With 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day, how do companies stand out from the noise? Sylvia Jensen, Senior Director at Oracle Marketing Cloud gives her top tips.
The sheer amount of data generated every single day is mind blowing. Every day 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created.
And social media users are doing their part…
- Facebook users share 2.4 million pieces of content
- Twitter users Tweet 277,000 times
- Instagram users post 216,000 new photos
That’s a lot of noise and clutter, so how do companies stand out?
Written Content
When it comes to the written portion of social media marketing, less is unequivocally better. Get to the point quickly. And by all means be human. Yes, that sounds obvious but we have all experienced social media posts that were presumably written by a robot.
Be human, but be business-savvy. Start by using the data gained from social listening and write about things that your customers and prospects are interested in. This is a conversation, so you don’t want to dominate it with details about your products.
Even if you are focused on generating leads or sales, every post will not require a call to action (CTA). Those that do should be crafted in a seamless fashion. If you are writing a Facebook post to download your latest content, be conversational and segue into the CTA with language as to why the reader should download it in the first place.
Visual Content
The inclusion of photos or images in social media posts is a must. Visual content is more than 40 times more likely to be shared than other types of content. Perhaps the most important thing to remember when including an image in a post is relevancy. Another key aspect when selecting an image is to evoke emotion whenever possible.
Video Content
Videos go a step further than images, in that they help you tell a story— and we all know storytelling is paramount for any brand’s success in today’s world. Videos are a great way to bring your brand to life, literally and to—yes—show your human side. Try sharing videos of user-generated content, interviews with guests or influencers in your space, behind the scenes stories, and How-To videos.
Offsite Content
Guest blogging on relevant industry blogs is a great way to leverage your content via other sites while establishing yourself and your company as thought leaders in your given field or industry. The key is relevancy. Do not offer to be a guest blogger on a site that has nothing to do with your industry. Guest blogging also provides you the opportunity to include links back to your content—provided you have an arrangement with the editor of the blog you are writing for.
Publishing on sites like Medium and LinkedIn are other ways to attract an audience beyond those who visit your channels.
Conclusion
Stand out to your target market by offering purposely designed content in a range of formats. The power of the spoken word can be great, but not when it comes to social media, let the visuals do the talking. Take into consideration your audience, closely monitor what content they respond to and tailor your offering to their preferences – not yours.
To leverage your content to its maximum look outside of your owned channels and cast a wider (but well aimed) net for placement opportunities. If you are going to look outside of your home grown social media platforms, consider the audience you’re looking for before approaching any extra parties and don’t just take the first opportunity that comes along.
By Sylvia Jensen
Senior Director