10 ways to create valuable & engaging content for social media

One of the most common questions we see from small businesses trying to create a social media presence is “How do we meet our customers needs on social media?”

All platforms have different nuances, audiences, intent and requires some thought, but the following list points to the key values you should embody in your social media strategy that works cross-platform.

10 ideas for small businesses to add value to their social media content:

1. Show behind the scenes. Showing behind the scenes content adds a human touch to your social media, and is great content that engages your followers!
2. Show off your customers. Turning the spotlight onto your customers allows both parties to benefit from mutual interest! This works great if you’ve done a great job and have a happy customer!
3. Show your customers how it’s done. Wherever possible give the customers a transparent view of what your company is offering in practise! Trust is an important predictor of a brand / companies long term success.
4. Inspire! This can be anything from a motivational quote, a video explaining how your customer can use your services to add value.
5. Interact with your loyal customers. Loyal happy customers have no problem sharing their love online! Make sure you are engaging these fans as an important social indicator to other potential customers!
6. Share relevant industry related news. This not only adds value to the industry you are part of, it also reinforces to your customer base you keep up with and are reactive to the latest developments in your sphere.
7. Post Lists! Use your specialist industry knowledge to create list based content. For example if you Birmingham Based Recording Studio you may post “Top 10 Upcoming Rappers from Birmingham”
8. Host a google+ Hangout! It’s a great experience to jump in with your customers and fans and a great chance to get a feel of how your base feel about your products and services.
9. Give something away for free! Aside from adding virtual value through your posts, you can act like Santa in this regard, every once in a while give away something physical for free.
10. Ask a question! Sometimes it’s great to start a discussion with your customers, you may learn something interesting or surprising!
11. Use Multimedia! Make sure you’re experimenting with all media types, pictures, videos, blog articles, live streams, podcasts. Find what works for you and your niche!

Remember a few crucial don’ts!

1. DON’T try and sell or convert on every single post, create valuable content!
2. DON’T stuff your content with copy and pasted content or irrelevant #hashtags

When it comes to your social media strategy, remember to think outside the box and put your self in your customers shoes, what value is your social media bringing to the company. Don’t post for the sake of posting, keep it valuable and consistent, even if that’s just one post per day, week etc. This is the very same ethics we employ at Developyn’s social media.