07 Feb What Makes Successful Social Media Content Different?
While some may think of social media marketing as, “playing on Facebook all day,” those of us in the industry know that it’s so much more than that. From content, to community management, to strategy & metrics, there are many important facets to social media. However, the one that will really make or break your brand’s social media presence is content. What you post on your channels is what drives all the other pieces of the puzzle, so you need to make sure you’re putting out the best content possible. But what makes a great piece of social media content different? Below I will break down the key themes for creating successful social media content.
1. Always Consider Your Audience First
When creating content, you have to think about what your audience cares about before you put any brand messaging in. Many brands make the mistake of talking about what they want in their social posts because as a marketer, you care about your brand. But your audience doesn’t work for the brand and they won’t necessarily care about the things you do. Doing a deep dive into the behaviors, likes, and dislikes of your fans is key for creating a strategy and your ongoing content. Find what they care about and then find a creative way to tie your brand into their passion point. Don’t try to make them care about your message. Passion points can even be used to mitigate crises your brand may face.
Our client, Staples, does a fantastic job at hitting on audience passion points and finding creative ways to make them relevant to their brand. For example, they have found that their audience loves their quirky videos and responds very well to them in social. So when it came time to promote something not-so-sexy, like cleaning supplies, they used that passion point to create a fun video that was also chock full of product placement. Genius, if you ask me.
2. Be Disruptive
In addition to tapping into what your audience cares about, successful content is also disruptive. This means that it stands out in the news feed and catches the eye of your audience, even among all the clutter. It gets them to pay attention. You can disrupt them with a unique visual take on content or something unexpected.
An example of an extremely disruptive piece of content is Clickhole’s Facebook Live stream below. It was completely ridiculous, but it was interactive and out of the ordinary. It got people paying attention and talking, then it got them to engage. In fact, this post garnered over 4,000 shares.
Not all brands can do something as fun as Clickhole, but there are other ways to be disruptive. Sometimes the media type you use is enough to be thumb-stopping for people. For example, using Boomerangs and cinemagraphs in your posts is an easy way to stand out. This is especially effective when they’re new to the space. Here’s an example of a simple, but disruptive cinemagraph from our client, Samsung Home Appliances:
3. Be Authentic
Authenticity is crucial for having a successful social media presence. Brands need to make sure they’re authentic in two ways: being authentic to themselves as a brand and being authentic to the channel on which they’re posting.
Authenticity to your brand means you aren’t straying from your brand equity just to capitalize on a trend or jump into a popular conversation. Butting in where you don’t belong will end up hurting your brand, especially with how unforgiving social media users can be. For example, if a gas company decided to tweet about Beyoncé’s pregnancy, it would seem very disingenuous. People would be able to see they were just trying to capitalize on a trending topic. What does a gas company have to do with Beyoncé? Unless she happened to be a spokesperson or have some connection to the brand, the answer is: nothing. Making sure that everything you talk about is relevant and authentic to your brand will help create successful content (and ensure The Beyhive doesn’t come after you).
Being authentic also means posting the right kind of content for the right channel. Some channels, like Facebook, are more forgiving in what you can post but channels like Instagram have a strong visual aesthetic. We continue to see UGC perform extremely well on Instagram and the main reason for that is because it’s authentic to the channel. It’s what real people are actually posting so it fits with the overall look and feel. A brand that posts overly-produced computer-generated images will not fare as well on this channel. When creating your content, make sure you’re following best practices for each channel to maximize your content’s performance.
So there you have it. Creating successful content is easier when you remember to use these key tactics every time: tap into your audience’s passion points, be disruptive, and be authentic.
Need help making your content successful? Contact us today.
