When my team and I work on our clients’ social media marketing campaigns, we know that balance is a big factor in our success. Whether you’re talking about balancing text and images, promo and news, or curated and original content, everything has to be just right. It’s all part of the job. But one aspect that many companies fail to execute correctly is educational VS entertaining posts. Things end up leaning much heavier towards the “fun” side of content because of two reasons. 1- They think it will gather more engagement. 2 – Well, they don’t know how to do it right. But, we do!
So, here’s a secret from the pros. Educational and fact-based content have proven to be some of the most engaging material on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. In 2016, the most popular posts were in fact-based industries. Here are the most popular strategies for spreading the wealth of knowledge with your followers:
1. Infographics. There’s nothing quite like a ton of pictures to make a complicated concept more understandable. The truth is, visuals always help us learn. That’s why infographics are so effective. You can transform large concepts into digestible chunks that are accompanied by interesting graphics.
2. Videos. Video is dominating social media right now. Sure, when we think of internet videos, we think of funny cats running around or how-to recipe guides. But you could actually utilize the video medium to explain a complicated educational subject. Captions are your friend in this instance, as you can add to the visuals. Now with live videos, you can offer your followers tutorials and lessons “in the moment” and answer their questions immediately.
3. Blog. Blogging continues to reign supreme as one of the most effective ways to inform your followers about important concepts and topics. Blogging is a fantastic companion to your social media marketing efforts as it will establish your brand in a professional light and give you a whole slew of original content.
4. Trivia and Did You Know? Keeping information simple and sharing it in the form of a trivia tidbit or a #DidYouKnow post will keep your audience’s attention with a short, simple post. They won’t have to spend much time with this content, but they will still learn something big.
5. Content curation. As always, it’s important to share other’s work from your online community. But it doesn’t have to begin and end with what they’ve said. You can comment in the form of Quote Tweeting or simply share your thoughts as a Facebook comment.
As you can see, it’s time to face facts – you need to create and share educational content! Social media isn’t just about fun material or even promotional marketing. Serious content like blogs, videos, and infographics will attract a significant amount of engagement and in the long run, conversions.
Contact us today to learn more about our work in the social media marketing industry!
