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Creating Effective and Engaging Social Content
Written by Sharon La Riviere, Sr. Digital Marketing & SEM Strategist at LATICRETE originally featured in the Floor Focus March 2022 issue
How Do You Know if the Content You are Sharing is Engaging?
When you think about the content you share on your social media page, whether it be words, imagery or video, the first thing you should think about is, will this be engaging to your existing and potential customers? Content should evoke an emotional response or an action, such as a like, comment or share. When this happens, it helps you know that what you are posting adds value and is of interest.
When you think about what content to share, ask yourself these questions:
1. Whom are you trying to reach? You want to tailor you message, imagery and/or video to resonate with that audience? Keep in mind that if you are on multiple social channels, the message may be slightly different on each of them. Review your insights/analytics on each channel to see the demographics of your followers. For example, your audience on Facebook may be slightly older than on Instagram, therefore your post on Facebook could say:
“NEW 2022 Grout & Sealant Colors! Inspired by the environment, the LATICRETE grout color palette has been updated with new colors and categorized into three themes — Natural, Earthy and Coastal. See the grout colors.”
vs. on Instagram you might word it like this:
“Are you shook with our new grout & sealant colors? Inspired by the environment, the LATICRETE grout color palette has been updated with new colors and categorized into three themes — Natural, Earthy and Coastal. Check out the grout colors.”
We’ve changed the first sentence to use the word “shook”. If you’re over 30, you might not know what this means. The new definition means “to be overwhelmingly impressed by something”. We also changed the call to action to be more informal by saying “Check out”. It’s sometimes simple changes that can help you message resonate with your audience.
2. What is your goal? For example, the strategy to build your company’s reputation versus getting a sale are very different. When you are trying to build credibility, you should focus on the relationship you are trying to create with your potential customer. Tell your story, be personable, share your history, passions and your team. Let them get to know you. If your goal is to make a sale, show the value of your service, the quality of materials you use and the expertise you will bring to their project.
3. How will your content benefit the audience you’re trying to reach? Rather than asking what content you want to share, put yourself in the shoes of your audience and ask yourself, what information would they like to know? Remember, it’s about them, not you. If your content does not resonate with them and provide value, why would they choose to follow your page or read your content?
For example, rather than creating a post which focuses on simply what you are doing, that says, “Look at this big shower! Our next step is to waterproof everything.” Change the focus to educate your customer by saying, “Look at this big shower! Our next step is to waterproof everything with a quality waterproofing membrane to protect your shower against leaks.”
4. What content has worked for you and what works for others? Review the metrics of posts you’ve shared previously to see if they’re engaging. Calculate an engagement rate (%) for each post by dividing the number of engaged users—those who liked, commented or shared—by the total reach. Review those posts with the highest engagement rates to help determine if there are any trends, such as topics or types of content. You may want to create similar posts to those since they resonate with your audience.
If you’re seeing a low engagement rate (typically less than 2%) you want to determine why. Take a step back and think about if you were your (potential) customer, would this be of interest to you? If you think it should be but the metrics do not reflect that, you may simply need to craft the message in a different way or choose a new image or video to make it more appealing.
For instance this post (shared with a video rather than an image) had more engagement.
Another way to help determine content that might resonate with your followers is to look at what others in the industry are doing. Follow companies that you admire, or even your competition. What are they doing well? These may be ideas that you can adapt to work on your own social media pages. While you can’t see analytics for other brands posts, you can see how many people liked, commented or shared their post. This will give you insight as to what content has the most engagement for them.
5 Content Ideas to Get You Started
1. Before / After
A perfect type of content to post about are recent projects that you’ve completed. They’re a great way to tell the story of what you did, which products you used, and show off your craftsmanship. Take before/after pictures or videos so existing and potential customers can visualize the transformation. Be sure to use good, high-quality photos or videos that show off your work!
TIP: If you have videos, use them. It’s the most popular form of content right now! According to a study done by Cisco, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video. There are a ton of apps you can download to create simple videos using your phone.
Oftentimes, clients are looking to you to solve a problem they have. Whether it’s a leaky shower or an old, outdated kitchen, they want the help of a professional to fix it, and you want your company to be the solution! Make sure you have content on your page that showcases your skills, the training you have, the quality products you use, warranties you offer, etc. Showcasing your expertise will help build the credibility of your company and help influence potential customers to choose your company over your competitor.
TIP: Develop a list of common problems that you help solve and use this to develop on-going content.
Reviews left for you by past clients have incredible power. Since this is content generated by a third party and not yourself, it can often be seen as more credible. If you are using Facebook, be sure to enable the reviews section so that clients can write reviews directly on your page. Unfortunately, not every social channel has a review section, but if it does not, you can create content as a post using the customer’s testimonial/feedback and final images of the project (if they provide them).
TIP: After each job, always ask your customer to leave you a review on whatever social channel they use.
Clients want to make a connection with the company they are doing business with. One way to do this is by showing that your company cares. If you’re involved in community outreach projects, events, donations, etc., share that news on your page. You’re not tooting your own horn if you craft the message appropriately.
TIP: Don’t make the post about you, make it about how it’s helping the community.
Potential customers want to see that you understand what the latest design trends, products and installation methods are. To help do this, share educational posts about these from trusted sources or create your own message. Share with them what you are selling, recommending or installing the most. Create posts of your work that showcase these trends.
TIP: This is a good way to “sell without selling.”
Social media is about experimenting and seeing what works best for you company, in your local market, and to those customers you are trying to acquire. So, be open to trying new things, messages and forms of content. Track your metrics to determine if your content is resonating with your audience and be nimble enough to make adjustments for continued improvement. By improving your engagement rate over time it shows that you are improving the content you share and are adding value to your customers.
Best of luck in the world of social content!