Your
success on social media entirely depends on the success of the content you
post. Producing effective, high-performing content, however, presents a number
of challenges for small businesses. It’s competitive, time consuming, and
should ideally add value to your customer experience.

To
help overcome these hurdles, content strategies usually include a varied mix of
content types. When you include a rich assortment of these 12 different styles
in your marketing strategy, you can create a more engaging experience for your
audience. 

Here
are the advantages and disadvantages of each style used by social media and
content marketers, how to produce them, and the best platforms for them:



<h2>1.
Written posts, blogs, articles, guides, and more </h2>

Advantages: These
articles demonstrate your company’s knowledge and expertise, which can help
build your credibility and reputation.

Disadvantages: There is a
lot of blog content out there, so competition is thick—and you need a lot of
creativity to create new topic ideas. Writing also takes a lot of time to
generate content ideas, especially if you’re explaining complicated concepts.

How
to produce:
To help you think of compelling content, look at trending searches. This will
give your insight into the questions people want answers to, which can spark
ideas about what to write about.

Best
platforms:
LinkedIn and Facebook are perfect for these types of content, especially when
it comes to articles that are 1,500 words or longer. You can post the whole
piece, a short snippet, or a link to the piece. Twitter is also a great bet,
but the limited character count means you can only include a link and small
quote, which still can drive traffic to your website.

Pro
Tip: Embrace the content calendar. Your content calendar is a framework
for the ongoing story you want to tell about your business and what content to
share. When you take a holistic view of your social media or email marketing
output, you can turn ideas and broad strategies into an actionable plan that
can be tweaked as you learn more about what works best.

Use
our content marketing editorial calendar to visualize when and how you connect
with your audience. The calendar displays your scheduled and completed
marketing emails, social posts, postcards, and digital ads. You can filter your
calendar to display your marketing for a specific audience or all audiences.



<h2>2. Images </h2>

Good
images or video definitely increase engagement, and they endear your brand to
customers. They can also keep customers from quickly swiping past your post and
missing your message.

Advantages: Visual
content is much more digestible and engaging than long-form blogs and articles.
Smartphone cameras are sophisticated enough to take stunning pictures, and apps
help you quickly edit them, add filters to them, and more.

Disadvantages: Image-focused
platforms like Instagram have a lot of competition. If you want quality beyond
a smartphone’s capabilities, a professional camera and editing software can
cost a lot and be very time consuming to use.

How
to produce:
Pictures and images are some of the easiest content to create. It's as simple
as grabbing your smartphone or camera and snapping a picture.

Best
platforms:
Images work well on every platform, but Instagram and Pinterest are by far the
best networks for pictures. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat are
alternative options. Attaching an image to a blog post can also help improve
engagement and clicks. 

A
few tips for image posting on social media:

Get
stellar art for your social media campaigns. You don’t
have to be a photographer to use stock photo websites like Pexels and Unsplash,
which offer great images, many of them free.

Avoid
images with too much copy on them. Did you know Facebook takes this into
account when approving posts for ads? If you’re not sure if your image has too
many words, here’s a handy checker.

Use
more photos with faces in them. People-heavy images get more
engagement on Instagram posts, and they can humanize your brand. Say cheese!



<h2>3. Videos </h2>

With
the advent of smartphone cameras, it’s never been easier to hit record.
Facebook’s algorithm prioritizes it, and it can be a fun way to show off your
wares. Plus, as live streaming has hit the mainstream, consumer expectations
for social video has shifted. Videos that feel rougher around the edges can
feel more native to social platforms. Give it a shot and include them in your
content strategies!

Advantages: Capturing
videos is easy and convenient—and they’re more engaging than pictures. How-to
guides, video tours, and product updates and demonstrations all make for great
video content that can both drive traffic to your website and increase sales. 

Disadvantages: It's
inexpensive to make quick videos, but costs escalate if you want a high
production level.

How
to produce:
Similar to images, video production has a range of difficulty. Where you decide
to land on that spectrum will dictate whether you need specialized skills and
equipment.

Best
platforms:
YouTube is the king of video content, but videos also perform well on Facebook.
For shorter videos, Instagram is the best option, even above YouTube.



<h2>4. Video Stories </h2>

Advantages: Stories are
images and short videos that last 24 hours before disappearing for good.
They’re available on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Keep users updated
about events, offers, or other announcements—or give them a behind-the-scenes
glimpse of your business. The possibilities are truly endless! 

Disadvantages: The fear of
missing out can be a powerful motivator, but their short life expectancy also means
that some users might not engage with them.

How
to produce:
The option to produce image or video stories is in each social media networks
app. High-quality production is not needed, making them easy for any business
to create. 

Best
platforms:
Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have popularized this content type and remain
the best options.



<h2>5. Live Videos </h2>

Advantages: Live videos
are a great medium to bring events to audiences that aren't physically able to
attend. Unlike stories, which are gone after 24 hours, you can still watch live
streams later.

Disadvantages: First you
need something to stream, such as an event. Then you need someone to operate
the smartphone or other device and talk. The WIFI connection is also important.
If your connection is bad, the video may need to repeatedly stop and buffer,
which can result in poor quality.

How
to produce:
Like stories, social media platforms that support live content make the option
readily accessible and convenient to users. They'll show a preview of what your
audience will see, which gives you the opportunity to make sure everything
looks good before you go live.

Best
platforms:
Facebook Live is the most popular live streaming social media network. Smaller
platforms like Periscope are also viable, but it may be harder to draw as large
of an audience.

Pro
tips:
If you’ve worked hard to create great images or video for your social media
posts, make sure they look good on mobile devices. Almost 3/4 of the global
population uses a mobile phone, and nearly 80% of time on social media is spent
on a mobile device.

Stay
inspired.
Keep a list of brands or organizations whose social media imagery you love, and
check in with them from time to time for more content ideas.



<h2>6. Info graphics </h2>

Advantages: Info graphics
use visuals to support explanations, statistics, and other written concepts.
They are especially impactful for conveying complex ideas. 

Disadvantages: Creating info
graphics requires both copy and graphics, which means you may need multiple
people working together to create them. They also require a fair amount of
creativity and research.

How
to produce:
First you need to create an outline for your info graphic. Once the outline is
done, your writer and graphic designer can begin creating the individual parts
and piecing them together.

Best
platforms:
Facebook and LinkedIn are both excellent options for info graphics. Twitter is
an alternative choice.



<h2>Start building your
social media presence </h2>

To
make your brand stand out, save time, and enhance your customer experience,
take advantage of each social media platform’s features to weave these
different content types together.

Don’t
be afraid to experiment and be creative with your ideas. Over time, you’ll
learn what types of content resonates most with your unique audience. You’ll
never know what works best until you try!

6 Types of Social Media Content to Create

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