Social Media posts are ALWAYS made up of two components. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about social media marketing for your business or your personal brand.
If you’re about to launch your website design business, social media can be a helpful way to build your client list.
The two components of social media posts: Content & Format.
Social Media Content…
is what your post is about, whether you’re talking about products or services, a giveaway, a case study in your industry that’s relevant to your business, or a new employee you’re introducing via social channels to your audience. It answers the question “What is this social media post about?”
Your content needs to resonate with your audience, so keep your content relevant to your business in a way that asks questions and allows your audience to engage in a conversation.
Social Post Format…
is how you’re posting your content to create engagement, whether it’s a text-only post, live video, a link to a blog post about trending topics, a vertical video on Instagram, an edited video on Facebook, or sharing photos to your Twitter timeline.
For format, it’s helpful to consider the channels you’re posting to. Instagram won’t allow clickable outgoing links in your post description, but Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook are great channels for outgoing clickable links.
Vertical video works really well on Instagram for either 15-second stories, or in longer form in IGTV feeds, but vertical doesn’t work as well on Twitter, for instance.
Here’s the secret to coming up with Social Media Post Ideas:
Content + Format = 1 post.
Content x Format = Multiple Posts.
Too often, businesses think of a post without considering both the content and format, but if you can come up with 3 pieces of content that your audience enjoys, and 3 different formats that they respond well to, then you’ve come up with a week’s worth of daily posts on your social media channels.
Content + Format (I posted a picture of our new product on our social media platforms)
= 3-4 posts from 1 piece of content + 1 format.
Content x Format = I posted our new product on social media: A vertical video on Instagram shared to Facebook, a picture of a customer trying the product on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Linkedin, a blog post from our supplier about the new product on all channels, and did 2 live videos on YouTube which I then shared to other platforms doing Q&A about your new product or service.
= 14 posts from 1 piece of content x multiple formats.
This ebook is full of content ideas as well as format ideas. Mix and match them to create limitless combinations of social media posts. As you keep your social media management schedule, regularly post on social media, and start to recognize which social media post ideas are resonating best with your audience, then you’ll be able to choose the formats that work best on each platform, and then the type of content your followers want to hear about.
Your social media strategy will evolve over time, but rather than getting stuck in analysis paralysis, jump in and try different combinations of format and content and see what works.
Included in the Ebook is a sample 4-week calendar where you’ll choose 5 pieces of content you’d like to include, and 5 formats, then the calendar is built for you. Simply check-in each day, and post that type of content, or use a social media scheduler and pre-build your content.
Don’t worry about repeating yourself. Most posts will only see a percentage of the people who engage with your channels but do try switching up the content and formats when you’re repeating to offer continued variety on your different social platforms.