‘Digital marketing’ covers a broad spectrum of ever-evolving disciplines – that’s one reason we love it so much here at Method!
One way we keep up-to-speed with best practice is through internal lunch and learn 🥪 🥙 sessions run by our digital subject matter experts. In this post we’ve packaged up 10 helpful tips and recommendations on the topic of social media content optimisation.
With so much content shared on social media (there was a 60% increase in LinkedIn content last year) every organisation must work hard to get their message to ‘cut through’. When pharmaceutical companies post on social media they are competing (like everyone else) against a plethora of ‘other content’ in their target audience’s newsfeed; from friends, colleagues, interest groups and other organisations.
When we factor in the fact that people typically open their social networking apps to browse instead of search, the need to make content that’s audience centric is key.
With that context, here are 10 tips to help social media content stand out in the crowd:
1. Will the reader care?
It’s so easy to concentrate what we want to deliver ahead of a message the audience is likely to want to consume. Are we saying something that’s adding value to their day?
2. Talking in the imperative
The right tone makes all the difference, especially when coupled with the right trigger words. We find the likes of ‘Exclusive content’​, ‘Expert-led webinars’ and ‘Get the latest insights’ work well.
3. Are we talking about timely topics?
Social media is a fast moving space, which means content with some form of timely reference immediately stands out. An archive blog post can be given a new lease of life with a timely twist in a social media post.
4. The first 125 characters
Cut straight to the point, more like a traditional headline. Then expand with the nitty gritty.​
5. Focus on one message​
It’s so tempting to try and squeeze in one more point, one more benefit, one more idea into a social media post. Keep it focused and don’t ask the reader to do/think about more than one thing at a time.
6. Pop supporting details in the visual
Keep the description section (the word!) of the post neat and tight… details such as dates and times can go in the supporting visual​.
7. Never mention product
We all know this, but with pharma brand content we must never reference product in social media content, nor link directly to web pages that include it.
8. Keep it moving
Video gets 10x more in-channel engagement than still images on Twitter, so try and get some animation in the mix when that’s your goal.
9. Pick a format aligned to the post objective
Is the post format you’ve chosen (e.g. a link post, a video card) the best for encouraging the user to do what you want? Always make sure they’re matched.
10. Using the humble hashtag
Particularly for organic content they can aid discoverability and give certain words standout (typically they get bolded). But don’t get spammy; the social networks are downgrading posts that include very broad hashtags (no more #love I’m afraid!)
What are your top tips for creating social media content that cuts through the noise?
About the author
Simon Preece
Social Strategy for Method Medical and founder of slp consulting. Long suffering #Nffc fan & runner. Mostly tweet about opportunities & risks of #SocialMedia for business.
