When it comes to showcasing your products and services, sharing your companies values, and reaching out to your audience, you can’t beat social media. It’s no wonder that social media marketing has become so popular.
Unfortunately, that popularity creates a challenge. With everyone participating, it’s easy to see your social media accounts fade into oblivion. You can’t have just another Twitter account or just another Facebook feed and effectively promote your business. You need engaging content in order to stand out.
Start Building a Visual Assets Library
Visuals can make social media posts more interesting, and more eye-catching as people scroll Buy. Still, quality and consistency make a big difference. Cheesy stock photos, low-quality images that you shoot from your cell phone, or images that fail to reflect your branding don’t add much value.
Consider building a visual assets Library. This will contain high-quality pictures of your products, pictures of your team, your logo in various sizes, and other images you might use over time on social media.
In addition to this, you might consider a membership at Getty Images or another photo sharing site. This will give you access to better quality pictures than you would at the free sites.
Crowdsource Customer Stories And Other Content
In truth, your audience may be able to generate as much engagement among itself as you can. All you have to do is harness the power of crowd-generated content.
Encourage users to upload and share stories, pictures, and videos that are relevant to your brand and their experiences with it.
First, this keeps your social media feeds busy with lots of great content. It’s also a great way to keep your audience engaged. Many brands, such as ModCloth, have been very successful at creating engagement by providing customers with a platform for sharing.
Finally, link to and share customer reviews and testimonials. You’ll build trust and an improved sense of thought leadership. What you say about your products and services is important. What your users say can resonate even more.
Use Quizzes And Contests to Keep People Engaged
Many people don’t realize the value they can get out of a carefully crafted social media quiz. These quizzes can provide a fun distraction for your followers.
They can also help you to curate product and service recommendations, and learn more about your audience. If you make the results humorous or interesting, you can encourage followers to share their results. This will lead to even more people engaging and sharing.
You can also use social media contests to boost your following, and increase engagement. A contest can be as simple as offering entries into a drawing in return for likes and shares.
They can be as complex As a photo or trivia contest judge by your followers or even an influencer.
Remember There is no Trick or Gimmick to Replace Well-Written Content
Tools and technology have made it possible to create some really slick content, amazing user experiences, and new forms of engagement. These are wonderful, and brands should embrace these where it makes sense. At the same time, nothing will ever replace well-written, relevant content.
It’s worth the investment to take the time to carefully select topics that will interest your audience, to write researched and informative posts, and to properly edit them.
If you don’t have the resources to do this in-house, consider outsourcing. All Top Reviews provides write-ups, testimonials, advice, and other information on writing and editing services.
Encourage Subscribers to Share Your Email Content
Expand the reach of your email beyond your subscriber’s mailbox. First, make it easy for them to share your email content by adding social share buttons.
This way it’s easy for them to broadcast any email content that they find worthwhile. This gives you the opportunity To reach out to your target audience through your social media feed as well as others.
Use Live Video to Reach Out to Followers
The video is now the most shared content online. Recently, live video, in particular, has exploded in popularity. Video can be broadcast through Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of other platforms. Use live video to create in the moment engagement with your followers by offering them content they may not be able to experience otherwise.
You can use live video to:
- Give the audience a behind-the-scenes look at your company.
- Bring your audience along to live events.
- Interview influencers.
- Present live demos.
During a live feed, you can welcome viewers by name, answer questions, even take suggestions. Your audience will be able to share your live feed, leave comments, and engage with other viewers.
After the live feed has ended, you can edit the video, and then share it on social media, and through your preferred video hosting platforms.
Turn Older Content Into Newer Content
Maximize old content by repurposing it. Blog posts can be turned into how to videos and product demonstrations. Bios and profiles can be used as the basis for videographies and interviews.
Posts with plenty of data can be made into infographics. Try tools like Canva to turn photos into collages as well. Even slide presentations can be cleaned up and shared through Slideshare.
Even dated content such as ‘Our Favorite Restaurants of 2016’ can be updated with new information. Search through your ‘best of’ and other list posts to see what you can make new again.
Conclusion: Presence is Important
Quality matters most of all. That doesn’t mean quantity isn’t important. Publish and share frequently. Participate in conversations with your customers and influencers. Being present makes all the difference.
