Your Guide For How to Create More Engaging Content on Social Media
North Grenville Chamber of Commerce | Social Media
Throughout Small Business Week, we shared a ton of small businesses on our story using some fun and easy to create visuals that were engaging for our audience. In this blog, we are sharing our best tips on how to create engaging Instagram & Facebook stories and posts to help amplify your in-house marketing efforts.
When creating any type of social media post it is important to think about how your post relates back to the goals and purpose of using social media for your business. We have created a handy worksheet for you to complete to begin thinking about the overarching goals of the posts you want to create and share and how it relates to the purpose of why your business uses social media.
This stage of pre-planning sets the intention for your feed and content that will help in the long term for assessing what content works well for you versus what content it might be time to retire. Plus it always feels good to know you have everything under control!
DOWNLOAD OUR PRE-PLANNING TEMPLATE
Some key things to think about when filling out this worksheet is to think about how the content you are creating can help a potential customer or client understand you or your products/services better. Aim to answer a question or solve a problem that your ideal customer or client may have.
For example, if your ideal consumer is eco-conscious, think about bridging the gap between their interest and how your business connects. Share how your business focuses on reducing your carbon footprint or how your products can be eco-friendly substitutes to their current go-to disposable product. By positioning your business as a hub of information for a niche or interest, you will begin to expand your consumer base’s knowledge of you, your products, and what your business stands for and begin to associate your business with one of their core beliefs or interests.
Now that we have the basics as to why pre-planning your social media content is beneficial let's dive into “The Goods”! These are our recommendations for some free tools to add to your content creation roster!
Free Photo Libraries:
- pexels.com
- unsplash.com
- pixabay.com
- vecteezy.com
Design Softwares (Free and Paid)
- canva.com (app and website)
- picmonkey.com (website)
- figma.com (desktop app & website)
- photoshop (paid software)
Free Font Libraries:
- Google Fonts
- DaFont
- 1001 Fonts
- Adobe Fonts (free with adobe subscription)
- Spaces to Find Inspiration:
- dribble.com (Space for creatives to share their work)
- pinterest.com
- Free & Paid Canva Templates
- On Social Media (Find a few accounts that you like within your niche)
12 Content Ideas:
- A day in your business, behind the scenes.
- Introduce your staff and their interests.
- History about your business.
- Share the process of your services.
- Showcase how your products are made.
- Share a sneak peek of what a patron might experience while taking your class, workshop, or personal care service.
- Get personal - share your wins and setbacks.
- New products that just launched or just arrived.
- Go live during a workout class.
- Share a video of your product being installed.
- If you sell home and kitchenware, maybe
- share one of your home recipes and a
- photo of the final plate.
- Share a try-on haul of stylish outfits that customers could purchase at your store.
Bonus Content | “This or That” Stories on Instagram.
While it may seem like a silly and overall basic concept, your audience wants to engage with you! Your audience followed you for a reason - provide them with content they want to see and give them a way to give you feedback and share their opinions!
“This or That challenges” are usually found on Instagram, and they help you get to know your audience a bit better by having them screenshot the blank story and then circle which option they prefer, reposting it on their story afterward. This engagement boosting activity is not only beneficial for your statistics, but it also gives you insight into what your audience likes, which can help you share more relevant and tailored content!
This is a unique way to engage your audience and also a tool to create a community around your business niche! The "tag a friend" prompt, can also bring people back to your page for being the original creator. If one of the tagged accounts is looking for more similar content, they know that they can find it on your page.
We have utilized this style of Instagram stories a few times to engage with our audience and have them share their preferences on shopping local and for the fall in love with maple event - we were able to get a better understanding of the interest in these events and how people think about supporting local in North Grenville.
It's time to get out there and get creative! View our Instagram “Story Highlight” titled: Social Tips for some layout ideas and a rundown of this blog in short form!
If you found this helpful let us know!
Megan McDonald
Executive Directior
613-258-4838
megan@northgrenvillechamber.com
Download our free template:
Canva Story Template: https://bit.ly/3jE420L (duplicate file before editing)
