How to Create Social Media Posts Like a Pro
Social media is an invaluable resource today for individuals with an irresistible message like yours. It offers a unique opportunity to reach new people, build a loyal community, and contribute to changing the world.
To professionally and authentically showcase your message, there are a few things you should consider.
Guide on creating high-quality social media posts:
1. Know Your Message and Your Audience
Before you start, it's crucial to know your message precisely. What do you want to share with the world, and whom do you want to inspire? The better you know your audience, the more precisely you can create content tailored to their needs and interests.
2. Tell (Your) Story
Textless posts, pure photo posts, don't make sense as they don't encourage interaction.
Stories, on the other hand, have incredible power to captivate people. Package your message in stories – show how it came into your life, whether it's a personal experience, your own development, or the story of a happy customer.
A good story stays in memory, and your community can identify with you, building trust.
Pay attention to spelling! Many people (like me) might not like or comment on a post with spelling errors (and I don't mean typos!). Use a Word document with the spell-check function.
3. Visualise with Creative Images and Videos
Images and videos are the pillars of social media. Invest time and creativity in creating high-quality visual content. Ensure good lighting, appealing colours, and a clear visual language.
Show yourself and your products in action, and use video to convey your message in an entertaining way.
Maintain consistent branding with a maximum of 2 fonts and 3 colours for your posts. Vary formats, mix single photos with carousel posts and Reels. Pay attention to the right format sizes.
A word about photos: avoid images of (your) children and individual strangers from the front without their consent. Use selfies to show yourself as a personality and ambassador of your message.
4. Provide Value
Your posts should not only aim for sales or simple self-performance. Offer value to your audience by sharing informative and useful content.
Share tips, tricks, experiences, project developments, or give exclusive insights into your daily work – these are contents your followers will appreciate and share.
Also, tailor the length of your texts to your target audience. Do your favourite customers prefer long or short, concise texts?
5. Use the Right Call-to-Action (CTA)
An engaging social media post always includes a clear call-to-action (CTA). Ask your followers to do something specific, whether it's liking, sharing, contacting you, or commenting. CTAs generate interaction and push your posts up in social algorithms.
Use concrete, open-ended questions that are quick and easy to answer to make it easier for your community to interact with your content.
6. Stay Authentic
Authenticity is the key to building an engaged community. Be yourself and show your personality. Share challenges and setbacks, as it makes you human and relatable. Your followers will appreciate your honesty.
This also sets you apart from others, showing your uniqueness. Remember, people follow people. To be likeable and trustworthy, you must show yourself as you are.
And yes, it means making yourself vulnerable, expressing opinions that might challenge others. And that's okay! If your nonsense detector goes off, talk to me!
7. Use Hashtags Strategically
Hashtags can significantly boost your reach, especially on Instagram. Use around 20 hashtags that precisely match your post's content.
On Facebook, hashtags are less common, and about 4 are recommended on LinkedIn. Place them at the bottom, after the text.
Research relevant hashtags your community uses and use them in your posts. Ensure the hashtags fit the content well and are not too general.
Always use hashtags in your language or the language of the post. Place them at the end of the post, not in the middle of the text, as it makes it harder to read.
For local projects, use your city's hashtag, your region, and surrounding municipalities. Also, include your location in the post.
8. Timing Is Everything
When you publish your posts can make a significant difference. Analyse your audience and determine the times when they are most active. Post when there's the highest probability of visibility and interaction.
9. Speaking of timing – Consistency Is Key!
How often should you post? There's no one-size-fits-all answer. My recommendation for regular posts is initially 2-3 times a week, depending on capacity. If you have many ideas and a suitable routine, feel free to post more. And do it consistently, at most once a day. Plan your posts in advance to relieve pressure.
For stories, multiple posts per day are great – show day-to-day activities, your message, your project, breaks, or your workplace.
10. Engage with Your Followers
Social media is a two-way street. Take the time to respond to comments and messages from your followers. Build a genuine connection and show appreciation for your community. You never know what can come out of seemingly casual conversations. The person may know someone who knows someone – you get the idea. Being approachable and likeable increases the chances of recommendations.
11. Test and Learn
There are no fixed rules for the perfect social media post. Try different approaches, analyse the results, and learn from them. Social media is dynamic, and your strategy should be too. To figure out what works, capture, measure, and analyse your actions.
12. What You Should Never Do
I've summarised some (okay, quite a few) tips on what you should absolutely avoid in your posts in this Instagram post (English text in comments). Feel free to follow me there for more insights.
Checklist: Structure of a Social Media Post
Here's a brief checklist on how to structure your social media post:
- Define the goal of your post.
- Choose the format and create the medium (selfie, image, graphic, video, audiogram, reel, etc.).
- Write the text (pay attention to spelling!) and showcase yourself, your values, your message. Inspire your readers or tell a short, personal story leading into your message (storytelling!).
- Specify your location or that of your project or community.
- CTA: Make a clear call to action that is easy to interact with.
- Choose the right time to post. Use the scheduling function if available. Third-party tools have no negative impact. Use stories (including WhatsApp status) for current events.
- Be active and engage. Commenting and liking others' posts make you visible. Be present to interact with your followers. Respond to comments and direct messages promptly. Also, check "message requests."
- Experiment, measure, adjust. Regularly check your statistics or note how individual posts perform.
Last but not least:
Stay persistent! Build a friendly, inspiring, and trustworthy community with consistency, perseverance, and a lot of heart. And yes, it doesn't happen overnight – keep going, it's worth it!
Conclusion for really good social media posts
With these tips, you can now get started and awaken your social media presence from its slumber.
Create high-quality, engaging content that will excite your audience and inspire your community! This will give your posts an extra dose of love!
Your journey to social media success starts now. Let's grow together and breathe life into your message!
What challenges do you face when creating your social media posts?
Let me know in the comments!
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