Key Takeaways
- Grabbing your audience’s attention on social media is key to holding that attention – and turning it into conversions.
- With the powerhouse that is TikTok changing how we browse, video content is only going to keep growing in popularity- video is excellent for engagement.
- Let your readers engage through scavenger hunts, contests, and polls.
- A behind the scenes look or other relatable content pieces may help build familiarity and draw additional engagement.
It’s said that over 95M photos and videos are uploaded to Instagram every day. With so much content being uploaded on a daily basis, it’s much harder for brands to stand out and catch the attention of their audience. This has forced brands to get more creative and publish eye-catching content that cuts through the noise.
In this article, we’ll touch on how the world’s biggest (and smallest) brands are creating content that not only catches their audience’s attention but also drives sales. Let’s dive in!
Publish video content
It’s no longer good enough for brands to just publish photos on social media. As a brand, you must create engaging content that sparks your audience’s attention and give them something to remember you by. In today’s age, video content is the answer. With the rise of TikTok, short-form vertical video has taken the world by storm and forced social media to adapt.
So, as you begin to develop your content strategy on social media, be sure to account for some video content. The types of video content you can produce for social media are limitless. Here are a few ideas:
- Product demonstrations: Show off your product and how to use it
- Comedic skits: Develop hilarious skits that incorporate your product
- Interviews: Get out in public and interview people on topics that your audience might find interesting
- Behind the scenes looks: Show your audience how you do things!
Here’s an example of video content from Redefine’s favorite overnight oat brand Mush. It’s a simple video that shows how to use Mush to create a healthy breakfast with fruits and other tasty ingredients!
Host quizzes or polls on social media
Quizzes and polls are another great way to attract the attention of your audience on social media. By hosting polls, you encourage followers to directly interact with your content by answering a series of questions. Additionally, it’s a great way to collect feedback or insights from your audience by posing strategic questions. For example, you can ask followers questions such as:
- “What type of content would you like to see more of?”
- “What is a pain point you encounter when doing XYZ?” Tailor this question so it relates directly to your audience/niche.
- “What is something you’d like to see change with our product?”
The questions you ask can be virtually anything! Ask your audience for feedback or simply ask engaging questions. Similarly, you can host “Trivia Nights” on your Instagram stories, where you ask your followers tough questions that relate to the niche you are targeting.
The most important part is to have fun with the quizzes or polls you post!
Host a scavenger hunt or competition
As we mentioned, it’s extremely tough to stand out on social media nowadays. There’s so much content being posted on a daily basis that brands need a way to stand out. One way to do this is by hosting a scavenger hunt or competition around your brand.
For example, if you are a brick-and-mortar store, you can stash items near your store for customers to find. You can even hide nearby the stashed scavenger hunt items and capture their reaction as they find them. If you aren’t a brick-and-mortar, you can do this by hosting a scavenger hunt in a city where most of your followers reside. Social media scavenger hunts are great opportunities for content and excellent ways to interact with your audience.
Post user-generated content (UGC)
If you’re new to the social media world, then the acronym UGC is probably foreign to you. UGC stands for user-generated content, which is social media content posted by customers that use your product.
There have been multiple studies come out over the years that prove user-generated content drives trust and loyalty among consumers. The reason why UGC builds trust and loyalty among consumers is that it shows an authentic point of view from customers who are truly interacting with your product or service. This type of content is usually unedited and free from all filters or overly promotional marketing jargon that you’d typically find in brand content.
For large brands, UGC is extremely easy to come by. However, for small brands, UGC can be a bit more difficult to come by, but no need to stress if you are a small brand! Recently, UGC content creators have risen in popularity as they provide brands with a low-to-no-cost method for developing content that appears to be created by real customers. Most of these creators have accounts under 10K followers, so they aren’t necessarily “influencers.” And, in exchange for video content, they will usually take a free product or small sum of cash as payment.
This is an example of what content looks like from a UGC creator:
Create a useful guide
There’s no question that brief, useful guides or how-to content are a key component of social content marketing. While some followers may prefer video content, others may enjoy brief written content overlaid on a visually engaging graphic (think: infographic). Here’s an example of how the camera accessory brand Urth uses this format to grab the attention of their audience of photographers, videographers, and film-buffs!
By utilizing this format, you are able to develop an on-brand infographic that provides useful information about your product, industry news, or other information your audience may enjoy.
The best part about this format of social media content is that if you already have a catalog of well-written blog content, then you don’t need to spend too much time ideating. Just repurpose that pre-written blog content, find a creative social media template that you like and place in the information!
Tell a personal story
Nowadays, social media has paved the way for consumers to create a deeper personal connection with the founders of brands. This is especially true if it’s a brand that they’ve followed since its inception or if they feel they can relate to the founder in some way. Due to this trend, brands and founders have begun highlighting personal stories on social media, such as milestones they’ve reached or brief anecdotes about their early days.
These kinds of posts actually perform very well on social media and can allow you to create a deeper connection with your audience. Here’s an example of how the Los Angeles Indian-American restaurant Badmaash used this post type to build a closer bond with their audience of foodies.
Make relatable content/memes
Memes! That’s practically what social media is made up of now, right? Memes pretty much rule social media, while non-brand memes generally perform best, there is some room for businesses to create memes around their brand and get their share of engagement. As a brand, you want to post memes that are relatable to your audience.
For example, say you run a meal planning service, then you should be posting memes related to health or working out since those are topics your audience would likely enjoy. Here’s an example of how Later, the social media management software, is utilizing memes to engage with its audience of social media marketers who may be familiar with that work-from-home life!
Show how the sausage is made (BTS look)
People love a good behind-the-scenes look at your process and how things are made. It’s the reason why the Canadian television series, How It’s Made, has had over 32 seasons since January 2001. So, to spark your audience’s attention on social media, give them a behind-the-scenes look at how you do things!
Some ideas could include how you create the product or service you sell or interesting tasks or projects you work on to keep your business running. The possibilities are endless, but it’s definitely important that you share this behind-the-scenes look with your audience. Here’s an example of how the brand’s DSPTCH and Ghia share a behind-the-scenes look at their prototyping and manufacturing processes:
We can help you cut through the noise
These days, it’s harder to cut through the noise and all the content that’s posted on social media. However, with these ideas, you can make an attempt to cut through the noise and spark your audience’s attention. But, if time and bandwidth aren’t something you have to spare, just hire the social media experts at Redefine. Our social media specialists can produce content for you and provide you with guidance on what content your brand should be making. Drop us a line here!
