How Social Media Data Informs Content Strategy
To provide a comprehensive understanding of how social media data can influence content strategy, we’ve gathered twelve insightful instances from professionals like digital marketing managers and CEOs. From how audience interest guides content strategy to seeing bite-sized summaries improve session durations, discover how these adjustments led to improved engagement and reach in their respective fields.
How Social Media Data Informs Content Strategy
One instance when social media data influenced a change in our content strategy was during the initial stages. The focus was on creating a wide range of content without a specific direction. However, after analyzing social media data, like engagement metrics and audience feedback, we realized the audience was more interested in case studies and the developing process of the product rather than the result.
This discovery guided the content strategy in a specific direction. The production of content that the audience was interested in began incorporating storytelling, behind-the-scenes looks, and more. Moreover, the data also guided the posting schedule to align with when the audience was most active on social media platforms. This resulted in a significant improvement in reach and engagement.
At DIGITECH, we had a valuable experience where social-media data prompted a content-strategy change. Our data revealed that our audience on Instagram was highly engaged with our behind-the-scenes posts showcasing our design and development process.
In response, we adjusted our content strategy to incorporate more of these “making-of” insights. This change led to a significant increase in engagement, including likes, comments, and shares. By leveraging social-media data, we not only strengthened our connection with our audience but also boosted our content’s reach, ultimately enhancing our brand visibility and fostering a deeper level of engagement with our followers.
Tip 3
Branded Memes Surge Impressions
Anneliese Peper, Director of Content and Influencer Relations, Gossip Genie
My client’s mission is to provide expecting mothers with high-quality breast pumps covered by insurance. Given the niche nature of the topic, it’s imperative that our content not only imparts value but is also shareable, informative, and inspires confidence.
While our initial analytics showcased encouraging results, we believed in pushing the envelope further. Thus, we ventured into crafting branded memes, drawing inspiration from current pop culture trends.
The result? After integrating this new content, we observed a 72% surge in impressions, a 67% uptick in engagements, and a whopping 95% increase in post link clicks in just six months. It was a testament to the dynamic role of social media data in reshaping content strategy for better audience resonance.
We noticed a significant uptick in engagement on our social page whenever we posted content related to emerging recruitment technologies, quirky content, and customer testimonials. This insight prompted us to refocus our content efforts towards creating more in-depth pieces on this subject.
By doing so, we saw a substantial increase in likes, comments, and shares. This amplified our content’s reach, exposing our expertise to a broader audience within the recruitment industry. Ultimately, it solidified our position as a thought-leader in innovative recruitment tools.
This experience reaffirmed the importance of staying attuned to social media metrics and using them as a compass to refine and amplify our content strategy.
In our digital agency, we’ve always believed in the power of data-driven decisions. There was a specific instance where social media analytics significantly shaped our content strategy, particularly on LinkedIn. We had been posting various forms of content but noticed that our short, animated explainer videos received disproportionate engagement.
Understanding this trend, we pivoted and produced more of these animated videos. Why did they work so well? These videos condensed complex topics into easily digestible, visually appealing content, capturing our target audience’s attention more effectively.
After doubling down on this strategy, we saw engagement rates on our LinkedIn posts skyrocket, growing organically by more than twofold. The lesson was obvious. When you pay attention to what your audience tells you—even implicitly—through their interactions, you can tailor your strategy for better results.
Tip 6
Optimized Posting Times Improve Watch Numbers
Adil Advani, Digital PR and Marketing Director, AnySoftwareTools
One instance was when I was creating a YouTube channel for a small business. I used analytics data to identify the best times to post content. I found that people had more time to watch videos over the weekend, so I adjusted the content calendar to make sure that videos were posted on Saturdays and Sundays. This strategy significantly improved reach, and people started engaging with the videos more.
Your question pinpoints a pivotal, albeit overlooked, facet of modern marketing. Social media data isn’t just fluff—it can reshape content strategy with striking efficacy. Case in point: a premium leather goods client was plateauing in SEO performance. Social media sentiment revealed consumers emphasizing “sustainable” and “ethical,” terms conspicuously absent from our content.
Countering the dominant narrative that luxury consumers are indifferent to sustainability, we pivoted. “Ethically sourced” and “artisan-made” became integral to our messaging. The outcome? A 67% boost in organic reach and a 38% bounce rate—the lowest ever. User engagement on revamped social posts quadrupled within a month, organically amplifying brand visibility, something conventional SEO approaches had failed to achieve.
The transformative power of social data can provide further details and a fresh perspective.
We noticed a significant increase in engagement on Instagram Stories compared to regular Instagram posts. We regularly analyzed our social media metrics and realized that our audience was highly active in viewing and interacting with our Stories.
To leverage this insight, we decided to shift our content strategy to prioritize Instagram Stories content. We began creating more dynamic, interactive, and behind-the-scenes Stories to engage our audience further. This adjustment had a noticeable impact on our engagement and reach.
We consistently featured our Stories at the top of users’ feeds, resulting in increased visibility. The interactive features, such as polls, questions, and quizzes, encouraged more audience participation and interaction. As a result, our reach expanded, and our engagement metrics, including likes, comments, and shares, improved significantly.
When we found out that image posts got more engagement than videos or text alone, we began to experiment. What kinds of images got the most traction? Pictures of our products, or text over images? Photos from in-progress production, or professionally edited images?
The data guided us in our visual strategy, which is essential in our 5G social media age. To evolve with the times, you have to pay attention to what’s driving engagement. It’s not always video, no matter how popular TikTok may seem.
Tip 10
Seasonal Content Calendar Amplifies Reach
Gerrid Smith, Chief Marketing Officer, Joy Organics
Analyzing our social media analytics leading up to the holidays revealed that posts with a Christmas theme were more engaging and interesting to people.
To capitalize on this pattern, a seasonal content schedule was developed. This calendar allowed for the arrangement of posts about upcoming holidays months in advance. As a result, our material was seasonally appropriate and well-received. The sharing of our Christmas material by more people led to an increase in our reach, and our engagement metrics (likes, shares, and comments) saw a significant increase throughout the season.
This change enabled us to increase revenues and better exploit seasonal sales opportunities.
Data indicated that, although our how-to guides were performing well, listicle-style posts were garnering more shares and comments. This was an eye-opener for us, as we had initially thought that how-to guides were our bread and butter.
We started integrating more listicles into our content calendar. They were not only easier and quicker to produce, but they also started outperforming the guides in terms of engagement. It was a strategic shift that we wouldn’t have considered without social media data.
Through social media metrics, we noticed that although many people clicked on our long-form content, the drop-off rates were high. People were interested, but they weren’t sticking around to read everything.
We introduced bite-sized summaries at the beginning of each long-form article, and instantly, we saw an increase in the amount of time people spent on the page. They could grasp the crux of the article quickly and then decide if they wanted to continue reading. This change led to an improvement in session durations and reduced bounce rates.
How Social Media Data Informs Content Strategy
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