Great Content Can Rev Up Your Social Media Engine

Content development for your social media is how you develop a community online.

 

Almost every business is on social media. The global network can make it increasingly difficult for your business to be heard. Up-to-the-minute news and events are attention-grabbing and may leave your business’ content in the dust.

 

So, how do you stand out? How are you going to get eyes on your business with all of the competition out there? At Kinetic, we know that understanding this concept will help content development.

 

First and foremost, you need to know your unique value proposition. What differentiates you from your competition? What do you offer that someone who provides the same service doesn’t? You need to establish this and build content surrounding that to be successful in the business world. It is the same for social media.

 

Few marketing tactics are as versatile as social media. You can communicate your value proposition repeatedly and in various ways. This gives an audience a clear message of why they should choose you rather than your competition. So, when you develop your content, that should be in the back of your mind.

 

Know your audience

Social media gives a lot of information regarding your audience. It provides insights on various demographics on who is following you and who your fans are. This information is invaluable when developing your content. Knowing your audience will ensure you can create the right content to appeal to them and also which social media platform you should focus on.

 

Establish the audience you want as well as the audience you have. As with any marketing strategy, you must know who your ideal customer is and how to appeal to them.

 

Context marketing 

The more personalized and relevant to your message, the more engagement you will get with your audience. You’ll better understand the context behind why a person contacted you. That is the foundation of your professional relationship.

• What post prompted a follow?
• What time/day is most of your audience on social?
• What pain point did you address in a post that prompted the most engagement?

 

Measuring and documenting these points will give you the context to why people engaged with you, and that will determine what kind of content you should be developing.

 

Copywriting content 

Social posts can be tricky. No one truly knows why someone loves a piece of art when another person hates it. There is no science in it. Long posts can perform well when relevant while three words can be enough for people to hit that like button.

 

The best way to develop your copy is by understanding your voice and the tone and tenor of your business’ brand. Industry jargon is fine as long as you are searching to engage people within your industry. Alternatively, if you are searching for your next client or customer, distinguish what their lingo/jargon is.

 

Write in your voice and speak to their needs and wants. After all, social media is about authenticity and giving people a personal touch. Too much ad speak can turn people away, so finding the delicate balance of personal and professional is vital to successful social media copywriting.

 

Get inspiration! There is nothing wrong with going to your competitors’ pages and see what they are doing. Maybe get some inspiration and apply to your page some of the calls-to-action others are using. Let’s be honest content is recycled and sampled. Social media is a billion-person network. Don’t be embarrassed if you did something The Simpsons did in 2004.

 

Images

The average person scrolls the height of Mount Everest in a year. So, it begs the question, what made you stop scrolling and like an image or look at a post?

 

Posts with images are more likely to be noticed, so the image you share on social media must make an impression. Dynamic and unique images that are branded are a must for a professional page.

 

Mix it up! Professional photography is not the only thing you should be pushing out on your socials. Map out your image content to include a mixture of manicured shots and behind the scenes casual pictures.

 

Make sure each image is optimized for the platform.

 

Facebook:

 

• Facebook profile picture size: 180 x 180
• Facebook cover photo size: 820 x 462
• Facebook link image size: 1200 x 630
• Facebook image post size: 1200 x 630
• Facebook event image size: 1920 x 1080
• Facebook video size: 1280 x 720
• Maximum Facebook video length: 240 minutes
• Facebook ad size: 1200 x 628
• Facebook video ad size: 1280 x 720
• Facebook Story ad size: 1080 x 1920
• Facebook group cover image size: 1640 x 922
• Facebook messenger image ad size: 1200 x 628

 

Instagram:

 

• Instagram profile picture size: 110 x 110
• Instagram photo sizes: 1080 x 1080 (square), 1080 x 566 (landscape), 1080 x 1350 (portrait)
• Instagram Stories size: 1080 x 1920
• Minimum Instagram video sizes: 600 x 600 (square), 600 x 315 (landscape), 600 x 750 (portrait), 600 x 700 (carousel video dimensions)
• Maximum Instagram video length: 60 seconds
• Minimum Instagram image ad size: 500 pixels wide
• Instagram photo thumbnails: 161 x 161
• Instagram ads size: 1080 x 566 pixels (landscape), 1080 x 1080 pixels (square)
• Instagram IGTV video size: 1080 x 1920

 

Twitter:

 

• Twitter profile picture size: 400 x 400
• Twitter header size: 1500 x 500
• Twitter post image size: 1024 x 512
• Twitter card image size: 1200 x 628
• Twitter video size: 720 x 720 (square), 1280 x 720 (landscape), 720 x 1280 (portrait)
• Maximum Twitter video length: 140 seconds
• Twitter ad size (image): 800 x 428
• Twitter ad size (video): 720 x 720 (square), 1280 x 720 (landscape), 720 x 1280 (portrait)

 

LinkedIn:

Company pages:

• LinkedIn company logo size: 300 x 300
• LinkedIn cover photo size: 1536 x 768
• LinkedIn dynamic ads size: 100 x 100 (company logo)
• LinkedIn sponsored content image size: 1200 x 627
• LinkedIn hero image size: 1128 x 376
• LinkedIn business banner image: 646 x 220

Personal pages:

• LinkedIn profile picture size: 400 x 400
• LinkedIn background photo size: 1584 x 396
• LinkedIn post image size: 1200 x 1200 (desktop) 1200 x 628 (mobile)
• LinkedIn link post size: 1200 x 628
• LinkedIn video size: 256 x 144 (minimum) to 4096 x 2304 (maximum)
• Maximum LinkedIn video length: 10 minutes

Pinterest:

• Pinterest profile picture: 165 x 165
• Pinterest board display image: 222 x 150
• Pinterest standard pin size: vertical images 1000 x 1500
• Pinterest video specs: square (1:1) or vertical (2:3, 9:16) Length: minimum 4 seconds, maximum 15 minutes
• Pinterest promoted video: square (1:1) or widescreen (16:9) Length: minimum 4 seconds, maximum 15 minutes
• Pinterest promoted carousels: 2-5 images per carousel, aspect ratio: 1:1 or 2:3

 

Video

Video engagement has been documented to be the most effective tool in your social media arsenal. Make sure you have a clear objective with your video. A sporadic video with no long-term planning is useless and doesn’t translate well if you cannot be consistent with delivery.

 

Videos can be simple and easy. They don’t need a big production and even can be a simple video from your phone. The content can be brand message, testimonial, product showcase or a special message to address a customer pain point.

 

Social media video efficacy can be seen across all platforms as Social Media Today reports:

• Tweets with video see 10x more engagement than those without – and promoted Tweets with videos save more than 50% on cost-per-engagement
• LinkedIn users are 20x more likely to share a video on the platform than any other type of post
• Pinterest users are 2.6x more likely to make a purchase after viewing brand video content on the platform
• Video generates more engagement than any other content type on Instagram

 

Monitoring

How do you know that your content is performing? Measure it! Each social media platform has insights that you can access to gauge how your page is doing and what is reaching and engaging your audience. The key performance indicators you should be tracking are:

• Engagement
  • Clicks
  • Likes
  • Shares
  • Comments
• Brand mentions
• Followers
• Reach
• Leads
• Customers

 

Don’t be afraid to completely reimagine your marketing strategy for social media. It is a constantly changing environment and takes vigilance and experimentation. Don’t give up; it is worth the effort. If you are finding it to be a challenge, Kinetic is always here to help.