Six Content Mistakes you may be making with Social Media
- Ignoring the appearance and format of the piece: With social bookmarking sites, you don’t want to change the actual content but you do want to format its appearance so that it catches the eye and keeps people interested. Don’t use photos that are either too small or too big and make sure large sections of text are separated so they do not intimidate the reader. If you’re submitting content which you have made yourself, restructure it in a list or a ‘how to’ piece.
- Ignoring the importance of the headline: Headlines are crucial when you are trying to promote content via social media. Always alter the title of the content you decide to submit so that it is catchy, memorable, and interesting.
- Ignoring your target audience: You need to think long and hard about who is being targeted by your content and why they should be interested in what you are promoting. The more specific you make your target audience, the higher your chances of success. Before writing your headline or even deciding to submit the content, think about the preferences of your target audience. Which keywords or phrases annoy them or are overused to the extent that they won’t bother taking any notice of what you have to say?
- Thinking that timing is not important: Submitting an article during the middle of the night to a social bookmarking site is a silly idea. There is only a limited amount of time during which your article is likely to grab attention and it will quickly disappear under the mass of new content being submitted throughout the day. Bear in mind the timezone of your target audience as well and try to avoid weekends if you can, particularly if your target audience are likely to be viewing social media sites during working days.
- Thinking your content doesn’t need to be unique: At the end of the day, your success with social media rests on your ability to provide unique and creative content that is actually worth reading. Would you bother clicking on your article? If not, don’t bother submitting it until you have given it some serious thought and modifications. If there are already hundreds of submissions which are concerned with exactly the same topic as your article, don’t think that people will be interested in it.
- Ignoring the genre of your piece: Some genres are more popular than others, so don’t waste your time or energy creating content which people will not be interested in. When you submit your content, make sure you place it in the most relevant category. Social media users will be irritated if you decide to place an irrelevant article in a popular category just to boost your chances of success.
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