You’ve seen those links before. Content and articles in our news feed that serve only to peak your interest and have you click the link. We’ve all done it, it’s okay. Sometimes it works out and the piece is great, and sometimes it turns out to be a waste of time.
Either way, whoever made the post did their job and there’s something there worth learning.
Social media doesn’t exist as a distribution system. You won’t see any results or success if you copy and paste the same content across each platform. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat- they all have their own audience. What works on one might not for the other.
Imagine for a moment the piece of content is an interview with someone. You could play it straightforward and let the guest’s name do the heavy-lifting (Check out this interview with [their name]) but the chances of that garnering a good response is pretty low.
Tell a story.
Take a moment from that interview, something that really stands out and uses that as your point from which to stand on. If it’s a funny moment, speak to it for Facebook. If it’s a post for Instagram, make a gif out of it. If it’s on Twitter, quote it.
Rolling Stone, Noisey and a few other music publications lately have been doing something that’s pretty exciting. Of course, with the name’s these companies and publications hold, they have a big reputation for having exclusive music releases and interviews with all the top musicians and artists.
They could easily take one of their interviews and put it out as a print piece, either digitally or physically, but as people’s attention spans dwindle and more platforms emerge, they’ve taken steps to make sure the content stays fresh, relevant and engaging. How? The interesting stories musicians and artists give have been animated into literal stories narrated by the artist.
For example, there’s one about the first time Paul McCartney took LSD. It’s a great story, it’s interesting, and the animation is beautiful.
For any kind of post, even if it’s one of the family sitting around a massive, awesome dinner, make the caption genuine. Something a little fun. Maybe something funny someone said- use words or pictures to capture the vibe or snapshot of the moment. It creates stronger connections, it’ll probably get you more likes and a better online, social reputation.
No consumer has any interest in a bland, faceless generic post. Tailor it to the platform, the audience, and the story- give them a reason to engage and make it fun. After all, that’s the reason we read and view things- for some sort of story and meaningful moment.
