What Type of Content Should I Post on Social Media in 2021?
What Type of Content Should I Post on Social Media in 2021?
There's so much content that is posted on social media, in fact, it was 777 million posts in 2019 according to Buffer. Most businesses are trying to adjust to the new normal right now, and it's social media that is going to take all of those companies to the next level. Why should you focus on social media? It's simple. The average person spent 2 hours and 24 minutes on Facebook in 2020, which is more than double the previous year. CEOs are more than willing to put their ads on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube these days because there is more time being spent on those platforms, especially the mobile apps, more than ever. This begs the question stated above: what kind of content should I post?
The Three E's!
It actually doesn't matter what type of content you post on social media, you just have to make sure it has the three E's:
Entertainment
Emotion
Education
If your content has at least one of these in it, you are almost guaranteed engagement. BuzzSumo did a study on what posts get the most engagement on Facebook. They looked at over 2.2 billion posts and found that the most engaging posts on Facebook are:
Practical hacks,
Inspirational content
Food and recipes
Cute animals
Music videos
Quizzes
Travel and Adventure
If you notice, all of the content themes above hit all the three Es. Let's say you are a travel company that is struggling right now, you can create an amazing travel post based on a trip that your clients took last year. If you create an ad that talks about this story, the smiles that were created, how warm the water felt, and how that guy proposed to his girlfriend based on the experience YOU created for their group. You will probably fill your entire waitlist for that very experience next year.
Your Industry Plays a SLIGHT role.
I do have to admit, there are certain industries that have it easier than others on social media. The entertainment industry, for example, does seem to have things already in place to create an amazing presence on social media. Creating content is easy for this industry because they already have the videos, pictures, and audio for their music videos, movie trailers, and songs that have created. They are essentially content creators themselves so posting is simple. This industry will have to worry about getting the following and growing buzz through influencers and PR strategies.
The food and beverage industry is another industry that already seems to have a lot in place to have a good and engaging social media presence. It's an industry that depends on how good their food looks and how many people like it. A five-star restaurant will have to depend on reviews and these days. how fast their delivery service is. If you are in an area where the restaurants are socially distancing, and people can sit down, then creating a buzz with your delivery service or a giveaway would do wonders.
What You Should Do!
If you are in an industry that is not natural at creating content for your audience like finance, real estate, IT, alternative medicine, or healthcare. Then you would essentially have to hire someone, like me, to create content for you. It's essentially the job of a social media strategist to figure out how to make your business visually stunning on social media. It's also their job to figure out how to create sales and the buzz needed for you to grow. If you are not in the position to hire a social media manager or strategist, then it is best to invest in some equipment. I would suggest the following
A standard DSLR camera, if you can't afford one, your phone would work just fine.
Microphone for videos or podcasts (or both)
Tripod with a ring lamp
Your time - yes, your time editing and filming would be needed whether you hire someone or not.
A social media scheduler like Buffer or Planoly. I highly recommend SoCi or Planble. If you want the best engagement though, I recommend posting natively to the platform (Creator Studio for Facebook and Instagram is great for this)
Copywriter - or if you can write amazing copy, then go for it! Good copy is needed for all of your social media posts, so if you can't write. Find someone that will.
Remember you get what you pay for most of the time when it comes to social media. If you hire someone for cheap overseas, you will most likely not get quality content that will get you the sales you want. Also, a very important thing to remember, overseas VAs or social media managers are most likely not qualified enough to give you the strategy you desire on social media. They are there to help you with basic tasks, not plan out an entire strategy, so get a qualified social media manager or strategist that really knows what they are doing. I highly recommend when you hire anyone to take a look at their portfolio or samples. I also suggest if you want to give them a test to see how they can do stuff for you specifically, that you PAY them. Customized samples should never be given out for free!
When is it The Right Time to Hire?
Most people hire a social media strategist when it's too late, meaning that they already have a backlog or people commenting on their empty unclaimed social media pages that aren't handled by anyone. The hiree might already have a page they are handling themselves, but they can't keep up with the daily demand of posting and keeping up with their messages and comments. When they do hire, it's usually a very unqualified person that is handling their pages that never grew their accounts and just started posting whatever they wanted. It might also be a person that is qualified but they are essentially just a number in their agency or they never really had the experience of working with a specific account before.
Creating QUALITY content takes time and most people will need it done sooner than they think. I would say if you are starting a business today, then you would need a web developer, a copywriter, a graphic designer, a videographer, a photographer, and a social media strategist on your team. These roles can be intertwined with each other too based on the person you hire.
Now if you feel qualified to do all these roles, then great! I should meet you cause you, my friend, are a unicorn that is super rare! You can do ALL of these roles really well? Then amazing! You must not get a lot of sleep.
Just kidding!
These roles are very hard to fill in an organization because a) you won't be able to find anyone that is good without paying a lot and b) when you do find these guys most organizations won't be able to retain them because they want to get the best bang for their buck i.e. make them do things outside of their role.
Hire Us!
That's why you will need to hire a boutique social media strategist firm that can fill most of your social media needs! We will edit your videos and your photos, create graphics that will make a splash, and make your copy sing. Not only will we do that be we can create sales by creating ads that will convert and engagement that will drive traffic to your website. You need a good social media strategy in 2021 and The Spirit Digital can make that happen. Interested? Fill out this form and schedule a call with me today!