-468-6414 with additional questions.