How to Create Engaging Social Media Content That Drives Results

Creating consistent social media content that resonates with your customers and delivers measurable results is an ongoing challenge for SMEs. Simply being present on social media isn’t enough. You also have the Herculean task of standing out in a sea of posts, reels, and advertisements from thousands of other businesses. In this competitive landscape, how do you create content that aligns with your strategic business goals and engages your target customers? In this article, we break down the different content formats and techniques used on social media and the importance of staying authentic to your brand voice. Read on to find out more.

Engagement: Why It Matters

‘Engagement’ is one of the magic words in marketing, but why is it so important? Engagement is essentially an umbrella term that encompasses likes, shares, clicks, and any other positive action your audience takes in response to your social media content. Engagement is, therefore, a good measure of how much your target audience enjoys your content, but there is more to it than this. Social platforms reward high engagement levels by showing your posts more prominently in search results and to a larger audience, which increases your visibility and potential impact. This makes engagement the gateway to growing your reach and achieving your business objectives on social media.

How To Align Your Content With Your Business Ethos and Audience

The key to creating effective and engaging content is a solid understanding of who you’re speaking to, what they need, and how to tailor your messages to their preferences. To do this, ask yourself:

1. Is this content relevant to my target customers?
2. Does it stay true to my business’s voice and values?
3. Does it encourage interaction, such as likes, comments, and shares?

Ideally, each piece of content should answer yes to all three questions, with anything less risking diluting your brand or failing to capture your customer’s attention. Consistency is also critically important. For example, if your company positions itself as a professional authority in your sector, your posts should reflect this through professionally presented, insightful tips, thought leadership articles and videos, and other educational content. Go easy on the comedic memes and motivational quotes!

So, What Is The Best Type Of Content To Use For Maximum Engagement?

1. Video Content

Video content is dominating social media like never before, and it’s not difficult to see why. Videos are engaging, versatile, easy to watch on mobile devices, and can convey information quickly and concisely. In particular, short-form video content (e.g. Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts) is particularly effective at capturing customer attention.

To set your videos up for success, we recommend keeping them concise. Aim for under 60 seconds to hook viewers in quickly. Also, include subtitles to ensure accessibility for viewers who like to scroll with the sound off. And be authentic! Polished and highly produced videos can work on social media, but informal clips and behind-the-scenes videos often perform better due to their relatability.

2. Carousels

Carousels allow you to share multiple images in a single post, making them a good channel for telling stories or sharing step-by-step guides. Carousels work by encouraging users to spend more time interacting with your posts by swiping through the images or slides. This added time spent on your content sends signals to the social media algorithms that your post is relevant and worth sharing with more users. Hence, greater search visibility

3. User Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is the most ‘social’ form of social media content, being directly created by your customers themselves. User-generated content can refer to any photo, video, or written content shared or created by your customers or followers. This kind of content is invaluable for businesses, being authentic, relatable, and great at developing trust in your brand. UGC also shows that your customers value your products or services enough to showcase them online to their family, friends, and colleagues.

4. Interactive Content and Polls

Polls and surveys are straightforward but highly effective ways of boosting social media engagement. Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook all offer intuitive poll-creating features that can double as market research tools. What makes a good poll? Ask simple questions about your customers’ preferences, such as ‘which feature they value most in a product – quality or price?’ You can also use surveys to tap into seasonal fashions or gain opinions on leading trends within your sector. Interactive content sends a powerful signal to search engine algorithms that your brand is engaging, maximising post visibility in future feeds.

Best Practices For Encouraging UGC:

1. Encourage your customers to share content between your products or services, tagging your business name or hashtag.
2. Run a specific campaign with a unique hashtag to make it easy to track submissions.
3. Highlight the best UGC on your company social media pages to reward participation and incentivise others.

What Next?

Start small, be consistent, and most importantly, keep experimenting with content to discover what works best for your audience. For more information, please click here to claim a free copy of our Social Media for Business Guide.