One of my clients manufactures hand-crafted, classic games. His company is a great litmus test for how to engage people with short social media attention spans.
After a series of hit and miss posts, he shared a photo on Instagram of the workshop’s “Goop Pitcher.” Just an ordinary plastic pitcher used to catch the colorful resin overflow from making backgammon checkers. The post generated a huge response — People wanted more shop content.
The key takeaway here is what may seem like a mundane, everyday task to you is compelling content for people. They want to see the inner workings of what goes into crafting a product or providing a service. We’re all curious by nature and getting a glimpse behind the scenes resonates with people.
Here are a few quick tips on creating engaging visual posts:
Look for highlights: Even if your business doesn’t create products that are visually captivating, you can feature employees working on a project with high-tech equipment, on-site jobs in interesting locations or even share some expertise with a graphic element. Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to have a sense of humor
Provide inside information: Show previews or something that’s in the works. You can add some mystery to the posts with partial photos and vague descriptions prior to introducing a product or keep things more straightforward by including detailed information, launch dates, and pricing. Featuring new products or services that are on the horizon creates a buzz and gives you a boost when they become available.
Think like a TV producer: Create a series of posts that take a product or service and show how it works from start to finish. For production and hand-crafted business, you can begin with showing raw materials, production steps and then end with packaging and shipping. Services can really benefit from showing ongoing progress on projects as well as the classic “before and after” photos.
There’s no formula or SEO template that’s going to tell you what type of social media content will be a winner. But by looking at your business from a customer’s perspective, you can get a better idea of what’s happening in your office, factory floor or work site that could translate into great content.