How to Create Interactive Social Media Posts

98% of marketers use content to increase lead generation. Build brand awareness. Reach more customers and boost social media engagement. With such benefits, many people have now implemented a social media content marketing strategy in their businesses. So, we have prepared this guide on how to create engaging and interactive social media posts (Content) such that you can get more engagements on social media.

But before we dive into creating interactive social media posts and the entire content marketing strategy/plan, let us first understand what social media content is:

What is social media content?

Social media content is anything you share on social media for marketing purposes. It could be videos, memes, links, Infographics, or texts. A general term that describes the content writing process for social media marketing is called Copywriting.

But content marketing is the overall creation and sharing of marketing material to improve social media engagement. Such material intends to stimulate customer interest, improve brand recognition, and create awareness. The idea is to create high-quality and interactive social media posts that can hook viewers. To start with, here are the qualities of engaging content ideas for social media:

• Compelling and grammatically correct
• Effective, informative, and must tell a story.
• Fulfilling, and it must serve a purpose.
• Must identify a common problem and solve it
• Thought-provoking and delivers promised value
• Short, simple, and easy to remember
• It must be original and credible.

We have shared an exclusive guide to social media marketing, which many people have found useful. We recommend that you check it out to have a better understanding of how to create an engaging social media marketing strategy.

What are interactive social media posts?

These are posts that actively engage users on social media. Brands use different marketing techniques to craft well-spiced social media posts that attract users to like, share, or comment. As a result, this creates two-way communication between the brand and its audience. You need to know how to engage audiences to create interactive posts on social media. If you don’t know as yet, don’t worry! This guide will help you learn how to create engaging social media content.

Why is Social Media Content Important?

More than 74% of companies use content to cement their position in the market. So, if you want to attract and keep your audience engaged, it is high time you started creating interactive social media posts for your business. Below are the benefits you enjoy when you use an effective content marketing strategy for social media:

• Increase Brand Awareness: Engages a broad audience of consumers interested in your services. Therefore, it increases a business’s online visibility and brand recognition.
• More Inbound Traffic: You can reach more customers outside your loyal circle. And this is important when discovering new leads.
• Creates Brand Identity: Uniquely identifies your brand. Hence, it gives your brand a personalized voice that attracts more customers. We created a detailed guide about building a brand voice for your company. We highly recommend that you check it out now.
• More Brand Authority: Shows your expertise in a particular department. Thus, helping you establish a strong brand.
• Higher Conversion Rates: Content builds customer relationships with your brand. In the long run, this will boost your sale and Return on Investment (ROI).

Following those benefits, it is why we chose to create a guide on how to create engaging social media posts. In addition, we have also put together different content themes that will make your social posts more engaging.

What are the types of Content on Social Media?

There are six social media content types we recommend at DIGting. So, your choice will depend on your brand type. But, we also recommend choosing the right blend of different interactive social media posts. This content marketing mix will help you avoid sharing excessive promotional content. So, here are the types to consider for your social media content marketing strategy:

1. Promotional content

Create promotional content purposely to market your products and services. This content type aims at generating more sales and increasing the ROI of the company. For instance, look at that Twitter card below. It features a promotional post created by Majestic Wines, one of the best wine specialists in the UK.

Since such a post promotes a company’s products or services, it must reach larger audiences. Therefore, promotional posts are the best candidates for paid advertisement. It is because ads will increase their visibility and customer reach. To create engaging and eye-catching promotional content, put the following into consideration:

• Know your products such that you can tell a story about them
• Use an authoritative brand voice with clarity, accuracy, and depth. 
• Use catchy retail marketing phrases that inspire and trigger emotions.
• Be precise and use an active voice.
• Address Questions and Concerns
• Make contact information velar and visible.
• Add a Call to Action (CTA), such as an internal link to the product.

2. Educational content

Your sole focus here is to educate your readers on topics related to your niche. For instance, at DIGting, we create SEO Content marketing and SMM guides. Through these manuals, we educate our audiences about different topics. These may include digital marketing tips and social media marketing guides.

Many people go online seeking solutions and answers to their questions. So, educate your audience about these topics once in a while rather than just selling to them. For example, here is Neil Patel’s Tweet, one of the best marketers according to Forbes. He is sharing a link about “11 tools that will get you more backlinks.” Of course, it is an essential topic to sensitize marketers about. Perhaps who doesn’t love backlinks?

Actually, you should note that educational content like Patel’s tweet receives more shares on social media. So, use such posts to reach a larger audience. Educational content includes tutorials, how-to guides, product reviews, list-type posts, and step-by-step videos. 

Below are the things you can consider while creating educational content:

• Keep your content focused on specific points that you need to convey
• Create custom images for your content
• Use humor in your content
• Add a Call to Action, such as a link to the full blog on your website.
• Repurpose your content and sometimes create video tutorials when necessary

3. Entertaining content

Humans like to laugh. So, they get attracted to interactive social media posts that entertain them. That is why entertaining content brings in more followers and increases engagement more than other posts.

Businesses that use entertaining content have built a strong user persona. That means they have humanized their brands to look like their audience. And nothing makes people love brands more than this. They like brands that make them smile.

For instance, the above tweet by Snap Blast Play is about a puzzle game that people have found very entertaining. So, sharing such amusing, funny, and intriguing posts will trigger emotions. And that explains why entertaining content is the most shareable on social media.

Here are the tips to use while creating your entertaining content:

• Be creative
• Use puzzles, memes, viral videos, jokes, comics, contests, or giveaways
• Exploit Trendy Topics.
• Share content in real time

4. Inspirational content

This is another essential content type or idea you should adopt for your social media channels. Such content is specific for certain days. For instance, most brands share motivational content on a Monday morning. Given that the week has just started, you can motivate your audience towards matters beyond themselves.

In this case, share personal stories of success or amazing facts. You can as well create these quotes using either Canva or Adobe Illustrator. Finally, use hashtags like #Motivationalmonday and #MotivationalQuotes to boost your visibility. 

In the Twitter card above, SKV tries to inspire his audience. No matter the challenges they are currently facing, he assures them better days are just ahead in the lane. Use something like that to get your audience moving.

5. Connecting content

Connecting content aims at establishing a compelling customer relationship. Hence, use it to build deeper communication with your audience. 

The best way to grow your business is by learning how best you can connect with your customers. Don’t try to sell all the time. But attract and connect with your customers. You can do this by researching their favourite hobbies, for instance, sports. Then, create engaging content around this.

In the image below, we see Always (a manufacturer of feminine products) giving a shout-out to different individuals and other brands. That is vital if you want to build a close and stable customer relationship.

Here are other tips on how you can connect with your audience easily:

• Tweet about sport, especially when favourite teams are playing,
• Ask for people’s opinions or feedback on a trending topic.
• Give your users shout-outs to compliment them.
• Use #WCW (Women Crush Wednesday or #MCM (Man Crush Monday)
• Share live photos from events you are attending.
• Sometimes feature your employees, especially on their special occasions.

6. Interactive content

Interactive content seeks user interaction through clicking, answering, or playing with the content elements. In most cases, marketers use games that people love most. These may include interactive quizzes, animated Infographics, surveys, polls, and calculators. For instance, Santa Browser used a poll in the tweet below to keep its audience active and engaged.

Creating interactive posts encourages people to give their views through comments. They can also like and share the post with their circles. In the long run, your brand will receive more online visibility.

How to create engaging social media content

With content marketing, you don’t just create any post and think you will rank. You will need a direction and a format to create hooking content. Therefore, invest more effort in building an effective social media content marketing strategy.

So, a good content marketing strategy puts into consideration many things. These may include your audience personas. Brand positioning. Owned media value proposition. Business case. And an action plan. But, here are the key steps you must follow to create interactive social media posts that will hook your readers.

1. Start with Preliminary research.

Marketing is more like any other business project. It requires adequate research, analysis, and documentation. So, the same applies to content creation. An effective social media content marketing strategy starts with proper research. And here are the things you must research about:

Target audience 

Your target audiences are the people (customers) most likely to buy or use your services. Hence, these are the ones you are writing for.

We recommend that you write for humans and not machines. That means you should craft precise, easy-to-understand, and straightforward posts. The following questions are essential while discovering the target audience for your interactive social media posts:

• What age group are you targeting?
• Where do they stay (location)?
• What is their average income?
• What job title or industry do they work in?
• What are their interests?
• What challenges do they face?
• How do they currently overcome these challenges?

Available Competition

Which company or business does what you do? How well do they do it? And is there any information gap you may fill?

It’s essential to know what content your competitors are creating. And how interactive or engaging it is compared to other social media posts. This concept gives you an idea of which content engages users and which one doesn’t. As a result, you will create appropriate content that fits your audience’s needs.

2. Develop and use a consistent brand voice 

Brand voice is what makes you stand out. It humanizes your brand by giving it a unique image, characteristics, nature, and personality. Hence, ensuring your brand is uniquely well presented to the world.

Just as human characteristics don’t change, so is your brand voice. Keep it consistent and interactive in all social media posts you publish on your channels. Remember, a great brand is one with a great personality. We always remember him every step of the way.

Here are the tips for creating a brand voice that inspires and attracts attention:

• Describe your brand. What would your brand sound like if it were a person?
• Focus on your company’s mission statement and core values
• Build buyer personas
• Speak like your target audience and develop a tone of voice appropriate to them.
• Make sure your tone of voice fits your brand’s purpose and values.
• Use constant themes in your voice (Content type)
• Always be authentic and show concern.

We created a complete guide on how to create a solid brand voice and tone for your company. We recommend that you check it out now to get a broader understanding of brand personality.

3. Create a content calendar 

A content calendar is a written schedule of when and where you plan to publish upcoming content. It assists in developing a well-organized and structured social media posting plan/scheme.

Remember that content organization, brainstorming, and tracking are fundamental to effective marketing. So, use a content calendar to guide and structure your content production process.

Additionally, this will help you identify evergreen content that you can repurpose. Plus, it highlights the best content themes to consider. All in all, use a content calendar while planning content for social media. Check out this resource to get a better understanding of how to create a content calendar for business.

4. Select a suitable interactive social media post format

Different social media channels use different post structures and dimensions. For example, Twitter allows posts with 1080×1440 or 1024×512 pixels. So, choose the correct post format for your social media content.

• Facebook and Twitter are great for conversations and trending topics. So, they need short and precise text-based content.
• LinkedIn works best with long text-based content that explains a topic in detail. This one is suitable for sharing professional and career-related information.
• Instagram is a photo-sharing app. Thus, it needs high-quality images that are descriptive and engaging. Additionally, use Instagram if you are targeting generation Z and millennial users.
• YouTube requires a high-quality and descriptive video. It is best for how-to tutorials, podcasts, and detailed guides.

In general, you must tailor your social media posts for each network. On the contrary, don’t create social media accounts you will not use. Focus on just a few that are common to your target audience. It not only saves resources but also helps you stay focused.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter are some of those we recommend. It will, however, depend on your brand type (B2B or B2C).

We created a social media guide covering social media platforms best for B2B and B2C brands. Check it out now to understand this concept better.

5. Create social media posts that answer questions

Did you know 84% of customers surf the internet to find solutions to their problems? So, trigger your content to answer a searcher’s question if you want to remain relevant. That means writing what interests readers and exploits trendy topics. For instance, write about bicycle maintenance tips if you are a bicycle manufacturer.

Below are the steps you may consider while writing interactive social media posts that will meet your users’ needs:

• Define a common problem your customers are facing
• Break the problem into smaller pieces
• Collect and organize information about the problem
• Define a suitable solution for the problem
• Create blog content that expounds on the solution on your website
• Share summarized content about the solution through your social channels.

6. Write short and precise social media copies.

Did you know social media user engagement goes down with word count? Yes, the longer, the less interactive social media posts can be. Note that posts shorter than 100 words get 17% more engagements. 

Social media users are becoming more selective about content consumption. So, marketers should write content that is easy to read and understand in a short time.

On the side of video channels like YouTube. Do you know why shorter Reels work better than longer ones? It is because such reels are easy to watch or rewatch, which increases their views. Hence, this encourages other users to watch.

We often find questions like: How long should social media content be? Well, it depends on the social channels you are using. To remain interactive, some social media channels need short and summarized posts. Others won’t limit you, just like we explained above. But here is our recommendation when it comes to social media content length:

• Instagram: This photo-sharing channel needs a well-crafted caption of 1-50 characters.
• Twitter: Create between 8-12 words or 71-100 characters. This length is more likely to grab someone’s attention and encourage them to engage.
• Facebook: Use around 40-80 characters. It is an ideal length to get the most engagement on Facebook since it is precise. For paid ads, use 5-18 words. While Videos should range from 30-60 seconds
• LinkedIn: Don’t make LinkedIn posts too short. We recommend at least 300 words (3,000 characters) to give your content some depth.

It is pretty hard to craft content with such a length, but very practical and effective if you choose your words wisely.

7. Use the right Keywords, Hashtags, and Emojis.

Keyword research is a common strategy in Search Engine Marketing (SEM). But, it is equally beneficial for social media marketing. If you have done Search Engine Optimization (SEO), use the same tricks here. 

Below are other extra tips you may use to improve your social media content:

Use Hashtags

A hashtag is a label used on social media sites to help users find information. They index keywords or topics for people. Hence, making information on social media easily trackable and accessible.

So, by using a hashtag or two, you increase the visibility of a post on social media sites. We recommend you use 2-3 hashtags for Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Then, only two hashtags for Twitter.

Use Emojis

Emojis are a compelling feature that may increase the quality of your content. They are vital communication elements that convey a broad range of emotions. Actually, we are not surprised that Emojis increase engagement by 48% on social media.

Here are the tips on how to find relevant keywords for social media content:

• Track popular and trending posts on Twitter relevant to your niche
• Use Facebook Ad Targeting Options
• Discover Instagram popular Hashtags relevant to your topic
• Use YouTube’s Autocomplete Search Functionality
• Discovering relevant points of engagement

8. Include a Marketing Incentive 

Marketing incentives are phrases that motivate, persuade, and attract readers to take action. These phrases are precise and emotion-triggering. Hence, they can increase the interactiveness of social media posts and convert prospects into loyal customers.

Marketing incentives are purposeful and make your brand more memorable before your customers. Furthermore, incentives improve customer retention and conversion. Get some tips on how to create marketing incentives that work below:

• Promise that you will solve a user’s problem
• Provide offers to customers who buy first
• Suggest referral bonuses for signup
• Early access to new items and sales
• Provide a loyalty program customers can join for free.

9. Add a Call to Action (CTA)

Finally, seal your marketing copy with a call to action. In other words, define what you want the readers to do after reading your marketing message. This is what makes any content interactive more so social media posts.

A CTA is a catchphrase or stimulus marketers use to instruct prospects to take action. Such phrases must be instructional, persuasive, and authoritative. Here are the most common call to action marketers use:

• Call us now
• Buy now
• Find out more
• Learn More
• Subscribe to our Newsletter

10. Create Visual Content

Once you have a complete marketing copy ready, you may now create visual content. It may include videos, gifs, or infographics that resonate with your message. 

You should note that the attention span on social media has dropped to 8 seconds. That means you must do a lot for your posts to get the attention they need. The cheapest idea is to create high-quality visual content that stands out. 

Did you know that it takes only 50 milliseconds to impress an average user? In other words, that is the only time your post has to impress and engage a customer. So it got to be an impressive post indeed!

That is why you need graphical content. Graphics like images are capable of attracting more users faster than text-based content. It’s possible because it only takes 13 milliseconds for the human brain to process an image. 

In fact, social media posts with images receive a 35% increase in engagements than other posts since graphics convey more attention, communicate information, and improve comprehension.

So, you need images because people remember 80% of what they see, 20% of what they read, and only 10% of what they hear. 

Final Remarks

So, all these steps give us well-crafted and interactive social media marketing posts that are inspiring and engaging. However much it is time-consuming, building an effective social media content marketing strategy will help. Your social media content strategy should flow naturally from the first step to the last.

Know that content writing is a learned and practiced process. So, take your time and understand the content writing procedure.

We hope this guide has helped you understand how to create engaging social media content. You can also check out our social media content creation services here. Feel free to contact us if you need more guidance while developing your social media content marketing strategy.