8 Quick Tips for Maximizing the Reach of Social Media Posts

“Twitter is like a tragically hip New York night club. It is a cool, easy way for companies to engage customers in social media. But the experience can be loud and crowded.” – Bob Warfield, CEO of Helpstream

As inbound marketers, we know that content is key. When you create truly great content, the first thing you may want to do is share the content on all your social media networks. However, an overwhelming amount of branded posts can seem like traditional push advertising to consumers, though we aim to practice pull marketing strategies.

Obviously, you don’t want to bombard consumers with posts about your brand. But just because you keep your posts to a minimum doesn’t mean that other brands will do the same. How can your posts stand out from a cluttered social media news feed to gain the most exposure?

8 Simple Practices for Optimal Social Media Reach

Creating a popular social media post can lead to increased share and click-throughs, which can expose your brand to a larger audience and increase lead generation.

Here are eight tips and facts for creating social media posts that will stand out on various social media sites, increasing the overall reach of your content and brand.

1. Limit the Amount of Links You Share on Twitter

Studies show that click-through rates are higher if you only tweet links 1-3 times an hour.

In fact, the average click-through rate is 350% higher if you post one link an hour as opposed to posting three or more links an hour.  As excited as you may be to share the link for your new blog post, try not to overshare.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t tweet more than once an hour, just limit the number of links you share.

2. Shared Links Have the Most Interaction Within the First Hour

Whether you are sharing a link on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social networking sites, links have the most click-throughs within the first hour they’ve been posted.

Post when you think your link will reach the most target audience members. Or, utilize other sharing tools like hashtags to ensure your content is easily accessible after it was initially posted.

3. Use Hashtags

Hashtags are a great tool for distinction and expanding your audience reach on social media. Hashtags stand out from simple text posts and offer many benefits for marketing your brand. Hashtags can increase your search engine ranking, connect you with a more targeted audience, and build your brand community.

You can also use hashtags to consistently promote an event or news of your brand. You can monitor hashtag use as a benchmark for consumer engagement.

The hashtag can quickly grab a consumer’s attention on a news feed and its short enough to be memorable and searched.

4. The Most Successful Posts are Between 80 and 100 Characters

The popular marketing adage of KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) remains true even in the digital age.

Social media posts can be anywhere between 20 and 200 characters. Studies have shown, though, that the most interaction comes from posts with between 80 and 100 characters.

When people are scrolling, they’re only going to glance at your post for a second. You want to make sure your message gets across and, if you provide a link, its enticing enough for a click through.

Use link shorteners when providing a link. Not only does it look cleaner, but it also shortens the amount of characters.  Or post a question; questions often drive post interaction up by up t0 20%.

5. Content that Triggers Emotional or Surprise Response is More Likely to be Shared

This is the core of inbound marketing: you want to create content people love. If people love your post, they will share it. And the more shares you get, the wider your audience.

Studies have shown that content that triggers an emotional or surprised response is more likely to be shared. Keep this response in mind when creating content. Even if you’re sharing a blog article that is mainly facts, put a spin on it that evokes emotion. To elicit surprise, offer a weird fact or funny connection.

Think about your post as if you were viewing it as a consumer. Would you want to share the post with your friends?

6. Make Sharing Effortless

There is a dramatic difference in the number of shares a post gets if other social media share buttons are present. This is an important tool to utilize for maximum social media sharing.

For example, an Instagram photo can easily be shared to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more. One Instagram photo has the potential to reach hundreds of users on a variety of social networking sites.

Whichever site you are using, make sure sharing on other sites is optimized and easy so a post has a high possibility of being shared.

7. Know Your Audience

Timing is important when it comes to social media posts.

While there are many facts and figures about the best time to share on various social networking sites, the most important aspect of timing to consider is when your target audience is active on these sites. Maybe the highest volume of consumers browse social media at 11am, but most of your target audience members log in at 3pm.

If you’re really looking to maximize your target market reach, consider your audience’s lifestyle when deciding when to post.

8. Find a Balance for Facebook Post Frequency

As most of us know, Facebook recently released a new algorithm for sharing on news feeds.

One feature of this update is that a flurry of posts in a short amount of time will be grouped into one post. This means that individual posts will lose visibility if you post too often. You want to keep this in mind when deciding what and how often to post. Find a good balance of how often to post for maximum visibility.

Warfield was correct in his assessment that the social media world can sometimes be loud and crowded. It can be difficult to differentiate yourself from the noise. If you utilize these simple smart posting tactics, your post should receive the attention they deserve.