9 Types of social media content your brand could be creating right now

We’ve all heard the saying “Content is King” and if you haven’t… well… you have now! Creating content is a great way for you to connect directly with both your target audience and your established community. And social media makes it possible to do this instantly while keeping significant control over your brand’s message and personality.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT RULES

There are a few rules to live by when it comes to developing social media content for your audiences:

• Quality over quantity: You don’t want to add to the noise. Your content strategy should be well-thought out and take into consideration how your audience likes to consume content online.

• Provide value: There is no point in developing content if no one will find it valuable – you’ll waste your time – and your audiences’ if they choose to read it. The major problem is that they likely won’t read your content again if they think you can’t provide any value to them.

TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT

It can be easy to fall into a social media rut – especially if you are short on time when it comes to social media execution. One way to spice things up is to post a variety of content types. Regardless of what channels you are using as part of your social media strategy, you have multiple options when it comes to strategy. Here are nine types of social media content for you to consider as you are building out your social media strategy.

Show a little Personality

You have done the work to develop your company brand, why not show it off? Choosing to focus solely on “business” content can make it hard for your audience to connect with you on a deeper level. Showing them who you are beyond what you do is extremely important. Do a few behind the scenes (BTS) features, team profiles/interviews, or even “a-day-in-the-life” posts. It allows your target audience to see the human side of your brand.

eBooks, Guides, and Webinars… Oh My!

You should be giving away enough information that you almost feel like you are giving away too much. This is how you can showcase your expertise and build a thought leadership platform for both the company and any individual spokespeople you may have. This type of content will help to build trust by showing that you are the real deal.

Take it a step further by creating gated content where if someone wants to download an eBook, guide, or join a webinar, they need to give you something in return. Usually, it would be their email, which you can then nurture as a lead.

Stories

Not so long ago, Snapchat was the only option for posting content that grabbed your audience’s attention for 24 hours and then disappeared. Now, both Instagram and Facebook have added similar capabilities with their stories features. Great for live posting videos, images, Boomerangs, and other visual content, you can showcase a bit of brand personality through this type of content.

With the range of stickers, filters, and other visual features available to you, you can really have fun with your stories.

User Generated Content

While it’s not something you are creating, you do have to find creative ways to collect, optimize, and organize user generated content. This is a great way to include your audience in your strategy so you have ways of finding out exactly what makes them flock to social media.

One of the most common ways to use user generated content in your social media content strategy is to run a photo contest where users can post directly to social media. Not only is it a great way to generate buzz about your brand on specific channels, but it also allows you to connect directly with your target audience.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Providing proof that you do good work or that your product is amazing goes a long way when someone is making the decision to buy what you’re selling. Testimonials and case studies show that you have a loyal customer base already, and that they are satisfied. Try to get a variety of videos and text testimonials. You can also create branded graphics out of text testimonials to make them more eye-catching.

Livestream

Video is here to stay, and with social media making it even more accessible with in-app capabilities, you should explore livestreaming for your social media content. You can let people know you are at certain events like tradeshows, industry mixers, and your own experiential marketing events. You can also use it for when you have speaking engagements as a way to showcase your skills and expertise.

Infographics

Who doesn’t love a great infographic?! Showcase your industry knowledge and your ongoing connection to the trends that your customers would care about that is easy-to-digest – and easy to share. While it can take a bit of time to create infographics (from research to design), it is well-worth-it because it provides value in a highly visual way.

Questions

You should aim for two-way dialogue on social media, because after all, social media should be social! Asking open ended questions encourages dialogue and post engagement. It is also a great way to get to know your target audience better.

Curate Content From Other Sources

There is a lot of great content out there that would be interesting to your target audience. It could be from industry publications, influencers, or other digital channels. Don’t be afraid to share that content on your social channels as a way to remain connected to those that might have larger networks than you do. It also shows you keep up with what is going on in the industry.

Social media content doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you should keep it simple so you make sure you keep up with a consistent posting schedule. You don’t have to use ALL of the above types of social media content, but you should at least choose a few and create a varied approach to your content strategy.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with social media content creation or your current strategy just isn’t working and you don’t know why, give us a call!