There are a number of companies on social media and each one is fighting for attention. So in this crowded marketplace, how does your page get noticed by users? The answer is remarkable content! In other words, you make your content to prompt your fans and followers to ‘remark’ i.e. like/ favourite, share/retweet, comment/reply. Every one of these gives you a double win! Firstly, such content is easily and quickly spread on social media sites like Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook along with other sites, thereby increasing your ‘PTA’ (People Talking About) and brand visibility. Secondly, remarkable content increases credibility of your page and thus, your company.
As we get to how to create remarkable content, let’s first have a look at some impressive statistics from Huffington Post:
- 1 million websites have integrated with Facebook
- 23% of users check Facebook 5 times or more daily
- 34% marketers have generated leads on Twitter
- 80% of users prefer to connect with brands on Facebook
- Google +1 button is used 5 million times a day
To keep things simple, update content that you can create rapidly and that people can effectively spread online.
Text Updates: Although images work better than just status updates, you might want to experiment with short text updates. Remember KISS? Don’t get me wrong! I meant ‘Keep It Short & Simple’ so try to keep your posts under an 80 character brick wall. They receive 23% of a higher response than the longer ones. Asking questions is a great way to kick-start discussions and increase engagement & participation from your fans & followers.
Images: Attachments are not bad in this case! Pictures top the list of content that people enjoy and share the most. They receive 40% higher engagement from the users. With the new Facebook graph search, it is recommended to create high quality creatives of the right dimensions. There are lots of free tools available in the market which will help you create really cool infographics or even better, get your graphic designer to make a customized one for you 
Link Posts: Most of the companies include links in their posts and unfortunately this is the most ineffective form of posting and it receives the least engagement. Many of us would want our fans and followers to visit our website or the source of information, however it appears that they are not too keen on leaving their Facebook or Twitter account. Many of us have heard of the benefits of shortened urls but in many cases, users don’t trust them and would rather like to see where they are heading.
Video Content: Videos can be used by brands for testimonials, product demonstration, events, contests and promotions. They are capable of generating deeper level of engagement with the fans adding more value to your brand. There is recently introduced Vine app which let’s you share interesting 6 second videos on Twitter. Since it’s only available on iOS and not android market, very few brands have explored it. Also, using videos to begin a conversation with your customer has proved to be quite effective in many cases like Dell.
Infographics: They are basically a graphical representation of data, info or ideas. Infographics have been around from years but lately you can see marketers using it all over the web for promoting their brands and products. Since the attention span of the users is decreasing, infographics is a useful tool.
Make sure your content is either:
Humorous – Make your audience laugh or smile?
Controversial – Yes, this works but don’t hurt anybody’s sentiments. Refrain from publishing false content or even content from sources that are not trustworthy.
Highly informative – Ideally your social media pages should have a good mix of entertaining and informative content.
Relevant to your brand – Everyone is hungry for more likes and share but wait! Have you checked if it is even remotely related to your brand? If not, ask yourself this question, “Where is MY brand on MY social media sites?” “How can I customize my social media content to reflect my brand?”
You can also look through this slide deck to find out more about strategies for effective wall posts.
