Wonder what type of content you should create for social media? Not sure what will engage and inspire your audience on each social platform?
There’s no doubt about it, sharing social media content that builds engagement and grows your business can be challenging.
Not only does it need to resonate, but your content must be compelling, relevant, and easy to consume.
But knowing where to begin, especially in an online world where attention is at a premium, can feel overwhelming.
That’s why I’ve pulled together the 5 types of social media content you need to create.
Not only will it simplify your content strategy, but they make it easy to tie each content type to your current strategy. That way you can instantly make a bigger impact.
Oh, and don’t forget to grab the Infographic from Condiment Marketing at the end!
The 5 Types of Social Media Content You Need to Create
1. Visual Content (Media, Owned, Informational/Entertaining)
It isn’t surprising that image-rich content is one of the most shareable types of content. After all, it’s one of the longest standing forms of communication, dating back to the beginning of time.
Cavemen used images to tell their story while Egyptians would decorate entire rooms in vibrant color, guaranteeing a continuation of life.
Today, images are used on social media to tell a story, extend a vision, and leave an indelible mark in the mind of a consumer.
When you look at the history and the massive success of Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, it’s easy to see that visual content has proven to create massive staying (and stickiness) power.
Use pictures that support the mission and purpose of your business. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
That means the images you share must have a substantial impact on your customer, engaging both their heart and mind.
Not sure where to begin?
Look to your competition. Are they sharing creative visual content that their social media fans and followers eat up? If so, what can you learn from that?
Starbucks teaches us a valuable lesson, that oftentimes, less is more… especially when it comes to visual content.
Dairy Queen also knows how to use visual content to keep their audience happy and enthusiastically engaged.
Each has found its own visual content rhythm and groove. The goal for you is to nail yours.
2. Video / GIF / Expiring Content (Media, Real-Time, Promotional)
If you’re still in doubt whether video content is the future of social media marketing, all you have to do is blink. No matter the social network, a simple scroll through the newsfeed will inundate you with video content.
While video has quickly become an efficient and convenient way to communicate, it’s also highly personal.
It draws in viewers, allowing them to connect with you and your brand on a much more intimate level. And there are no signs that our consumption of video is slowing down.
By 2022, it’s estimated that the number of videos crossing the internet per second will be close to 1 million.
That makes your use of video more important than ever. But let’s not hastily rush into it.
The video you decide to create must feel natural for your brand. It should tell your story, in your voice, and with your tone. A mismatch with your current message is a recipe for disaster.
You also want to make sure you include the right words and actions. Not certain what those would be for your brand?
Do your research. Look to your keywords and hashtags across each social channel.
As much as the perception to create a video is expensive, that’s no longer the case. With tools like Promo by Slidely and Animoto, you can create beautiful videos in a matter of minutes.
3. Infographic Content (Owned, Informational/Entertaining)
If you haven’t started using infographics yet, it’s time to get started. As it stands, the most shared content on social media is infographics.
Between their pictures, animated style, and ability to tell a story, infographics get the point across in a quick, easy-to-scan way.
Take this one from Digital Marketing World. The layout is eye-catching and the information is easy to consume.
Plus, you’re creating content that’s now pinnable for Pinterest (traffic driver) and shareable across any other social channel.
One of the best ways to use infographics is to present facts that educate your audience.
For instance, if you have a clothing brand, you can create an infographic on ladies’ fashion trends over the years.
If you’re a bakery, create an infographic displaying a variety of donuts. Because who doesn’t drool over donuts?
To create a catchy infographic, you need a good designer or the creativity to work with tools like PiktoChart to create your own.
Here’s one I created several years ago and it’s still a top performer on Pinterest. Don’t discount the ability for infographics to boost the shelf life of your content.
4. How-To / Educational Content (Owned, Broadcast, Informational/Entertaining)
Let’s agree, when someone visits your website, chances are they’re looking for a solution to a problem.
They’ve Googled a keyword or phrase that led them to your article, product, or service.
That’s the main reason why “how-to” posts are so popular. How-to articles can help boost search results when readers find it valuable.
This, in turn, positions you as the go-to authority within that space. Partner these types of posts with social media and you have content gold.
These articles typically start with “How to…” and come as a result of a search where your reader wants to “know, do, or accomplish” something specific.
Use this information to position your content for quick consumption on social media.
For example, you’re a Facebook Advertising Agency and write an article on, “How to Use Facebook Ads for Restaurants.” Your target audience turns to search, types in – “how do I create a Facebook Ad for my restaurant,” and voila – up pops your article if you’ve done your job in creating content that’s:
- Useful
- Informative
- Credible
- Engaging
- Comprehensive
That title becomes your tweet, graphic headline for Instagram, or cover for a quick YouTube how-to video.
Use these “how-to” posts to highlight a problem, provide step-by-step instructions on how to do something, and generally show them how to accomplish something they didn’t think possible.
These should be detailed, including images, diagrams, infographics, video instruction, and more to offer as much insight as possible.
5. Listicle Content (Informational/Entertaining, Text, Linking)
One particular type of content that has caught social media by storm are list-based posts. This type of content is meant to organize ideas and provide an answer in an easy to digest format.
It’s a good way to consolidate content, highlight your solution, and show your audience that you’re a useful resource.
This article from Wordstream is a perfect example. They include exact steps to write an awesome blog post.
Then they take those steps and break them down in their social media posts. Here’s an example of how I use this strategy on Twitter:
Here’s another (more entertaining) way to use quotes as a listicle within your social media posts.
But, don’t get the wrong impression. List posts shouldn’t be simply entertaining.
Nor should they all be silly or frivolous, at least not most of the time. Unless of course, you’re Buzzfeed.
Instead, create lists that offer a valid solution through extensive research or proven processes.
And don’t forget the context of your social post. Your copy needs to be powerful and appealing to capture attention.
Ready to write one, but not sure how? Here’s how you get started in 5 easy steps. (you see what I did there) ?
- State your hypotheses (what you believe the problem is) and your solution.
- Offer a strong and compelling reason why your solution is the best solution. What’s your take on the situation?
- Make your headline attention-grabbing, but accurate.
- Include relevant images or GIFs to engage your audience.
- Ask your audience’s opinion – get them involved in the conversation.
And one last important detail.
A study by a Journal of Consumer Research found that the human brain responds better to lists that end in zero. The “Top 10 Effect: lumping things into round-number groups and viewing everything outside them as inferior.”
It seems crazy, right? Crazy enough to make a big difference in the engagement and share-ability of your social media content.
Conclusion
Have you added these 5 types Of Social Media Content to your arsenal yet? If you still haven’t, you’re missing out on some great conversation and engagement opportunities.
The more types of content you employ, the more powerful your content becomes.
Which one will you choose in your next social media post?
SHARE AND PIN THE INFOGRAPHIC
Hello Rebekah. Thanks for this wonderful post. I started as a content writer just a few months ago. Hence this post was all I was looking for. Informative and again very very informative. Keep up the good work. I hope people like me can benefit fro this post more.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and knowledge Social Media Marketing. This is really helpful and informative, as this gave me more insight to create more ideas and solutions for my plan. I would love to see more updates from you.
Hi Rebekah,
Thank you so much for talking. I’m also sort of a newbie on social media, looking for tips on how to share good types of content. I’ve seen a lot of people sharing infographics that look so nice and are pretty informative, but I never knew how to make them myself. Great message, thank you again!
definitely going to try these tips and trick i my future campaign.
Really useful and very well exaplained.
Nice informative blog. Can you tell me some infographic image creation website other than piktochart?
Thanks for sharing this blog.
Hi Rebekah,
First of all i really appreciate your content, your content is too helpful and i do the implementation of it on regular base , and really i got a good response too. thanks for the idea keep sharing great content like this .
Hello, Rebekah
You are right, by 2022 the demand for video will be very high. If you take an example of the video, Tiktok has recently left the Instagram post too that’s the reason So I have started working on my YouTube videos again with proper planning.
Regards
Aksshit Wadhwa
Thanks Rebekah, the social media infographics you have here are so insightful, and I will definitely use tips on my web design business website. Keep up the good work.
Hi Rebekah, thanks so much for sharing. I’m still kind of a newbie to social media, been looking for tips on good types of content to share. I’ve seen lots of people sharing infographics that looks so nice and are quite informative, but never knew how to create them myself. Going to check out pikochart, hopefully I can design a few for my own business. Awesome post, thanks again!
Thank you Rebekah for a post such informative article. It took really much time in reading. well, great work Rebekah.
Hi Rebekah, I just started to do video and I was really scared. I learned if I practiced on my phone with video for at least 5 times I could do the Facebook Live more naturally. I tapped my written text to a tree and didn’t realize wind would take it it away!
I don’t like watching myself after in video but I’m really trying as I want to do better as time goes on. Video is really going to be key! You are such a natural Rebekah – were you nervous when you first started?
Love your list with number 10 and why is works. Thank you for all this valuable information.
Hey Rebekah,
Here after a long time and like always loved your post. I do missed reading your posts as I was busy with one of my new projects, but will be regular from now on.
Keep up the good work.
~ Donna
Hi Rebekah, I love the content you put out on Twitter and this right here is one informational post about the kind of social media content that can work for any brand. Videos are the best way to market your content, videos can educate, create an impact on your followers within a few seconds. Secondly, infographics are a great source of attracting your followers and target market to educate them.
Thank you Rebekah for a post such informative article. It took really much time in reading. well, great work Rebekah.
Hi Rebekah,
Amazing blog post. you have shared some of the best tips. initially I was very skeptical about creating infographics, I was not sure if i will be able to get enough return on investment. I was wrong, i was able to generate a lot of traffic using infographics. I am planning to create videos for my next social media campaign. i hope i will get enough traffic.
It’s a great article on how to promote your content on social media. It’s very informative and helpful for me to use your mentioned tips. I have been thinking of creating my blog posts on the latest trends related to infographics, but as you said, it gave me a clear picture of how audience engagement got increases the most in this technique. Great Work!
Regards,
Hi Rebekah,
Great content, the best strategy for social media strategy and I would love to listicle content.
Love your list with number 10 and why is works. Thank you for all this valuable information.
Faisal
One of the most powerful tools you can use to help you increase social media engagement is to incorporate visual content.
Great content as always. I like the idea of using listicle posts on social media. Even I used this few times and it has always worked great for me.
However, I have to work more on the video content and the resources.
Hi Rebekah,
Thank you for sharing this. Social is not really my strong suit so I’m looking for tips to up my game. I especially loved that infographic. I didn’t know you could embed stuff in social. That’s what you meant right?
Lily
Great content as always. I like the idea of using listicle posts on social media. Even I used this few times and it has always worked great for me.
Thank you, Rebekah, for posting an informative and succinct with graphics breakdown of the What-to-Dos for Social Media Content. Clearly, you practice what you teach.
Regarding the 5 Things to Quit: those could be listed under Healthy Lifestyle Practices. Yes, we’re going to make mistakes, but chances are that’s when we learn the most. And, if we fear change, we might as well stay inside and count our freckles. But, alas, even those change with age.
Great Article as always, Rebekah!
I’ll definitely use these tips to update my social media strategy.
Jens
Hey Rebekah, this really hits the mark when it comes to the types of content that will increase the chances of content being shared and the engagement. I try to use all of these at some point. I must say that I’ve just started to dive into doing infographics and I’ve noticed that they get shared more than my other content! Do you have any good sources that you recommend for having them created? I’ve used Canva, but I think it’s time to start outsourcing this. Thanks!
Great content as always. I like the idea of using listicle posts on social media. Even I used this few times and it has always worked great for me.
However, I have to work more on the video content and the resources.
– Arfa
Hello, Rebekah!
That’s very brilliant tips you shared!
I know visual/video is the new content ramping up on the text formatted-content.
And it is the good and right time to employ the video… I am lacking it though….
Visuals are the next avenue I will be indulging myself into.
Thanks for that, Rebekah!
~ Adeel
Hi Rebekah!
Amazing blog post as always.
I enjoy reading them a lot, not only because of the friendly and pleasant writing tone you use, but also because you pack it with super helpful knowledge!
I know how powerful info graphics are but there’s this image around them of being tremendously hard to create..
I’ll finally put my mind to it and create one right at this moment. Thanks for the push!
I’ll let you know how it goes;)
Content, content, content, you can dominate a niche with it! With the pace, the web is growing and the amount of effort publishers are investing in content creation, I bet we gonna see further segmentation in marketing position/specialties. Nowadays if you don’t have the time or skills to create top notch content you are lacking big time. Interesting times ahead
Love the infographic in the end.
Hi Rebekah, I just started to do video and I was really scared. I learned if I practiced on my phone with video for at least 5 times I could do the Facebook Live more naturally. I tapped my written text to a tree and didn’t realize wind would take it it away!
I don’t like watching myself after in video but I’m really trying as I want to do better as time goes on. Video is really going to be key! You are such a natural Rebekah – were you nervous when you first started?
Love your list with number 10 and why is works. Thank you for all this valuable information.
SMO is a strategy for drawing new and unique visitors to a website. So way of writing a content play an important role to attract visitors because SMO drives the Social Media Marketing.