Social media is now a massive force in the lives of millions of people. Facebook has over a billion users – incredible. We have expanded our reach exponentially to form truly global communities through the power of social networks.
Defined as websites and applications that allow us to create and share content among our peers, communities and to the general public, social media has opened the doors to many possibilities – business opportunities, e-marketing and the like. Every trending company today is undoubtedly using social media for business and for good reason, it just works.
With competition rising day in and day out, the vast number of options people encounter in a day make it difficult to rise above all the noise and get your social posts out to a large audience. To get our posts noticed, we of course need to make them not only as catchy as possible but in line with the following standards. We are sharing our 10 best tips which can dramatically increase reach of your social media posts…
1. Keep an Eye on your Content
The basic rule for content on social media is to keep it of a very high quality. Not only should your content be related to your business, it should be trendy as well. The more trendy your topics are, the greater the likelihood of them being searched for and read by your potential audience. You can use free tools like Sumo to find out which topics are trending today.
2. Engage the Audience
Get engagement as early as possible is the rule of thumb in social media. Your Post should be attractive. Nobody likes listening to that boring “monotone” professor. Why would you think anybody would want to read something like that? Though information and details should never be left out, it couldn’t hurt to add a little humour here and there. Keep it fun!
3. Internal Links
Though from a glance it might not seem like much, but internal links actually guide your readers and help them get more information on topics or items which may need further discussion. These also adds value for your audience as it allows them to further interact with your site or posts.
4. Developing a Catchy Subject Line
Just as newspapers make their titles as enticing as possible, you should do the same for your posts and articles. Plain or repetitively used subject lines won’t just be a bore, it will virtually guarantee that people won’t bother to read, much less share, your post. So don’t stick to what everyone else is doing. Stand out, be unique with your subject lines. Don’t stray too far of your topic though- you wouldn’t want readers to think you’re writing about something else than what you mean to.
5. Quizzes
Interaction is the key! The more involved your readers are, the more their interest will pique. A light trivia or even a simple know-yourself-better quiz will definitely keep your readers scrolling down. Having some problems making one? You could always check out quizzes other people have created. If that doesn’t help there are also online quiz generators you can make use of.
6. Make Use of Videos
Adding pictures to a book brings more life and dynamism to a story. Similarly, videos have the same effect on your posts. With music, action and visual examples, your posts become more interesting. At times, videos also offer a better explanation than plain words ever could.
7. Add content as a conversation starter
Every single person on social media is ready to communicate. Involve more people to stand out. For example share a live video. People love it when we “Go live!” Then personally respond to as many of the comments as possible.
8. Evoke Emotion
Ever heard of the saying “people may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.” This holds true for whatever you post, write, share or even do. The stronger the emotions felt by your audience, the more attached they become to what you are talking about.
9. Plan and Schedule
Why bother with planning and scheduling your social posting? Because organization is still a valuable asset to anything we do. This holds true to social media posts as well. Planning out your posts per week, per day or even per month, gives your audience something to look forward to and grow with as they follow your postings. This also gives order to your work. Make a schedule, put it where you will see it, and stick to it! You want to be frequent and consistent, just not intrusive. Once a week is minimum but daily is probably a bit much. By the way, Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm is optimal posting time for maximum engagement.
10. Hashtags and Tagging
A key element to keeping your posts at the top, hashtags and tagging should be made in accordance with your content and topic. This gives your readers a peek as to what’s in store for them if they dig deeper and these also help pique their curiosity.
So
that’s it. If you follow these guidelines, your posts will shine, stand out in
all the noise, and most importantly, create engagement and start a conversation
and that is the whole point.
Go post something!