Introduction
If you’re new to social media marketing, you might be wondering how to get the most out of it. Actually a social media management agency can answer your question. That’s a fair question, and there are many answers. For example:
- You can use tools like Hootsuite or SproutSocial to schedule posts in advance
- You can optimize your content so that it performs better on its own platform (for example by including images). But what about maximizing the impact of your content across multiple platforms? How do you do that? Well, there are nine easy ways!
Optimize your social publishing process
To maximize the impact of your social media content, it’s important that you optimize your social publishing process. Here are a few things you can do:
- Set a schedule for publishing. You should have a goal of publishing at least once per day on all channels where you’re active. You might want to increase this number if you see that people are responding well to the frequency of posts or if there is a lot going on in your industry (events, conferences, etc.).
- Use an editorial calendar tool such as Hootsuite Pro or CoSchedule or an Excel spreadsheet template like this one from HubSpot. This tool will help guide all aspects of your social presence including writing/editing new posts and scheduling them out across multiple networks at different times throughout the week so that every audience sees something fresh!
Optimize your content for each platform you use
Each social media platform has its own content rules, so it’s important to know how to optimize your content for each one. For example, if you’re on Facebook and posting a link with an image, the best practice is to include both the text and image in the post. This will make sure that your posts show up in Facebook’s newsfeed.
On Twitter, however, where people tend to be more engaged in real-time conversations than scrolling through their feeds for updates from friends or brands they follow (you can learn more about this here), you want to focus on sharing interesting links without being too promotional with them. This will help increase engagement with followers who are interested in what you have to say as well as increase click-through rates and get people interacting with your account more often (and thus seeing what else has been shared).
There are many ways of optimizing for different platforms but this should give you a good idea of some basics that apply across most channels:
Post your content more than once
It’s important to note that posting your content more than once is a good idea. It doesn’t matter if you post 100 times, the second post will get less traction than the first. The reason for this is people are busy and might not see your first post in time.
It’s better to post the same content multiple times than to post different content every single time. Don’t be afraid of reposting!
Use the word ‘video’ in your tweets
- Use the word “video” in your tweets. When you use the word “video,” it helps Twitter know that your tweet is more than just text and will show up under video (or “Videos”) in search results.
- If possible, add a relevant hashtag to your tweet. Hashtags are a way to categorize and search for tweets across all platforms, especially on Twitter—so don’t forget to use them! You can also join conversations or start new ones by adding hashtags that relate directly to what you’re tweeting about.
Use hashtags (but don’t go overboard)
Using hashtags is an easy way to connect with other people, but if you use too many, it will look spammy and make your content seem less authentic. Use hashtags that are relevant to your content, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different variations of the same hashtag.
Hashtags can also help you get more followers on social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook—so use them wisely!
Ask questions
Ask questions that are interesting to your audience. Ask questions that get people to comment. Ask questions that get people to share, and ask questions that get people to tag their friends. But only ask the right kind of question! Don’t ask ones that are too difficult for the average person to answer, or you’ll just end up alienating them with your superior intellect.
Create visual content
Visual content is a powerful tool for getting your message across. It can be used in a variety of ways:
- Visuals are easier to share than written content, and they’re more likely to go viral. A good example of this is the viral video “Gangnam Style,” which had 508 million views on YouTube by 2018.
- People remember images and videos better than text or numbers. If you want people to remember something about your company or product, consider creating an image or video that tells that story. You can also use images or videos as part of an email campaign or social media post if you need to drive home a point quickly and simply (such as in the case of a sale).
- Images and videos can be repurposed across multiple channels—for example, Facebook stories allow users to add them into slideshows so other users can swipe through them one at a time without clicking away from the app itself.*
Establish a posting rhythm and stick to it.
Establishing a posting rhythm is important for social media. If you don’t post regularly, your audience will forget that you exist and stop following your content. The best way to keep them engaged is by creating a posting schedule so they know when to expect new content from you.
The specific frequency of your posts depends on the platform—for example, Twitter favors shorter messages while Instagram tends to encourage longer ones—but generally speaking, you’ll want to post at least once per day across all of your platforms so that people are still engaged with what’s happening in the world around them when they check their feeds later in the day or evening (depending on where they live).
It’s not hard to optimize your content for impact, but you do have to think through these nine points.
- Optimize for impact.
- Posting rhythm and consistency are key.
- Create visual content that adds value to the conversation, but don’t just post “because it’s a picture.”
- Ask questions—and respond to comments from others on social media.
Conclusion
If you take the time to optimize your content, it will have a much bigger impact. Your social media efforts will be more effective and your followers will be more engaged—which means they’re more likely to engage with your posts, too. Pickedfirst.com.au can attest the effect of their social media strategy for each month.