You know how to post to Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Are you on social media? So this will be easy, right? After all, digital has become intertwined into our daily lives. You know your audience is on social media. And each audience prefers its own platform.
Well, you and I both know it's not easy. The algorithms change, and consumer behavior changes, and then there is everything that COVID-19 changed. But you know you want to create engaging content that resonates with your customer and drives business.
Fortunately, some tried and true techniques that most businesses will fall into, and
we will go over those. I will caveat this because each audience is unique, and you really need to listen to them and see what resonates with them and your brand.
I will review the top 3 social platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Guide for Posting to Facebook
When it comes to Facebook, Buffer analyzed a data set of 777 million Facebook posts and saw that the ones that got the most engagement were either funny, emotional/inspirational, or practical. What does this mean for your small business? The majority of your posts should follow into one of these 3 categories. It gets your audience to stop scrolling and engage with your post.
When it comes to the length of a post, that can be subjective based on what your post is about and the messaging. However, ideally whatever is in the first 350 characters should catch someone's attention. This is because anything past that will trigger the 'See more' prompt on the mobile feed.
The amount of posting you do will also depend on your audience and how they interact with your brand. You may have an audience that expects you to post 20x a day, others, a few times a week. Listen to them and determine which works best for your company and audience.
Guide for Posting to Instagram
Instagram is an excellent platform for reaching your target audience. Not only can you share photos, but you can also post videos and live stream. The key goal is to get someone to stop scrolling and engage with your post.
The maximum length of a post is 1000 characters, but the goal is to get them hooked in the first two sentences since that is all that appears on the newsfeed. The best way to do that is to form a cliffhanger that wants them wanting more or asking a question. Saying something that stops them in their tracks works too.
Hashtags play a significant role on Instagram and can expand the reach of a post organically. Look for hashtags that match the level of your engagement, are targeted, and strategic. If you post something like #inspirationalquotes, it will get lost in the millions of other posts tagged with that. If you post something more targeted, like #inspirationalquotesoftheday, that will narrow it down to 188K posts, and #inspirationalquoteoftheweek narrows it to 700 competing posts.
For Instagram, as always, look at your audience for best posting practices. For businesses posting 2-3 times a week works well, especially if it is quality content. Instagram's goal is to deliver up the most relevant freshest content. Each time you post, that tells the algorithm that the previous post is now dated, and it will no longer be considered new content.
Guide for Posting to LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the go-to platform for professionals looking to know what is new in their industry, connect with others in their industry, and clients and prospective business partners. Their algorithm allows you to see what others in your network have commented on or reacted to. Due to the nature of the platform, sticking with professional things usually best. However, there has been a shift to more emotional content in the last year. Posts and interactions are a great way to showcase your knowledge and business. While funny and inspirational posts are OK on LinkedIn, they are more the exception and are generally tied back to business. Make sure those types of posts fit in with your strategy and brand.
You can have longer posts on LinkedIn, but note that your post will only have 140 characters seen on the mobile app. But the mantra is generally, shorter is better. If you do go longer, make sure the content is relevant and engaging.
Hashtags are increasingly relevant, with LinkedIn allowing you to follow specific hashtags in your newsfeed. Posting relevant tags on your post will help with the organic reach of your message. The best advice is to only do a few hashtags but make sure they are strategic.
LinkedIn has added stories similar to what is on Facebook and Instagram. This has seemed to be less of a focus for many companies, so it could be an excellent opportunity to stand out from your competition.
Best posting practices on LinkedIn is usually around 1-2 times a day. Doing more than that may be too much; however, it may still work if there is relevant content. LinkedIn does allow the posting of carousels, so this can be utilized to post more than one article or photo to increase your content without increasing posting.
Some posting practices hold across all platforms in terms of the type of content. Video tends to perform better, with posts with pictures following behind that and text-only posts getting the least amount of engagement.
Recap
The best way to make sure you're posting the right content on all of your social media channels is by taking a look at each platform's unique audience and features as well as your target audience. For Facebook, post timely updates that will get people talking and sharing about what they care about most. LinkedIn is for professionals looking for jobs or career advancement opportunities, so avoid spammy posts like promotions, contests, or sales offers. Instagram should be used as an interactive storytelling medium with high-quality images that can show off your brand personality while inviting interaction from followers through likes, comments, tags, etcetera. Happy posting!