Many businesses’ social media strategies consist of snappy headlines and visually appealing images. This is great – but it only really scratches the surface.
The aim of your business’s social media strategy should not be to put out X number of posts every week. After all, what does this achieve?
Instead, you should start thinking about the results you want to get from your posts. For most businesses, this is usually community engagement – for this is a tried and tested method of building a bigger brand and gaining new customers.
With this in mind, we are going to delve into what makes digital content engaging, and why you should probably be spending more time on social media interacting with your community.
Creating Engaging Content
Engaging content can come in many forms and is something that will differ depending on your niche, industry or offering.
No brand’s content is the same and no marketing strategy is universal. Yes, some elements will overlap, but the key to consistently creating engaging content is understanding your audience.
Say you’re a beauty brand – in this instance, Kim Kardashian would be a great personality to plug your product. She is recognisable to your audience and could help drive engagement and create buzz. However, if you were a football coach, having Kim Kardashian endorse you would be a complete waste of time, because the people she engages with aren’t likely to be the kind of people who would engage with you.
What works for others will not always work for you!
If you are a professional athlete, your followers probably want to see you excel at your skill or your sport. Great entrepreneur? People will want to tap into your knowledge. Restaurant or chef? Share photos of your delicious dishes and get people talking. Knowing your brand – and more importantly, your customers – is the best way of figuring out how to be engaging.
In our opinion, HubSpot does this exceptionally well, because not only do they create conversations, but they are also actively involved in them– have a look at their Twitter and Instagram pages for reference. They have clearly identified their target audience (marketing and salespeople) and utilise a wide variety of content that is DIFFERENT on every platform.
Furthermore, they have successfully established themselves as experts in their field, something which is evident in the number of people who actively seek them out for advice.
Our Top Tips
If you want to make engaging content you need to be funny, attractive, thought-provoking, interesting, controversial or absurd – however, we probably wouldn’t recommend making a habit of the last two things.
Tell a story: People love to share information about themselves or hear interesting stories – after all, why do you think books, films and television are still so popular today? In this sense, communicate with your audience in a way that prompts them to engage with you or share something about themselves.
Use different mediums: The medium is the message is a famous saying, and it really is true. The way you communicate is just as important as what you say. Hence why people often say that an image is worth a thousand words. This means that you should experiment and see what connects with your audience. Create videos, podcasts, quizzes, infographics – whatever you think will resonate with your community.
Enthusiasm: Nobody should love your brand more than you do, so if you aren’t excited about an event, product or offer how can you expect your community to be? With marketing, you really get out what you put in.
Make sure you talk about your product, are confident in it and showcase how it can be used. It is much easier for your audience to relate to and engage with a product if they can see it being used in real, everyday situations. So be the champion of your brand and show everyone why they simply can’t afford to miss out on what you have to offer.
Be responsive: If people take the time to read, interact with and respond to your post, then you need to take the time to message back. This is a great way to form a more emotional and intimate connection between your brand and its followers.
Maintaining Community Engagement
The big question for many is “how do I keep a community member, customer or client engaged?”
Following or experimenting with the guidance above can help you bolster your community engagement, however, engagement ultimately comes down to how you can add value to an individual or community. It doesn’t matter how entertaining, thought-provoking or funny your posts are if they aren’t relevant or useful.
So just give it a go! Start trying to create conversations and making more interesting or engaging posts. If you are struggling with this, just think about what you’d like to see when scrolling through your social feeds – you could even go as far as delving deeper into the content or brand you’ve interacted with the most.
Truly Content
If you need a hand, then you know who to call! Here at Truly Content, we have a team full of expert content creators who we’re sure could make paint-drying an engaging event.
Whether you need a fully-fledged marketing strategy or an extra bit of advice, we are here to help!
Reach out to us by visiting our website or contacting us at info@trulycontent.com today.