By 2020, all companies are using and must use social networks to communicate on the web. From freelance consultants to multinationals, all projects need to use the visibility of social media to reach their communication targets and Internet users who are potentially interested in the product or service they offer.
Depending on your goals, your industry and the resources available to you in terms of people and budget, some social networks will be preferred while others will rather address in a second phase.
So, if your sector is mostly a B2B market, LinkedIn will have to be one of your first choices and maybe Pinterest won’t be the social network where you’ll have to invest all your efforts in the first place. If your targets are mostly teens and young adults, Instagram and Snapchat will be two channels of communication to invest.
However, posting on social networks is not enough to provide cost-effective and effective communication to your business. When you create a coherent digital communication strategy, you can’t save money on the content issue.
What to post on social networks? The types of publications you offer your followers will have a direct impact on what they remember from you and how they will look at your product or service.
Today, publications composed of 100 texts no longer attract attention and the era is to visual content. While reading a long text requires an effort to concentrate the user machine-gunned thousands of messages, the identification of an image is almost instantaneous. Well done, visual content can even convey more information than a long text pad. Isn’t it said that a picture is better than a thousand words?
In this article, let’s take a look at the different types of content you can publish on social networks and their usefulness in your web communication strategy.
1 – Photos
By 2020, photography has become a bit of a social media communication element to the point that some of them are designed around this format, such as Instagram or Pinterest. Incorporating one or more images into your publication helps to illustrate your point and draw attention to what you have to say, while valuing it.
On some social networks, it will therefore be mandatory to include a photo to publish. On others like Facebook or LinkedIn, a post with a visual will increase its reach. So it’s not mandatory but recommended!
The advantage: your publication takes up more space and attracts more attention.
The downside: Fixed visuals are so used on social media that it will be difficult for your remarkable post among the others that make up the news feeds.
2 – Infographics
An infographic is a format that usually uses data from a study to present in an image. It allows statistics and trends to be presented visually. This makes it easier for you to get your readers’ attention than with a PDF report of dozens of pages.
An infographic gives you the ability to display your expertise with an easily indentifiable and readable format… provided you’re well done!
Advantage: Infographics are an ideal format for displaying important numbers and market expertise.
Cons: despite appearances, making an infographic is not simple and it is a real work of web-design that will have to be done to create one that is useful to your brand. Don’t hesitate to call on a professional graphic designer or a digital communications agency.
3 – Videos
Video is a popular format for Internet users, as shown by statistics from YouTube, the world’s leading video platform. Every month in France, 46 million unique users visit YouTube at least once!
The video is much more interactive than a still image and allows you to get many more messages across. In “face cam” you can explain your words by capturing much more attention than in a post 100 written. In addition, you create a sense of closeness to those who watch your video.
The advantage: Videos are the content that gets the best reach on Facebook and values your point.
The downside: To create a quality video, significant resources are needed. A sloppy video would serve your business!
4 – GIFS
The GIF is an image format that has been used on the web for a long time. For a long time popular with geeks and integrated into web culture, its use has become democratized to the point that community managers of large groups such as Decathlon, SFR, SNCF and many others use it almost daily in their communication on social networks and especially on Twitter.
You can especially use them in your publications to add a note of humor and affirm the identity of your brand or in comments to meet your followers.
Like videos, it attracts attention easily by its animated character. However, it is much easier to publish a GIF. There are millions of them and there is bound to be one that fits the message you want to get across.
However, the GIF is not just humorous content. You can create a GIF easily online with your visuals to animate key figures, for example.
The advantage: The GIF is a format that can be easily integrated into most social networks, which you can use and create easily and that charges faster than a video.
The downside: no one agrees on how it is pronounced! 😉
5 – Press and blog articles
To be a prescriber and industry expert in the eyes of people who follow you on social networks, publishing newspaper articles and specialized press is a great way.
By relaying an article written by a third party and commenting on it with your reasoned opinion, you position yourself as a connoisseur of the field of activity while offering useful content to your audience.
To master the topics you’re talking about and what you want to say about them, you can also write your own articles on your site’s blog. This will allow you to display your expertise, improve the referencing of your site and improve traffic on your site.
The advantage: by offering blog articles and sites to your audience, you position yourself as an expert in your field and thus you improve the image of your company with your targets.
The downside: by relaying articles from third-party sites, you feed their traffic, not yours! If you write your own articles, keep in mind that web writing requires regularity (and therefore time) and a certain amount of knowledge and know-how.
6 – Lives in video
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and many other social networks allow you to stream live videos. Whether it’s concerts, lectures, training or answers to questions, this format can be used to serve several purposes.
Lives generally provide high visibility during the broadcast. In addition, it is a very interactive format thanks to the chat and the direct nature of the video. This sense of closeness leads your audience to be strongly engaged with your brand.
The advantage: live allows you to get a strong visibility and creates a feeling of closeness very good for the image of your company.
The downside: the live can necessarily involve unforeseen, attention to the epic fail. In addition, a quality direct requires mobilizing certain material and human resources.
