What Is Social Media Content?
Social media content is content that is shared across social media platforms. The content doesn’t always need to be created with the sole purpose of being used on social media but can be used as part of a social media marketing strategy to help increase brand awareness or focus on engagement within a business.
A social media content strategy is important to have in a digital marketing agency so that the goals set out to be met by social media marketing can be measured. Content should be planned using a content calendar which will assist in keeping content planning and scheduling manageable and give you a competitive advantage over other content creators.
Why Is Content So Important In Social Media Marketing?
Social media platforms are extremely powerful in digital marketing if your campaigns are executed accurately. We can use social media to reach the right audience, build brand awareness as well as build a stronger overall online presence. The most important step in a social media strategy is to make sure that the content is of quality and that it represents your brand and the message you are trying to get across to your audience.
Here are a few reasons why QUALITY social media content is essential:
1. It helps increases organic traffic to your website
Social media marketing, namely remarketing, is aimed at getting visitors back onto your website. Having a presence on social media platforms plays a huge role in getting your website ranked higher organically.
The content displayed on social media platforms has a higher chance of engaging and interesting to your audience and therefore has a higher chance of bringing in traffic to your website than many of the other forms of paid advertising. Another big plus is that it keeps your marketing expenses pretty low!
2. It gives your brand a presence
Social media posts that contain engaging content are a lot more likely to help develop a brand and build on existing brands. Your content needs to speak to your audience if you want to keep them engaged and turn them into paying customers or converted leads. Social media engagement is an important aspect to keep a close eye on when it comes to building and maintaining a strong brand presence.
3. It keeps followers engaged and loyal
Having the right content on your social media pages is the most important step in keeping followers engaged and loyal to your brand. Likes, followers, shares, and comments are easy to get on your page and posts if the content is what your audience wants to see, which can go a long way to building a great relationship between you and your existing or future customers.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Social Media Content Types
We touched on the forms of content you should be using on social media in an earlier blog, but let’s take a closer look at what content can be used in social media marketing and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
1. Blog Posts and Articles
Blog posts and articles are a great resource to have on a website. These posts and articles can then be posted onto your social media platforms to increase engagements within your business.
Advantages:
- Blog posts and articles help your business build credibility as they give you the opportunity to show visitors/followers that you understand your industry and are able to produce content that is beneficial to them.
- Great for increasing organic traffic to a website, even without spending any money on posting to your social media platforms.
Disadvantages:
- Writing content can be very time-consuming.
- Competition is tough. Almost all industries are writing blog posts and articles so you need to keep your content fresh and relevant to the audience you are targeting.
2. Images
Images that speak to your audience will increase engagement on your social media pages and posts.
Advantages:
- Helps build and maintain brand awareness.
- Visual content complements written content and gets higher engagement rates as it is generally not scrolled past as quickly.
Disadvantages:
- There is a lot of competition on social media platforms
- Finding the right images can be time-consuming and designing them can be costly.
3. Videos
Just like images, video receives a lot more engagement than written content, probably even more than images do. The engagement of videos across social media platforms is increasing each year.
Advantages:
- Video content can be used alongside many forms of written content such as how-to’s and product updates, making this content more interesting and easier to digest by your audience.
Disadvantages:
- Can become expensive depending on the type of video content you want to produce.
4. Infographics
This is a great form of content to use with existing written content. The main part of the content is already there, you just need to change how you are presenting it to your audience.
Advantages:
- It’s more engaging to your audience as it is a visual type of content.
- Simple and quick to put together as it is built off of original content.
Disadvantages:
You need to get creative with this form of content and this may require paying someone to create it.
5. Webinars
Webinars are great for generating more leads within your business. Posting this type of content on your social media platforms allows your audience to interact with you.
Advantages:
- You have the opportunity to get immediate feedback from your audience as they have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with you.
- A recording of the webinar can be shared across your social media platforms and remain as a post to be further interacted with by followers who can’t make the live webinar.
- Helps you grow your business and build loyalty with your customers/followers.
Disadvantages:
- Can be time-consuming for the person hosting or recording the webinar.
- You can be put on the spot answering tough questions so the person hosting the webinar needs to be fully prepared and trained in answering these questions.
6. Reviews and Testimonials
This type of content shows how transparent a business is about the service they provide.
Advantages:
- Builds trust with followers
- Gives potential customers a taste of how others feel about your business and services
Disadvantages:
- Getting reviews and testimonials is not always an easy task.
- There is no guarantee that all the reviews or testimonials will be positive.
Wrapping Up On Social Media Content
Each social media platform offers features that will complement many of these content types. It is important to understand your audience and post content that you know will be engaging to them.
Take the time to experiment with social media content and use the resources available to you in order to reach and keep your followers engaged on your social media platforms.
Read more about social media marketing and other digital marketing topics in our blog.
