10 Types of Content You Should Share on Social Media

When you’ve got a social media campaign, you’re going to want to be sharing the best content possible. Otherwise, you’re sharing content that isn’t being seen by your target audience and you’re not seeing any benefit. You risk your possible consumers following the competition instead of your own business.

To avoid losing customers, you have to be posting the right type of content on social media. So what should you be sharing?

1. Infographics

Infographics are the most shared form of content on social media.  

Why are infographics so popular? Infographics combine two crucial factors - photographs and written content. Content is always far more interesting when visuals are added. Infographics tend to be very visually appealing, while also including a large amount of interesting information that readers then feel more obliged to share. So if you’re looking for more social media shares, start designing some infographics!

2. User Generated Content

This is a great way to not only post new content to your social media platforms, but also engage with your audience.

GoPro is an example of a company who uses this strategy to their advantage. They post “Photo of the Day”, and often post photographs their followers have taken using GoPros.

Publishing user generated content will make your followers more likely to take photographs and tag your business’ tag or use its hashtag. People will feel more appreciated and cared for by a brand that posts user-generated content. This is an easy way to gain customer loyalty, while also gaining free content to publish on social media. If you’re going to try this strategy, just remember to always credit the owner of the photograph or content by tagging them in the post.

3. Podcasts

Podcasts have recently started to gain popularity. A few years ago, you used to have to sync your device to iTunes and subscribe to a podcast you were interested in. Now, thanks to the rising popularity, there are more ways to download, stream and listen to podcasts.

However, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter don’t allow you to directly upload podcasts. Instead, you will have to share a link to where people can listen to the podcast, or have a static image which audio plays on top of, and upload the file as a video.

If you’re going to create podcasts, make sure they’re relevant and in line with your branding and business voice. Remember what your audience is interested in and what they will want to listen to and focus your content around that.

4.  Interactive content

Social media is not just being used to share static images anymore. Instead, businesses are leaning towards content that is more engaging and interactive. Just look at websites such as Buzzfeed, which creates lighthearted quizzes that users can take and then share on social media. Even more traditional media is making the switch. In 2013, the New York Times’ most popular story was not a hard hitting story, but rather a quiz.  

5. Virtual Reality content

Continuing on from the theme of interactive media, there is also virtual reality. As this technology is newer, there’s a higher level of engagement. You can help to make your brand stand out by investing in a 360 VR camera. This is a great way to have new content shared on social media, as well as promote your business and its products or services.

 The key here is to think of creative content, something that isn’t just a promotional video for your business. That way it is more likely to get shares on social media.

6. Ebooks

Making an ebook can be a great resource! Everybody loves reading something that they’re interested in and will teach them something. Ebooks are generally free and won’t cost the consumer anything, making them more likely to download it. Other benefits of producing ebooks include:

• They’re a great way to generate extra leads.
• Help establish your business as an authority.
• They are quicker to produce than printed material.
• They’re convenient - the reader can access ebooks on their computer, laptop, tablet or mobile.

7. Guides

When people need help with a certain task, they will often turn to Google to find the answer. If you’ve produced an in-depth guide, it can become a valuable resource. It is something that can easily be shared on any social media platform. Readers that are able to follow advice within the guide may also share it on social media. It is a very easy way to drive an increase of traffic to your website. Just make sure it’s an area you have a strong understanding about, and it’s a guide that hasn’t been done a million times by the competition.

8. List Posts

Hubspot undertook a study to find out what types of content perform best on social media. Across a six month period, Hubspot analysed six different types of content and found lists had the most social traction.

 This finding is in line with CoSchedule’s (pictured above), where lists were just narrowly beaten out by infographics.

List posts are great because they are generally visual, easy to read and can be as long or as short as you want, and about any topic. The challenge is to make your list stand out, don’t just reproduce content that has already been done.   

9. Newsworthy content

News articles are always going to get a lot of social shares. However, the challenge for businesses is writing about news as it breaks. Generally businesses won’t have a large enough team dedicated to content marketing that can quickly write about breaking news. Rather, businesses tend to focus their efforts on long form content.

There’s a few ways you can go about publishing and sharing newsworthy content:

• Share articles from reputable news sources - just make sure this news is relevant to your industry.
• Write your own newsworthy content - see Matter’s own blog on the latest WordPress Security Update as an example.

10. Livestream

Livestreaming on Facebook is a great option for any business. Using the Facebook app, it’s super easy to start a live video. Live video is not only for Facebook anymore, Instagram also offers live video, which only recently became available in United States. You can even try posting live video on YouTube.   

Live video is a great way to engage with your audience while also promoting your business, and therefore generating leads. You can post live content such as press conferences, Q&As or video from an event.

Let your followers know beforehand that you’re going to be going live, so more people tune in and you get more hits on your video. You don’t want to avoid promoting your live video and end up with no one watching. If you want people to be able to view your footage later, upload it once you’ve finished going live. This way the video will still be able to be viewed by those who weren’t online when you were live.

Adding these ten types of content to your social media strategy is sure to see an increase of traffic, followers engagement.