Breaking down content for social media

We once thrived with the idea of COPE : Create Once, Publish Everywhere. This is no longer relevant in our world today. Social media channels have each developed their own personalities and the audience switches between them seeking the change. This is why, as content creators it’s important to present content in a way that is appealing to the participants of the particular social media channel.

While you may be brimming with information about your particular niche, you have to remember that people are very selective about how and where they spend their time on the digital space, endless doom scrolling apart. While you may have a dedicated audience, it’s important to remember that you’re still working with a small number of people who may not have the longest attention span. This is why it’s important to break down your long form content and turn them into smart baits that can be used to lure readers in.

1. Find highlights from your long form content

Writing a 2000 word document on your niche is great but not a lot of people are going to make it to the end of the page. Most of us are skimming through pages simply because nobody’s got the time. This is why you must read through your long form content and pick our data that could be leveraged to yield interest. Break it down to simpler parts and highlight the bit that would interest the reader.

2. Give importance to your thumbnails

On social media, first impressions are EVERYTHING! Your reels, posts, stories - all need to have an immediate appeal to your audience. This is because you’re trying to stand apart from the crowd and the average social media user, it’s the most patient. Take time to create thumbnails that would draw readers/viewers in.

3. Create a plan

No we don’t mean dancing. As a content creator, your readers expect content from you but it isn’t necessary to keep creating content at odd hours. Find a balance. While making a content calendar, spend some time building a social media calendar. Find the platforms you want to be present in, the ones you will be curating content for and when you’ll be posting. Social media calendars can get overwhelming super fast - remember to look into the audience demand.

4. What does your audience appreciate on each channel

As mentioned above, the only way you can create better posts on your channels is by knowing your audience. Spend some time evaluating what kind of content they have appreciated in the past, what has better engagement, conversions, etc. On Facebook, you could have a more diverse crowd while Instagram could be focused on a slightly younger demographic. This would also give your creative directions while creating your posts.

5. Sharing can be helpful

One can often get tangled up in promoting content constantly on their page, remember to promote other articles that you know your readers would enjoy. While you may direct them away, you also slowly become a content recommendation platform that they look upto. This also breaks the monotony of self promotion. Keep your social media channels open for shout outs and offers! It’s a good place to interact with your followers.

6. Give your content versions

Similar to the first pointer, you need to give your content versions. With versions, we take long form content and size them down for individual channels (depending on the audience) and distribute them. For instance, on Linkedin you can post a slightly longer version while on Instagram you’d want to keep it short. This ensures that people read and interact with your content without having to go through the entire piece.

Social media changed overnight when reels were first introduced, the “swipe-up” changed engagement by tenfold. But even reels longer than a minute don’t seem to last. The simple reality is that today, there’s too much content. And people don’t always want to wait to be impressed by it. The first few seconds make everything! Invest in making content but add more value by curating versions that would best fit the audience of that specific platform. It’s time we focus on content longevity over mindless data dumps.