It’s keeping it going that’s the hard part. On a wet Wednesday afternoon three months later, with the Twitter sadly languishing untouched and all your initial ideas used up, how do you keep it moving?
Below – 13 tips on quickly and easily creating regular social media content.
1. Don’t wait for something to happen
Get a photo of the team at work, work-in-progress on a whiteboard or screen, or a dozen Krispy Kremes freshly picked up for an office Friday celebration. Social content is fast, current and disposable – don’t feel you need a big event or announcement to make a post. Just showing the day-to-day keeps things fresh and relevant.
2. Don’t be scared of the re-post
Taken some snaps of some work-in-progress, or crafted a neat tip or comment that potential clients might find interesting? Don’t be afraid to use it again.
Re-post it, switching up the copy, who’s @mentioned and which hashtags are used, for a quick way to keep the feed up to date. You won’t be boring followers – only a small percentage of them will see an individual post. Be sure to re-post so others don’t miss out.
3. Get around the edges of your product
Don’t just talk about what you do or what you sell, but the interesting stuff around it. Sell children’s toys? Try bringing up your favourites from the 80s, with a few images from around the web, for a fun #ThrowbackThursday. In financial services? Perhaps look for a news story that highlights a real world impact of a pensions product.
4. Make sure you’re hitting your promotional marks
New product, a sale, a company announcement on the cards for the future? Take a moment to think about everything you’ve got coming up in the future that could feasibly be something you could share on social. Not everything in your social media should be naked self-promotion, but it should definitely be part of the mix. You might find there’s more to talk about than you think.
5. Make smart comments on relevant news
Curate your content from elsewhere, but put your own spin on it with a clever comment. When you’re short on totally original content, it keeps your feed relevant and shows that your brand is on top of relevant industry news.
6. Give useful tips
Think about the questions customers commonly ask you – could the answers be provided in bitesize tips in their own right? If you’re a service business, let customers know how they could do what you do for them for themselves (yep, exactly like we’re doing here!).
For bonus marks – and to save even more time – use real questions you’ve been asked by clients as the starting point.
7. Treat it as a diary of your team's activities
Is someone visiting a conference? Off to see a customer or supplier? Celebrating a birthday in the office or the local? Get a couple of photos and share them – it’s excellent grist to the mill, and it helps to show the personality of your team (if you’re an online company, it also demonstrates that you’re real people, not just a website!).
8. Snip key quotes from other content you’ve created
Blogging? Creating videos? Making infographics? If you are – great, but make sure you’re leveraging them on your social media channels as much as you can. Cut key quotes, moments, or images from your other content, and create individual standalone pieces of social media content from them
Include a link to the full content, and it’s also a handy way of driving traffic to it.
9. Be humble, and praise others’ content (just so long as it’s good)
Pay it forward, and find good quality content by other relevant brands or individuals. Throw a like, retweet, comment or share their way, and you might find that you get it back. It’s also a neat way of making sure you stay active on days when you’re lacking for ideas and time.
10. Show off your work – even if you can’t mention customers or projects by name
Confidentiality can often be a barrier for B2Bs on social – but get creative, and you might find there’s more to talk about than you think. Can’t show the end product? Get some snaps of the process. Mentioning the brand is a no-no? Just talk in general terms about the industry they’re in.
11. Create content in bulk
Don’t just make one tips ‘n’ tricks post, or create a single image with a quote from one of your blogs – create a few at once. When you’re in the zone, you’ll find you get faster at making them, and it means you can feel assured you’ve got enough content to keep you going for a few days or weeks.
12. Use a scheduling tool
If a big project or a holiday are on the horizon and you know you won’t have time to post, schedule posts in so you stay active even when you’re offline. Facebook has a free built in tool to help setup posts in advance, while Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn posts can be scheduled with tools like Hootsuite, Later and Sprout.
13. Make a content calendar
OK, this tip isn’t as rapid as the others. But by devoting a little time every week or month to plan in and create your posts, you can save time in the long run and ensure you’ve got a consistent, active social presence. Combine with tips 11 and 12 for bonus efficiency and the reassurance that your brand has got a super slick social presence at all times.
