Social Media Content: Definition, Types & Best Practices For 2023

Having a blog or website isn’t enough without social media content.

Having a presence on social media platforms is a way to increase awareness of your online brand.

You can use graphics and videos to grab attention and engage with your followers.

Social media content is an effective way to market your website, but you want to ensure you’re using it correctly.

What Is Social Media Content?

Social media content encompasses anything you post on social media platforms.

Posting a photo and caption on Instagram or Facebook is social media content.

While the definition sounds straightforward, you’ll get the most out of social media content with a social media strategy.

What Is the Difference Between Social Media Content and Blog Content?

There are many types of blog content, just as there are for social media.

But the main difference is that blog content is long form.

You’re writing an informative post for your audience to spend time reading.

Social media content is more like marketing, where you’re grabbing your followers’ attention and directing them to your blog or site with sound bites, engaging multimedia, or catchy captions.

What Is the Purpose of Social Media Content?

The purpose of social media content is to present your brand or website as a cohesive entity.

You want to use the same colors and personality as on your blog or online store.

Social media profiles are a natural extension of your company, so they need to be recognizably “you” to grow your audience and increase revenue.

Why Is Social Media Content Important?

Social media content is essential because it’s a chance to engage with your audience.

Instead of hoping your static website is enough to make sales, social media is more proactive.

You’re reaching people on outlets like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and more.

On these platforms, you can let your brand’s personality truly shine.

Benefits of Social Media Content

Social media content lets you expand your reach and interact directly with people on multiple platforms.

You can use those outlets for advertising, building customer loyalty, and spreading information about your products and services.

Common Types of Social Media Content

There are many types of content to use online, but you want to focus on those most suited to social media.

Most platforms have designs that encourage users to scroll through their newsfeeds and timelines, so you need content that will grab their attention.

Unsurprisingly, some of the most effective are visual:

• Images: Images are the most common social media content. They include photographs, branded graphics, and illustrated quotes.
• Videos: They’re engaging because they auto-play as users scroll, so the action demands attention. You can explain a concept or show off a product in video format.
• Infographics: These images share data and statistics about something relative to your brand or blog. The visuals are clear, eye-catching, and easy to understand.
• Interactive Graphics: These graphics are a hybrid between an image and a video, often involving animation to highlight key aspects.

What Types of Social Media Content Are Most Popular?

Engaging materials like videos and interactive graphics are the most popular social media content.

Viewers stop to watch the footage play out instead of skimming right past a static image.

It helps to know the best times to post on social media, so you can maximize your audience reach and give your content a good chance of being seen.

Examples of Social Media Content

Before you can develop a strong content strategy for your brand, you should check out examples of social media content.

Moz helps users understand what type of content to share on what platforms, along with how to analyze the results.

Infographics

Canva showcases different types of infographics so you understand the general layout.

The goal is to share detailed information engagingly.

Canva includes templates so you can input the data and quickly create a stunning, factual graphic to share.

Infographics are an effective way to illustrate statistics and key information.

They make data more accessible and are highly shareable, ensuring they’re a popular choice for marketers, non-profit organizations, and businesses.

Images

Images don’t have to be selfies.

They could be a product, a photograph of your team, a glimpse of office life—anything that might resonate with your audience.

Many images add graphical elements and text to provide interactivity or additional context.

Instagram is particularly well-suited for images.

In fact, the platform’s design makes a great choice for using image themes to help your content stand out.

You could play around with posting only specific colors, use the “checkerboard” approach, or experiment with “moods.”

Adobe has examples of images that could give you ideas for sharing your brand personality.

Videos

There’s no need to hire an award-winning director to create social media videos—you can do it yourself with countless apps and tools.

Animoto is one of the top programs that simplifies video creation.

They have templates for Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram video content, along with examples to help you come up with content ideas.

Where To Find Ideas & Inspiration for Social Media Content

It takes a lot of work to constantly create engaging social media content to maintain your audience.

Instead of getting burned out, consider keeping a list of your ideas, scheduled posts, and upcoming sales or collaborations.

Remember, Content is King, so you don’t want to share boring posts on social media.

Look at other profiles in your niche to see what they post. You can get inspiration from these brands without needing to copy their content.

How Do I Get Social Media Content?

One of the best ways to generate fresh, relevant social media content is to conduct keyword research.

Online tools help you see what users search for so you can craft relevant content that will appear in the results.

This method is a proven way to organically increase your traffic.

You can also find information about trends or ask your audience what they want to see.

How To Create Social Media Content

Following these four steps to create social media content make the process more manageable and purposeful.

Step One: Pinpoint Your Goals

Social media content is a great way to showcase your brand, but you want to have a purpose in mind.

When you pinpoint your goals before posting, you’ll get the most out of each element you share.

Knowing your goals can also help you find things to write about because you’re working towards specific outcomes.

Step Two: Target Your Audience

Once you know what you’re working toward, you’ll have a better idea of your audience.

You can use the right visuals and language that will draw them in and encourage them to spend time on your page.

You can streamline the goals from step one, so you’re aligning your content with what your audience wants and needs.

Step Three: Create the Right Content

If you’re a fitness influencer targeting active women, you don’t want to constantly post static content—they’ll engage more with videos.

However, people posting recipes don’t want to use videos or animations when their audience needs time to see the measurements and ingredients.

Creating relevant content leads to better engagement rates.

Step Four: Analyze the Data

Analyzing data might not seem like it fits in with creating social media content, but it does because it impacts what you’ll design in the future.

If you’re posting static images and getting great engagement, you might not feel the need to change course.

But if you’re not getting results from one method, you’ll know to experiment to get the outcome you want.

Best Practices for Social Media Content

Just as there are tips for blogging, there are best practices for social media content.

1. Try Something New

Even if your image posts perform well, take time to try something new.

If you have a new product, film a short video to show it from all angles and entice your followers to buy it.

Share data in a vivid infographic instead of writing out a longer blog post with the same content.

You might find that a different format helps you go viral and attract more followers.

2. Make a Plan

It’s tough to keep generating engaging content day after day, but being active on social media can really elevate your brand and traffic.

Make a plan for posts so you’re not scrambling to create something new at the last minute.

Schedule regular content, special announcements, sales, and other unique ideas, so you know what’s coming next.

3. Track Your Performance

Tracking your performance helps you see what works and what you should avoid.

Your audience might never watch your videos, but you get hundreds of likes on interactive graphics.

Knowing your engagement on social media will show you how to spend time and effort on content creation.

Social Media Content Tools To Save Time and Money

Using tools for social media can help streamline your process.

You’ll save time and money by automating some aspects of posting and engaging online.

What Is a Social Media Content Tool?

A social media content tool is a way to keep your content scheduled and organized.

You can easily design posts and write content to engage with your followers.

Our Favorite Social Media Content Tools

These are a few of our favorite social media content tools.

Whether you’re writing a blog post or designing an infographic, these products can help you.

1. Social Media Calendar

A social media calendar is a way to plan out your posts in the weeks and months to come.

It keeps you organized and gives you a big picture of what you’re sharing online.

You can see patterns and understand when to promote a sale or big event to get the most engagement.

2. Graphic Design Software

You don’t have to be an artist to create stunning social media content.

Graphic design software includes templates for specific social media formats and design elements and text you can add to photos.

You can export the files as images and post them to your social media profiles.

3. Grammar Checkers

Whether you’re writing a photo caption or a blog post, grammar checkers ensure you’re posting your most polished work.

You don’t want a typo to turn away a customer or for your audience to stumble over a confusing sentence.

These tools help you sound clear in your written content.

Other Related Content Types To Check Out

There’s no limit to the type of social media content you can share online.

Check out these other related types and see how they inspire you.

• Infographics: Infographics are an engaging way to share information that might otherwise be wordy or difficult to understand.
• Case Studies: Case studies share information about groups of people regarding their lifestyles, interests, online patterns, and more.
• Interactive Posts:Interactive posts feature images and information in an engaging way, using animation to liven up a previously-static image.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you need more information about social media content, check out the answers to these questions.

Wrapping Up

There’s no limit to what you can create and share on social media.

Finding the right outlet for your social media content helps you organically grow your audience and make more sales or passive income on a monetized blog.

Following the tips above can help you create, post, and analyze social media content to give your followers what they want.