Once you have decided on your social media platforms you will need to create your own content. The content that you create needs to be appropriate, both in order to meet your overall goals, and also for your audience; this will ensure that your branding is appropriate and your business messages. 

The type of content and the tone of the content should be appropriate, and it should go without saying that it needs to be of a high-quality: do not use pixelated images and do not do bad editing.  

Content scheduling and a content calendar 

A content calendar is a valuable way to organize your business, there is no one template, but whatever works for you and your needs. Have different sections or color codes for different media and edit until it fits your needs. Do not forget to set aside time to analyze data and reply to comments.    

You can schedule posts in advance once you have completed the content to post at a time that is appropriate for your audience to encourage maximum engagement.     

Plan your content in advance, including, and especially, seasonal posts. Planning in advance means you can dedicate your time to the data more important things rather than stressing to rush out the post or campaign it would lead to higher quality content and subsequently better results. It will also help you better strategize and determine which posts are more successful. 

Creating a content calendar is not only a way to plan it is also a way to measure and track your progress so that you are able to optimize and improve in the future.  

Video content 

Videos of one of the biggest forms of social media content. Growth continues to grow in videos 

Of course, you want the first seconds of your video to be entertaining and informative as well as exciting so that your audience stays involved and engaged and what is the rest of your video 

Editing is something that you could consider, as well as subtitles. Having built-in closed captions is a great way to be an inclusive brand–as well as making it easier for people who do not have the volume on their phone being able to read along to videos. This helps a lot of people and will make your message clearer.   

Patterns

Eventually, you will be getting into a posting pattern you will have a kind of content that your audience will begin to expect from you. You should break it up every few posts to try something a little different but definitely try to have a pattern. This will also help with your analytics because it will be easy to see which kind of posts are the most effective, your regular tried and tested content, or newer more experimental things. 

Frequency

You need to decide how often to post: because it depends. Different platforms will require different times of posting and different frequencies. However, you should always make it seem as if you are online and available even if you are not. You do not want to come across as a brand that only checks your post once a week and is not available to deal with consumer needs.        

Replying 

But replying is not content creation, I hear you ask? Perhaps not but it is a huge value add to a business and needs to be something that is prioritized.   

People expect fast replies from businesses. A lot of people would be more willing to leave a bad review over a bad customer service experience over a suboptimal product.  People would rather have an easy way to reply comment or get in touch with businesses, rather than having to write an email or ring a number—it is often considered outdated. Having live chats or a social media page that people can contact and get a quick reply is an essential part. You could include an FAQ page or a robot preprogrammed with questions. 

Collaboration 

Electing to collaborate with another brand is another fantastic way to grow your audience. There are different kinds of collaborations: including partnerships, cross-promotions, content placements, and general collaborations. The time frame on these vary, and some will be more of an investment than others. Collaborating is a way to create new and exciting content, as well as grow your audience.