How to create content for social networks
Any business that uses the power of social media has a commercial purpose. Therefore, companies constantly need texts that sell content. Even when posting information about a free webinar or giving away test products, you need selling content. The purpose of such a “free event” is usually to collect an email database that will be used to send emails of commercial content to potential customers.
Texts posted on various sites have their own characteristics. In this article, you will find general information about social media content.
Educational and entertaining texts make up about 80% of the content on social networks. This ratio with commercial posts is recommended according to the 20/80 Pareto rule, but in some cases you can make the ratio slightly different. Everything is individual and depends on the industry.
Tutorial posts
Educational posts help in choosing, suggest how to solve problems, relieve fears. Most often, such texts in social networks are aimed at helping in choosing something. Here is one striking example from real practice.
The owner of a furniture store in a small town, foreseeing the imminent material losses for her business due to the imminent appearance of new competitors, decided to work ahead of the curve. She learned in advance about what kind of furniture, fittings and accessories will be sold in the new store. Immediately before the opening of the competitor’s store, informational posts were published on social networks and brochures were ordered on the topic “How to choose a quality wardrobe?”.
The hints contained the following information: why it is necessary to pay attention to the hinges (fastenings) on the cabinet doors; how to choose reliable hinges so as not to overpay in the future for the repair of low-quality furniture, etc.
Brochures sold out, posts on social networks, thanks to advertising, were also seen by many. Information very soon gave its “fruits”. When potential furniture buyers walked into a competitor’s store, when they looked at cabinets in detail, they paid close attention not only to the price and design, but also to the hinges, which were of poor quality. As a result, the owner of the furniture store, who carried out the preliminary work, not only did not lose her regular customers, but even increased their number, which had a positive effect on sales and net profit.
As for “solving the client’s problem” or “getting rid of fears”, the best example would be selling a service, such as a consultation. Before you start promoting a new company in this niche, it is advisable to launch a free online seminar on a topic close to the target audience. If we talk about entrepreneurs, then it can sound like this: “How not to lose your business.” In the title, it is always desirable to indicate or refer to the “primary pain” of the target audience. During the free seminar, it will be possible to “warm up” potential customers and collect an initial base for selling paid services in the future.
Enlightening posts
On the pages of companies in social networks, it is advisable to periodically post industry news, information about trends, reviews, selections and interesting facts. This is necessary to attract attention and increase the trust of the target audience. By offering, for example, industry news, you act as an expert. This increases confidence and suggests that the company can be contacted for professional advice.
As for interesting facts, there are a lot of funny and little-known or forgotten things that can be found in the process of drawing up a content plan for a social network. Such content arouses interest from the audience, is useful. For example, somehow on the Day of Science, an informational note “Why Google is called that way” appeared in the TOP records. Briefly stated, a googol is a number in the decimal system, which is represented by a unit with a hundred zeros. Until recently, this was the designation for the largest number in the world. That is why the founders of the company chose it as something that predicts the success of their startup. They thought that Google’s index would be the most significant in the world, and they were right.
Entertainment posts
Pictures, humor and quotes from famous people are used to entertain the audience. Such posts are successfully “shared”, as they are interesting and liked by many.
You should correctly create entertaining posts, check their authenticity. On the Internet, especially in social networks, there are often quotes and aphorisms that do not actually belong to the people to whom they are attributed. Spreading false information can lead to a loss of trust in the company, make people doubt the veracity of other posts posted on the page.
When writing text on a picture, you should use a high-quality background that will not reduce readability and will look attractive. This will increase the chances of your post being shared.
As for humor, it should be understandable and accessible to your target audience. Also, try not to use the so-called “boyanas” or “beard jokes”, but post fresh thematic humor or create funny yourself using trends.
Information posts
On the company’s page in the social network, there must be an information component about the company, its employees, awards received, innovations, etc. The content of such posts and texts is not commercial or selling. It is worth highlighting not only significant events, but also a simple daily workflow. Supplement such posts with photos to make them more interesting for your target audience. But do not forget that the quality of the images must be high. Photos should be branded.
Posts to Engage
For the positive dynamics of the development of the company’s page on the social network and maintaining the activity of subscribers, it is necessary to hold any contests, flash mobs, polls and other events at least once a month to increase the involvement of the potential target audience. The problem in this case may be the uniformity of this kind of posts. They must be varied in order to continue to arouse interest among subscribers.
In order for such posts to be seen by as many people as possible, connect targeted advertising. Only in conjunction with this tool will you be able to get a really noticeable increase in new subscribers.
Selling or commercial posts
Only about 20% of the total amount of information posted on social networks are selling posts. They usually relate to specific products or services of a particular company.
It’s hard to sell on Instagram if you don’t have high-quality photo content or your services can’t be presented beautifully with any images or videos. But this site is great for online stores.
Facebook or VKontakte give a little more opportunities, since there is no such strong attachment to photo and video content, you can present and promote using texts. Although, of course, content with a visual component also attracts more attention on these sites and is better ranked by internal algorithms.
For a presentation on social networks, they usually choose:
- New. They are loved by potential buyers and they quickly attract attention.
- Popular goods. These can include both the most marginal and the most demanded positions.
- Collections with goods. You can name them differently to keep your audience interested. For example, “fashionable”, “relevant”, etc. This is a good option for both products and services.
- Month selection. This move is suitable for hotels, restaurants and tourism businesses. Especially if you run some kind of action at the same time. You can honestly count and announce the most popular products or services, or make an “artificial choice”.
- Promotions, discounts and special offers. When creating them, you should keep in mind the ODP formula, that is, be sure to indicate the offer, deadline or time limit and a call to action
Top 3 stock mistakes
When developing promotional or special offers, business owners often make three mistakes that reduce the interest of the target audience. These errors are:
1. Banality. For example, 5% discount on the first order.
2. Persistence:
- The action takes a very long time (6 months, for example);
- Promotions are held very often (every week / month).
3. No one found out about the action, since you did not allocate an additional budget for its promotion, advertising.
Title: Promotion! For Valentine’s Day! 30% off Ultra Bra System
Main text: Why buy as a gift for your beloved:
- Prevents bra underwires from getting into the nozzles of the washing machine.
- Keeps the shape of the bra throughout the wash.
- Saves time on hand washing.
- Withstands washing and drying temperatures up to 95°
Why should you buy from us? Free delivery across Kyiv within 3 hours after the order. Price: 175 UAH 125 UAH.
Why buy now? Discount card as a gift.
Call to action:
How to buy? Order via direct.
When compiling a content plan for social networks, you can also use:
- User Content. Great for attracting the attention of potential users to the product and increasing trust in it and the company. In the long run, this will lead to increased sales. User content can be both textual information and photos or videos. For example, one of the well-known online stores asked its customers to make videos of how they unpack, test the purchased product and share their impressions in the process. Such videos were posted on the network, causing interest in the product, as well as increasing the credibility of the online store. Users for the videos they shoot are usually provided with gifts or a discount on the next order.
- Trending content. Such posts can quickly take off due to the popularity of the topic, but then they are usually forgotten just as quickly. Remember the period of popularity of the song of the Leningrad group and their song Louboutins. References to this song were found in quite successful advertising campaigns of online stores in other directions, far from the shoe industry. For example, one chain of construction supermarkets used “louboutins” in an advertisement for resistant paint intended for any kind of work.
- Long texts or longposting. High-quality and interestingly written long text posted on social networks is often shared by other groups or published in the media.
When writing posts and in the process of preparing a content plan:
- Add a vibrant photo. It grabs the attention of users. Write simple, understandable and not boring text.
- Connect with your audience the same way you would with your friends. Remember that this is not a scientific conference, but social networks, so the presentation of information should be simpler, without the use of complex sentences.
- Break text into paragraphs. Please note that the paragraph of the text should not contain many sentences. The best option is 3-4. Leave a line break between paragraphs to make it easier for the reader to read the text.
- Provoke communication. At the end of the post, ask a question with a positive connotation. For example, “What do you think?” or “How do you like this idea?”, “What do you think about this?” etc.
- Develop your own presentation style. Then even when reposting or copying your texts, it will be easy to find the original source.
- Bet on quality. It is better to publish less texts, but of good quality. For commercial groups, 1-3 updates per day are enough, for thematic information communities – 6-10.
Internet marketing expert. Head of marketing agency MAVR.
Business degree “Master of Business Administration” (MBA).