If you work in marketing, you’ll know that creating content at scale can be a tough process. It’s one thing to have an excellent idea for a post, but with an abundance of content available online, it’s more important than ever that your content is of the highest standard in order to stand out.
In the age of social media, it’s simply not enough to have quality content – it also has to look good. Readability and imagery are vital factors when driving engagement. From writing tools to image creation, refer to this handy guide before you upload your next post.
Imagery
Images can be a fantastic way to break up your text to enhance both aesthetics and readability.
Studies show that the use of images helps to decrease confusion, increase satisfaction, and boost readers’ confidence in the understanding of instructional material. Screenshots and labeled photographs are a simple way to increase understanding in industries like tech or hardware.
The use of images can also benefit your site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization) through the use of ALT tags and titles.
Anyone can get images from the web and add them to their blog/Instagram feed. Creating your original content is the added advantage that will help you rise above the crowd.
Creating original content can be time-consuming and may not be possible all the time. You should, however, find a way of balancing curated content and original posts.
Canva
Canva is a simplified graphic-design tool that uses a drag-and-drop format and is used by both amateur designers and professionals alike.
Canva provides access to photographs, vector images, graphics, and fonts. It allows you to upload logos and even create a bespoke ‘brand kit‘ to ensure you are consistent with your content. Consistency will help you develop a house brand, making your content instantly recognizable to your followers.
The more bespoke you can do, the better. Remember that other companies are likely using the same tools to save costs on freelancers and graphic designers, so be sure to experiment with your imagery on Canva.
Try to avoid using just Canva’s templates. As the tool becomes increasingly popular, it’s easy to spot quick mock-up designs and takes away your unique imagery. This process can be time-consuming, so it’s helpful to know that Canva also offers a mobile version of their app, allowing you to experiment with designs no matter where you are.
Unsplash
Stock photo sites like Unsplash can be incredibly helpful here, as the website boasts over 110,000 contributing photographers, and generates more than 9 billion photo impressions per month on their growing library of over 810,000 photos.
It can be a time-consuming process to create every image you use as a company, especially if you’re a small team and don’t have a graphic designer within your ranks.
The website remains free to use, merely asking that you ‘Say Thank You’ to the photographer that uploaded the image when you download it. For a selection of high quality pictures, this is truly a small price to pay!
Grammar
‘Your grammar is a reflection of your image. Good or bad, you have made an impression. And like all impressions, you are in total control.’ – Jeffrey Gitomer
An online grammar checker and proofreading tool like Grammarly can help avoid embarrassing typos and grammatical errors. Grammarly is a writing tool that enables you to check for several types of errors. Across both free and premium versions, Grammarly has 6.9 million daily users, including both casual writers and professionals alike.
Proper grammar in business communications is more important than some may realize. Correct grammar positively correlates with higher earnings and career success. According to studies, workers with lackluster grammar are unlikely to reach an upper management position even after ten years or more on the job.
Say, for example, a user has clicked on the article you posted to LinkedIn. It may be the first time they’ve interacted with you, and they may not be familiar with your company. Remember that first impressions matter, and you want to make sure you come across as the business professional you are.
Not only do you want to get their attention, but you also want to earn their respect. Good spelling, correct grammar, and the appropriate use of punctuation will give them more confidence in the person, or the company, communicating with them.
Incorrect spelling or a lack of punctuation may also create confusion. Spelling errors and grammatical mistakes can change the meaning of your message, which might result in misinformation. Recipients may get back to you to clarify, and others might not, which, in the case of new prospects/customers, is something you want to avoid. Don’t let poor/improper grammar to cost you business opportunities.
Social Media Specs Guide
Every content creator needs to have a guide to social media specs in their arsenal. From word counts to image sizes, it’s essential to know what you can share, and how it will look before you curate your next post.
Website platforms like WordPress will allow you to choose specific images for sites to pull when sharing. Create multiple versions of your image to make sure it looks right on every platform.
If you’re using Canva to create your preview images, click ‘Resize > Custom Dimensions’ (see below). Canva will automatically create a copy with your new dimensions.
Word counts are just as important, as you may have given some copy to your team for social media use when sharing. Every platform will be different. Platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook will allow you to type a lot more information on your post than the likes of Twitter. Avoid confusion and save time by getting this right before delegating copy to your team.
Sharing and Crowdsourcing Content
Producing high-quality content is the first step; it’s now time to decide how you’re going to distribute your content to your chosen platforms.
Whether you’re posting to a blog, a website, or social media, no content creator wants their posts to go unseen.
Fortunately, there is an abundance of tools out there that can help you through this process, many of which offer both free and paid services.
Instagram is becoming ever more prevalent as a tool to grow your brand, and with 1 billion monthly active users, it’s imperative that your business has a presence on the platform.
Consider also the fact that 80% of accounts follow a company page on Instagram, and 1 out of 3 of the most viewed Stories are from businesses. The platform is changing, and it’s no longer just friends and family users are interacting with.
It is especially crucial in a B2C environment, as Instagram gives you a real chance to showcase your products with images, video, and text. If your brand is targeting Millennials and Gen Z, it’s worth knowing that 64% of 18-29-year-olds use Instagram. The average user will spend 53 minutes a day on the platform, which is almost as much time as they spend on Facebook — showcasing just how popular Instagram is with younger generations.
Later.com
Later is a fantastic tool for managing and curating your Instagram feed. The tool helps streamline your Instagram strategy so that you can set your company up for more sales and success. Their features focus on visual scheduling, media management, marketing, and analytics.
One of Later’s most popular features is the ‘Linkin.bio‘ tool. If you’ve used Instagram for business, you’ll have faced Instagram’s frustrating policy of only allowing one URL on your page. Linkin.bio will enable you to create a unique URL for your bio and add separate URLs to specific images, which users can then access by clicking the bio link.
This feature can be particularly useful for B2B companies, as it gives you a platform outside the usual (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) to disseminate your content and drive traffic to your website.
Later also allows you to curate your feed and build an aesthetic before posting with its ‘Preview’ feature, allowing you to see how your feed will appear once live.
Companies big and small have been attracting attention recently with specially curated feeds. Supermarket giant Aldi recently went viral on LinkedIn with this, and Norwich-based coffee house Fika continues to attract nationwide attention with its playful coffee-based imagery (see below).
DSMN8
Most companies rely on their social media manager to take photos and videos, but naturally, they can’t be everywhere at once.
Most companies rely on their social media manager to take photos and videos, but naturally, they can’t be everywhere at once.
DSMN8 is an employee advocacy platform that enables your employees to become influencers. It’s also an excellent tool for crowdsourcing original content from your employees.
Using DSMN8 is a great way to create content at scale whilst also giving your employees ready-to-share company-approved content all in one place.
Creating high-quality content is never easy, and it can be an incredibly time-consuming process. However, it’s important to remember that it will prove to be an invaluable resource for your company.
Great content boosts your SEO ranking and drives more and more traffic to your website. With these tools at your disposal, you’re sure to succeed!
Ready to get started with employee advocacy?
But not sure if you’re ready for an employee advocacy platform?
Take our short quiz to see if you have the foundations in place!
Prefer to cut to the chase and speak with a member of our team?
Roger that!
Schedule a call with one of the team.
Lewis Gray
Senior Marketing Manager and Employee Advocacy Program Manager at DSMN8. Lewis specialises in content strategy, growing brand visibility and generating inbound leads. His background in Sales lends itself well to demand generation in the B2B niche.
