We’ve talked to so many brands, from our neighbors here in the Fox Cities to long-term clients from the coasts who know they need to be on social media but aren’t sure how to keep up with the channels in a truly meaningful way, or how to generate great results from their efforts. To get real results from your social channels, it’s important to understand your target audiences’ expectations of your brand on social media. Consumers follow brands on social media for a lot of different reasons, all of which add value to their lives in some way. Typically, they want to stay up to date on what’s going on with your business, learn about new products or services, have an easy way to communicate with your business, and engage with a larger community. Too many businesses think of social media as a sales channel and just post product images or sales literature, pushing out the content they want to be distributed without thinking about what their fans really want or need. Creating social media content that provides true value is key to keeping your followers inspired, informed, and entertained. Here’s a sneak peek at how we approach writing valuable social media content for our clients…
Write posts that complement your products or services and your business as a whole
Shoppers use social media for just that – being social. Rather than creating posts that just advertise your products or services, provide your followers with inspirational, educational, or entertaining posts that complement it instead. Deep down, shoppers are buying things that help them achieve goals or curate a lifestyle, not just buy a product, so embrace aspirational content that answers that need. Your social channels should help consumers understand the overall value of your product when it comes to their life and home. We’ve put together some examples to help you get started!
Inspire – What current trends complement your products and services? People are spending more time at home than ever before, how does your business make homes better? Stress levels are at an all-time high, how do your services or products make life easier? User-generated content is also a fantastic way to inspire potential customers. Did one of your recent customers tag your product in one of their photos? Ask for permission to share it on your brand’s social pages!
Educate – Your business is the best and you want your followers to know that, right? Create videos highlighting exactly why your product outperforms the competition. Post product demos or an interview with your service techs talking people through your most popular services. Show people how and why your products or services are a must-have. Consumers are already doing a lot of online research before making their purchasing decision – help make it easier with social content that educates them so they are comfortable and confident with your business as they get ready to make their decision. Think beyond your sales pitch and tell more engaging stories in an effort to help prospective customers get to know your business.
Entertain – Create content that highlights your brand while also entertaining your followers. Feel free to get creative – it is social media, after all! Show off your business, showcase your team’s personality, provide a light moment or emotional connection through your social channels. Pets perform so well on social media, so find a relevant storyline to introduce the world to some of your employees’ pets! Include fun posts about your brand’s or your employee’s milestone dates, such as anniversaries, birthdays, promotions, etc. Showing off the human side of your brand can go a long way on social media.
Review analytics to make informed decisions
All of the major social media channels – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. – offer their own analytics platforms to help you track your social strategy performance. Google Analytics lets you see how your social channels are driving traffic to your website or store. Using these tools, you’ll be able to evaluate which types of posts perform the best based on your social media goals.
If you’re focused on generating more organic reach and engagement or increasing your follower count, you can use these tools to figure out exactly which types of posts are performing the best in helping you achieve those goals. For example, for the social media-specific metrics, track your progress using metrics like post reach, story reach, post engagement, and page views. As for Google Analytics, you’ll want to take a look at Acquisition > Social to determine which social media channels are driving the most traffic to your brand’s website and which links are generating the most clicks.
Once you know which posts are helping you achieve your goals, you can repurpose those topics, use them across your other social channels and write new content using the same concepts to build on your successes! These insights will help you make more informed decisions when creating your social content or planning your social media strategy in the future.
Share relevant curated content
As we mentioned earlier, people follow brands on social media to engage with a larger community of like-minded people. Sharing content from other sources that are relevant and complementary to your brand provides your followers with additional value when it comes to staying updated with industry news and trends. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel for every social post. Find resources that amplify your original content and share content from other creators! Think of curated content as another opportunity within your social media strategy to inspire, educate, or entertain your followers. Curated content is also a great opportunity for supporting your community, expanding your network, finding great influencers, sharing user-generated content, and building trust in your business!
Engage in social listening
One of our favorite tips for brands to add more value to their social presence is to engage in active social listening. You can get great feedback on your own products and your competitors’! You can also help prospective customers who are asking questions about the kinds of problems your product solves. You can also jump in and help steer the buyers’ journey your way! Are you a kitchen store with a new line of pots and pans? Set up a social listening stream for “pan recommendations” or “new pans”, then actively engage with consumers looking for recommendations or advice before they buy! Set up steams for specific services you offer or go all-out and set up streams based on your customers’ pain points to really be able to jump in and help!
It’s important to give your customers a reason to continue following your brand on social media. Start focusing on the value of your social content to really see the results you deserve! Develop content that encourages engagement through likes, comments, and shares to help drive brand awareness and conversions. Looking for some help? We’re here for you! Our FREE digital marketing opportunity assessments include a review and recommendations on social media performance as well as the other important elements of a successful online presence. Claim yours today!
