Here's the bad news about social media marketing: it demands an endless stream of content, updates, and interaction from you (and we know how busy you already are, right?)
Here's the good news: with the right framework, creating a healthy stream of social media content for your profiles will become much easier (and more effective to boot).
Instead of taking a guess at what your fans and followers would be interested in seeing every time you send a tweet or post to Facebook, you can set up strategic categories from which to pull engaging content.
Here are six proven content categories that are engaging and useful, and will make filling up your social queue a snap.
#1 - Other people's content
Social media was built for spreading the word about awesome stuff - especially online content. Your fans and followers will love getting your personal recommendation on other blog posts, videos, or resources that are helpful and relevant to them. Make your posts more engaging and original by adding a short note about why you think a piece of content is worth the look.
Here it is in action:
Will you be ready if your site goes down? Emergency preparedness for your website: http://t.co/RoaAnRHLrX via @tiffdotcom #wordpress
- Leah Kalamakis (@leahkalamakis) April 8, 2015
#2 - Your own content
Posting your own content on social media is a no brainer, right? You should definitely be sharing your blog posts, videos, and other content on your social profiles, but it's important to strike the right balance. Sharing only your content can turn followers off, but not sharing your content often enough can also be a problem. Your followers won't be offended if you promote your content - and they'll even love you for it if it delivers real value. Pro tip: you should share your evergreen (aka always useful) content more than once. Give an oldie-but-goody a shout out every now and then.
Here it is in action:
Taking a 20 minute nap can be the best thing for productivity - it's kinda like hitting the reset button on your day! http://t.co/OudsO4bZkh
- Best Kept Self (@BestKeptSelf) April 14, 2015
#3 - Tips + Advice
Being useful and generous is one of the fastest ways to grow a large and loyal following on social media. Give people a reason to stick around (and give yourself a lot of golden social content) by condensing some of your best advice or tips into small, social-sized nuggets.
Here it is in action:
Mistakes are part of the business of creation. If you're not making them, you're not making much.
- Kate Northrup (@katenorthrup) April 13, 2015
#4 - Inspiration + Quotes
Fun fact: quotes are one of the most widely shared type of social media update. They're easy to pass along, fun, and uplifting. They are also a super easy way to bolster your social content library. Try sharing relevant quotes from other smart people, or creating your own quick dose of inspiration to share with your audience.
Here it is in action:
In case you are wondering if you can do it or not... You can.
- Liz Griffin (@theLizGriffin) April 13, 2015
#5 - Questions
Getting a conversation going and encouraging feedback is easily one of the most important aspects of social media marketing. It's not meant to be a one-way medium - but sometimes it can seem frustratingly hard to strike up any sort of communication with your audience. A fast n' easy way to remedy this issue is by putting some intriguing questions out there. What do your fans and followers care about? What do they have deeply held opinions on? What do they know a lot about? Craft questions that line up with those things, and you'll have a lively conversation going before you know it.
Here it is in action:
Guest blogging! Ya ever try it? (Or does your OWN blog keep you busy enough?)
- Laura Roeder (@lkr) April 7, 2015
#6 - Promotional Updates
Straight up sales techniques rarely work on social media. You'll get much better results if you focus on building relationships and being helpful than on making cash directly. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be telling your audience what is going on in your business. Give people updates on what you're working on, paid offers you are excited about launching, and special promotion or discounts you're releasing. You'll get a great response if you craft your promotional updates to help your followers feel "in the loop". Give them behind-the-scenes looks, exclusive updates, or first-to-know privileges.
Here it is in action:
The new @STORYnashville site launches today at http://t.co/LIRzJK9fhu if you have a moment. #somestoriesarereal pic.twitter.com/Y6v9OOWmDd
- Ben Arment (@BenArment) April 8, 2015
If you want to keep this list of 6 irresistible social media update categories handy, you can download the PDF cheat-sheet here.