Before you start using social media for your biz, you might have assumed that finding cool content to share would be the hardest part.

And then you started writing posts. 😳

For some people, creating a concise, meaningful and entertaining post just comes easy. For other people — lots of people — writing those posts brings on a bout of intense fear or writers block.

Post Tips For Instagram

Instagram may be all about the visuals, but you can’t slack on your posts information.

They can be the difference between a post that quickly attracts lots of engagement, and a post that attracts very little. And when an Instagram post gets lots of likes and comments, it is much more likely to be placed higher in people’s feeds as per the Instagram algorithm (or ranking).

Your Instagram post should provide context for your image or video, show your personality and voice, plus, get your followers to like, comment or share your post.

We recommend using action words (like “start” and “discover”) and using the Five Ws (who, what, when, where and why) to create an effective call-to-action.

Optimal character count: You can use up to 2,200 characters, but you definitely don’t Most images only requires a short and snappy post; a post where you’re sharing important advice might be bit longer.

Just remember that in the Instagram feed, your caption will be shortened to about two lines; a user will have to tap ‘more’ to read the rest. So make those two lines count.

Good to have in your caption: Action words; a call-to-action; short sentences; simple phrasing and vocabulary; personality; the occasional emoji; the right hashtags at the end of your caption (between 10 and 30 that are relevant to your business and Instagram post, and that don’t have hundreds of thousands of posts using the same hashtag).

Not good to have in your caption: All caps or all lowercase; dry and formal tone; no connection to the image; spelling and grammar mistakes.

Post Tips For Twitter

Not every tweet has an image attached to it. Which means your tweet text needs to be engaging.

When writing a tweet, you want to always ask yourself whether you’d reply, retweet or favourite it if you saw it in your own Twitter feed.

Your text should be conversational (but still professional) in tone, and should grab attention. Action words (“check out,” “don’t miss”), superlatives (“the coolest”), emotions (“Holy. Moly.”) and intrigue (“you won’t believe”) are all effective ways of grabbing attention.

Retweeting valuable content related to your biz is a good way to mix things up. Just refrain from doing it more than once a day. And don’t forget to reply to any replies!

Optimal character count: In 2017, Twitter increased the caption limit to 280 characters, from the original 140 characters.  Aim for between 70 and 140 characters though.

Good to have in your post: Action, emotion, intrigue and superlatives; simple language and structure; links and photos; a hashtag; an emoji.

Not good to have in your post: Using more than two hashtags; forgetting that your replies are public.

Special considerations: If you start your tweet with a mention (“@bobsmith You’ll fall in love with this new riverside condo”), as an example, only that user will see your tweet. Instead, use their username later in the caption, or put a period in front of the @ sign (ex: .@bobsmith).

Post Tips For Facebook

It’s not easy to attract engagement with Facebook these days. The algorithm and competition can make it very, very hard to beat the speed in which people scroll their newsfeed.

Your posts need to feature simple, super concise and eye-grabbing text. And sharing a link, photo or video will almost always increase the reach of your post. Your text can provide content or tease what the follower is about to watch or click on.

Be selective with what you post; quality over quantity is really important on Facebook. Don’t share content just for the sake of posting.

Optimal character count: The shorter your Facebook post, the greater the chance that it will appear in its entirety in someone’s Facebook newsfeed. Try to keep it below 80 characters.

Good to have in your posts: Links and photos; one emoji; concise; personality; excitement; intrigue; calls-to-action.

Not good to have in your caption: Clickbait-style headlines; hashtags (Unless your tracking a particular post); being overly promotional; images not sized specifically for Facebook

Special considerations: Experiment with different kinds of Facebook content — videos, blog posts, quizzes, memes. You never know what might set you apart from competitors and resonate with your audience.

Post Tips For Pinterest

Pinterest posts are the descriptions that accompany each pin. They’re important for adding context, but also for driving traffic to your website.

Pinterest users don’t often edit the existing description when adding a pin to their board; that means your description on your pin (that you upload yourself) could be seen by hundreds or thousands of people if it gets shared.

Your descriptions should showcase the pin in a brief, informative and click-worthy way. Don’t worry about being funny or clever; focus on convincing Pinterest users that they need to click on the link back to your website.

To create website traffic, your pins need to be found first. Discoverability is important. Pinterest has an autocomplete search bar. Start typing a query and it will suggest how to finish it. Those autocomplete suggestions are popular search terms; use this feature to research what keywords and phrases you can tap into with your descriptions.

Optimal character count: 500 characters is the maximum, but we’d suggest aiming for 200 or so.

Good to have in your post: Popular keywords and phrases; a link to your website; persuasive descriptions (“Need help?” “Learn now.”)

Not good to have in your caption: No context; no link; skimping on description

Special considerations: Make sure you categorize your pins correctly; a pin that links to your blog post about bathroom renos needs to be pinned to your Bathroom board, not your Backyard Inspiration board. It’s an easy, seemingly small mistake to make, but it can negatively impact that pin’s discoverability.

Do you find it challenging to write great posts or just don’t either have the time or interest to create posts for your social media. Contact Us and Let’s talk about Social Media Management For Your Biz.