Trust is more than just a picture
Social media is a great platform to showcase who you are and what you do. Building trust in your audience and online community should be one of your main priorities. Ads of your product or service popping up everywhere only go so far in today’s world. Why? Everyone is constantly bombarded with ads. Is someone selling you a product or service just for the money or are they actually providing some type of value for you.
The focal point of your content should not just be about selling, selling, selling but why and how it provides some type of value is key in building trust. “Be Real.” The same way you would give someone advice in person, is the same way you should be speaking online.
People follow personal experiences
Storytelling is something that has become very popular and helps establish more engagement. Whether it’s your personal experience or sharing for someone else you may know. People gravitate towards things they can relate to. Don’t sugar coat how everything is so easy because everyone knows that it’s not.
Creating a personal story allows people to engage with your business or brand. It makes your brand or business more personal and allows people to connect with your message and hopefully share that message with others.
Videos are changing the way we consume content
Videos have never been more in demand than they are now. Which also drives the question of, “How can I compete if I don’t have a large production company to help me?”
You don’t need an elaborate video or huge budget to convey your message but as with anything it will definitely need money invested to get started.
One trend that has become more popular is the vlog. Even the typical vlog has been changing. CEO’s, Managers, owners, or employees are creating 30 second videos or less of their everyday lives or current projects and uploading them to their Instagram stories or Facebook stories. This can easily be done with your phone camera and would help add a more personal connection with your audience.
Quality is better than quantity
If you are just trying to put out as much content as possible without putting much thought into it. Why bother?
The image or video used in a post is one of the most important elements you have to think about. Is the thumbnail engaging? Is the color something that will create the mood I want?
Just as important but often overlooked is the body or the text of the content. Is it compelling? Does it have a call to action? After reading, watching, or looking at your content, your audience should be clicking to learn more, sharing, or leaving with some type of value added for them.
Know your audience
If you don’t know your audience then all the work, you put into what we just spoke about above will go to waste. Imagine you are a beer company that is known locally but you are trying to expand your reach. So, when you create your ads you just select a large group of people. Well that’s great but in that group, could be anyone that is under 21. What good is it if you don’t target the right people who can actually buy your product.
Specifying your target audience is crucial in identifying the people who are most likely to buy your product or service. Your reach might go down a little but at least you know the people you are targeting are actually qualified buyers.
Everything around us is constantly changing. There is always something new happening in the online world and if you don’t stay tuned in you will be left behind. These trends are just a few that have emerged within these past few years but have become increasingly crucial for your success when creating content for social media platforms.
You can either create content that adds some type of value to the end viewer and target the right people or just create whatever and in the end get whatever for results.
