How to Create the Perfect Social Media Post

Taking the time and effort to create the perfect social media post has never been more important. All social media platforms are swamped with content – both good and bad. After you’ve taken the time to create great content or curated something to share, you need to present it in the smartest possible way.

“Content is currency — something we trade for our audience’s attention.”

I think that social media is the new television and that you need to be entertaining and informative with your social media. You’ve worked hard to build your content strategy but having a laser beam focus on only your brand doesn’t always build or maintain people’s attention which is as best around seven to ten seconds. The average attention span was twelve seconds in 2000 and was eight seconds in 2012 according to Statistic Brain. Wow, right?

So, what does this mean for today’s social media marketers and professionals? You need to be entertaining and add some fun into your social media content mix. Promoting only your product, book or blog non-stop won’t be interesting to anyone, most likely not even yourself. Keeping your ratio of content at 90 percent other people’s content (OPC) and 10 percent your own content will help you but don’t be too dry or stuffy when you create your editorial calendar.

Tips by social media platform

Google+:

1. Use great images on each post. 800 pixels x 600 pixels or 800 pixels x 1200 pixels look fantastic.

2. Make your posts stand out! — It don’t mean a thing if it don’t have that bling! Use some formatting to give your posts some pizzazz. Give your post a bold title, and use some italics, sprinkle in a few relevant hashtags and voila! Your post is ready to go.

3. Make sure you give credit to the source of the text and photo that you are sharing. Being a good citizen by giving proper credit is very important.

Pinterest:

1. Create niche boards with a tight theme.

2. Add descriptions of 200 characters with keywords to help people find your pins through search.

3.  Create vertical images to maximize your real estate. Pinterest images should be long and narrow to take up the maximum amount of visual space and get noticed! Look at your favorite pins and see what the images have in common so you see what types of images are repinned and shared. I create images that are up to 735 pixels by 1102 pixels. This creates an engaging invitation to repin your pinned article. Edit the pin to add the link in the source.

Twitter:

1. Write tweets between 120 and 130 characters – leave room for retweets with comments.

2. Tweet links at a slow pace – use Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your tweet.

3. Use action words in your tweets.

Every day when you wake up, you have a choice. You can choose to be negative or positive… —@PegFitzpatrick pic.twitter.com/u1yQYRgMXY — SimpleReminders.com (@SimpleReminders) May 23, 2014

Facebook:

1. Post consistently to stay in the News Feed. 2. Add variety to your content by posting photos, videos, and articles. 3. Have fun with your Facebook posts – this is a more personal network so let people get to know you here.

LinkedIn:

1. Be relevant. LinkedIn is the place to show your smarts. I don’t recommend posting quotes as status updates here. I love them on Pinterest and Twitter but I don’t feel they carry enough weight for a LinkedIn update.

2. Be consistent. Post at least one update per day and up to four per day spread out through the day to remain active in the LinkedIn stream.

3. Quality counts. Share your own content as well as the best content in your field of focus. The content that you curate and share reflects your own content and should be strong.

Want to learn more about how to create better social media posts? Join Guy Kawasaki and I as we present a webinar called The Perfect Social Media Post hosted by Hubspot on May 28th at 1:00 pm ET. Free registration here.

Photo credit: Big Stock Photos

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