With so many users and businesses on social media these days, it’s extremely easy for your content to get lost in the shuffle. So how do you ensure your content gets more engagement in the form of likes, comments, shares, mentions, retweets, etcetera? Read and execute these tips to make your content pop!

1. Be refined. Use high quality images. It may seem silly, but the photos you use in your ads can say a lot about your business. Your social media profiles are an extension of your brand. Use appropriate images that are high quality: those that are large, crisp, have a great resolution, and are not pixelated. For a list of free stock photo websites to help in your ad creation, click here. Example: the ad featured below was created for our tech company, StaffStat,  and uses a high resolution photo with a simple string of text. 
2. Be authentic. In the majority of my blog posts I have said that you should always be as real as possible in your interactions on social media. People love brands they can relate to and those they feel like they know on a deeper, personal level. Consumers want to know who they’re buying from. When creating ads, choose images that align with your brand. Don’t follow what others are doing because it’s trendy. If you’re falsely representing your brand with the images you use, your followers will notice and it could potentially hurt your relationship with them. In managing the marketing for two companies, I’ve noticed that our followers love seeing content highlighting personal stories, blurbs celebrating our successes, and photos from events our team attends. Try posting content that shines a light on your company, culture, team, values etc. Example: a Facebook post linking to a blog post written by StaffStat’s CEO. It’s been read over 1000 times! 
3. Be visual. Bright, bold, colourful, and vivid images generally perform better on social media. It’s all about catching your audience’s eye. Using black and white photos with a pop of colour can also create intrigue and stand out among all of the other colourful photos that populate on your followers’ feeds. Example: in this ad, we used a black and white image, with a pop of colour and large, bold text to catch the viewer’s attention.
   
4. Be positive. Happiness breeds happiness. I’m sure many of us know that our Facebook feeds can get inundated with content that isn’t necessarily upbeat. Posting images that are light, fun, humorous and make your audience smile will increase the likelihood of your followers sharing your content, enjoying your messaging and your brand, and ultimately buying your products/services. Example: remember WestJet’s Christmas marketing campaign featuring random acts of kindness? It received over 200 billion media impressions and made a lot of people smile!
   
5. Be emotive. Our eyes are naturally drawn to images with human faces, especially those that are very emotive, i.e: smiling, shocked, etc. They are also said to perform better on social media than images that are computer generated. Using such images plays on human emotions and allows people to relate to your content. Example: a recruitment ad I created for our company, Plan A Health Care Staffing Solutions features a vibrant background and a very excited nurse! Who wouldn’t want to have the #BestJobEver?
6. Be flexible. This one’s easy. Don’t constantly be selling and don’t post content of the same type all the time. Switch it up! Post testimonials and ads about your brand, share articles related to your industry, post photos of team outings, and more! Get creative!

There you have it—six tips to build better social media content for your business! Good luck!