How to Generate High Quality Social Media Content
Creating high quality social media content is not easy and requires some practice. Many people focus on the graphics and a polished look of a post, but ultimately, it is the value that the content provides to the viewer that will keep them engaged and have them coming back time and time again. In this post, we are going to talk about content creation tips and ideas that will elevate your posts and make your content more engaging.
HAVE A POSTING STRATEGY
Many creators struggle to know what to post or post content that seems random and doesn’t serve a specific purpose. Understanding your own brand and knowing what you want to achieve with every piece of your content is the key foundation of creating successful posting startegy. There are several questions to answer when you are creating it:
What are you trying to achieve with your social media presence?
What is the tone and visual style of your brand?
Who are your target audience?
What do they care about?
How will your content resonate with their values and needs?
Where do they consume content?
When do they consume content?
How will you keep them engaged?
How often are you going to post?
What formats are you going to use?
It is best to write down the answers to these questions, as this will be a useful document to share with anyone working on your marketing and some of it will apply across various business disciplines such as sales and customer service.
CREATING INDIVIDUAL CONTENT PIECES
When you have your posting strategy, you can start planning your individual content pieces. They should all have common themes, styles and tones and create collections that make sense as a whole - much like when releasing a clothing line. And while the individual items will have different purposes - from behind the scenes videos to informative carousel posts and visually captivating static images, they should all form a piece of the puzzle that allows your followers and casual viewers build a clear and solid image of what your business offers and what it stands for.
It’s best to plan out the pieces of your content with details and make sure that you know not only what you need to capture, but why you are doing it. When you know what you want to post, make a storyboard or a sketch of what you are planning to post and create a shot list of images or videos that are needed to achieve your creative vision, but keep these relatively simple as you will need to be consistently providing a steady stream of posts. This is more important than producing fewer really great and polished posts sporadically.
A good idea is to stack content creation blocks into stacks of similar tasks. This way, you can spend a chunk of time planning several posts and writing out ideas, then have a separate time block for filming, photography and sourcing out content and finally - time blocks for editing, copywriting and scheduling your posts. The amount of time you spend on each stack of tasks will depend on the quantity and specifics of your content. Therefore, it’s important not to overcommit, especially if you are just starting out.
LEARN FROM THE BEST
When planning your content, spend some time researching your competitors as well as some of the biggest players in your industry to see what they are doing. Watch best ad compilations on YouTube or deep-dive into social media accounts of some of the best companies out there. Take a look at what your competitors are posting on social media, and see how they're engaging with their audience. This can give you some ideas for what's working well in your industry, and can help you identify areas where you can differentiate yourself and stand out.
It may also be a good idea to hire a professional social media content creation and management company or professional who will assist you in creating your strategy, posts, schedule them for you and spend some time engaging with your audience. Obviously, that may not work for everyone, so outsourcing individual parts such as filming or photography may suit you better. Working with professionals may give you ideas of how to improve your skills in those areas and get a better understanding on how to create content yourself.
SEE WHAT’S TRENDING
Take inspiration from popular trends and current events. People are always talking about the latest trends and events, and you can use these as inspiration for your own content. For example, if there's a popular TV show or movie that everyone is talking about, you could create content that ties into that, or if there's a big event happening in your industry, you could create content that relates to that. To find out what’s trending, have a look at different social media feeds and make note of reoccurring topics, sounds and visuals. You can also search for what is trending online, but the key is to find what is trending amongst your target audience as most trends are not universal and will appeal to specific demographics.
STAY IN TOUCH
Ask for feedback and opinions. Social media is a two-way conversation, and it's important to engage with your audience and ask for their thoughts and opinions. You could ask them to share their experiences with your products or services, or ask for their feedback on a new idea or concept you're working on. Share user-generated content that your customers or followers have created and shared with you. This could be a photo or video they took of your product in action, or a review or testimonial they wrote about your business. Sharing this content can help you show off your customers' experiences and build trust and credibility with your audience. It will also make your customers feel valued and heard. Make a list of your top fans who engage with your content the most and regularly engage with you. You can then invite them to preview, test and review your new products and services. Reach out to them on various occasions and create a strong bond and address any concerns they may have. Be open to receiving negative feedback and invite your critics to message you privately to share their negative experiences as this is always a valuable way to learn about ways to improve your products and services.
RETAIN INTEREST
In order not to bore your followers and viewers, create a mix of content formats while staying true to your business vision. Don't just stick to one type of content – try out different opyions to keep your content fresh and engaging. You could try posting videos, live streams, polls, quizzes, or other interactive content, to keep your followers interested and engaged. Highlight your products or services, promote their value, benefits, unique features. Share behind-the-scenes content, show your followers the full journey from creating ideas, to implementing them and rolling out the result. You could share photos or videos of your team at work, or give your followers a sneak peek at a new product or service you're launching. This type of content can help humanize your brand and make it more relatable and approachable. Depending on the tone of your brand, you can even share your fails and unsuccessful attempts as viewers will sympathise with you and your determination to succeed.
TEST, MEASURE, EVOLVE
To measure what your viewers perceive as quality content, keep an eye on your analytics, but view them critically. Use the insights and data from your social media analytics to understand what's working well and what isn't. Then question whether it’s working for the right audience and whether you are reaching people who will answer your call to action and become customers. This will help you identify which types of content are performing best, and which areas you should focus on to improve your results. It’s not always about how many followers, likes, saves or shares you get. What matters is how the content you produce answers your content strategy questions listed above and how it helps you achieve your goals.
When trying out new ideas, it’s also important to test them against a number of parameters. For example, a video you post may not achieve the reach you want because it was posted at the wrong time, on the wrong platform, or didn’t have the right key words or hashtags even though the quality of the content was good. So don’t get discouraged if you have attempted something and it didn’t work straight away. Recycle it in a refreshed way after some time. If it did not do well to begin with, most people will not have seen it and when they do they will consider it new. Do not change too many factors at once though, as it will be difficult to determine what made a particular post successful.
Finally, if you’ve been generating content for a while, you will know that the algorithms, popular social media platforms, content formats and features change and that means you have to learn and evolve too. The quality of your content will improve with time as you learn to refine the style, tone and technical elements and you will see increased growth in your following as a back catallogue of contnet on your accounts will help your brand establish authority and history of growth in your industry.
If you have any questions or need help with managing your social media and creating content, please get in touch with us on info@balticoakmedia.co.uk or get in touch on Instagram @balticoakmedia or LinkedIn and we will work with you to improve your online presence and create a social media strategy tailored specifically for the needs of your business.