Curating Content: How to Develop Engaging Content for Your Social Media Channels.

When creating content for your social media pages, there’s a lot to consider. If you want your post to be seen, engaged with, and help grow your brand and business, you need to understand that utilizing social media effectively is more than just posting random content on a page or app. That may have worked years back but no longer. 

 

Why can’t I just post content on social media and hope for the best? Isn’t the important thing pumping out content consistently? 

 

Consistency is just one of the key factors in growing an effective social media account. However, consistently putting out the wrong content, using a tone of voice that doesn’t appeal to your target audience, or using pictures that aren’t visually appealing when posting can actually hurt more than help. Not to mention how much time you waste doing so. Below are a few things to take into consideration when preparing content to post across your social media channels. 

 

1. Take your target audience into consideration. 

Talking advanced physics to a group of toddlers would probably be a waste of everyone’s time. Not only that, but you’d likely have some pretty frazzled physicists and very cranky toddlers at the end of the day. Social media is the same way. You not only have to create the content your target audience wants to engage with but also create it in the way they will best relate to. If your target audience is the senior citizen crowd, we doubt you should use popular slang, meme references, or Billie Eilish lyrics to drive your point across. If you’re targeting Christian/religious moms, you may want to steer clear of using curse words or other content they may find offensive. 

TIP: Always craft your content in a way that will appeal to the followers you wish to find and keep. 

 

2. Take your social media platform into consideration. 

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but believe me, it isn’t. Not all content is created equal. And neither are all social media platforms. Always craft your content according to the platform. Sure, it takes a lot more time and dedication to do so, but believe me, it makes a difference. Do not auto-post a single piece of content across all your channels. Your followers can tell if you do, and your social media post engagement will suffer as a result. 

TIP: Always craft content for each of your social media channels separately for better engagement and growth. 

 

3. Take your brand voice and style guide into consideration.

No one likes ugly or chaotic pages. Your brand and how you present your content via social media is what will set you apart from other social media pages. Take a bit of time to consider how you want to come across to your followers. Do you want to sound professional? Casual? Hip? Edgy? Do you want dark and mysterious images? Maybe tons of rainbows and glitter? Remember that every piece of content you put out and every post you make will represent you and your brand. 

TIP: Make sure you truly understand the image you wish to create online and use that when crafting content for your social media presence.  

 

 4. Take your post time and frequency into consideration. 

This tip may take you a bit of time and tweaking to figure out. When are your followers online? What is the best time to post so that you get maximum engagement? How often should you post on Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Etc.? Honestly, there isn’t a correct answer here. You have to jump in there, do a little research and then begin experimenting. Keep track of what days and even hours your posts get the best engagement and adjust your posting schedule accordingly. If you get awesome results on weekends, consider posting more content than normal at that time and see how it goes. 

TIP: Research other companies that are similar to yours and look at their post-engagement. If it’s doing great, then they may be on to something. That would be a great starting point for you. 

 

5. Remember the Golden Rule. 

In the world of social media, your follower count doesn’t matter much if your followers do not engage with your content. Content cannot be king if no one reads & engages with it.