How to Make Optimal Use of Social Media?

Social media: many of us wake up with it and go to bed with it. It has become an indispensable part of our daily lives.

Using social media to promote your business is therefore an excellent idea.

You can use social media in various ways: text, images, and video.

How and when do you employ these different aspects?

We explain how to best approach this so that you can get the most out of your social media posts.

How Do You Use Text on Social Media?

On social media, you want to engage and trigger your target audience with your texts.

It’s important not only to be visible but also to hold your audience’s attention and involve them in your content.

We use text on our Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn channels to inform and keep our target audience up-to-date.

Whether you want to inform, inspire, promote, or entertain, the way you compose your messages makes a big difference.

We have compiled a list of tips for your content creation process that can help you.

Determine the Purpose of your Message

Will it be an informative, inspiring, promotional, supportive, or other type of message? The purpose of your message is essential for the tone and content. It determines how you will structure the message and which conversion action you want to focus on.

Make sure your goal is clear before you start writing. This way, you can use a relevant approach and the right tone to achieve this goal.

Stay True to Yourself

The content you post should be related to you and your business and fit well with you. So don’t just be guided by what your competitors are posting.

Authenticity is key; it strengthens the credibility and trust of your audience. Let your unique voice and personality shine through in your messages.

Use an Active Writing Style

Avoid passive text usage in your messages, always write actively and directly. Active writing makes your message more lively and engaging.

For example, instead of “Discover how your life can be improved by our products,” write “Discover how our products can improve your life!”

Put the most Important Part of your Text in the 1st Sentence

Your message is often a gateway to other information: think of a website with your promotions, a link to your product, or a registration form.

In a social media post, the first sentence(s) are visible, and the reader must click through to see the rest of the text. Therefore, that first sentence should be the reason to want to read the rest.

A strong opening sentence immediately grabs attention and encourages readers to continue reading.

Keep it Short and Clear

Always write concisely and to the point. On social media, there’s no room for long introductions or complicated, lengthy sentences. People lose interest quickly.

Go for short, catchy sentences that convey your message directly. Use bullet points to present important information clearly.

Keep it Light

Of course, it depends on your target audience and the industry you’re in, but make sure the texts are easy to digest.

It’s not unusual to use a more informal tone than on your website. Humor can also be effective, as long as it’s appropriate and professional.

Keep an Eye on the Maximum Number of Characters

Each platform has a maximum number of characters that fit in a post. When you’ve written a text, you should review that text again for each platform.

Does the essence of your message still hold (with fewer or more characters)?

Think of Twitter with a limit of 280 characters versus Instagram captions that can be longer.

Preferably Don’t Use Shortened URLs

Some tools allow you to shorten a link, like bit.ly or tiny.url. It’s not advisable to shorten the links in your social media post.

A shortened link appears untrustworthy to the reader; they don’t know where they’ll end up when they click on the link (and therefore don’t do it).

Instead, try to use full, clearly recognizable links.

Write in the Language of your Target Audience

For this, you need to know your target audience inside out. You create a real version of your ideal customer, as it were.

Only then can you start writing specifically for this target group, to influence and specifically address them. If you manage that, you’ll be able to reach them.

Use jargon only if you’re sure your target audience understands it.

Focus on 1 Topic

Don’t wander off in your message to report as much as possible. Can you split the topic? Then make multiple messages with a sub-topic per message.

This not only makes your messages clearer but also increases the chance that your audience will take in your full message.

Make the Reader Enthusiastic and Arouse Their Curiosity

The goal of your message is often to get people to click through to read more or visit your website.

How do you ensure they do that? By ‘seducing’ them and taking them along in the text of your message. Ask questions or use teasers to arouse curiosity.

Make Sure your Text is Error-Free

It doesn’t come across as very professional when you have all kinds of typos and spelling errors in your message.

Read your text a few more times before you post it. Or even better, have someone else read your text too. An error-free text contributes to your credibility and professionalism.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags are used on various social media. You recognize them by the small icon # with a word behind it. If you click on it, you’ll find all kinds of messages about the same topic.

Hashtags make it possible to be shown to people who read more posts about the topic/hashtag. Use relevant and trending hashtags to increase your reach.

Don’t Forget the Call to Action

Almost always, you want to encourage people to take a certain action. You do this with the help of a call to action.

Examples are: like this post, tag someone, share this post, or subscribe now, etc.

A clear and appealing call to action ensures that it’s clear what the user should do. This way, you achieve your goals faster!

How Do You Use Images on Social Media?

In general, social media posts with images perform better than text-only posts. Make use of that.

Add a matching image to your textual message or get started with ‘stories’ on Instagram and Facebook.

The possibilities are endless: product photos, infographics, and company photos, for example.

Maintain a Consistent, Recognizable Appearance

As a brand, you want your visual material to align well with your house style.

Therefore, keep your house style and logo consistent in all the visual material you use on social media. This way, you quickly become recognizable to the target audience.

Optimize Images for each Platform

Nowadays, you can upload images in any format on every social media channel. But it’s still good to look at which format fits best.

On Instagram, images still appear square on your profile, so it’s best to opt for square images (1080 x 1080).

Are you working with stories? Then you need vertical images (1080 x 1920).

Quality is a Priority

Sounds logical, but quality is really very important to come across as professional.

We recommend having photos taken by a photographer and not doing it yourself.

Are you going to take photos yourself? Then always prefer a camera over a smartphone and export images in high resolution.

Make it Personal

Images with team members, customers, and partners give an authentic and personal feel.

It works well to connect the target audience with your brand, but it’s not for every business. Personal images make your brand more human and accessible.

Influencers/UGC

Are you not able to create visual material yourself? Consider UGC (user-generated content). It’s content that has been created by someone who has used/tested your product.

If you want to do it even bigger, you can collaborate with influencers: people with many social media followers who influence a certain group. It can greatly increase the credibility and visibility of your brand.

Avoid Fines

Also important to mention; never just copy photos from others.

It can cost you thousands of euros, which of course no one wants. Always use your own visual material or buy royalty-free images.

How Do You Handle Videos on Social Media?

Videos are everywhere nowadays, and that’s not without reason. Moving images attract attention and are a great way to convey your message.

So it’s good to know how to use video content in the right way.

We list the four different types of video content:

Short-form video: Short videos have been hugely popular in recent years on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube shorts. They can last between 5 seconds and 1 minute and are usually played automatically.

Long-form video: Long videos can be shared on Instagram via IGTV, or on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Long-form videos are usually more than 1 minute long.

Stories: Stories are short (vertical) videos (up to 15 seconds long) that disappear after 24 hours. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn all have their own version of stories.

Live streams: Live streams are unedited videos that are streamed on the spot. You can find these on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Ensure a Clear Flow

Every video, long or short, should have a clear introduction, middle, and conclusion.

This makes it clear and organized for the viewer. Also remember: people’s attention span is decreasing more and more.

The First 5 Seconds are Crucial

You have about five seconds in a video to grab someone’s attention before they scroll further.

So make sure the intro is catchy and ultra-engaging. It can work to your advantage to tell your most important info earlier in the video.

Use Text and Subtitles

Text and subtitles not only make your videos more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing, but also ensure that viewers can follow your story, even if their volume is off.

Some platforms like Facebook, IGTV, and YouTube can automatically generate subtitles.

Choose a Catchy Thumbnail

A good thumbnail (the static image you see when the video is not yet playing) is crucial. Choose one that fits with your other content and invites viewers to watch the video.

Add a Clear Call-To-Action

Choose in advance which action you want the viewer to take and keep it simple.

It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect

On social media, it doesn’t all have to be perfect. Extremely perfect videos are often associated with advertising, and that creates resistance. Recognizability and humor can work wonders. Focus on authentic content.

Conclusion

Social media has become an indispensable marketing vehicle for every business.

Effectively using different content types – text, images, and videos – can make a big difference in how your target audience perceives and interacts with your brand.

Do you need help optimizing your online marketing strategy? Online Presence has 20+ years of online marketing experience and has helped many companies achieve great results.

Contact us now with no obligation and we will be happy to help you.