According to recent data, users are 40 times more likely to share visual content on social media.
However, if you want to engage your followers and potential customers better, you need to mix up your social media content offerings.
Consider the four content types below when developing your social media marketing plan and strategies to boost engagement and reach your target audience.
Let’s jump right into it.
1. Videos
Videos are a highly engaging medium and can be a great way to grab people’s attention on social media.
Whether you create short videos specifically for social media or repurpose longer videos, ensure you optimize them for social networks.
Learn from the following tips to help you create compelling social media videos.
- Keep your videos short. In social media, shorter is often better. Try to keep your videos between 30 seconds to two minutes long. Longer videos can make it hard to keep people’s attention, so a short yet catchy video would be better. If your content, such as tips on how to plan your small business shipping strategy, requires you to create a longer video, make a shorter version for social media containing key information. Then, include a link to the full video in the description.
- Use captivating visuals. Create visually appealing and eye-catching videos using high-quality images, graphics, and clips to grab your audience’s attention and keep them engaged. Captivating visuals can reinforce your message and make your videos easier for audiences to consume and remember, fostering engagement.
- Use strong headlines and captions. The headline or caption of your video is often the first thing people see. Ensure your video captions or headlines are compelling enough to grab your audience’s attention. Follow tried and tested content writing tips to nail your captions and headlines. Also, include compelling Calls-to-Action (CTAs) to help entice your viewers to act on your offers, such as subscribing to your channel or buying your products.
- Optimize your videos for each platform. Various social media platforms have specific video specifications. Ensure you optimize your videos for the platform you’re using, including adjusting your videos’ size or length and adding specific hashtags or tags. Simplify distributing your videos across your social media channels using popular social media management platforms such as SocialPilot, Hootsuite, and Visa Social. For instance, Vista Social’s content calendar and scheduler let you plan and schedule your posts for auto-publishing on your social media platforms.
2. Behind-the-scenes posts
One of the free and low-cost marketing strategy ideas that can engage your social media audiences effectively is to share behind-the-scenes content.
Sharing BTS photos and videos can give your audience a glimpse into your business’s inner workings, helping you build a stronger connection with them and engage them better.
BTS content can also humanize your brand and give your audience a sense of what goes on behind the scenes. It helps your followers know your brand better, which is always great for boosting engagement.
Consider creating the following social media BTS videos to help boost your engagement rate.
- Product or process videos. Share videos that give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at how your products are made or your team works. These content types can help you build trust with your audience by showing them the effort and attention to detail that goes into your brand and products. For example, the Instagram post below shows what goes on behind a product photoshoot for Golden Child Candles.
- Employee or team profiles. Humanize your brand and show the real people behind your business by sharing your employees’ or team members’ profiles. It can also help showcase your team’s diversity and talent, which can put your brand in a good light. For instance, you could show a short animated video clip highlighting the people who helped develop your new performance testing software after launching.
- Office or workspace tours. Give your audience a tour of your office or workspace to give them a sense of your company culture and working environment. It can also be a great way to show off your company’s facilities and amenities.
- Event coverage. Share behind-the-scenes coverage of events your company hosts or sponsors to give your audience a unique perspective and showcase your community involvement.
3. User-generated content
You don’t always have to make content from scratch to engage your social media audiences.
Instead, encourage your audience to share content related to your business or products, such as photos or reviews.
It’s one way of increasing your audience engagement and building a sense of community around your brand.
Feature User-Generated Content (UGC) in your social media posts.
Doing so lets you show appreciation for your customers, encouraging them to continue engaging with your brand.
- Credit the original creator. Give proper credit and attribution to the person who created the content. You can tag the original creators in your post or include their handles in the caption.
- Engage with the users. Respond to comments and questions on your shared UGC post to encourage more audience interaction and engagement with your brand.
- Use Story features. Share UGCs on Instagram Stories or Facebook Stories to showcase UGCs at the top of your social media feeds. It can help draw more eyeballs to your shared UGCs and boost engagement opportunities.
- Run a contest or campaign. Host a contest or campaign where users can submit their content for a chance to be featured on your social media channels and win prizes. It can drive engagement and get people excited about creating and sharing content related to your brand. Skittles’ Instagram Story below is a classic example of asking for brand-related content from users.
- Include UGCs in social media ads. Consider using UGCs in your paid social media ads to showcase real people using your product or service. It can help increase trust and show a sense of authenticity in your marketing efforts.
4. Questions and polls
Questions and polls can boost your engagement on social media because they encourage people to participate in the conversation actively and share their opinions.
Questions and polls can also increase your content’s visibility and raise the chances of more people sharing your content with their followers.
Follow these tips to make the most of questions and polls in your social media marketing content.
- Make it easy to participate. Use clear and concise language in your questions and provide easy-to-understand options for polls, so it’s easy for viewers to answer.
- Encourage participation. Use a catchy or attention-grabbing headline or caption to encourage audiences to participate in your question or poll.
- Offer incentives. Consider offering incentives, such as discounts or exclusive content, to entice people to join in your questions or polls.
- Use polls to gather data. Leverage polls to get data and insights about your audience’s preferences and behaviors. These can be valuable for improving your social media marketing strategy. Baskin-Robbins nails this approach with its Yay or Nay poll on its two ice cream flavors.
For example, you could ask your followers about the content they would like to see more from your brand, such as a quick review of ExportYourStore.
- Mix it up. Don’t just stick to text-based questions; consider using other formats, such as images or videos, to make your content more interactive and engaging.
Increase your engagement with diverse content types
Boost engagement and keep your audience interested by creating various content types for your social media marketing efforts.
Get creative and try multiple content formats and types to see what works best for your brand and target audiences.
Continuously test and refine your content strategy to increase your reach and build an engaged community on social media.
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