6 tips for writing killer social media posts
With the uproar around Facebook and media outlets in Australia this week, now is an awesome opportunity for small businesses across Australia to benefit from extra airtime on social media in the absence of news posts. By following these 6 tips for writing killer social media posts, as a small business or entrepreneur, Brand Sugar is providing you with the tools that you need to gain better traction across your chosen social media platforms.
Whether your ideal clients tend to hang out on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest, you need to know that each of these platforms work on “algorithms” that affect the reach that any organic post can generate. Now there’s no need to panic! It may sound scary… but we’re here to break it down for you and let you in on a few simple “algorithm rules”, giving you a foolproof formula for success.
If you play by the “algorithm rules” and follow Brand Sugar’s 6 simple tips below for writing killer social media platforms, then we guarantee that you’ll quickly see positive results when it comes to improving your businesses reach and of course, the awareness of your brand.
1. Keep your posts short
The shorter your posts the better your reach.
…
Ok… so maybe that’s a little too short!
But you’ve all heard the age-old phrase ‘Less is more!’ which is even more relevant these days, because people’s attention spans are getting smaller.
The reality is that too many small businesses in Australia get involved in creating a thesis out of every post. If you cannot explain your businesses unique selling point in under 100 words then you need to redefine it. The major platforms decrease reach when you write long winded posts.
2. Remember the 80/20 business rule
There is a common business theory that 80% of your business should come from 20% of your clients. This principle can also be applied to your social media platforms.
80% of your content should be non-selling content. Think about your last post on social media? What did you write about? Did you sell anything?
The truth is that bombarding your audience with posts ‘selling’ your product can sometimes have a counter-productive effect. Even if you think you’ve hidden it within a post, your eagle-eyed clients can spot an inauthentic sales post a mile away!
With that in mind, we have a challenge for you… Try to make sure that your next social media post is based on either educational, informative, humorous or behind the scenes content that builds trust, shows your human side, demonstrates your expertise and that people simply can’t help but “share” with others.
To build your reach you need to get people to see value in your content, and consequently share with their network, comment or tag friends. That being said – we’re not completely banning sales posts. They do have their place. But whilst the remaining 20% can be about deals and offers within your business, understand that people do not as commonly tend to share, comment or tag friends on these types of social posts.
3. Post more content, more often
With statistics showing that organic reach now sits at around 1.5% of your followers and it taking around 10-20 posts for a potential client to want to engage with your page or website, then you simply have to post more content to get noticed.
If you have 100 followers and each post only reaches 1% of your followers then it will take 100 posts for everyone to see one post. If you are only posting once a day, it may take over 3 months for everyone to see one post.
It’s simple maths!
4. Understand how hashtags limit reach
While hashtags work on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest as a small business owner or entrepreneur, you need to understand that the more hashtags you use the less reach you will get.
Why? Because the platforms know your business is attempting get free marketing and that does not agree with their business model. It has been found that for each hashtag you use, you are reducing your organic reach by up to 5%.
5. Avoid using links that re-direct
The aim of social media platforms is to keep people engaged on their platform. By including links that take people away to your own website or another platform, you will decrease your reach.
An example of this is where people try to use YouTube links on Facebook rather than loading the video on Facebook and linking to that Facebook video. The YouTube link will get zero or minimal reach while the Facebook link keeps people on the site and as a thank you for playing by the algorithm rules, you get rewarded more viewing time and consequently, your post gets better reach!
6. Don’t use selling words
As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you need to understand these platforms’ business models. When posting your content, a bot will scan each post to learn what you are trying to achieve with your post.
By using typical sales buzzwords such as “deal”, “special”, “offer”, “discount”, “price” and other key words that indicate you are trying to sell for free, your content reach will be limited once again!
Brand Sugar’s 6 Tips for Writing Killer Social Media Posts are about playing by the algorithm rules on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. As a small business owner or entrepreneur, we’re providing you with the secret sauce you need to improve your social media content and increase your reach to your ideal clients.
