In the day and age where there is an abundance of news available online, it is crucial to get your content right, so it doesn’t get lost and overlooked in the ever increasing information stream. Today, we are specifically focusing on social media publishing and which kind of content works best for which social platform. We will be looking at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and focusing on organic free posts, not paid content.
It is important to note that a lot of the social strategy and optimization also depends on the nature of your business. For example, some social platforms might not be suitable at all and that time and effort can be saved and allocated to more suitable channels.
First off, the three most common mistakes we see from businesses in terms of social media are:
- Focusing only on one social channel. There can be multiple reasons for this, such as this being the favorite social channel of the social media manager. Another reason could be follower counts and therefore deeming it more important.
- Posting for the sake of posting. In social media, quantity is not quality. The number one reason should be to give value to your followers. Although it is impossible to please everyone, as your followers have different demographics and interests, engagement rates can help you test the waters.
- Not committing to social media long term. We have seen a lot of businesses start and get excited about their new social channel. But then after a month or two, it becomes more of a burden than a business tool and updates are far and few between. Embrace social media, give it the importance and set aside a certain amount of time for it every day.
Interesting facts on social media usage:
- 95% of mobile consumption is vertical so all content must be in portrait mode
- Video is the best performing content type across all social channels
- Follower attention span declines massively after 2 minutes
- People browse social media for an average of 142 minutes per day
- 90% of users follow multiple business on social media
Facebook:
Facebook has changed its’ algorithm and made it much more difficult for brand pages to appear in peoples’ feeds, as they are pushing for sponsored and paid content. The consequence is a drop of Facebook’s importance in digital marketing strategies. But it should not be overlooked as a key channel.
Video is the best performing type of content. It is important to use the Facebook live broadcasting feature as well.
It is also recommended to limit commercial content, go for 80% to educate and entertain your follower base and 20% to promote your brand or business.
Try and focus on behind the scenes content and content that is special to your brand, i.e. it cannot be found elsewhere such as on your website. Facebook posts allow whole albums to be uploaded and are useful for events or projects you wish to showcase.
Also, don’t underestimate hashtags on Facebook as it is a good way of being found organically by Facebook users. But unlike Instagram, you cannot follow a hashtag.
Instagram:
Instagram started as a picture sharing platform famous for retro filters. It slowly shifted more and more towards video content with feed post videos, IGTV, stories and reels dominating feeds. Instagram has over 1 billion MAUs (monthly active users), with 75% of those checking stories regularly. Instagram is all about the visual aspect, the message of it comes in second. If your visual is not appealing, no one will read your message (caption).
The most engaging content are Reels and Stories. Reels are max. 30 second video clips with music and/or text and different filters and themes and is Instagram’s answer to TikTok. Stories are max. 15 second pics or video clips and it is recommended to add a bit of text, as 40% of story viewers are watching on mute. Stories also allow adding swipe up links, which is a rarity on Instagram.
For feed posts, whether photos or videos (max. 1 minute), focus on the a visually pleasing media as well as the caption. The first line of the caption should be key and keep captions short. End with a clear call to action.
If you’re a brand, Instagram is a great channel to focus on and use your followers to create user generated content. The most effective ways are through contests or competitions.
Also, reply to DMs and comments on posts, it’s extremely important to make sure the engagement you work so hard to receive is also attended to. There’s nothing worse than followers engaging without any feedback, as it will strongly limit future engagement rates.
Twitter:
Twitter is used by over 150 million MAUs and every day more than 500 million tweets are sent.
Share links to quality content, show your core value and use emojis to make tweets less dry. You can also run polls, join chats, create a conversation with followers or other experts in your field.
Since Twitter is a more condensed and compact social channel due to the limit of media and certain amount of characters, your posts need to be shortened or so called mini campaigns.
Hashtags are a feature on every social platform, but they were born on Twitter. And they remain an invaluable tool to boost your engagement and discoverability on the platform. Trending topics is also a hot area on Twitter that you should try and feature or take advantage of.
Depending on the nature of your business, Twitter may be a good channel to showcase humor and creativity. For others it is truly a more informational platform.
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is used by more than 35 million businesses, as it’s the primary social network for recruiting and hiring talent. LinkedIn is heavily B2B orientated and therefore highly recommended if your business is in this field or caters to other professionals. For example, if you are a university and recruiting students for MBA courses, LinkedIn is great as you can target users by educational level, in this case Bachelor (which is required to join an MBA course).
After you’ve created your LinkedIn company page, fully set it up and shared it, it’s time to get to posting. According to LinkedIn, posts with images receive 98% more comments than those without. Links to blog posts or pages on your website are popular, as well as uploading PDFs and PowerPoint or Slideshare presentations. Posting industry trends, leadership thoughts, etc. is also useful and it is important to get to know what works well for you and what does not. To do so LinkedIn analytics can be used.
As on all social channels, even on LinkedIn, videos see five times more engagement than any other content type. Keep in mind to use LinkedIn mainly for B2B purposes and use clear and strong captions with call to actions and to call out key stats, points and quotes. Tag people and mention other pages if suitable, as they will be notified and are likely to share your content, thus giving it more reach and impressions to different professional networks.
To conclude this article, it is important to note that there is no certain right or wrong strategy or tactic for any social network. It should depend on the nature of your business, your target audience as well as your goals, so don’t go blindly following these pointers. You still need to spend time to set up a foolproof strategy.
If you need any assistance or would like to talk social media strategy with us at MANTODOM, please get in touch.