A guest article on everything about social media posts
You are a social media manager in a company or have always wanted to know everything about social media posts on Facebook and Instagram? Then you are in the right place. In this article the two guest authors Marion and Verena tell you about so.you everything about ideas, tips and knowledge around social media posts!
Table of Contents
What is a social media post?
Social media posts are mostly text, image or video content published via a social -media platform.
The big advantage to offline "posts": other people can interact with the content directly. Here’s how:
- Respond with emojis
- comment
- Share with your network
- Save and remember for a later date
Author:in can be a company (brand-generated), influencer (influencer-generated) or a fan of a company (user-generated). Why a brand should write social media posts? Because that’s how reach and visibility happens. The highlight: social media channels are a natural way to build relationships with your target audience.
What makes a good social media post?
Which social media post is good or bad is always decided by the followers themselves. The best thing is to periodically look at the most important KPIs. This is how you learn what your target group likes and more and more often you hit exactly the taste of your fans and write "good social media posts".
This statement was not helpful? Here is a short list of the most important "ingredients" for a good social media post, because as you probably know, it’s the whole package that counts.
1. Visual elements with pop stop users’ scrolling thumbs
You know it yourself, you scroll through the feed of social networks and suddenly there is
- a new image/video of your favorite brand,
- an infographic on a topic that is on your mind at the moment,
- a picture where you think to yourself "that could be me exactly",
- or even a really funny picture of a brand you don’t know yet – you interrupt the scrolling and swipe, react and only then read through the text.
Statistics on the relevance of visual elements differ depending on the source: some speak of 94% more visibility, some of even 98% more visibility of social media posts with visual content compared to social media posts without visual content. Conclusion: for a good social media post, it needs good creatives.
2. Text that inspires, helps, entertains or captivates
An essay like in school? No, no one needs that. Should include: A compelling first line, clearly structured content and a call-to-action (CTA). We will show you in a moment how to find exactly the right words.
3. Hashtags – your organic reach booster
Hashtags are the SEO tool on social media. With the right hashtags, your post can even be found by users who don’t know you yet. Hashtags on hot topics, like #blacklivematters make your account a potential discussion platform. Hashtags for your location help tourists, for example, to find you right away.
But beware: hashtags do not work equally well on all social media platforms. On Facebook, for example, hashtags are not used much. In contrast, they are true "reach boosters" on Instagram. You can even place up to 30 hashtags there, where currently approx. 10-12 are considered "optimal. Important: Do not use more hashtags than words in the caption. Hashtags can also be used intelligently on Twitter. The social media platform LinkedIn is currently developing in exactly this area. Currently, up to 5 hashtags that you use in your post are added to the URL of the post.
No matter which network: Use hashtags selectively and do not spam your followers with them.
4. Emojis – jump straight into the heart of your followers with them
You want to arouse emotions and speak in the language of your followers? Then use emojis. Emojis are often defined as the "world’s storytelling language" and that’s exactly how they should be used. Here’s a little overview on how to use them correctly:
- Emojis should complement your "message.
- Emojis may not be used instead of words, as especially new emojis are not available on all devices.
- Use emojis that are understood by your target group. You are not sure what a certain emoji means? Click your way into emojipedia.org in. There the meaning is broken down.
Whether you should also use emojis on LinkedIn? Yes, absolutely. There, they function especially to improve the readability of social media posts, for example, by being used as bullet points.
What are the social media post formats?
Quite a lot! Depending on the platform, individual formats work better or worse. New formats are being added – older formats are becoming less relevant.
Image-text post: the classic
True to the motto: "A picture is worth a thousand words"- the classic is as popular as ever. The big challenge with the classic: stand out from the crowd.
Tip: If you post several pictures at once – a "carousel" – you can extend the length of stay on your profile.
Guides: deep-dives into individual topic groups
Guides are a collection of several social media posts on Instagram. Depending on the topic – product, seasonal or theme series – they can be combined in guides. You can even use user-generated content from other profiles for this purpose.
Video: the champion
Not everyone makes videos and that’s your opportunity. Post videos and stand out. With videos, the transfer of your brand and yourself succeeds much easier. Videos entertain, inform, narrate.
When creating your videos, keep in mind the daily life of your users: They may be sitting at work or at university. This means the videos you post should have real entertainment potential even without sound. Optionally, you can turn on the automatic subtitles.
Hot tip: The first 3 seconds have to be as entertaining as possible. Otherwise a) the abandonment rate is too high and b) you can win the automatic playout of videos on social media platforms for you.
What Facebook will not reward you with? Linking to Youtube videos. Facebook always wants native content, after all. How it works best:
- MP4 for those who want to be on the safe side, other formats are allowed.
- A maximum file size of 10 GB is allowed.
- You have up to 240 minutes to deliver the most exciting content of all time.
On Instagram, you need to consider the following key data:
- Video in the feed must not exceed 60 seconds
- IGTV can last up to 15 minutes
Live video: the authenticity guarantor
Authenticity is often absent from high-quality marketing videos, so it’s all the more important to go live now and then, too. Use live video for branding, outreach, and to build customer loyalty. Hardly anyone is happy about sales actions in live videos.
Reels: the entertainers
30-second short videos with 300% entertainment factor are reels. Reels can be found on Instagram and they are currently the trending feature there, which the algorithm rewards with reach.
Story: the status update of today
To create stories, we recommend using the Instagram story features. At the moment, 9:16 and 15 seconds are the basic rules. Use surveys and questions. This is how you can increase the interaction rate. After creating the story in Instagram, it can be shared on both platforms (Instagram and Facebook) simultaneously.
Text post: the status update from back then
Yes, it is still possible. Can you still remember the status updates at midnight after a disco visit?? Reach and high interaction rates do not exist on this today, however. For spontaneous information that needs to be communicated quickly, you can still use them.
Link post: on your own behalf
On Facebook and LinkedIn there is also the possibility to simply post links. This way you can showcase your website or web store.
Our TIP: No matter what platform, always pay attention to the latest formats! Whoever uses them is always rewarded the most by the algorithm.
How to write a social media post?
We have prepared a guide for you consisting of 7 steps.
Before you get started, however, you should definitely think about a social media strategy and already have a social media editorial plan prepared. Ready? Here goes:
Do your homework and research!
What problems, questions or needs do your ideal customers have?? Which hot topic is your desired community currently talking about?? These topics are the basis for your textual content.
To build trust with this very community, you can share success stories of former or current happy customers. This way the community can better imagine how you can help and what their own future could look like. This way, you connect with your brand on an emotional level and your future customers take a leap of faith in you.
Speak the language of your ideal customers.
Yes, you guessed it – the research continues. In which language and with which words do your ideal customers talk about their problems and needs?. Use these exact words to address the issues in your social media posts as well. How to show that you know your ideal customers.
A post you write for your fashion community on Instagram should sound different than a social media post you write to appeal to CEOs on LinkedIn. Both groups not only have different ways of thinking and different problems, but also use a different language to express themselves.
Use your brand language
Finally – enough research for now. With all the audience focus, of course, don’t neglect to develop your brand voice. This reflects your values and should always trigger the same emotions. If you can speak the same language across all channels, it can help users identify with you and remember you.
Be positive!
This advice by no means means that every post you make has to elicit a burst of laughter from your community, but rather that your social media post should elicit a positive feeling from your readers. This feeling can also be triggered by informative posts, news or great emotional videos.
Make sure that your texts are not too long.
As short as possible and as long as necessary – is the generally known rule here. Be careful with the time of your customers. If you want your target group to pay attention to you, you should do the same for them.
Write in a user-friendly way!
Pick up your fans with a concise first line. The goal of the first line is to create curiosity, so that the followers continue reading. Your tone should always match the goal of the post. Inform, entertain, tell, educate and sell are just a few examples of possible goals for your social media post.
For vocabulary and sentence length, your reference level should be an 8th grader. The simpler you write, the easier your content will be to consume. Use emojis and paragraphs to break up your content and further increase readability. Your paragraphs should be no more than three sentences long.
Tell your followers what you want from them.
Add a call-to-action sentence at the end of each social media post. Do you want them to follow your page or share the post? Then tell your users. You want to know what they think of the topic of your post? Conclude the post with an explicit question. Important: The easier it is to answer them, the more feedback you will receive.
What should you post on social media and what should you rather not post?
I don’t know what to post! Nothing happens in our company that is relevant to social media! We do not have enough content! We hear statements like this all the time. Our answer is usually "Let’s have a brainstorming session and create a social media strategy together. After a short time, a colorful mix of topics is ready for the editorial plan. Depending on the goal definition, the focus of the content is on different topics. Basically, though:
- Let your followers look behind the scenes of your company.
- Show faces – no matter if employees or customers: "People want to see people".
What definitely has no place in the list of topics on your social media channels are:
- Explosive details from the business figures
- Negative content where competitors, customers or politicians are dragged through the **. Content of this kind is not only unprofessional, but can also destroy trust and credibility in your brand. The same goes for unconfirmed details as well as rumors of all kinds.
- Stolen content, which is when you post someone else’s content under your name. If the original author gets wind of it, it is guaranteed to be unpleasant and may even have legal consequences.
…and basically everything that should not be put online permanently.
What are your social media post ideas??
- Stories from your customers: How did you help the Mustermann family last time?? What problem did Ms. Mustermann have? Write social media posts about customer stories so that potential new customers can identify with you.
- News related to brand, product, store or company: Use social media posts to quickly inform your fans about news. Some specific examples include: Communicating a change in business hours or opening hours on holidays so your customers aren’t left standing in front of closed doors, introducing new employees, presenting new products, explaining new features on the website or possibly a generational change in management. How to keep your fans always up to date and let them become part of your business.
- Funny captions: Yes, that’s right – your followers also want to be entertained. Allow yourself a joke now and then and sweeten the day for your fans.
- Giveaways: Be spendy! Use giveaways to grow your fan base on social media in an instant. Write your rules strategically and ask your followers to like your account, repost your social media post and tell friends about the contest. So the numbers around reach and traffic go up rapidly. The statistics of your future social media contributions will thank you for it.
- Company values and goals: No, you should not write 1:1 your defined values in a social media post, but bring them closer with examples. Is one of your values for example "sustainability" and you have adapted the packaging of your products for this reason?? Then tell your users why you have customized the package.
- Knowledge and expertise: You must be professionals in a certain field in your industry. Share this knowledge in simple terms with your user:s. With social media posts of this kind, there is a high probability that your posts will even be "noticed.
- Share and respond: Has a trade magazine written about you or has a cooperation partner mentioned you in their social media post? Then use your social media account to share these posts and personally write two to three more sentences about them. This brings variety and conveys trust.
- Employee stories: No business without the people behind it – we all know that. Also tell about your employees on your social media channels. This has three positive effects: 1. Increasing trust in your company in the eyes of followers – after all, they want to know who is behind the company. 2. Employee recognition and appreciation naturally has positive effects on your employees themselves. 3. The number of potential applicants increases.
What is a social media management tool?
Social media management tools are mostly used to increase efficiency and performance on social media. Typical tools help social media managers with the following activities:
- Planning social media posts
- Automatic posting of social media contributions
- Management of user interactions
- Competitor analysis of other social media accounts
- Graphical elaboration of images and videos
- Analysis and reporting of social media posts
The selection of possible tools on the web is almost infinite. Some popular social media tools include Hootsuite, Later, Facelift Cloud, or Fanpage Karma. Tools vary by potential features, customer support, ease of use and complexity of setup. To find the right tool, we therefore recommend taking a look at the OMR Reviews software evaluation platform. Here, the individual social media management tools are presented and evaluated by users.
So, in a nutshell, there are a number of social media post formats, and depending on the platform, there are a number of points to keep in mind. User:s determine whether a post was good or bad through interactions – to make a good post, creatives and copy must always be targeted to the defined audience. In terms of content, there is hardly a story within a company that can’t be used as potential social media content. So, as long as the no-go’s are observed, anything that helps achieve the goal defined in the social media strategy may be posted. To increase the efficiency and performance of social media marketing, social media management tools can be used.
About Marion and Verena
We are Marion and Verena, the founders of so.you | integrated social media marketing. We help to strategically place individual projects on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest and to jointly achieve goals for personal, product and corporate brands. Our daily work? Development of social media strategies, editorial plans, advertising campaigns, social media workshops and of course we follow the current trends from the social media world.