Social Media Basics: What Kind of Content?

by | Jun 27, 2016 | Content | Social Media | Email, Blog

Editors’s Note on July 15, 2019: While this post was written in 2016, these social media details still reign true today. Some additional details have been added – the updated notes appear in bold, italic text below. 

What should you post on social media? Well, that depends on the type of company you are, the industry you are in, and the type of brand image you want to convey. People have expectations about the type of content a dentist, jeweler, lawyer or restaurant should share. So you need to be strategic posting content which is relevant to your audience and appropriate for each social media platform.

Even if you have profiles on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, what you share and how you share it will vary. Very little, if any content should be the same from platform to platform. Each platform has a unique style. You wouldn’t behave the same at a serious business meeting as you do at a backyard barbecue because those social settings have very different rules. The same is true for each social media platform.

Facebook

According to Forbes, as of April of last year 40 million small businesses have pages on Facebook. According to Sprout Social, there are now over 60 million active business pages in 2019. This platform is a great resource for fans and potential clients to learn more about your company. Company news, blog posts and industry news all have a place on your Facebook feed, in addition to more personal updates focused on activities around the office. Use a mix of personal and industry updates to keep fans up to date with your business and the people in it. Personal posts help people get a better idea of who you are as a company. This helps build a stronger connection between business and customers.

Twitter

Welcome to Twitter, your place to relax a little and get the conversation going, or is it? We recently discussed the downfall of Twitter. It’s up to you to decide whether or not Twitter is worth your time in today’s age! As a more ‘in the moment’ platform than Facebook or LinkedIn; quick updates, timely industry news and eye-catching photos are perfect for Twitter. Don’t be afraid to have a conversation, especially since conversations seem to be a thing of the past.

The platform moves quickly, but it’s a direct, instantaneous link to your followers – so use it! Of course, as we discussed before, the overall style and tone of your Twitter account should relate directly to your overall brand strategy. One of my favorite Twitter accounts does a great job of keeping consistent tone across all of their social profiles with slight tweaks that make them entertaining and successful on each platform. Below are a few Twitter updates from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, they balance playfulness and wit with education and conservation news. These are great examples of balancing the timely nature of Twitter with personality and organization specific content.

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LinkedIn

Brands across all industries should maintain a level of professionalism and awareness of their social media personality. This doesn’t mean your social media presence should be stiff, uptight or boring it just means that what you say is being watched by fans, friends, and potential clients. This professionalism is most important on LinkedIn because it’s your professional social outlet and the content you post needs to reflect that. Lorraine explains why LinkedIn was her “first love” in her blog post.

Industry news, company updates and interesting blogs on relevant topics to your business are all a good fit for LinkedIn. Company picnics and photos of the office cats? Definitely not.

Final Thoughts

Overall, social media should be fun. As a way to get your news out to the people who follow you and want to know more about you, social media strategy is an important part of your marketing plan. A good social media strategy is aware of each platform, expectations and brand tone. It’s important to mention that there are new platforms, including Google My Business and Nextdoor, which can be great tools for sharing even more content! Try incorporating these other social platforms into your media strategy if you haven’t already.

Listen as Lorraine and Leisha share some of their best social media strategy planning tips, and check out Sam’s blog post where he discusses which platforms are best for sharing your own blog posts.

Learn more about each platform and what to do and what not to do in our Social Media Starter Kit.

Social Media Starter Kit

Roundpeg is an Indianapolis content marketing firm.

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