Create Effective Social Media Posts: A Guide
By Nine Hive Digital
1. Video Content
Social media platform algorithms prefer videos over text and photos. But that’s not to say that you shouldn’t post photos and text. It simply means that you should add more videos to the mix. You can post short videos of what you’re up to in your personal life. You can post off-the-cuff videos of the property you have on the market. You can post a quick video about your thoughts on the market. The possibilities are endless!
Best practices for video content:
- Create vertical/portrait videos to post on Instagram and Facebook Reels and TikTok
- Keep them shorter than 1.5 minutes
- First 3 seconds are the most crucial with engaging your audience. Summarize what the topic of the video is right at the start
- Cut out dead-air. Edit out parts of your video with silences and long pauses.
- People love faces. Get in front of the camera and show your face!
2. Respond to Engagers
Once you have people commenting and reacting to your posts, you should reply to them with a unique message, and send them a direct message if appropriate. This ensures that people know that you are aware and appreciative of their engagement and shows the algorithm that your profile is engaging to users. A win-win!
You can ask them questions to engage them too. The key is to ensure that they feel heard and have them feel that their opinions matter too.
3. Share More of Your Personal Life
This is a tough one. Quite a lot of our clients prefer to keep their private life… Private. We understand that. But you definitely should post at least a few snippets of your personal life to your socials. It doesn’t have to be pictures of your family. It can be a coffee you grabbed from a local café, it can also be what your work environment looks like.
What sharing more from your personal life does is give your audience an organic window to you and what you’re truly about. This creates more of a connection for them with your brand.
What can you share?
- Food at a local restaurant that you like (Don’t forget to tag them)
- An activity that you’re partaking in, such as, sports, charity work, the Wonderland. Anything that you’re interested in, really
- Movies, TV shows and sports you’re currently into
- Video reels on your Facebook/Instagram Stories of other people who resonate with you (Make sure you don’t excessively post these)
- Behind-the-scenes while you’re working
4. Invest in Paid Ads
Organic social media posts are great, but they won’t reach an audience outside of your immediate circle for the most part. Social media platforms are set up now for paid ads more than organic posts. So, you should be running at least one paid ad at all time, even if it’s just $5/day. The ad should be creative, clear, easy to understand and include a call-to-action.
Examples of ads you can run:
- Lead magnet ads that capture contact info by providing them with something of value
- Brand awareness ads that showcase the best of your content to an audience outside of your followers. You can use the “Boost Ad” feature on Facebook and Instagram
- Traffic ads that lead users to your website
5. Remember: These Are Humans…
It’s easy to forget that we’re posting for humans, not robots because we’re all behind screens. At the end of the day, the posts that perform the best are the ones that feel organic and appeal to people. Keeping the text clear and fun to read, as well as keeping the visuals eye-catching are beneficial.
People expect to be entertained and informed on social media platforms, so it’s beneficial to offer your audience value for their time. Once you continue to show that you’re an authority in your industry, your audience will think of you when they’re in the market for your product or service.
6. Post Regularly!
This goes without saying. But the most important aspect to social media marketing is posting regularly. Set a posting schedule for yourself and make sure to stick to it.
Be sure to maximize the quality of your posts. Don’t post for the sake of posting. Think about what value your posts provide to your target audience. It’s good to post everyday, but it’s even better to post quality content that takes a little longer to create.
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