There are a lot of social media platforms out there. Of course, the popular ones are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, with so many more to add here. Listing all of them would be exhausting. What’s important to note here is that different platforms are used by different people for different purposes. So you’ll have to adapt your strategy accordingly.

There are several terms you need to understand before continuing.

1. Impressions = the number of times the content you posted has been seen by users (can be more than once/user)
2. Reach = the number of accounts your content reached (limited to once/account). It’s also important to understand the distinction between organic reach vs. paid reach
   1. Usually, organic reach is only 10%-15% of a content’s potential reach
   2. Paid reach is when you spend money for your content to be boosted in people’s feeds. Basically, spending money to get people to see your content.
3. Engagement = the amount of people that have engaged with your content. Different platforms define engagement differently. Meta, for instance, takes into consideration the amount of reactions, comments, shares, people who have clicked “see more”.

Furthermore, another important feature of these platforms are the hashtags (#). These are used to sort of center your content around a topic, and for said content to appear to those that are interested in the topics. For instance, posting content about an ice cream, and using #icecream, the content would appear to others who don’t follow you, but they have shown interest in ice creams.

Content

Most social media platforms are centered around content. Content is what you consume when browsing through social media, it’s like the reward you get for spending time on them. There are a lot of different types of content you can create: for entertainment, promotional videos, educational content, and so on. 

When creating this content, it’s important to understand who you’re aiming it at. Is it seniors (65+), or young adults (18-24)? This will help you in the content-creation process. You wouldn’t want to promote a retirement facility to these young adults, because they don’t need one. 

Social media platforms offer insights about your account, which is data regarding the users invested in your content. What time are they active at? Which day? Usually, you want to post at times when they’re most active, subtracting 1 hour from that number. If they’re active at 7PM, post at 6PM. It takes time for your content to become relevant to your followers. 

Here’s a guide on how to handle content creation

1. Brainstorm. Write down as many ideas as you can in ~5 minutes. There are no wrong ideas. After you’re done, filter through them until you have 1-2 left.
2. Roughly imagine how that content would look like on social media platforms. Would you be interested in it, or would you keep scrolling? What would your followers do?
3. Write a copy for the post (copy = text). If you’re not that good at writing you can use an AI. ChatGPT, for example, can create good copy if given the right inputs.
4. Create a graphic design for the content. You can use Canva, the most popular software for creating content. It’s really easy to use and extremely powerful.
5. Try & test. You can use an alternative account for this, to see exactly how your post would look like.
6. Post your content.
7. After max 3 days, look back and see what worked & what didn’t. Don’t be discouraged if your content didn’t perform as expected. Not everything works. Just make sure you (at least try to) understand why it didn’t perform as such, and implement this feedback in the future.

Furthermore, it’s important to post what these platforms consider relevant & valuable content. Again, it can differ/platform. For Facebook, valuable content is considered that which is original. For Instagram, valuable content is more recently considered that which is in “shorts” format, or reels. For Tiktok, it’s essential for a person to be in front of the camera, and not only show images or text. For Twitter, the platform is currently undergoing massive changes, so there’s no certainty regarding content.

Content and personal planning & organizing

It’s crucial to be organized and keep a good plan in mind when posting content. 

Radu’s tip: set some times at which you post the content & add them to your calendar. Also set some reminders.

You can use a cloud service where you organize everything regarding the content neatly. Create folders for each post, in which there is the copy, the graphic design and, potentially, the insights of the post, after it went up. You also want to create a mental (or digital) content calendar, where you plan each post. It’s not that important to post each day, but be constant in  your approach to social media. You can post every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday for example. And if you want to post more than once per day, do keep a distance or ~3h between the posts. 

Organic growth

Organic growth is hard, even a myth as some may say. Valuable content for your followers is essential. You have to give them an incentive for which to follow you. If you have a small business and you’re niched on a certain industry, try to speak about it. Give your followers some valuable insights from inside, like what are the current trends in the industry. What are some tips you had to learn the hard way? 

It’s also important to focus on social proof. Social proof is what’s commonly known as “reviewing”, or showing your followers how your product or service does, and how customers respond to it. Film an interview with a happy customer. Capture some nice pictures of customers enjoying your products. Give them proof that you and your product is what they need.

That was it for Radu’s session of #ItsYourTime. Feel free to address any questions you might have to him via Telegram. Did you find this info useful, and what to hear more from people of enfineo and their insights? Join our Telegram group here, and keep an eye out for the next session!