Creating content for social media is about much more than just sharing information. In order to truly engage your audience and get them to take action, you’ll need to craft posts that are interesting and relevant to them. 

However, coming up with fresh ideas for content can be tough, especially if you’re stuck in a rut. If you’re struggling to think of new and compelling content for your social media posts, you’re not alone.

Luckily, our team at 1SecondCopy has a few simple and practical tips to help you nail the content creation side of social media management.

Know Your Audience 

The first step to writing compelling content is to know your target audience. What are their goals? What are their pain points? What kind of voice, tone, and humor will resonate with them? 

Take the time to research your audience before you start writing. Use whatever analytics tools you have available, but make sure you also spend some time observing and participating in the online communities you aim to reach. This is a great way to get a feel for the prevalent topics and communication styles.

Once you’ve gathered some basic information on your readers’ backgrounds, motivations, and interests, you can bring it all together by creating buyer or user personas. These are fictional characters, each with a name and avatar, that represent your ideal customer. 

Developing these personas will give you more clarity and focus in your content creation. You’ll be able to target your posts to a specific type of person, which will make your content more compelling.

Write Headlines That Pack a Punch

Your headline is the first thing people will see when they come across your content, and  Make sure it's attention-grabbing and compels people to want to read more.

An effective social media headline should be:

• Clear and concise - People should immediately grasp what the post is about.

• Evocative - Use language that evokes emotion. “Revolutionary,” “bizarre,” and “surprising” are great examples.

• Specific - Readers often scroll past generic headlines. Make sure they know exactly why they should read your content.

Think about what tends to make you stop and read an article. Then, use that same principle to write headlines for your own content.

Write With a Purpose

Before you start down the content creation path, it’s important to know why you’re writing. What are you trying to achieve? 

Every piece of content you create should have a specific purpose in support of your broader business goals, whether it’s to raise awareness, generate leads, or drive sales.

Once you know your purpose, you can start thinking about what kind of content will help you achieve it. Keep your goal in mind as you write, and make sure every element of your post supports it.

Use Strong Images

Humans are visual creatures, and that extends to the content we consume on social media. In fact, posts with images tend to be shared on social media more than those without. 

In your content creation process, make sure you devote ample time to sourcing or making eye-catching illustrations, photos, or infographics.

Your images should be:

• High-quality - Blurry or pixelated images look unprofessional and will reflect poorly on your brand. Make sure you review your posts on both desktop and mobile, as they may look different.

• Engaging - Avoid stock photos or generic images. Instead, use images that are intriguing or emotionally engaging to capture your viewers’ attention.

• Relevant to the text - Stay focused on the overall message or impression you want the viewer to take away from your post. The image should support this, not distract from it.

Keep it Short and Sweet

People have short attention spans on social media, and many of your readers will skim quickly through your content. You’ll need to make sure it’s easy to consume.

• Use short paragraphs - Avoid intimidating-looking walls of text by keeping paragraphs to just three or four lines.

• Keep sentences simple - Use fairly basic, skimmable sentence structures. This is not the place for ornate prose.

• Break up text - Use images, infographics, videos, and alternative text formats such as bullet points to provide variety and make key information easily digestible.

Include a Call to Action

This could be something as simple as asking your followers to like or share your post, or it could be a more specific call to action, like asking them to click on a link to learn more about a certain topic. 

Either way, make sure you include a clear, friendly, and personal call to action so that your followers know what you want them to do. Not only are you more likely to get your desired response, but it’s also a great way to make your posts feel more human and build a feeling of community.

Write With an Authentic Voice

Social media management involves a great deal of strategy and planning, but don’t lose yourself in the process. Nobody has time to spare for content that sounds manufactured or generic.

Authenticity is one of the most important traits of compelling social media content. When your content is genuine, your audience will be able to tell, and they’ll appreciate it.

When you’re creating content for social media, it’s important to find a voice that fits your brand. This will help you sound more human and relatable to your audience. 

Once you’ve found your voice, stick to it. Consistency is key!

In Summary

Content creation is a key part of social media management, but it’s often difficult to know how to create content that is both engaging and informative. Moreover, constantly having to come up with fresh ideas for posts can start to drain your creativity.

Setting some basic criteria and parameters can do wonders to help you focus and maximize the impact of your posts. Your best approach is to be highly purpose-driven, concise, digestible, and visually appealing while remembering that social media users want human connection–not ads.

Getting it right might take practice, so go ahead and have fun experimenting with all the tools and features these platforms have to offer. Remember that the more frequently you post, the more data and insights you’ll gain as to what works and what doesn’t.