If you’ve ever fallen into the trap of posting just for posting’s sake, you’re not alone. Sometimes, when we’re so desperate to show up for our business on social media and don’t have the capacity to plan things out, our feed can end up being less meaningful, and the time spent there can feel, well… wasteful.
If you’ve been around for a while, you know we recommend filling your feed intentionally. This means you need to spend a little time planning and thinking about what you’ll post before sharing it. If you panicked a little bit when you read that, because, you know, you are already strapped for time, we hear you. That’s what we’re here for: to outline the types of content you should be posting and when to use each.
Why does it matter?
Spoiler alert: You should post various types of content, such as one testimonial, one entertaining post, one sales post, and so on, intermittently throughout the month, rather than four sales posts in a row. Switching up the type of content you post helps keep your audience engaged in what you’re saying. You also want to nurture your audience and provide value to their feed. If you always give them the same thing over and over again, they’re more likely to check out and scroll right past your posts, eventually.
We generally recommend following the 80/20 rule when posting. This means about 80% of your posts should be nurturing and 20% should be sales. But what type of posts are nurturing, and which ones are sales?
We’ve got your back. Keep reading…we’ll explain each type and give you specific examples to help you decipher the difference!
*Feel free to give any of these accounts a follow if you find their content useful!
Sales Posts:
Sales posts aim to make a sale, whether it be purchasing a service or product or scheduling an appointment with you. The CTAs will often include “Buy now” or “Schedule an appointment today.”
In a sales or promotional post, you can do one of two things:
- Focus on Success
- Answer the question: What can people expect to change when they work with you? How will their life be better? (For example, will they be more productive, healthier, find community, etc.?)
- Focus on a Problem
- Answer the question: What problem does your business solve for people? What is something they struggle with that you have the solution to? (Examples include a product that will make their life easier, a service they’ve been looking for or in need of, etc.)
The other type of post is a nurture post. These have a different approach. You’ll see what we mean below…
Nurture Posts:
This type of post aims to provide value to or nurture your current and potential customers. It might educate, entertain, or inspire them and keep you front of mind when they are ready to purchase! It doesn’t involve a CTA that calls your audience to purchase, but it might still call them to engage: like, comment, save.
The possibilities are endless here, but these are some of the types we use often:
Education
These position you as an expert and provide information to your audience. Consider offering 3-5 bullet-pointed tips to avoid overloading your audience and keep your caption easier to read.
- Deep Dive
- Do a deep dive into a topic related to your business. Demonstrate your expertise in your field so your audience trusts you.
- Easy Way To
- The easiest way to [insert a goal your audience can achieve] without [insert their pain point]. With this idea, you can offer a tip and showcase your authority in your field.
Entertainment
Remind your audience that there’s a human behind the brand, provide humor and personality, and build a connection with your community. While educational posts build authority, forging connections with your community creates authenticity and trust. If your audience is ever going to buy from you, they need to trust you first.
- Unexpected Event
- Think behind the scenes: Talk about your morning routine, how you close your day, stay focused, or just what you’re working on—bonus points for using real pictures or videos.
- Tell Me Without Telling Me
- Help people see you as human by showing something they can relate to. Use a post like this to relate to customers or others in your industry. Talk about a common struggle that makes them laugh.
Inspiration
Motivate and encourage your audience with reflections and success stories.
- Running a Business
- Write a caption reflecting on how far you’ve come, something you’ve learned along the way, or how you have been challenged.
- Client Success
- What’s something you’re proud of concerning your audience’s success? Consider including a testimonial from a client paired with your reflection on the success.
Connection
Build relationships through posts that ask your audience questions and get them engaged.
- Morning or Night
- A “This or that” post offers your audience two opposite choices. (For example, do you get most of your work done in the morning or at night?) Ask them to tell you in the comments.
- Stay Connected
- These captions ask your followers to vote, give their opinion, or DM you. If you get enough followers to respond, you can use the answers as market research.
Seasonal
When you include posts highlighting holidays, hashtag holidays, or other current events, you help your brand stay timely and relevant. We’ve included two examples below, but there are countless others.
Tying it all together
In general, we always recommend sprinkling a variety of content in your feed. Some types of content will be easier to create than others. Maybe it’s easier to think of educational content than entertaining content in your field. Or maybe the entertaining content feels more natural than the other categories. Don’t stress too much.
As a goal, we recommend creating at least one post for each of these categories each month (or at least every other month) if possible. If you need extra help, use this blog [insert link to batching content blog?] as a guide when batching your content (Because if you’re not batching, you’re making more work for yourself!)
Have questions? We’d love to hear them. Send us a message.
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