Using different formats to achieve social media success

The foundation for great content is a surprising image or video material in the best content format. In this blog post, you'll learn how to turn photos and videos into exciting, funny or informative and, more importantly, varied posts. We’ll also share with you how to use the many different content formats for your social media success.

Social media platforms are constantly offering companies new and interesting opportunities to get in touch with customers on a personal level. Authentic, varied and high-quality material is rewarded by every platform’s algorithm! So make sure you have a good mix of photos, videos, links or stories.
Let’s start with some tips about how to write a post. Make sure written content is relevant, short and interactive, and don’t repeat the text displayed in a link preview. To attract more attention, write your text sometimes in a picture! And finally, emojis are cool but should be used selectively.

Tip: Be sure to offer a dialog option in stories to encourage interaction!
 

In your company’s start up days there is often not enough money for elaborate photo shootings. But even if you are starting small, a style guide is a sensible investment to make so you use your scarce resources to add maximum value. Our graphic designers can put together a guide for you in a few hours, including which criteria your images and graphics should meet. Image elements such as fonts, icons or distractors are also part of such a concept. You can give then this style guide to every photographer you employ later or use it as a basis for searching image material in databases. A clear visual identity is a success factor for social media. It stops users scrolling through their timelines, attracts attention and points to promotions or contests. 

Tip: Have a simple image concept developed that gives your photos and videos a unique identity from the start.

You can use free or low-cost images and royalty-free from the following databases. But do be sure to follow the rules of the platform:

• unsplash
• Reshot
• Pixabay
• Pexel

Because you have your style guide already defined you could even develop images yourself. There are now many great tools that offer you helpful support. 

• canva
• infogram 
• mojo

If you have a little more budget at your disposal, delegate these tasks to our graphic designers who can compile image sets or create individual images for the perfect social media effect.

Tip: Did you know that you can get really great video and photo material through influencer campaigns? Many influencers work professionally. Within a paid cooperation, you can have the image rights transferred to you - depending on the contract. 

Facebook provides you with these formats:

• Image post: Use engaging product or brand images to tell your story! Image posts are great for generating reach and community engagement. The images in your feed should be high-quality and always match your visual identity.

• Video post: Your post will attract more attention if you add motion! Most platforms favor video because it makes users stay longer. Using video is rewarded with a high level of reach. Note your video can be a maximum of 240 minutes long and you can also use HD quality. 

• Carousel: Here you can present up to ten images or videos in a single post. Showcase multiple products or services thanks to this additional design freedom.

• Link Post: This format is great for sending traffic to a website - either because you want to inform users further, have them visit your store or because you want to offer them exciting content from blogs or other sites. 

• Milestone: Celebrate your company’s big events with milestones. You can also use this function retrospectively to tell your users about your company history. 

• Job offer: Any company can create free job ads on Facebook to find new employees. it Just know it is not possible to enter specific targeting because job ads are distributed by Facebook itself. Interested potential employees can apply directly via Facebook..

• Event: Event announcements are also free on Facebook and can be easily set up. Take note: If a person clicks they would like to participate in the event, Facebook proactively notifies all their contacts too. This means you get extensive free event coverage.

Facebook Instant Experiences: With this format (formerly Canvas), you can easily create a fast-loading full screen image designed for mobile devices and add it to almost any ad format

• Images: Put an image in square format or landscape or portrait format. This is how you collect likes. Consistent use of your brand visual language is absolutely key here! 

• Videos: Attract a lot of attention and add dynamism to your Instagram feed. Use video to present and explain even complex issues in a simple way, as well as inform or entertain. You can promote videos to specific target groups with an advertising budget; this is not possible with IGTV. 

• Carousel: Ideal for an album of multiple images and videos. A maximum of 10 images or videos are allowed. With a compelling cover photo, it's hard to resist the temptation to swipe left!

• Instagram Stories: Photos and videos tell short stories that disappear after 24 hours. Lively and varied content makes traffic soar! Stories can also be a little blurred and spontaneous - it's the moment that counts!

• IGTV: Longer videos find their place here and you should add in a title and a description. Note: IGTV videos must be at least one minute long. 

• Reels: Easily edit your video with various effects like music, gifs, texts and filters using reels. Multiple video clips can be recorded for a maximum total of 30 seconds. Reels are specially designed for viewing on smartphones, so you should record videos in portrait format only.