Creating engaging social media posts sounds pretty simple, but anyone who has struggled with social media marketing knows, it’s easier said than done.
In itself, social media can be a phenomenal marketing tool for your small business. If you great results from your social posts, such as lots of likes, comments, or shares, then you’ll probably love social media and know the value that it brings to your business.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a suitable social media strategy, for both posting and marketing, it can feel like a significant waste of your valuable time.
Planning and research is one of the basic principles of creating engaging social media posts
In order to use social media effectively when marketing your small business, here’s some ideas for generating post ideas…
#1 – Ask Your Followers
The simplest way to find out what your followers want is to ask them. Instead of guessing or spending weeks or months testing and figuring out what your audience engages with, you can ask them directly in a post.
If you don’t get a lot of responses on your social media posts you could also try creating a survey with GoogleForms or SurveyMonkey and sharing it on your social media accounts. This allows your followers to answer anonymously and can work really well for businesses of a more personal/confidential nature.
Social media marketing starts with your audience
#2 – Review Your Insights
Take a look at your social media insights. What posts have gotten the most Likes, Shares, and Comments? Brainstorm other posts that you can create around the same topic. Then start planning, creating and scheduling them.
You can also repurpose your most engaged-with posts. Instead of reposting or sharing the exact same post, look at ways of changing the format. Such as, going live or recording a short video-clip, creating an infographic or simply designing a new image/graphic
Another way to expand on a popular topic would be to take a general topic that your audience greatly engaged with and break it down into related sub-topics.
There are so many possibilities!
Your social media insights play an important part in creating engaging social media posts
#3 – Analyse Your Competitors Posts
Whether you have a new or established business, analysing your competitors posts can work exceptionally well when creating your own posting strategy.
- Start by identifying your main competitors and businesses that have a similar audience to your own.
- Next, analyse their posts – pay attention to the posts that get the most engagement from their audience.
- Then, identify the main topics of these posts and also the formats in which they are delivered.
- Finally, create your own posting plan around these or similar topics, from your own and your ideal customers perspective.
Don’t copy your competitors, let them inspire you
#4 – Social Listening
Determine where your ideal customer spends there time online. Identify the facebook groups they actively take part in, the hashtags they use on Instagram or Twitter, which Twitter hours they get involved with and pay attention to what they are talking about.
You’ll most likely see a multitude of questions that they have, challenges they come up against and problems that they need help dealing with. Create social media posts that address these issues.
Pay attention to what they say they need or can’t find in the market. Take that idea, develop it, and turn it into a new service, product, or series of posts offering the detailed information your target market needs.
Create posts that resolve your followers’ challenges
#5 – Show Your Personality
Sharing a bit about your personal life also helps break down that barrier between you, the expert, and your followers. It makes you more accessible and more real instead of just the face and name of a business.
The easiest way to do this is by inserting a little of your personal life into your posts, entertain your followers, show your sense of humour, share things/stories/people that inspire you, voice your opinions and listen to theirs (even when they conflict with your own). This goes a long way towards building a relationship with your audience.
People don’t want to follow a robot; they want a real person, that person who knows so much and can help them find the solutions to their problems.
People buy from people they know, like and trust
Most importantly, be present on social media every day and really take notice of what’s happening in the lives of your audience. Automating social media can be a great time saver but social media is supposed to be SOCIAL. The clue is in the name and no amount of scheduling posts can make up for a lack of interaction from you. Make sure you engage and interact with your audience.
Try out the ideas above and soon you’ll be creating engaging social media posts for your business.
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