Only about a quarter of social media users think it’s “cool” to follow a company/brand on social media. It can be more or less depending on your business niche.
However, the social media channel works. This channel:
If you’re a business — it doesn’t matter if you deal with businesses or consumers — you must explore the social media channel and see how it turns out for you. To help you get a head start, let’s look at the top social media content types that your audience would love finding in their feeds.
Images are the most popular social content type. Your social posts almost always do well when you post the right kind of images. So what’s a right image? Well, a good social media image post means many things. It must be relevant. It must look good on mobiles (orientation is important). Branding can add a bit of pizzazz too. Of course, it must stick to the platform’s image size guidelines.
Here’s an example of an authentic, unfiltered image post for a catering business:
Videos tend to be the most shared social content type, yet brands fail to create videos for their followers. Think about it: Only 11% of Instagram’s posts have video content. So if you’re looking to engage your social followers, use videos. From demos, explainers, product highlights, case studies, and video testimonials to videos showing the human side of your business (giving a tour of your facility or a behind-the-scenes reel, for instance), video content can boost your social engagement like no other format.
At 2Point, we love sharing short videos of our projects. Here’s one:
82% of social media users prefer live video over pre-recorded video content. You can understand why. Live streaming gives your followers the chance to experience an event as it is happening. Live video streams have many use cases, from showcasing new products or announcing new services to giving followers a behind-the-scenes look into how you work.
Text posts, too, have their place in the social media content mix. If you’re a B2B brand, you can stir quite a conversation on LinkedIn with a text-only post. Tweets can be conversation starters too. They can also drive engagement — live-tweeting industry events is a good example. Making your social media text copy consistent with your brand voice is the key here.
Most social media platforms now support stories. Stories typically live for 24 hours before disappearing, so they’re apt for sharing updates on what’s happening right now with your business. You can also pin stories on platforms like Instagram to ensure higher visibility for them and make them available all the time. Unfiltered, raw, more human content tends to work well in stories.
On our Instagram handle, we’ve pinned a couple of stories that we think businesses who want to work with us will find relevant. Inside the REVIEWS story, we’re showcasing a handful of our client reviews (Check them out here):
These social media posts are all about starting conversations with your followers. Here are a few categories these fall into: (You’ve probably already engaged with such posts from your favorite brands!)
Check out this article for a list of 100 such posts that you could be posting on your social media profiles.Brand communications/announcements
About half (52%) of a brand’s social media followers follow it to learn about its latest products and services and to stay on top of the general brand news. Such updates should always be a part of your social media publishing mix. It doesn’t matter if you use stories to post such updates or simple text-based posts, just keep your copy consistent with your brand voice. If you’re launching giveaways or offers, those updates go here as well:
User-generated content is another one of the top content types brands love sharing — and followers love seeing — on social media platforms. User-generated content can be any content that your users create. They can share a picture or video using your product or service. Social media users are 2.4 times more likely to find user-generated content to be authentic over your brand content. Not just that, 80% of people say that user-generated content impacts their buying decisions. As you tag users with such posts, they naturally feel more “real” to the rest of your followers.
Here’s an example:
Testimonials (another common user-generated content type), too, can be easily repurposed as social media posts:
All the views, likes, “hearts,” and conversations that you have on social media help you build a one-to-one connection with your audience. Moreover, with the right social media content mix, you can actually translate all this social traction into business.
But to make social media an enabler in your sales cycle, you’ve to be a little intentional with its use. A few prerequisites are a thoughtful social media strategy, quality content, and a good posting cadence.
Get in touch if you’re looking for a partner to handle your social media channels. At 2Point, we help businesses just like you leverage social media platforms to bring out the human side of your business and connect with your audience at more meaningful levels.