Create Social Media Posts – Part 2

In part one I talked about the basics you need to create your social media posts. Now I’m going to give you more information about the types of posts you can create, again, mostly for Facebook and Instagram.

Some people are not so familiar with all the social media platforms available. That’s OK. You don’t have to be an expert at everything to succeed. What you want to do here is to create a bigger presence online.

IMPORTANT: Before you start posting, link your Instagram and Facebook accounts. That way, you will be able to post the same thing on both account at the same time. It will be a time saver, mostly when you will publish stories.

You have to think about what your audience like, where it is, what it wants to see and to learn. The very important thing about social media is that people are not there to buy. They don’t go on Instagram and say:”Today I’m going to buy something I see on my feed”. It doesn’t work that way.

If you use social media as a pass time, do you go there looking for the next deal or do you go there to be social? It’s called social media for a reason. Be social there and try to grab people’s attention with your posts.

If you want to build your audience on social media you want to diversify the type of posts you are publishing. If you always republish or reuse the same posts, people that follow you and interact with your posts will stop and you can lose some reach when that happens.

Here are some tips to help you lighten up your social media feeds and create great social media posts.

When you create your posts, on your feed, you want to share 80% of the time business related or niche related posts and 20% personal post, to show to your followers that you are a real person.

In the stories section, you want to put 80% personal or behind the scene publications and put 20% related to your business.

Best tip of all: Answer to every comment you have on your posts. All of them. To create a bond with your followers, show them that you are there, not only for the money, and it shows engagement and activity on your page. It will be easy to do as you get started, since you won’t have so many comments to deal with.

As time goes by and you get more followers and more comments, you will have to make time in your schedule to answer to all the comments and minimally, give a like on every comments.

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Types of social media posts

I’m going to talk about the most common types of posts you can start using to diversify your content and hep your followers engage with you.

You want to create posts that are engaging and you want to include a call to action in 90% of the post you create. It can simply be a leave a comment below to click the link to know more on a topic, like this post and share with your friends.

First

The first type of post is the VALUE POST. As it says in the name, here is the post you use to give value to your audience. Ideally, you share one every day. Giving value is not that hard. There are many ways to create value posts.

It can be a motivational post. We see those more and more on internet. To motivate, your post has to make people who read it take action in their life, like a kick in the butt would make you do something. It can change your day when you read the right one. You can always share the ones you like the best. You don’t have to create them all, especially since so many people out there write motivational quotes all day long. Here is an example:

Inspiration is another way to give value to your audience. Here, you want to talk about the forces that are within each person and use those forces to create a life we want, or something about your niche. You don’t have to stick to your niche 100% of the time. People like inspirational quotes, you can always create one or two every week. Example from @Theclassyvibez:

Another way to create value post is to educate people on our niche. It can be a little piece of gem you share with your followers. You can create “Did you know” posts, you can debunk some myths related to your niche, you can give some advice, anything that will educate your followers. Here is an example:

Second

The second type is TRIVIA posts. What you want to do here is to ask questions. Try to ask questions related to your niche. There are many types of questions you can ask, it can be a simple yes or no type of question or it can be something that makes people think.

You can create some type of quiz you run through the week and you give the answers on Friday night in a live session, just a few minutes.

Any questions that people will like to share their answers are a good idea. Don’t ask anything too personal, unless it’s relevant to your niche.

The good thing with these posts is that you can create surveys on what your followers want to learn, discover, need, have problems with, in your niche so you can improve your social media content and create new article on your website based on the answers you received.

Keeping in mind that you should answer all the comment you receive, when you have a lot of engaged followers, you may want to use that type of post as little as possible, about once a week.

Here is an example of question post:

Third

The third type of post is a RESULT post. You know all the before and after picture we see everywhere? That’s exactly the kind of thing you want to show to people here. Show them the results. Even if you are selling dog clothes, you want to have a picture of the dog without and another with the clothes.

It can also be testimonials. People leaving a good review on your website. Getting good comments from people who used what you are promoting any kind of social proof that what you are promoting works. It’s always good to read from people who have great success.

Make sure you add a disclaimer saying results are not typical or not guaranteed to be the same for everyone. You need this for your credibility.

As you get started, it may not be so easy to create results posts as before and after pictures may not be available right away for you. Normally, when you are affiliated with a serious company, you will get everything that you need to promote their products. If you don’t, you can always ask.

If you have the chance to be part of a great community where everybody share their success, as small as it can be, it’s easy to find some testimonial and success stories. Here is an example from Wealthy Affiliate:

I could choose any of these posts and share it on my social media accounts. I could do that once a week and choose a different publication every time. That’s a good way to do so. Not every day, once or twice a week is enough. Change the day and time you will post these so more people get the chance to read/see them.

Fourth

The fourth type is LIFESTYLE posts. This is the moment you will be posting broad content about your life. This is the moment to be creative. You can create posts while you are cooking and you got an idea for something in your niche, share that in a small video or take a picture of your food and tell your followers the great idea that came to you while cooking.

It can be about anything! It’s better if you can link your niche to what your are doing in your everyday life. If you can’t, don’t worry, just letting people know that you are working on something new, watching a webinar, thinking about your new blog post while running is a good start.

In this category, you can use the stories and create them on Instagram and publish them on your Facebook stories automatically, when your accounts are linked.

Depending on your niche, some people recommend using the stories 5 to 15 times a day. All stories are available for 24 hours. You can spread them during the day so there is always stories running on your profile. Keep in mind that you don’t have to do it as often, but it can help you reach more people.

Let people know a bit more about yourself when sharing that type of content.

Here is an example of lifestyle post/stories:

Yes, it’s me, working from home, tired and freezing! I was wearing my alpaca gloves to help me keep my hands warm, I was wearing my neck warmer and I was using a big blanket to keep me warm. It’s always cold in my house during the fall/winter seasons.

Fifth

The last type of post I want to talk about is the LIVE posts. You know that scary thing that you will eventually want to try, you know, to show people you are a real person, to get interactive with your followers and to reach more people.

You want to get prepared for these. Choose a subject and try to talk about it for a few minutes. Yes, a few minutes is enough to get started with live sessions.

You can do some Q&A, you can promote a new product you are excited about. Anything you can think of that is related to your niche.

It takes a couple minutes for people to join your live, so you can put some music in the background (royalty free music, or ask a local musician or group if it’s OK and give them credit in your live). And move around a bit. You can ask where people are from and how they are doing and make them answer in the comment section.

Have some good energy when you are going live. Try to be entertaining. You are on a social media platform. Be social. You don’t have to be perfect. Be yourself. Be ready for glitches and bugs and everything is going to be fine. Even if everything goes wrong, it will go viral. Just give it a try.

In the end….

When creating social media posts, you can be fun and creative. You can use what you know and education your followers, you can ask questions and share a bit of yourself. Try to create your personal brand and use different types of publication to entertain your followers and reach to a maximum of people.

Give yourself some time to find your style and grow your audience. It doesn’t happen overnight and consistency is the key. Try to post every day. If you can do 2 or 3 times a day that’s even better but only of you give value.

If you feel like publishing a post everyday is too much, you can try 3 times a week to get started. Try to post the same days at the same time. That way, your followers will know when to expect your new posts.

My last tip for you here would be to have business accounts so you can schedule your posts. You can create one month or posting in one day. It’s automation working for you afterwards, then you can concentrate on growing your business, answering comments and creating a few lifestyle posts.

I invite you to read Part-3. The link will bring you directly to the article.

Are you ready to create good social media posts?

Let’s Get Started,

Cynthia

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