How To Create Social Media Content That Generates Engagement And Sales

If your social media posts aren’t captivating your audience and bringing in waves of potential new customers –  you’re missing a huge piece of the puzzle.

Social media can be a powerful component of your marketing strategy. That’s if you’re able to produce compelling content that’s valuable, useful, and directed specifically at your target market.

In this post, you’ll learn how to create social media content that generates engagement and sales.

Let’s get started.

1. Decide on your social media content strategy

Like anything in a successful business – a successful social media marketing strategy begins with a rock-solid plan and a series of goals you plan to slay.

There are many layers to sift through with social media.  And it can be time-consuming if you don’t know what you’re doing.

It’s certainly a far cry from scrolling through your newsfeed on your personal Facebook or posting a few selfies on your Instagram page.

Let’s face it.

It’s much more complex to utilize social media for businesses and entrepreneurs.

But the heavy load can be lessened tremendously. If you create a strategic and well-defined plan from day one.

Things to consider when making your social media plan:

  • What social media platforms are right for your business?
  • Generating a solid plan and setting realistic SMART goals
  • Deciding how often you’ll post on each platform you’ve chosen
  • What types of content will you post on each platform?
  • Will you use other tools? Social media management software? Tools to monitor your social media presence?

There are countless factors to consider before you get your toes wet in social media for business.

Factors that’ll have a considerable impact on whether your business flourishes or flunks.

If you implement your strategy properly, you’ll turbo-charge your engagement. Which will bring more conversions and sales to your business in no time!

Related: How To Create Strategic Content (And 3x Your Email List).

2. Write every post with your audience in mind

Having a well-defined target market is the backbone of any booming business.

Every piece of content should be carefully crafted for social media. They should deliver value to your specific target market, and them only.

Otherwise, you won’t attract your ideal customer. Which makes it a daunting task to create new products or make improvements within your business if you don’t keep within a specific group of people.

Once you’ve determined who your target audience is, you can begin to produce social media posts that speak to them personally.

How to create posts that speak directly to your target audience:

  1. Determine their pain points and biggest struggles
  2. Figure out what their greatest desires and wants are
  3. Ask yourself what of value can you offer them?
  4. Paint a picture of your target customer/client, or create a buyer persona

Creating a buyer persona to determine your target market is a smart move that’s well worth the time.

HubSpot suggests to start off this process by first deciding who they are. Their background, demographics, etc.

Here’s Hubspot’s example of that first step:

HubSpot Example Of Who They Are

Next, you’ll want to go deeper by looking at their goals and struggles:

HubSpot Their Goals And Struggles

Creating a well-thought-out buyer persona will help you understand your target market better, and allow you to help them more effectively.

Whichever route you take, just remember – you don’t want to attract everybody!

Your social media content should always be aimed at your target audience only.  And if you end up having people you aren’t targeting purchasing your products or services – that’ll be a bonus.

Once you figure out what makes them tick – it’ll be easy-peasy to craft captivating and useful content directed at them.

3. Brush up on your copywriting skills

If you plan to cut through the noise, you’re going to need to use copywriting hacks to conquer social media.

You’ve already discovered your target audience and gotten in tune with their challenges, pain points, and desires. Which is an excellent first step in improving your content, so the right people see it.

There are countless copywriting secrets at your disposal, if you’re keen to learn!

How can you improve your social media posts?

  • Use power words whenever possible
  • Make them informative and useful
  • Ensure your post is easily scannable (just like with blog content)
  • Be persuasive
  • Inspire urgency
  • Be specific

There are copious amounts of tricks up every copywriter’s sleeves. But the beauty of copywriting is you don’t need to be a professional copywriter, or even outsource to one, to craft magnetic content.

All you need to be successful on social media is a few solid copywriting strategies that you can use time and time again.

Here’s an example of a well-known copywriting formula that The Copy Bot explains well:

Copy Bot Copywriting Formula

And here’s the example The Copy Bot uses for this as old as time formula:

Insecure? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. However, stay that way and you’ll never accomplish anything of significance. Fortunately, there’s a book called Insecure No More that will teach you how to be confident and courageous in just 30 days. Buy it now.

While this example is mainly geared towards ads, like Facebook ads – you can tweak it so it fits any message on social media.

You don’t want to come off as spammy or salesy. So steer clear of promotional social media posts if you can help it.

Instead, let your words lure your customers to you. That’s the entire point of copywriting.

Another engaging formula you can use over and over is The 4 C’s. This formula was practically created for social media!

The 4 C’s Formula:

  • Clear
  • Concise
  • Compelling
  • Credible

So, next time you’re scheduling your social media posts – try out some of these tactics. They’re your best bet to stand out from the crowd.

4. Understand what kind of content works best for each platform

Are you tailoring your social media posts for each social network?

If not, that would explain why your engagement, reach, and conversions from social media is non-existent.

It would be too challenging, and probably a gigantic waste of your time to aim to be active on every social media network that exists.

Your best bet?

Choose 2-3 social networks. And commit fully to them.

First, you need to understand what each social network is used for.

Once you have a clear grasp of the purpose of each social network you’ll be utilizing, you can choose the type of content you want to publish on each platform.

Whether that’s text posts, videos, or other types of content – you’ll want to have that laid out in your content plan we talked about earlier.

5. Switch it up whenever possible

Every business differs, but generally, posting only links to your latest and greatest blog posts won’t cut it.

Don’t get me wrong – social media is an excellent place to share your blog content and grow your business’s blog traffic in the process.

However, diversity is key.

Crafting captivating social media posts will ensure the leads, conversions, and sales are pouring in.

Different content you can share on social media:

  • Links to your blog posts
  • Facebook lives
  • Videos from your YouTube Channel, blog, etc
  • Ask a question (add a related image to draw more attention to your question)
  • Post other entrepreneur’s content or videos

But if there’s one tactic you add to your social media content calendar this year – it should be video content.

As I’m sure you’re aware – it’s all the rage.

And for good reason.

Video content makes you, your brand, and your business to become more relatable. It also helps to connect with your target market better.

A combination of varying types of content (including loads of video and live videos) will ensure you stay on top.

Diversity in what you post on social media is a surefire way to stand out from your competitors and reach more of your followers.

6. Infuse your personality into each post

When you’re dealing with a bland, faceless business that lacks in personality –  you don’t exactly have the urge to whip out your credit card.

Consumers want to know there’s a real human being behind that Tweet or Facebook post.

So, if you’re pumping out generic, mind-numbing posts every day – you’re not only boring your audience, but you’re not showing an ounce of personality.

As a small business owner or solopreneur, you probably work in an oversaturated niche.

Meaning?

You cannot afford to blur into the background.

You need to shine.

You need to stand out.

There are billions of people on this planet – but, there’s only one you. Show them what sets you apart from the competition. We all have something unique to bring to the table.

How to infuse personality into your social media posts:

  • Always be authentic and genuine
  • Show off your unique writer’s voice
  • Tell a real-life story or a personal experience that’s relevant to your business
  • Give them an inside look at your life or life at the office, if you have employees

Coschedule recommends using a combination of your voice (your personality), and your tone ( this may vary depending on each platform).

Connecting with your audience is paramount. But in order to do that, you have to lure them in first.

If you can manage to dazzle them with your personality, you’ll be able to increase engagement and grow your business like nobody’s business!

7. Look at the latest trends and major changes on social media

Social media is forever going through massive changes – especially recently.

And with those changes, the strategies we’ve come to know and love must be adjusted frequently.

Making it crucial for your business to stay up on the latest algorithm changes and latest trends.

You’ll see more “meaningful interactions”. Basically this means less content from businesses and brands. And more from your friends and family.

On the plus side, this also will  include Facebook Groups. Facebook groups are becoming widely popular and beneficial for business owners and entrepreneurs.

Social media can change in the blink of an eye.

But, if your conduct your research, keep up with the latest statistics, and stay on top of the trends – you’ll adapt to the changes easily.

Your business will thank you!

8. Consistency is key

Ensuring your content is consistent in every sense of the word will be the driving force behind keeping loyal and engaged fans and customers.

Regardless of our hectic schedules, we must make sure we’re delivering content to our target audiences when we say we will. And when they grow to expect it.

This is where your social media content plan comes into play. And why it’s imperative to ensure you decide the days you’ll post, how many posts per platform, and what you’ll post on those days.

Once you have raging fans who can’t wait to devour every last bit of content you produce  – you can be sure they’ll know if you slip into inconsistency.

How to ensure consistency:

  • Batch your social media content ahead of time to avoid procrastination
  • Focus on a few key platforms to battle overwhelm
  • Post the same amount of content each day (give or take)
  • Always keep your promises you make
  • Repurpose your content from your blog into social media posts or videos

Wrapping it up

Social media can be a marketing powerhouse for your business – when used correctly.

But, without captivating copy in your posts, and a variety of content –  you’ll have a challenging time generating any leads from social media.

Plan out your social media content plan strictly for your target audience and use copywriting formulas to beef up your content.

This will ensure the content you pump out is magnetic and attracts your ideal target market.

From there, you’ll be swimming in leads and your business will reap the rewards.

And if you need help, I’d recommend hiring a social media agency. Depending on the agency, they can help you with the content creation part, planning your strategy, or the entire process.