Social media marketing: it’s the tool that every company needs to utilize.
But what are the best ways to make your social media campaign stand out? In 2022, hashtags aren’t going to cut it anymore. But creating a standout social media strategy is within your reach.
Here’s our guide with 12 of the best types of content to include in your social media content marketing strategy.
1. User-Generated Content
As more and more brands take over social media, authenticity has become more important than ever. Customers no longer want to see post after post of staged models who don’t stand behind the product they’re promoting – they want authentic content.
And user-generated content is a great way to find and channel this authenticity.
Posting user-generated content on your brand page not only shows that real users love your products, but that you also value the opinion of your customers.
On Twitter, it’s as simple as retweeting a post. On Instagram, it’s “add to story.” When users see that you appreciate their content, even more people will submit high-quality content, creating a snowball effect of engagement.
2. Behind-The-Scenes Updates
Consumers love getting to know their favorite brands. While it’s exciting to see the final reveal of a product or find out about the launch of a new service, your customers also want to know more about the details that go behind these large milestones.
If you include your audience in your day-to-day business operations, you’ll find that your connection grows even stronger. They’ll become invested in your growth and want to hear updates about how your business is doing.
Even better, adding a behind-the-scenes element to your social media platforms allows you to be creative and casual as you connect with your audience.
Are you working on a new product design? Have a team member film a video of you in the studio, brainstorming some ideas. Just a minute or two is enough to show your followers what’s going on in your mind.
Ask customers what they’d like to see more. Do they want to know what goes into certain parts of your decision-making? Maybe they want a closer look at your weekly team meeting.
Getting your followers involved should be fun and rewarding!
And when your business does achieve goal after goal, you’ll have people standing behind you who know how hard you’ve worked and support your success.
3. Contests & Competitions
Give back to customers by giving them the chance to win prizes!
If you want to quickly build up your brand’s social media presence, hosting a competition is one of the best ways to do so. With a competition, both you and your followers have the opportunity to receive great benefits.
One of the most effective ways of running a completion is by entering individuals to win free items after they follow a certain set of tasks. These tasks, whether they’re following your account, tagging three friends in the comments, or reposting your contest, will build your social media following fast.
Make sure you’re doing your giveaway right, though. You’ll want to stay away from expensive, generic items.
For instance, giving away a free computer when you’re not a tech company won’t attract long-term followers. Instead, giving valuable products that are consistent with your brand, like a yoga studio giving away a free year of lessons, will draw in the kind of people who will resonate with your business.
4. Surveys & Polls
Social media is full of brands pushing their content for viewers to look at. It’s refreshing when they ask viewers to express themselves instead.
One way you can invite your followers to participate without designing an elaborate social media strategy is by posting quizzes and polls on your social media platforms.
It’s a casual way to ask your followers what they think and catalyze a discussion on interesting topics, especially ones with unexpected answers. You have the freedom to ask broad questions that can break the ice, or more brand-specific questions that will tune you in to what your audience wants from you.
You can even use questions and polls to include viewers in your business processes and guide better business decisions.
For instance, if you’re a retailer choosing pieces to release for your next launch, you could upload a poll that asks viewers to choose their favorite products that they’d be most likely to buy.
Say you want to expand your product line to be more price-inclusive. Conducting a poll on your social media platforms is just one way you can learn more about what that means for your target audience.
5. Memes & GIFS
Memes are like the 21st century version of comics and one of the best ways to connect with followers. Everyone loves following a brand with a sense of humor.
GIFS exist for pretty much any topic, and funny memes are only a search away.
But the companies with the most successful social media strategies will create their own GIFs and memes. All you need to make a meme that’s specific to your company is a few iconic pictures and a text editor.
Giphy even has its own GIF maker for you to experiment with this sillier form of content. A topical GIF is a great way to lighten up a social media feed and engage followers who are mindlessly scrolling through their feeds.
6. Case Studies
Sharing case studies is another great way to broaden the scope of your social media content strategy. Case studies take the theoretical out of more general posts and ground them in reality.
If you’re operating in a sector that relies on results, especially B2B, introducing case studies into your social media strategy could transform the game.
Think of social media as the highlights of your particular work for a client. With a few relevant pictures and 5 or 6 key bullet points, you can explain the importance of what you accomplished for a client with an approachable amount of information.
Attention spans are only getting shorter – an average person’s attention span is down to 8 seconds from the average of 12 seconds in 2000. The faster you can present important information, the better.
So with social media, those case studies on your website that won’t get a lot of attention will now become noticed by many more people.
7. Live Streams
Connect with your followers in real-time using live streams. And if your followers can’t make it in time for the live updates, many social media platforms record the live stream for later viewing.
You can time your live streams in several ways. First, you can announce your livestream ahead of time, building up excitement and likely generating a higher crowd.
If you have a larger following and want to go with the element of your surprise, starting spontaneous livestreams is another great option to keep your followers on your toes.
In either situation, have a goal for your live streams. In some situations, urgency may be key to drive attention to new products. In others, you may just want to relax and get to know your followers casually.
8. Comments From Team Members
Using quotes and comments from your team members in your social media posts is a great way to showcase your brand’s values.
An inspirational quote from an employee is a simple and authentic way to stand out from the crowd and encourage your audience to reflect on their own values.
When a team member speaks about their own experience, it opens your brand up to a healthy position of vulnerability. It shows that the people behind the curtain are likable, hardworking, and dedicated.
And when these genuine emotions are expressed, your followers will feel a more genuine connection with your brand. It always feels nice as a customer to learn that the people responsible for your favorite products and services care as much as you do.
9. Concept Explanations & Tutorials
When your brand specializes in a certain product or service, you’re often viewed as the authority in that space.
Leverage your position as a credible source by educating your followers on relevant information. This will both add value to your social media presence and establish your business as a knowledgeable resource.
When choosing a topic that you’d like to break down or explain, look for one that’s both relevant to your brand and may be more difficult to understand. The key is to explain something in an easy way that the average viewer would otherwise have difficulty learning.
You also can add your own spin to existing topics to facilitate new discussions on worn-out topics. As long as you’re original, people will be interested.
And tutorials or explanations are one of the easiest posts for including CTAs. At the end of a guide, the next logical step is to learn more or try out what you’ve learned. A CTA along the lines of “visit our website to learn more” can be naturally placed at the end of these types of posts.
10. FAQs
What better way is there to initiate a conversation with your audience than by asking questions?
If you’re run out of clever content idea, inviting your audience to ask questions will make your engagement skyrocket.
Followers love to express their opinion and get direct feedback from a company, since customers are the ones who typically initiatiate a conversation about feedback.
Keep your questions open-ended by starting with the words “where,” “what,’ “how,” and “why.” Close-ended questions that require simple answers or yes or no responses won’t lead to much of a conversation.
And when your followers do take the time to engage in the comments, don’t leave them hanging. Respond to all comments you receive, even if it’s just a like or a thank-you for leaving feedback.
Inviting questions also gives you information on common problems that customers may be experiencing. In the future, you can make posts that address these questions or even add a FAQ page to your website.
11. Influencer Collaborations
While organic content creation is the best route, sometimes getting help from an individual or brand with a wider social media presence than you can help facilitate your own status.
It’s a great social content tactic that should be used in combination with educational and informative posts. Teaming up with an influencer is an especially good idea if your brand is new to social media.
People want to follow accounts that they can trust, and building up that trust takes time. Your content needs to be trustworthy in two ways: first it needs to have accurate and verifiable information. Second, it needs to be delivered from a reliable source.
And teaming up with an influencer is possible even if you don’t have a large audience or budget. You can find microinfluencers (people with fewer than 10,000 followers) to help you promote your brand.
12. Product Promotions
You might have heard that promoting your products within your social media marketing strategy or being too “salesy” in posts is a no-go, but it’s all about the time and place.
When you’re first building your social media presence, you’ll want to focus mostly on educating, informing, and entertaining your audience. But once your business builds up a loyal following, they’ll want to hear updates and announcement as soon as they happen.
Sharing your products regularly is something you shouldn’t shy away from. When you mix it with the the other forms of social media content we mentioned above, your followers will be happy to hear about product launches and the release of new product lines.
Keep your followers engaged by making your promotional posts as creative as possible. Take time to shoot products at a different angle or with a new lighting technique.
Master Social Media Content Marketing
Go beyond hashtags with your social media content marketing strategy and into a world of creativity. Master your socila media presence and transform your business by integrating a variety of unique, authentic content.
For even more guidance on developing the best possible social media content, get in touch with the Latitude Park team!
