Inspiring Social Media
In our last blog post, we took a look at three forms of content that will keep fans and followers entertained on social media. These three forms were throwbacks, memes, and contests/giveaways. By posting interesting and creative content that goes beyond the standard company blog post or company promotion, people are more likely to remain engaged and connected with your brand.
Aside from content that entertains, you can also create and post content on your social media channels that inspires. Read on for three types of inspiring content forms you can make use of.
Inspiring Content
Inspiring content includes such things as quotes, trivia, and personal stories.
Quotes are one of the most used forms of content on social media. People love to post, read, share, and like catchy sayings and motivational quotes. And they love it even more when those sayings and quotes are put in the form of an attractive image.
Inspiring Social Media
Here’s a good example from American marketing specialist and author, Guy Kawasaki:
There are some who believe quote posts are cliché and shouldn’t be used, but whether you like them or loathe them, it has been proven that they are a key way to boost engagement and increase a brand’s visibility. According to Aaron Lee, Grand Master of Customer Delight at Post Planner: “Quotes work well because in general, people can easily relate to them, because of that, they get liked and shared easily compared to more targeted content.”
As with all other social media content, however, the quotes you share must be relevant to your company, your brand, and your customers/clients. The ultimate goal of social media content is to boost brand engagement and turn “likers” and “lookers” into buyers. Of course, every now and then, it’s good to share some inspiring words just for the sake of gaining a slew of new likes, but understand that not everyone who likes your inspirational quote post is also interested in your product or service.
To make quote posts most effective for your brand, Andrew Hutchinson from Social Media Today, recommends these three tips:
- Use your own images where possible.
- Seek out the best quotes which support your brand mission.
- Don’t go overboard.
Forbes is another great example of a brand that uses quotes often. They implement inspiring words under the ‘Forbes Quote of the Day’ on the ‘Welcome’ page of their website.
Now, let’s talk about trivia. Who doesn’t like to be challenged with a question about an interesting but unimportant fact? Everyone likes to be. Right? I mean, there’s a reason “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” are so popular.
Consider challenging your social media fans and followers with a question about something having to do with your company. Or consider wowing them with an amazing, but little known fact, about your company or industry. Let’s use Capri Sun Juice Drinks as an example. One challenging question could be: “What island are we named after?” Or that question could be turned into a statement that tells an amazing fact: “Capri Sun Juice Drinks is named after the Mediterranean island of Capri.”
If a person comments with the correct answer to your challenging question, reply back and congratulate them. (You may also want to send them a freebie for showing their smarts). Trivia encourages interaction between you and your fans and followers – interaction that goes beyond likes, shares, and retweets. It also makes your social media channels fun places to be a part of because of the diversity of content you provide.
If you make use of trivia, choose a particular day so that your fans and followers can look forward to being challenged or informed on that day. Danielle McFadden of Social Media Examiner suggests the very catchy “Trivia Tuesday.” David Arkin writes, “If you are to go down the trivia path, it’s a good idea to pick a certain day to offer the trivia and try to brand it so it gets a following and a hashtag. But it’s also a good idea to be flexible and react to things in the news…”
Okay, what about personal stories? Well, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter were originally created for people to connect with other people, not with companies. That’s why it’s important for companies to be as transparent, natural, and personal as possible when interacting and connecting with their fans and followers. Don’t hesitate to include stories of your employees’ and clients’ successes, failures, and challenges. Mridu Khullar Relph from Buffer says, “The best kind of inspiration often comes in the form of case studies, customer testimonials and stories of failures and challenges that successful people have faced along the way.”
Consider how Nokia connected its brand to human faces through the below Twitter posts:
Sarah Goodall, founder of Tribal Impact, explains that she is a huge advocate of showcasing the talent that sits within a business because doing so “brings a brand to life. It makes brands more human.” Goodall goes on to say, “Under suits and uniforms are stories. Colorful experiences that shape people into who they are. Unique individuals that collectively contribute to what makes a brand unique.”
By showcasing your employees’ stories and sharing client/customer testimonials on social media, you make your brand more relatable to your fans and followers. People connect with people, not posts.
Now, go forth . . . and post inspiring content on social media.
Click here to read Part 1 in which we looked at entertaining social media content forms. Check back next week for Part 3 in which we’ll look at educational social media content forms that will keep your followers engaged.
