Social Media Content Creation: A guide for Creating High-Quality Content

Social media marketers often underestimate just how crucial organic reach on social media is. Far too many businesses spend thousands of dollars on paid ad campaigns.

While paid advertising is an important and effective way to reach new people on social media and expand your reach, organic reach is just as, if not more, important. 

Organic social media reach allows you to cut down on your social media marketing costs and get free exposure. In the long run, organic growth can scale in a way that paid advertising just can’t.

Besides, it will keep your ROI high.

Here are seven ways to extend your organic reach on social media. 

1. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

First, start by optimizing your social media profiles to get more organic reach. A profile without a proper description will have a more challenging time being found on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms. 

Here are the essential elements of an optimized social media profile: 

• Your handle: On Instagram and Twitter, your handle allows people to find you. Use a handle that is unique and not hard to remember. Use plain words and avoid underscores or repetitive letters that could confuse users. Include your main target keyword in your handle if you can. 
• Your name: In addition to your handle, choose your brand name. It could be your own name in the case of a personal brand – such as if you’re a motivational speaker. Otherwise, it should be your business name. 
• Your logo: Upload a high-quality logo that accurately represents your brand. If you’re building a personal brand, upload a high-quality image of yourself. 
• Your bio: Your bio should include several target keywords and provide a quick summary of your business and what it does. If you have space, you can include various hashtags as well, especially on Twitter. 
• Your URL: Add a URL to your website. You may consider using a service like Linktree on Instagram, since you can only add one link to your bio. Linktree allows you to aggregate all your most important links in one place.  
• Other details: On your Facebook page, you should also add additional pertinent information, such as your hours of operation, physical location, etc.

2. Post the Right Types of Content

Once you’ve gotten the basics taken care of, you can move on to posting better content.

One of the biggest challenges businesses face when trying to expand their reach on social media is posting the right types of content. 

Even if your content is excellent and offers value, it won’t go viral if it’s not the correct type of content. Here are some different kinds of social media content: 

• Quick tips
• How-to guides
• Videos
• Images
• Memes
• Short stories
• Polls
• Questions
• GIFs
• Behind-the-scenes peeks
• Whitepapers
• Podcasts
• E-books
• Live streams
• Recorded webinars
• Coupons or deals

There are three factors to consider when deciding what’s the correct type of content to post: 

• The platform
• The niche
• Your audience

For example, if your audience is young, memes and GIFs have a greater chance of going viral than whitepapers.

If your target audience consists of moms looking for cooking recipes, short how-to videos have a greater chance of getting shares than e-books. 

The platform also matters. Short stories work best on Facebook. On Instagram, stick to memes, images, and videos. On Twitter, post quick tips. 

3. Post Evergreen or High-Quality Content

There are two types of content you should be posting: evergreen and high-quality content. 

Evergreen content is content that is always relevant. Examples include: 

• Instructional videos
• How-to guides
• Tips

Non-evergreen content, on the other hand, isn’t always relevant. Examples include: 

• Trending memes 
• Seasonal tips
• Limited-time offers

Not all content has to be evergreen. In fact, non-evergreen content often has a higher chance of going viral quickly, such as is the case with trending memes.

However, they won’t stay viral for long; as soon as the meme goes out of style, so will your post. 

Try to include a mix of evergreen and non-evergreen (but high-quality) content.

You might aim for a ratio of 80:20 or 70:30, with most of your content being evergreen.

Your evergreen posts will get more shares over the long run, constantly building up steam and attracting more engagement. 

4. Target Specific Groups in Your Audience

One way to get better engagement and more exposure is by targeting specific groups in your audience.

Break your audience down into additional sub-audiences and create posts specifically targeted to them. 

That way, you’ll get more engagement on each post. Creating general posts that are not targeted to any specific group won’t attract as many likes and comments.

Posts with more likes and comments trend higher, expanding your reach. 

5. Engage With Your Audience

Always engage with your audience.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is posting content and just leaving it there. You need to monitor the comments section and respond to comments. 

First, responding to comments increases the total comment count on your post.

If you respond to every comment, you’re essentially doubling the comment count. Posts with more comments trend higher. 

Furthermore, when people see that you answer questions in the comment section and join in on discussions, they will be more likely to comment themselves.

If they see an echo chamber in the comment section, on the other hand, with no engagement from you, they won’t bother commenting. 

Finally, engaging with your audience shows the personal side of your brand.

Try to be human in your engagement while staying professional. Social media is for forming personal connections with your followers. 

When people visit your page or see one of your posts in the Discover section and see you engaging with your followers, they will be more drawn to your page and more likely to follow you.

You’ll also get more shares by engaging with your followers. 

6. Don’t Be Overly Promotional in Your Posts

Another error businesses make on social media is being too promotional in their posts. I get it – you need to make sales.

If you don’t see your profits increasing, what’s the point of getting more engagement on social media? 

While all that’s true, it’s also true that being too promotional is a terrible long-term strategy.

Over the long run, you need more engagement to get more sales, and people won’t engage with promotional, pushy posts. 

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t promote your products and services.

You can even publish some posts that are directly promotional.

However, most of your posts should add value to your followers, make their day more interesting, or provide content they want to comment on or share with a friend. 

You can find more subtle ways to promote your products in your posts.

For example, after publishing a list of tips, you can add a note that your product will help as well.

Or, you can include an instructional video that features your product as the ideal tool to use. 

Take a look at the profiles of successful competitors in your industry. How promotional are their posts?

You’ll notice that businesses that constantly post promotional posts without much value-added content don’t get much engagement.

They also don’t usually have a lot of followers – real followers, at least. 

7. Promote Your Profiles and Content in Other Avenues

Finally, an excellent way to expand your reach is to capitalize on your audiences on other platforms. 

For example, let’s say you’ve done well with email marketing. You’ve built a sizable email list, but you’re just starting on social media. 

In your email newsletters, highlight your most recent social media post.

Publish a live stream or video recording and ask your email subscribers to check it out and comment on it.

Link to your social media profiles at the bottom of every email. 

You can also cross-promote your social media accounts.

For example, if YouTube is where you’ve had the most success attracting followers and getting views, promote your Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook links at the end of every video and in every video description.

On Twitter, tell users to tune in to your upcoming live stream on Facebook. 

Also, promote your social media channels on other people’s platforms.

For example, suppose you’re writing guest posts as part of your backlink-building strategy.

In your bio at the end of every guest post, don’t just link to your website.

Include a link to your Facebook page or YouTube channel as well. 

If you’re invited on a YouTube channel or podcast for an interview, make sure to mention your social media handles when introducing yourself or closing the interview. 

Final Thoughts

Getting more social media exposure is a long process.

Often, businesses don’t see a lot of success for the first few months, getting minimal reach.

However, once the ball starts rolling, you’ll notice your reach expanding like never before. 

Sometimes, that’s due to a viral post.

At other times, it’s because Twitter or Instagram suddenly starts putting you at the top of the Discover feed and search results.

In either case, it’s essential to have patience and keep persisting.