How to Write an Engaging Social Media Post

Research… write… write… write… research… write… edit… write. Boom! That’s a beautiful blog. Run the post through social media to pull traffic to it. Quote a paragraph of this fantastic content… that will draw people in. Proudly “like” the post and share it with friends. A week goes by. Anxiously await the statistics from the post to see how the views and engagement numbers… Results are in!!!

25 views… 1 person engaged. Gee, thanks mom for the support.

Sound familiar? We have some tips to drive engagement through your social media posts to produce traffic to your company website that isn’t related to you (a.k.a. “potential new customers”).

What is the ideal character length for a post?

Twitter’s best practices reference research by Track Social about tweet length: 100 characters is the engagement sweet spot for a tweet. A recent report by Buddy Media revealed that Tweets of 100 or less characters get a 17% higher engagement rate.

An ideal length of a Facebook post is less than 40 characters. While that seems like a very short post, take into account that our fellow Facebookers are there to engage in posts, give their opinions and provide feedback. Make your post short and sweet to promote engagement.

Finally, Google+ comes in at around 60 characters or less to maximize readership. Provide a quick headline of six words or less and then entice readers with a quick sentence to spark their interest.

What are some best practices when posting?

1. Photos and videos push huge engagement numbers. Photos on Facebook generate 53% more likes and 104% more comments than the average post. Simply put, if you have a photo, use it.
2. Rally around one post. Rather than posting multiple times in one day, focus on engaging with readers on that one post. This will increase the number of likes, clicks, comments and shares that the post receives.
3. Include Twitter handles if you are sharing a quote, stat, or article from a brand or user. This will increase the likelihood of the brand seeing your tweet and retweeting to its own audience.
4. Use the hashtag judiciously. #If #this #is #your #post… please stop! Twitter writes, “Including more than two [hashtags] in a tweet is probably overkill, and you only need to tag the most important word that represent the theme of your tweet.”
5. Use optimal image upload sizes. There is nothing more annoying to social media users than seeing half of a picture. There are literally thousands of helpful guides out there to help with social media image sizes. Find one, print it and keep it by your desk.

A couple quick ideas to provide engaging social media content

We are heading down the home stretch so bear with me. Let’s get you on the right track with a few helpful ideas that will spark engagement and excitement in your next social media post.

1. Fill in the blanks: this is an easy way to spark engagement because people love talking about themselves. Provide the beginning of a statement and let your followers go to town.
2. Polls: if you need some feedback on a product or service, this is a great way to get some honest thoughts from your company’s target market
3. Giveaways: kind of a no brainer here. Provide a prize and watch users flock your way. Trivia contests are always a fun way to get engagement going as well. Use a local sports game and have your followers guess tonight’s score.
4. Staff features: let people get to know the people within your company. The more customers feel like they are a part of your company and culture, the higher the probability that they will contribute to your bottom line.
5. Infographics: as we stated above, photos are the way to go. This is a great way to provide information to your readers while giving them something interesting to look at and engage with.

Bottom line – keep sentences short and use simple language. This is a social atmosphere. When creating a social media post, imagine that you are chatting with your colleagues or discussing new ideas with a prospective client. If your post is approachable, then your readers will engage with it. It not, hopefully your mother will continue “liking” your posts.