Learn the keys to generating maximum engagement and results with your social media content.
You already know that creating original, engaging content is what enables you to make money on social media.
We learned earlier that setting clear goals and knowing your audience are the first steps to defining your social media content strategy.
Bringing value to your followers while remaining authentic and consistent are the keys to effective social media monetization.
So what makes a piece of social media content effective and engaging?
Let’s break one down for the cause.
The anatomy of a post
Again, there’s no one-size-fits-all magic formula when it comes to social media content.
For each post element, we’ll cover some of the best practices to help you craft highly engaging pieces of content, regardless of the content type(s) or platform(s) you plan to use.
Grab any post on your favorite social media feed and see how many winning ingredients it has:
Caption
There’s a small amount of space to convey your message, so make sure to grab your audience’s attention. You can use a short headline, a longer caption, or even both.
The idea here is to keep it concise and clear, but also intriguing enough to make the reader want to keep reading and click on your link.
As a rule of thumb, aim for headlines under 150 characters for maximum engagement.
Learn at which point your readers have to expand the post to keep reading your caption, especially on mobile devices.
Use this point as a character limit, or make your caption intriguing enough to make your readers want to expand the post.
The first goal of your caption should be to connect with your audience, whether through a question, new or surprising information, a relatable affirmation or a bold statement.
In other words: you first need to spark your audience’s curiosity!
Once the connection is established, promise a benefit or result related to the brand, product or service you promote.
Don’t hesitate to incorporate numbers or percentages: research has proven that they provoke stronger spontaneous reactions and so foster engagement.
Last but not least, conveying a sense of urgency can help increase engagement on your posts, but this approach has to be used sparingly to remain effective.
Call-to-action
This is the heart of any effective caption: What do you want your audience to do?
Make it clear, easily noticeable, and punchy.
Include your custom FansRevenue link or bio page link in your call-to-action, or tell your fans to click the link in your bio.
You can also use your call-to-action to generate engagement on your post.
For example:
- Try for yourself! 👉 [your link]
- Get yours today! (link in bio)
- Tag a friend who should try this!
- Don’t miss out. Subscribe now! (link in bio)
- Give [product/service name] a try! 👀 [your link]
Emoji(s)
Using emojis in your post captions can benefit engagement in many ways! 👀👇
✅ Enhance visual appeal
✅ Emphasize parts of the text
✅ Accentuate the tone
✅ Convey excitement, celebration or urgency
✅ Give personality to your post
✅ Make reading easier
✅ Reduce the number of characters or words
… And even 🙊👇
Imply some adult-related terms… 🍑🔥💦 (use them sparingly & avoid being too suggestive)
See what we did there? 😏
Mention
Mentioning another social media account, such as the brand you are promoting, can help boost your post’s reach.
Sometimes brands will share your post on their end and generate even more engagement, which can affect the algorithm and push your social media content to the top of your audience’s feed.
Simply use the @ symbol followed by the brand’s social media handle in your caption.
However, make sure to maintain an emphasis on your call-to-action rather than distract your readers with multiple clickable links.
A good practice with social media mentions consists of tagging the account you want to mention at the end of your post, below your call-to-action.
Hashtag(s)
The same principle applies to hashtags. Use them sparingly, keep them relevant to your post and audience, and place them at the very bottom of your post.
Using one or several hashtags in your posts can make them more discoverable among trending topics, events, holidays, communities, niches, locations, acronyms, etc.
On Instagram, for example, posts often don’t include links, so it’s a good idea to use multiple hashtags since they don’t compete directly with your link (you’ll most likely ask your followers to click the link in your bio) or constrain you to a character limit, unlike on Twitter.
Visual(s)
It is a well-known fact that social media users have short attention spans.
For this reason, you’ll need to use attention-grabbing images or videos.
High-quality visuals are essential. Think of ways to make your content stand out from the ocean of content that flows endlessly through your audience’s feed.
Use colors, filters and images that will capture their attention while respecting the brand’s style guidelines.
Think of outside-the-box concepts, fun sketches or scroll-stopping eye candies.
People and faces, high-contrast graphics and videos are some of the most engaging visual elements on social media posts.
You can also add some text to your images and videos to save space in your captions or put emphasis on your headline or call-to-action.
Make sure to test your visual content on a mobile device to make sure it will display optimally on the platform’s feed.
A question of balance
Maintaining your audience’s attention and engagement requires variety.
If you only post educational content, some of your audience may look for other sources of entertainment. If you only post promotional content, your audience may become less interested and engaged with your content.
In that spirit, we suggest organizing your content around at least 3 of what we call the 5 pillars of content:
Educational: Educate your audience about relevant topics based on your niche or the brand/product/service you are going to promote in other posts. Spark their interest by sharing knowledge!
Entertainment: Entertain your fans with short, punchy, intriguing content, such as surprising stories, before-and-after posts, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, TikTok trends, etc. Humor is also a great technique if you’re into funny sketches, goofy pics or memes.
Inspirational: Add sunshine to your audience’s day with positive, memorable content that causes emotion. Content examples include people-focused posts, community involvement stories, inspiring quotes, etc.
Community: Spark conversations with your audience by asking questions or inviting them to ask you anything and post the Q/As in your story, launching comment wars on your post, dressing yourself in two different outfits and asking your followers to tell their favorite in the comments, etc. The idea here is to involve your audience and give them the opportunity to express themselves. Doing so will directly benefit engagement.
Promotional: Last but not least, promotional content is about inviting your fans to do, try or purchase something. Sounds familiar? Make sure to have a clear call-to-action and apply the principles of the previous section to build effective, engaging promotional content.
Facts tell, Stories sell
It’s a commonly known fact that storytelling is one of the most compelling techniques to convey a message.
Creating engaging stories for your social media audience can earn you captivated listeners.
Share some relatable personal experiences, stories, and anecdotes to strengthen your connection with your fans and generate more engagement.
The more meaningful your story is to your social media audience, the more likely inclined it will be to engage and take action.
Timing is (almost) everything
Make good use of the social media platforms’ analytics that can tell you when most of your followers are logged in and active.
Pinpointing your prime time hours for maximum reach and engagement will help you get the best return on your efforts.
Treat each platform differently since your followers use them for different reasons.
For example, your audience may typically use Instagram in the morning to watch some reels before going to work, Facebook at lunch to catch up with the latest news, and TikTok in the evening to unwind after a long day.
Besides timing, try to respect each platform’s optimal post frequency, captions length, and number of hashtags in your posts.
Instagram: 3-7 posts per week, 138-150 characters per caption, 3-5 hashtags per post
Twitter: 1-2 posts per day, 71-100 characters per caption, 1-2 hashtags per post
TikTok: 1-4 posts per day, 300 characters per caption, 2-3 hashtags per post
Facebook: 1-2 posts per day, 1-80 characters per caption, 1-2 hashtags per post
LinkedIn: 1-5 posts per day, 25 words per caption, 1-2 hashtags per post
Of course, these numbers aren’t an exact science, but they give you an idea of what a well-timed, effective post should include, and how frequently you should post to nurture maximum reach, engagement and conversions.
Don’t forget to analyze your social media content’s performance and adjust your strategy accordingly!