5 Proven Tactics For Promoting Your Content on Social Media

What is the best way to put compelling content in front of people who don't already follow you?

You may publish regular articles, podcasts, and videos on all of your social media channels, but how many of your followers actually see them? Are enough prospective customers engaging with your social posts and clicking through?

If you really want to make some noise on your social media accounts - and start seeing some serious ROI - strategically planning each type of post is just as important.

After all, there’s no point coming up with fresh content if no one is there to see it, right?

To help you get more from your social media efforts, here at MixBloom we’ve rounded up 5 proven tactics for promoting your brand on social media sites for maximum audience engagement.

1. Customize for the platform

Many social media rookies make the mistake of posting exactly the same social content to each of their social networks.

This can be tempting since it’s a time-saver, but it’s not really in the best long-term interests of your business goals.

The truth is; every platform has its own recipe for social presence success. Here are a few tips to help you diversify your content for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Twitter/X

Use action words

Studies have shown that a conversational writing style with lots of action words - such as verbs and adverbs - see much better results on this social media channel.

When it comes to sharing content on Twitter/X, leave out any business jargon. Instead, you should aim to establish a professional yet relaxed tone.

Remember, users come to Twitter/X primarily to be informed, entertained, and inspired. If you wouldn’t share your post with your own network, are your followers likely to do the same?

Stick to 2-3 hashtags

Beware of overloading your tweets with hashtags.

While your tweet may show up in more threads, it puts people off; that means less customer engagement and, consequently, fewer impressions in the long run.

Two or three hashtags see the best engagement on this platform, so choose wisely.

Make sure you research hashtags before using them to make sure they’re (a) relevant and (b) actively used.

Pro tip: If it relates to your tweet, take advantage of trending tags, keywords, and/or phrases.

Tag author or businesses mentioned

Tagging or mentioning appropriate accounts to your tweet is a great for promoting relevant content on this platform.

If the content is highly relevant, the account you tagged may even retweet your update; earning you a whole lot more impressions- and credibility- in the process.

The idea is to encourage your target social media audience to engage with your content or message.

Ask a question

Twitter/X is about starting and engaging in conversations. Try phrasing your posts in such a way that they open up a dialogue with your followers.

A great way to do this is to ask your audience a question or encourage them to take direct action in some way.

Think of it this way: is your post encouraging followers to think, act, or, at the very least, pause?

Link to your blog

As tweets have a limited character allowance, social media users are often keen for more information.

Don’t leave them hanging; always link them to your website or relevant blog post.

However, keep in mind that the algorithm allegedly "de-boosts" external links now, so you may also consider posting a screenshot of the page you would've previously linked to - make sure to include the URL in your screenshot!

Pro tip: To limit the number of characters your link takes up, use a link shortener.

Facebook

Always add a relevant, high-quality image

Unlike Twitter/X, it’s very rare to see a text-only Facebook post on your feed.

That’s because Facebook posts see much better engagement rates when they’re combined with a relevant image and visual content.

When promoting visual types of content on Facebook, make sure you use a high-quality image that’s available for reuse and highly relevant to your post.

Don’t get carried away with your unlimited space

The beauty of Facebook is that there’s no character limit. This gives you the opportunity to expand posts and inform your target audience a little better than you would on Twitter.

However, this doesn’t mean you should write an essay.

Tell your followers what the value of your post is, but always keep it concise and to the point.

Add a call to action

Since Facebook is a broad social media channel where people share many different kinds of content, including a call to action is a must for encouraging your followers to act, rather than scroll.

At the end of your Facebook post, you should be answering at least one of the following:

What is it you want me to do next?
How can I find out more?
Where do I go to get this promotion?

Leave hashtags out

Whilst hashtags are sometimes used on Facebook, they don’t see very good results.

Unless you’re piggybacking on trending hashtags, you’re better off leaving them out completely and linking to your page or website instead.

Want to find out more about which kinds of Facebook posts perform best? We break it down into more detail here.

Instagram

Choose an aesthetic

As a predominantly visual platform, it’s important for Instagram accounts to have aesthetically curated feeds.

Whilst each post should have its own personality, your feed should look great as a whole.

If you’re posting promotional content on Instagram, make sure you choose an overarching aesthetic (this could be a color theme, editing presets, types of shots/angles etc) that reflects your branding and stick with it.

Hashtags are king

Instagram doesn’t allow links in the captions, so the best method for promoting content on this platform is through hashtags.

You can use up to 30 hashtags on Instagram. Search which ones are trending in your field and, if there are 30 highly-relevant hashtags that apply to your image, use them!

Pro tip: to keep the post uncluttered, we recommend posting your hashtags as a comment, rather than in the photo caption. Your hashtags will rank in exactly the same way, but without bothering your audience.

Add a location

Instagram lets you add a location, which is meant to indicate where the shot was taken.

It’s important to add this, as it not only gives more context to your image, but - as Instagram users can now search images by location - it also boosts your post’s visibility.

Tag relevant businesses and influencers

If your post is highly relevant to another person or business, let them know by tagging them!

Doing this will notify them directly; encouraging them to engage with your post and hopefully become a follower.

There are two ways of tagging other Instagram accounts in your image:

Mention them in your caption using the @ sign.
Tag them in your image using the ‘edit’ function and tapping anywhere on the image.

2. Master your headlines

Web users tend to scan headlines, so coming up with something engaging and shareable is key to your social media marketing plan and strategy.

In general, actionable, helpful headlines that promise to help solve a problem are a great way to hook your wider audience in.

Experiment

A great way to see which headlines your followers respond to best is to test out different ones.

Try scheduling the same piece of content 2-3 times a week across your platforms using a different headline each time.

You may want to use a social media automation tool to help you do this. Here at MixBloom, we recommend Buffer for posting to your social media networks, as this is the same platform we use to operate our white label dashboard for agency clients.

At the end of the month, see which headline received the best engagement, and optimize this post going forward.

Analyse

Check out the last few Tweets or Facebook posts that you’ve liked or shared and study their headlines.

What was it about that post that made you want to engage? Did their headline catch your eye?

It’s also very useful to check out viral sites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy, who both see millions of daily page views thanks to their catchy headlines.

For a detailed guide on writing brilliant social media headlines, check out this blog post by Neil Patel.

3. Perfect your timing

In our blog post about social media ROI, we touched on the importance of publishing your social media content at optimal times to maximize your social media presence.

With so much noise on all social channels, it’s almost impossible for every post to be seen by all of your followers - particularly if they’re spread across different time zones.

To increase the chances of your content being seen, you should:

Use a scheduling tool

A social media scheduler like Hootsuite or Buffer will easily help you figure out your perfect posting schedule time with their Autoschedule tool.

You can also use Tweriod, which analyzes your Tweets, their performance, and your followers’ feeds to figure out the best time for you to post and promote content.

Not sure about social media automation? We discuss the pros and cons here.

Post several times a day

Don’t be afraid to post multiple times per day and to recycle cornerstone content. Remember, it’s very unlikely that all of your followers (or even half!) have already seen the post.

Having said this, it’s important you reshare the smart way to avoid sounding too robotic.

Here at MixBloom, we’ve found writing a new message/headline for each post, spacing out scheduling evenly, and mixing up new and old content sees much better results.

4. Pay to play

We’ve also talked a bit in a past post about boosting your content with social media ads.

Sponsored Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts give you instant promotional power by placing your content prominently in people’s feeds and allowing you to reach wider potential audiences beyond your own following.

You can get started easily with the following two types of ads:

Boost a popular post

“Boosting” your social media posts allows you to promote on a post-by-post basis.

Let’s say you have a particularly important or popular blog post that you’d like to push that little bit further. You can simply choose your budget and Facebook will put that piece of content in front of more people for you.

Paying to promote a popular piece of content has been proven to drive clicks, reads, and shares- and is super easy to set up if you’re new to paid social media marketing.

It also helps to kickstart organic sharing and commenting.

Paid social media ads

Paid social media ads allow your content to reach potential customers in your niche who may not already be on your list of followers.

Facebook ads are particularly good at this, as they allow you to set very specific demographics to ensure your ads are getting in front of the right people.

Check out the HootSuite Blog for a complete guide to social media advertising.

5. Engage in outreach

Social media is all about building an engaged community.

Two of the best ways to build your social platforms are to connect with real people by sharing user-generated content and collaborating with influencers in your niche.

Share user-generated content

User-generated content can be anything from photos or videos your customers share on social media, to product reviews, blog posts, or questions and answers on websites like Quora.

You can encourage your customers to create user-generated content by first, openly inviting them to do so, and second, providing opportunities for your audience to connect with each other and your brand.

Some ideas for such opportunities include virtual events such as livestreams, Q&A or AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions, or an in-person event such as a product launch party.

Reach out to influencers

Working with bloggers, influencers, and industry leaders can not only help you access a huge following, but it also gives your brand “social proof”: a public declaration from a reputable source that your brand is awesome.

Get in touch with your favorite influencers and see if you can agree to cross-promote and share each other’s content.

Choose your influencers wisely! They may have loads of followers, but are they the right spokesperson for your brand?

Reference external sources

Another way to engage key players in your industry is to reference their resources in your blog posts.

Throwing a little promotion their way will encourage them to share that blog post of yours; driving even more traffic to your site.

Tag relevant sources

If you did reference any sources in your content, tag them once you share the post on social media.

This is a surefire way to ensure that they’ve heard you loud and clear, and is easy to do so on all the big social media platforms (most using the @ sign).

For more details on promoting content through blogger outreach, check out this guide.

6. Bonus tip for agencies: Outsource your clients' content

Posting consistently and successfully on social media can be a time-consuming task, but you do have options!

Outsourcing to social media freelancers offers you a few advantages, including flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and access to specialized skills. Freelancers can provide high-quality, tailored content and engagement strategies without the overhead costs associated with full-time employees.

Or you could work with a white label social media agency!

White label agencies provide a comprehensive suite of social media services under your brand, ensuring consistent quality and reliability.

Essentially, you can resell the services that you provide as your own - cha-ching!

They bring a team of seasoned professionals with diverse expertise, delivering cohesive and integrated social media content so you can focus on other areas to build your business, rather than executing the daily grind of everything we've mentioned above!

This setup ensures scalability, as white label agencies can handle larger workloads and more complex projects without compromising on quality.

And why look further than MixBloom? 😉

We're a white label agency specializing in delivering top quality social media content creation for digital agencies across the US and Canada. Rather than drowning yourself in client work, why not pass it over to our team of expert, native-English speaking social media managers?

You'll be assigned a social media manager who will work with you to find out everything about your client and ensure that each post is carefully crafted to reach the relevant audience. We'll create content, send it to you for approval (which you can provide feedback on using our own dashboard. Note: unlimited revisions!), and schedule it out.

And you can have all that for as little as a couple hundred dollars a month - bargain if you ask us 😊

Free up time for more important tasks by letting MixBloom handle your social media needs. Discover how our white-label solution can help scale your agency. Start your free 7-day trial now!

Key takeaway – what you can do today

By now you should have some great ideas for how to promote your content on social media. These proven tactics should help you:

Reach a whole new audience
Get noticed by leaders in your industry
Help your posts stand out from the crowd

To get started today, sign up for a social media scheduling service! Buffer offers a great service for brands but for agencies who need that extra bit more, MixBloom is always a good shout - we'll not only schedule the content but we'll create it too!

Next, start making a list of bloggers and influencers you admire and commit to reaching out to at least three of them within the next week.

Are there any influencers or companies that you could mention in your blog post in exchange for a share, retweet or mention?

Finally, take a look at your budget and allocate some funds for social media advertising. A great place to start is by boosting one of your best-performing blog posts.

Looking for some more social media strategy inspo? Check out how these 5 brands are nailing their social media marketing.