Visuals are stimulating. Rich photography and colorful graphics have the ability to catch your attention during the busiest time of day but may not be able to hold it. Text can be boring. Bulleted sentences and long paragraphs will get your message across while having a harder time gaining your attention in the first place. But put them both together and you have something that evokes attention and action. Depending on the relationship between the two, their combination produces best results through the eclectic and short attention span of the social media world.
We’re happy to explain a few valuable combinations between words and images in social media, while also providing you with your own social posts to download. But don’t jump ahead to the free posts just yet! Read on so you’ll be able to create your own combination of social content to better reach your fans.
Text-only posts
Although I called these boring just a second ago, they can be highly effective on Facebook and Twitter as long as they’re brief. Well… you have no choice for Twitter, but keep any text-only Facebook posts to 2-3 sentences. Short and sweet tweets and status updates do well for a number of reasons. Most Facebook and Twitter users access their Newsfeed via mobile, which makes it easier to consume quick snippets of information. Social media goers, and internet users in general, have a limited attention span based on the amount of information presented to them every second. A post that is quick to read is more likely to be… well, read! As an additional tip, post a question to double the engagement of your post.
Image posts with text
Now here comes the valuable combination of image and text. Posting, pinning or tweeting an engaging image with accompanied text is the best way to get likes and comments from your following. Photos, images, visuals, colors, fire, internet cats and anything stimulating to the eyes draws the most attention. A post, pin or tweet including an image of your new spring display with the comment “Pick out your favorite spring accessory,” or one of your outdoor seating with the comment “Patio is now open!” can create triple the engagement than that of a link, text or image-only social post. We emphasize the word “can” because, as we explained earlier, text-only posts create good engagement, it’s when you post a variety that you see the best results.
Moral of the story: Post a variety
Here’s the tricky part. In a way, this moral holds true to all social networks. Even the image-focused ones such as Pinterest and Instagram. Combining both image and text in one post makes it possible to garner attention and action within any social network. You’ve seen these types of posts invade your Pin feed, Newsfeed, Twitter feed, cattle feed and other social network feeds many times. We’re even providing you with 4 professionally designed social posts, just like the ones you’ve seen, in order to help engage your customers.
As for the combination of text-only vs image-only, there is no set formula for what works best for every business. The easiest way to optimize content for your audience is to post 50% text-only and 50% image and text. After a few weeks or even a month, look at the performance of your posts, tweets and pins to decide which is creating the best engagement and start posting that type of content more often. If you’re only focusing on Facebook, the 50/50 tactic may work best due to the way Edgerank works in displaying certain content to certain users. Posting a combination of links, photos, polls and images on Facebook will allow you to reach a higher percentage of your fans. If you’d like to reach all of your fans you’ll have to pay to promote posts.
Start scheduling your social posts with SnapRetail today and see how your reach can grow on social media!
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