What Type of Content Should You Be Posting On Each Social Channel?

Social media is such a huge part of business these days, with brands using it to attract new customers, build relationships with existing ones, and to exert their authority in ever-growing niches.

According to the most recent State of Social study, the top four social media channels businesses use are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, with almost every single business using Facebook in some capacity.

Source

But here’s the thing: although these four social channels are perfect for generating new leads and building a brand, they are completely different in regards to the type of content they support best.

What performs well on Facebook might perform terribly on Instagram and vice versa, so how do you know what to post where?

We’ve got you covered.

Generate Engagement on Facebook

Facebook is inherently the most social out of the “Big Four”. It was originally built to maintain social connections and is regularly used for consumers to chat with family, friends, and brands.

This is why it’s so good for engagement – the like emojis and share buttons are too irresistible, which is great news for your business.

But what kind of content gets the most thumbs up?

Research by BuzzSumo showed that videos have a higher average engagement rate than images and links, and this is evident in the huge success of Facebook Live videos.

So if you want to get those all-important “likes” (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?), pack your Facebook feed full of captivating videos and Live updates from your business.

Showcase Your Company Culture on Instagram

Instagram is the place to show off amazing photos and build a visual representation of your brand.

Source

But instead of just posting pretty picture after pretty picture, use the visual nature of it to create and share your company culture.

You can do this by sharing:

• • Product photos that show your products or services in action to give potential customers an idea of what their lives might look like if they buy into your brand

• • Behind-the-scenes shots and stories that highlight your brand personality by showcasing staff members, the making of your product, an event, or something that digs a little deeper than usual

• User-generated content that shows how previous customers have used your product to create a community and a digital word-of-mouth referral system

Use Twitter for Thought Leadership

According to a survey by the American Press Institute, the vast majority of people use Twitter to keep up with the news.

Users are actively looking for sources of authority on specific topics of interest, which means Twitter is the perfect place for you to showcase your expertise.

Instead of posting pretty pictures and behind-the-scenes videos on here like you might on Instagram, use it as a platform to curate blog posts on subjects your audience are interested in and share reports and studies with juicy facts and figures.

To really capture the attention of endless scrollers, inject a dose of fun with a GIF or a segment of an infographic along with a blog post or study.

Professionally Brand Yourself on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is famously the platform to make business connections.

Unlike the other three social channels listed here, it’s rarely used by people in a casual, social way, which makes it perfect for really showing off your professional brand.

Here, people expect to see posts about jobs, company news, and professional content – things like reports from within your own business and any interesting studies or experiments you’ve carried out.

There’s some overlap with Twitter here, too, as LinkedIn is a great place to exert your expertise by sharing your latest blog posts, facts and figures, and thought leadership pieces.

Figure Out What Works For You

While we have offered some guidelines for what you should post on each of the Big Four social media channels here, this shouldn’t be taken as absolute gospel.

Creating vibrant social channels that are bursting with engagement is a case of trial and error, so it’s worth figuring out what works best for your audience on the different platforms.

Start by sharing one or two different kinds of posts on your different social channels and see which ones perform best. You can then tweak your posting schedule as necessary.

For example, on Instagram, you might start by trying out a few behind-the-scenes Stories, on Facebook you might experiment with a weekly Live video, on Twitter you might dig out a couple of top-notch studies to share, and on LinkedIn you might publish your latest company report to get started.

Social media is a fun and important part of business, but getting it right can be tricky. Once you know what to post and where, you’ll find that your accounts will begin to grow, bringing you more followers, deeper relationships with existing buyers, and more exposure in your niche.