What are the best practices for creating engaging social media content?

1. Keep it real, keep it you. 2. Know your audience 3. Trending topics? Dive in, but add your twist. 4. Use facts to tell your stories 5. Use eye-catching visuals 6. Encourage interaction, don't just broadcast. 7. Stay consistent, but mix it up Remember, in the social media game, authenticity wins hearts. It's not just about followers; It's about building a community that vibes with your brand.

➔ Understand your audience: Research demographics, interests, and behaviors to tailor content that resonates with them. ➔ Identify preferences: Determine what types of content they prefer (e.g., videos, infographics, polls).

If working for a client, one thing I’ve found helpful is stay ahead of the curve by thinking about what other industry’s go hand in hand with the clients brand and base content on those industry’s. Be clever and try to tie in your clients industry with these. Will get more reach for your client.

Without question. If you don't know what your target client is concerned about, what problems they have and what they need, you have no chance of speaking to them correctly. You should profile each of your ideal clients, for each of your products/services, and ensure every piece of marketing (including every social media) actually speaks TO them. Otherwise how can you possibly hope to be successful?

➔ Establish brand personality: Define how your brand speaks to align with audience expectations and brand values. ➔ Consistency is key: Maintain a consistent tone across all posts to build familiarity and trust with your audience.

Always remember.. there’s a person that screen. Keep it real. But don’t be so desperate to look unbelievably authentic to the point of gushing. Connect to human spirit with your voice, words and tone while remaining “the brand”.

To define your voice and tone, consider how you want to be perceived by the people you seek to connect with and influence. Consider who your target audience is and what are their needs, and understand how you can serve those needs. Note: It’s not “everyone." Then, think about the story you want to tell. Narrative is, at its core, storytelling. But narrative must be anchored at all times in values, credibility, and authenticity. When you walk the talk, people gain credibility and their stories make a true impact.

Nirvana said it best: Come as you are. Authentic and simple language makes a better narrative than one loaded with meaningless jargon in an attempt to sound smart.

➔ Platform suitability: Select social media platforms where your target audience is most active and likely to engage. ➔ Format variety: Experiment with different content formats such as videos, images, stories, and infographics to appeal to diverse preferences.

This is also relevant depending on where your audience hangs out. When looking at your target client/customer avatar, you should look at what platforms they use and make sure you promote yourself there. It's like fishing... fish where the fish can be found.

I’ve been saying this since 2010. Be of service, but not patronising. Optimisation -wise…have a basic strategy you stick to. Algorithms change constantly, trends come and go…but classic always wins. Need help with implementing a consistent, regular and and solid as oak brand digital marketing strategy? Message me!

I've literally just done a Facebook Live on this, as hundreds of people attempting to promote their businesses have been doing 'lazy shares' from their pages into a community group. This does NOT work for promoting yourself on social media. Add value, give people what they want (and, ultimately, what they need) and they will come to you. Give them nonsense advert and after advert and they'll avoid you like you were on fire.

User generated content is always a winner (again, something I’ve been saying since 2010). Don’t over complicate, gimmicks are just that..focus on a solid, basic organic strategy, not a flash in the pan gimmick led strategy. Show up every day. Communicate but don’t be cringe. Create space in your work. Let the algorithm breathe.

As someone who's created a lot of user generated content websites over the last 20+ years, I completely agree. If you give people a platform to share their opinions, no force on earth can stop them! This is especially powerful if you create debate within the content or website, so that differing opinions bat back and forth within the comments or threads.

Make use of other peoples audience…answer every comment on your post but do it sincerely, don’t get yourself 100% hooked on analytics …sometimes things just work when there’s no reason it should. If a post about a specific subject got the most likes, shares and comments…write more! Chop up those articles and turn the pieces in to micro content and re-purpose the hell out of them in lots of formats for lots of platforms…use AI to repurpose and automate.