It’s one of digital marketing’s holiest grails. What constitutes effective social media content? Any social media experts, and increasingly their clients, knows the public is becoming increasingly fatigued by branded online content. So what’s the secret?

The secret to great social media content is there is no secret, as all social media content experts know

There are as many secrets as there are brand, audience and network combinations. One type of approach may work very well for Brand A, on Network B, because the aim is to reach Audience C. But this doesn’t mean the same formula can be applied to a different platform, demographic or company.

But, according to a survey of 1,000 US consumers by Adobe, some emerging trends can help you avoid producing social media content that annoys the public.

Too many words (we need some better grammar in here)

The biggest gripe respondents pointed to was posts that are too wordy or poorly written. The easiest way to avoid this is by setting out a clear house style including maximum word counts, tone and clarity. You can also use online tools like Grammerly to ensure sentence structure, spelling and punctuation are perfect. Alternatively, enlist the services of a digital copywriter experienced in drumming up great engagement. The latter, of course, will incur additional costs.

Not so easy on the eye

28% of respondents— the second highest proportion— said poorly designed content was off-putting and irritating. In many ways this is harder to rectify than the words. Good design needs a good designer, simple as.

The right kind of stalker

Personalisation is the key to social media marketing success, but it’s vital you understand where the line is. Being too-personalised comes off as creepy. Or at least that’s what  25% of people said. Which is understandable in an age when dark networks such as WhatsApp are on the rise because people want their personal information to stay that way.

However, it’s important to remember 21% of those in the survey said content which wasn’t personalised enough, or relevant to them, was also a big no-no. We recently blogged on new ways of segmenting audiences for marketing, which might help.

Mobile first (maybe)

This won’t be the only blog written by social media content experts which highlights the importance of optimisation. There’s no accounting for what device people will look at your content on, so make sure content looks great on all devices. 21% of consumers Adobe asked said failing to do this ruined content.

Nothing to see, nothing to view

If we have to write about the importance of video and images for social media content marketing one more time something bad might happen. Or not. Either way, in 2019 anyone who isn’t making sure all content contains something to see or view shouldn’t be anywhere near a brand account.

Been there, done that, bought whatever it was

Finally, 23% of respondents were irritated by ‘stale’ or old content being reused. Furthermore, 16% said it was annoying when a post promoted something they had already bought or used. Social media advertising allows for in-depth parameters to be set which can ensure you avoid these faux pas without much hassle.

Looking for more advice from social media content experts? Look no further.