LUCKY 7: Seven Tips to Create Engaging Content

It is imperative for brands to strategically create fun and engaging social media posts because not doing so would mean boring, no-fun contents that are barely noticed by the target audience. In order to create engagements and interactions in your online posts, you’ll have to make sure your posts are curated and well-thought of.

But first, what exactly is an engaging post? The marketing world is so focused on creating “perfectly” engaging contents that consumers drown in a sea of repetitive advertisements. According to Neil Patel, famous marketer and co-founder of NP Digital, engaging content is one that is able “to trigger a measurable response in people as it relates to your content.”

Understanding your brand is the most critical step in curating content relevant to your audience. Knowing your purpose and knowing your target audience will help in creating intentional posts that would serve their purpose.

Remember that there is no perfect formula for creating engaging content. But do check out these tips to help you create the appropriate content for your audience!

1. Create Daily / Mini Content for your Followers

Since you want your posts to be engaging to your fans, you’ll actually have to make the first step for the interaction to occur. Make sure to utilize the features of the social media application you’re currently using to interact with your followers. Something as simple as posting stories asking how their day went, adding questions of the day in the captions of your posts, making random polls or short “quizzes” to reel in the attention of your followers will go a long way!

You can even make a daily interaction / moment series on your social media profile that your followers will actually be looking forward to!

Like what Bretman Rock does with his “Cereal of the Day” and “Coconut Water of the day” updates on his IG stories that his followers look forward to! This let his audience engage and share their thoughts about his reviews!

2. Make your Content Relevant with Current Events

Being on top of current events would give the impression that your brand is relevant. In addition, it means that your business is not detached to the realities of life.

Take a look at what Ligo Sardines did:

Check out their Facebook page to see more of this type of content!

3. Controversial Video Campaign

How else can you make a post engaging? Make it controversial. Check out these examples from RC Cola and Mega Tuna to understand what we mean.

Nyahahakbkxjbcjhishdishlsab@!!!! Basta RC Cola! #BastaRCCola

Who would’ve thought that an ad starting with a family drama between a mom and her son suddenly ends with the whole family drinking cola from glasses that are attached on the back of the son? This unusual (and weird!) advertisement from RC Cola took social media by storm when it first came out. It gained over 222,000 FB reactions and over 13,400 tweets on Twitter which helped it trend in the Philippines. (Madarang, 2020)

Source: Philstar

Watch here:

Mega Tuna, Maiinggit Sila Sa Sarap!

This ad from Mega Tuna features a woman savoring a can of Mega Tuna sardines while a lizard watches her with a sense of “inggit” (which is in their tagline). Soon after, the two characters suddenly switched identities – the lizard became the one who savors the sardines while the woman became the one stuck on the ceiling watching with “inggit” in her eyes. Their brand manager, Pia Bernabe, said that they wanted to highlight the feeling of envy that is felt by anyone who witnesses a Mega Tuna consumer savoring the said sardines.

Source: Philstar

See for yourself:

4. “Curiosity Killed the Cat”

Actual contents are important, but captions also play a vital role in engaging your audience.

Create catchy captions, but don’t rely on clickbaits! A majority of people only look at captions and scroll past them, which means you need to up your game when writing them. A great caption for your articles / posts can go a long way! Unleash your creativity and take a grasp of humor and astonishment when creating your posts’ captions. By doing this, you’ll get to spark curiosity to your audience and catch their attention to further scroll around the other posts on your profile! However, you must be mindful to not let your audience be misguided or misinformed with your posts despite the goal to make them intrigued and entertained!

5. Create #Challenges

Creating challenges gives a platform for the brand to show that it also wants to connect with their consumers. Challenges also make a way for the consumers to show their loyalty and use of the brand. Examples of these include the Pantene 14 Day Challenge, Nestle Dance Wellness, Rexona Chamba Dance Challenge, and more. With the rise of short video platforms like Tiktok, a lot of online video challenges were also done by brands like Lazada and Shopee. Challenges like the ones mentioned help the brand to be easily recalled for its fun challenges online.

6. Highlight Functionality

Your product or service should always be the highlight of your brand, so why don’t you focus on letting people see the value of your brand through its functionality? Enumerate all the key components of your product or service and highlight the most important ones. But don’t forget to be creative! Avoid lengthy texts and messy designs on your publication materials. You will have the chance to elaborate on your topic by creating blog articles or providing a description on your caption.

7. Content Series

You might be thinking, “Now what?” I’ve followed all these tips; will my audience pay more attention to my posts? Well, consistency is one of the most important factors to consider in catching the attention of your audience and ensuring that they remain loyal to your brand.

One way to make it easier for your brand to stay connected or to further your relationship with them is to create a set of continuous and consistently-updated contents.

You want your audience to have something to look forward to every week or month (up to you!). This allows you to present a wide range of topics to them while also providing in-depth explanations for each topic. You may choose from the following samples: Video Content (Weekly or Monthly Episodes) on Facebook, IG TV, or Youtube; webinars, informative posts, themed posts, and many more. You may even come up with your own!

Here’s a How-To Series by Pepper.ph:

Don’t be afraid to try new ideas. Mix-and-match your content until you get the “right” one that sticks with your audience. What are you waiting for? It’s time to create customized content for your audience!