Using social media channels is a great way to reach out to your audience and give them an easy way to interact with you. But what makes a great social media post and how do you decide where and when to share it? Our short guide outlines some of the key things to think about to make sure the content you share will interest and engage your audience鈥
1. Why do you want to share content?
Before you share a piece of content, it鈥檚 important to think about why you want to share it. This will make sure there鈥檚 a justified reason for your post, and will improve the chance of people engaging with, responding to and sharing your content. Two of the most common reasons to share content are:
– To evoke emotion
Content that your audience will have an emotional response to can be a great way to encourage them to engage. A study by suggests that if you want to get an emotional reaction from your audience, content that creates awe, laughter, amusement or joy will receive the best interaction. If you want to evoke emotion, targeting the positive emotions is a great way to make sure your content is well-received.
Facebook鈥檚 recent addition of reactions to the 鈥榣ike鈥 button, it鈥檚 easier than ever before for your audience to express how your post makes them feel.
– To inform
Whatever industry you鈥檙e in, people love to get new information that they can share with their friends or colleagues. Sharing helpful and relevant content can help boost your position as a go-to resource for your audience, as well improving social engagement.
2. What content should you share?
There are no guarantees that the content you share will generate the results you want, but there鈥檚 been loads of research done to try and figure out what the most engaging types of content are. Of course, audiences in different industries will respond differently to varying types of content, but here are 3 great types of content to share to up the engagement on your social media channels:
– Images
Ever heard the saying 鈥淎 picture paints a thousand words?鈥 Well, if you choose the right images to use across your social media channels, you can open up a whole new channel of communication between you and your audience. Coschedule鈥檚 social media study showed that Tweets with images perform better than those without, whilst a similar story emerged for Facebook posts.
But what makes an engaging image? Be sure to choose a hi-res, un-watermarked image to give a professional impression, make sure it鈥檚 relevant to your audience and consider the size of the image before you post. Our great blog shows some examples of the best images to use in social media campaigns.
– Infographics
Infographics are arguably one of the most shared types of content on the internet. They鈥檙e great if you want to share information with your audience in an informal way; the graphics make the content eye-catching, and the short snippets of text make the info you鈥檙e sharing easy to digest. Infographics will engage your audience鈥檚 creative side, with the more visual display of information achieving higher engagement levels than a written article would likely achieve.
– Lists
A more concise and to-the-point version of a full-length article means your audience have to invest less time to reap the value of a piece of content. Lists are some of the most shared content types on the internet, and the best part? The Google bots seem to like numbered lists, so they can even help to improve your SEO position if your content is high quality.
Top tip: Mentioning the number of points in the list in the article title is a great way of giving your audience a heads up of how long the article is before they start reading. This way, those who click through are more likely to read the whole thing.
3. When should you share?
Unfortunately, there鈥檚 no 鈥榖est time to share鈥 your content, but it is possible to figure out when your audience is most active on each social media channel. There are in-built analytics tools across different social media platforms, so be sure to spend some time looking into these to understand the behaviour of your audience.
Take into account things like different age groups and occupations, as well as international customers to make sure you鈥檙e not only posting when they鈥檙e asleep!