5 Guidelines for Social-Media Posts That Hit the Mark The is no formula for posts that go viral but you can resonate with your audience consistently.
By John Pilmer Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Business owners know that the Internet is a gold mine of free marketing directly to your target audience. A simple post on Facebook or Twitter can reach millions of people already keyed in to your products and offerings. But just as not all advertising campaigns are created equal, some social media content will get lost in the fray, while other posts will spread virally.
Obviously, entrepreneurs have a high stake in making the most of their time spent online. While you can't control the masses, and which content will become truly viral is anyone's guess, there are some concrete things you can do to give your social media posts a better shot at getting noticed.
Related: Post Smarter: The Best Times to Use Social Platforms (Infographic)
1. Titles are key. In the online world, people spend maybe a grand total of two-to-three seconds evaluating your content to decide whether or not to click. On Twitter, a title is basically all you get.
Frame your content in an interesting way in fewer than 140 characters. Some key words that help content get more clickthroughs are numbers, lists, and phrases like "how to."
2. Always have a visual. Every post you create does better with a photo, graphic, video, drawing, map, graph or something else visual that represents your idea. Visual posts get significantly higher traffic than those that don't include a graphic.
Images enable sharing across platforms such as Instagram, Flipboard, Flickr, Pinterest and more. Without a picture, you are effectively limiting your access to social media.
Related: How to Craft the Perfect Social Post [Infographic]
3. Jump on the #hashtag bandwagon. Not all trends are valuable but hashtags have proven their worth the last couple of years. Including hashtags in your posts can increase the number of eyes that see it.
You can't just slap a pound sign in front of any set of words and expect it to boost your online presence. Spend some time looking through the platform you're using to discover relevant hashtags that already have a following.
4. Try new things. Social media platforms pop up almost daily. Not all of them take off but each one represents an opportunity to target a new audience. Check into up-and-comers to find out if the users are a good fit for your brand. Before you invest too much time in a new platform, test out postings to see if they generate traffic.
5. Pay attention. Review what you are saying before you hit "post" on any online content. Does it fit with your brand? Does it speak to the audience you are sharing with? Does it link back to your website? Additionally, pay attention to current online trends to see which ones might make sense to integrate into your online postings.
Lastly, look for opportunities to learn more about social media content, such as online webinars and forums.
