The Best Types of Content to Post on Social Media

Introduction

With the foundations of social media marketing covered, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: social media content. In this chapter, we’ll look at a variety of proven posting strategies to help your social media strategy thrive. The following content strategies are generalized in a way that applies to the majority of social networks covered in this book. You’ll find more specific advice about how to maximize its impact for each platform within each network’s individual chapter.

Note: What follows are some of the most popular content strategies for social media. If you’d like tons more ideas demonstrated alongside real-life examples, check out my list of 101 Social Media Content Ideas for Business at Ask questions and start discussions Get to know your fans and give them a chance to get to know you by posing questions and starting discussions.

These questions can be about a product or event related to your business, a quick trivia quiz, or just about the wider world. The types of questions that work best include those about preference (“Do you prefer product A or product B?”), Yes or No (Are you a fan of X?”), those that ask for opinions (“What’s your favorite flavor of ice-cream in our range?”), or ones that politely challenge, (“Opening our second Canadian store this month – guess where?”).

Even just sending a status update with “do you agree?” or “what do you think?” is enough to encourage people to get involved. The simplest question can be useful in achieving impressive levels of engagement (and consumer insight!) provided that the subject captures the attention of your audience, particularly if it takes little or no effort to respond.

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As well as a simple text post, this strategy can be combined with (or implemented within) a powerful image – keep reading for more information. Interestingly, where you ask the question in a status update also affects engagement rates. Posing a question at the end of a post – compared to somewhere in the middle where it can easily get ignored – can increase engagement by up to 15%, according to a study by Buddy Media.