Many who have worked with us know that we bang on about the little things in life…and how important they are. This is also true for the world of content marketing – there’s a new little word in town and it’s ‘small’. Strictly speaking this isn’t that new…but people are increasingly starting to recognise the power of ‘small’ and sharing bite-sized content through social networks.
Businesses / brands are using platforms like Twitter, Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest to get their messages out there in short snippets. However, the ones doing it well are not just broadcasting… they are using these platforms for what they were designed for – two way communication, giving their customers/clients the respect they deserve and engaging with them directly through conversations.
So with so much content being pushed out through social channels there it is really important to understand what can help make yours stand out. In no particular order here are a few things to consider:
- Make it pretty – aesthetics are important even when it comes to content. Make sure that your content is easy to read and well laid out. People are more likely to engage with something that is easy to read – not just blocks of text.
- Use images – closely linked to point 1. A picture can speak a thousand words they say…make sure you utilise images that are connected to your story and that have an impact – does it make people look twice?
- Make it relevant – get to know your audience, understand what information is important to them and their audience.
- Relationships matter – people are more likely to share content if they have an emotional connection to you.
- Listen, respond, encourage people to ask questions and build trust through open conversations and not through constant sales messages!
- Have a little fun – yes as a business you can still have some fun. We are all human after all.
- Forget long form communication – that’s for other channels. Content on social networks needs to be short and to the point. You only have a few seconds to grab people’s attention and are often restricted to a certain number of characters so learn to make the most of that space…quickly.
- Be genuine – we all know why… just do it.