Going Native: How To Master Native Content On Social Media Platforms

One thing that rings true about social media is the concept of saturation. If you sat down and worked out just how many different platforms there were, you’d probably get a headache.

If you take the major platforms and just those alone, it isn’t too bad. Then you start seeing the spinoffs, the satellite platforms, and the fun channels. That’s when you are veering dangerously close to that horrible place where you simply can’t deliver on all fronts.

It’s actually easy to be on every platform. That’s not the problem. The real head scratcher comes in when you start thinking about how each individual platform works. If you could create content that was perfect for the platform you are on, your reach and engagement would be much higher.

It’s all about knowing what native content looks like on each platform. It’s about making bespoke content for each and every channel you operate on. Let’s take a look at each channel that matters, and see what it takes to create truly native content.

The biggest metric here is the age range. This is important. It turns out that nearly 40% of Twitter users are in the 18-39 age range. If your product is not for this age range then Twitter simply isn’t for you.

Usage of Twitter is evenly split between men and women, so that isn’t any huge concern. The feel of the demographic is largely urban, and affluent.

The Blue Bird rewards speed, first and foremost. You need to bear that in mind and create content that is based around the idea of being swift and responsive. Creating native content for this platform really requires that you do a couple of things properly.

Your first job is to ensure that you create content that is newsworthy or at least jumps on top of content that is newsworthy. You need to be tweeting about the latest developments in your industry, and doing it as quickly as possible.

Create a news feed that helps you do this. Make sure that you tailor the tweets so that you also have your personal input. That’s quick, cutting edge content that has your spin on it. If you’re retweeting, it has to be of tweets that are fairly new and immediate. No one wants to see a retweet that is days old. It just doesn’t look right. Twitter doesn’t roll like that.

Keep posts short. Twitter is built on brevity and it rewards people who stick to keeping things as short and sweet as possible. Ensure that any content you have can be conveyed in text form and that it never goes over 100 characters. This helps a little bit if you have content from another platform that you want to share on Twitter. Simply condense the text element down to 100 characters and you’re onto a winner.

Think about the times of the week that you distribute content on Twitter. It isn’t quite the same as other platforms. Use Locowise to find out when you should publish tweets in order to get the best engagement.

Find out which tweets get the most action, and then start looking at the topics and keywords that are used in those tweets. Work on creating more content around the topics and keywords that are gaining engagement. It’s as simple as that. Implement more of those topics into your future tweets and then you should see even more engagement.

It seems like common sense but not enough businesses are doing this. Done correctly, and with persistence, it can tailor what you put on Twitter, so that you essentially are writing for your Twitter audience. That means less time wasted creating tweets that gain no interest.

Your profile is also something that can be optimised. And we mean optimised. Using the very best optimisation techniques will ensure that other Twitter users find your brand, and that you provide immediate hooks to help them stay with you. It does require some work.

The obvious thing to do is ensure that you always include a bio that has those same keywords you discovered when thinking about how to optimize your tweets. The keywords should be all over the bio, so that people find you, and that you demonstrate a certain amount of trustworthiness.

Drag in some information that shows the human side of your brand and you will see engagement go up quicker too. Remember that Twitter is fast. Keep the prose simple and direct, showing what you can offer prospects as well as an idea of your brand’s personality. Your Twitter bio has a limit of 160 characters so it’s a perfect chance to get your elevator pitch down and nailed. Don’t be scared to rewrite it as many times as you need to. It literally has to be perfect.

Your profile header allows you to really get across a powerful and dramatic brand image, or a bit of a wet blanket. We think you should avoid the wet blanket look and focus on ensuring that you optimise the profile header image with something that rocks.

The company itself recommends 1500 pixels wide and 500 pixels tall, but as long as you fit in something that gains attention you can’t lose. Consider getting away from the simple logo approach and use your company colors. Stick the logo as your profile picture (that’s the smaller bit).

The biggest thing when it comes to Twitter is the simple recognition that images are what the platform is all about. If you’re not using images on Twitter then you are essentially going to be a dead duck. So getting the image thing right is absolutely vital.

One of the very best ways to make your image stand out is to use words. Overlaying words on images is a very powerful way to draw attention and engage quickly on the platform. It also shows that you have made the message more individual too. Use motivational quotes and facts to keep your audience engaged. This technique works very well.

Here is a good example. Thought has gone into it. The brand that has produced it has laid out the font carefully.

This means immediate engagement with a simple, arresting image and a very carefully organised piece of text on top. It works brilliantly.

This is an interesting one. The platform basically invented the use of hashtags. Now we are in a situation where hashtags are either used, or you lose.

You need to get on top of the hashtag thing from the outset. The easiest way to do this is to find a list of hashtags popular in your industry. This is what you tweet about essentially (not exclusively, because that would make your feed uber boring). Do this and you join whatever conversation is happening around those topics.

The exciting thing about hashtags is that, if you use them correctly, you will show up in conversations based around topics linked to your business. You get seen when someone is thinking about and looking for content that you are linked to. So if you sell flowers, you can use the popular hashtag, and the more you tweet with those hashtags, the more you become ‘known’ in your industry on Twitter.

Where this may fall down is if you use hashtags a lot. More than a couple of times per tweet. People do this and wonder why everyone gets sick of reading their stuff. Keep the hashtags to a sensible amount and frequency and you won’t look like a spammer.

To truly tailor your content to Twitter, tweet a lot. It’s vitally important that you send out a number of tweets per day. There is one reason for this.

Twitter is absolutely stuffed full of content. If you spent time going through a lot of the stuff in your feed you’d quite possibly go insane. The algorithmic timeline helps a bit.

You need to keep up with this as a brand. The average tweet (and we’re talking good tweets) lasts for about an hour before it becomes obsolete. That means you need to tailor your content creatively for this platform, with a specific focus on high frequency of posting. Perhaps more than any other platform, this one demands that you are busy with content.

Don’t go crazy like some brands do, and churn out a tweet a minute. No one will give you any attention if you are all they see every time they are on Twitter. If you post frequently it will show that you’re comfortable on the platform, and you like to inform people. This could be anything from 5-25 tweets a day. We recommend a minimum of 5 tweets. You have to stay current, and you have to stay relevant. Twitter is the fastest thing on social, and to make your content native, it has to be there every day, and it has to be a case of multiple posting.

Use Locowise to find out what your ideal posting frequency is.

You want to make sure your content is native for the platform? Make it quick, frequent, visual and regular. It’s a fast, dog-eat-dog channel and you need to be on top of it. No long-from stuff allowed, and no filler.

This is a huge thing. It has a very distinct approach to engagement and audience. The demographic is slightly skewed towards women. You’re looking at an audience that is urban in nature, with some aspects of that audience leading towards the suburban market. Their income is generally towards the $50-75k mark.

So that’s the audience. If you’re looking to use Instagram to the best potential, you need to ensure that you either have that kind of audience, or you’re tailoring the content directly to it.

Now here’s the thing. The age demographic is different to that on Twitter. Instagram has a different feel and tone, and this has direct ramifications for the content you put up there. Take into account the fact that the biggest group of users rests within the 18-29 year old mark. Your content has to speak to this age range.

Instagram is a visual platform. If you don’t get this locked down straight away you’re heading for a huge fail. You also need to know something else about Instagram. This makes it even trickier to get right if you’re not careful. At it’s best, it uses different kinds of visuals.

Your photos need to have some kind of content idea behind them. Just throwing up a photo of anything will get you zero engagement. Instead of doing this, you should consider trying to tell a story with the photo, or at least hinting at some kind of story.

Communication is key. If you can get a message across with your image, you are onto something. Try and focus on pulling together something beautiful, or thought provoking. Some brands don’t do this, but it’s the very best way to get engagement.

Head out on any app store and you’ll find a million different apps that allow you to take (ostensibly) better images for Instagram. Don’t fall for it. To tailor the images you want to handle the platform perfectly. Always take the original photo on your phone.

The camera on your phone is superb (or at least it should be these days) and will easily take a high-quality photo that is worthy of Instagram. You can use the apps afterwards to touch up or add effects. That’s cool. There’s nothing that allows for such a quick and easy approach like the modern phone does.

This bit is important. It hints very strongly at the true genius behind Instagram. If you can make your images funny and unique, you are going to get a ton of engagement over time. This requires you to aim at funny as closely as you can. Make it part of what you do. Put the effort in and work on being funny.

Take a few funny shots of staff in the office and make them a regular occurrence. People will see your office as being unique, weird, and just about interesting enough to warrant further investigation. No one, under any circumstances, wants boring and grey. That kind of over-the-top corporate feel belongs to a certain other platform (clue: it begins with ‘L’).

The best and biggest accounts on Instagram have a theme running through them. We’re not talking about the kind of theme that you find in novels, such as love, or politics. We’re talking about a consistent style. People recognise you as soon as they see you. In love with soft focus images? A little kooky, but if you do it enough and consistently then you are looking at a thematic style and tone that people will be happy to plug into. Because it’s what you do.

Brands that stick around on Instagram generally tend to have their own style and tone. This cannot be exaggerated, because making it requires you to have something you can easily fit into. Like a favorite suit. You can make your own native content through the tone you use. Instagram users like personality and this can be conveyed through the style of what you deliver. Just keep it consistent and you can’t go wrong. If you shoot only in monochrome, deliver only in monochrome.

While hashtags are very much alive and well on Instagram, there is a slight weirdness to how they have been developed by the platform. Believe it or not, you can include up to 30 hashtags on your post. But who would do that? Can you imagine how awful it must look to anyone who stumbles across one of your posts to find a bunch of hashtags that just cloud your message?

Try and use no more than five hashtags at any one time. Go over the five and you’re looking at a bit of a disaster. If we were to get real on the whole hashtag thing with Instagram, we would say use them or get ignored. The channel relies so heavily on the things that people simply will not find you unless you use hashtags. So pick a list that you want to use and get those out there. Remember to keep it pretty chilled. While hashtags are absolutely essential, over-using them certainly isn’t.

You can use hashtags to optimise your account, so that it gets more engagement. There are a number of hashtags available for your use. Some just seem to get more attention than others. While many don’t have much business use, we reckon the following will allow you to get more engagement quickly. This is perfect stuff for anyone who is testing out on the platform. The hashtags here can be used by businesses, as long as you are creative.

This hashtag is a little cheeky. It allows you to get a leg up on the competition. As long as you use this one and focus on uploading very good photos, it can be effective. It’s one of the most popular hashtags on the platform. It’s used by people to get attention basically. Think about the potential here if you have good photos and it should make sense.

Used sparingly, the above hashtag should allow you to get involved, seen, and engaged with. Just remember, for the love of God, make the photo a good one.

This hashtag allows you to upload more atmospheric photos. If your brand can do this, then you can capitalise on the hashtag and get some instant engagement (sorry). Make sure the images with this hashtag are powerful, evocative and atmospheric, otherwise the outcome will most certainly be flat.

This is a tricky one to get going on. It’s a hashtag that is out there to challenge you. If you want to use this one (it’s very popular) you have to be able to show your very best photos. The whole point of this hashtag is to showcase photos that people are going to be instantly blown away by. If you think you have the chops to be involved with this crowd, and you’re right, it could gain your business some serious exposure.

Instagram is such a unique platform it dictates how you use it almost down to the last detail. Your aim is to follow the ‘Instagram way’ carefully, so you can upload content quickly, efficiently, and with great effect.

If we were to drill down just a little and get to the nub of the platform, we would say that Instagram is probably the modern brand’s best chance at producing a lifestyle magazine. If you bear that in mind, it should dictate the content you create. It should be totally imbued with your voice, your brand and your position in the industry. Get across your hopes and dreams, your philosophy, and the image you want your customers to see when they buy your stuff.

Go to any modern fashion house and you will see exactly what we mean. They’ll have the lifestyle and the branding down very clear. No selling will be apparent in that the content is specifically designed to be evocative.

Here we have Burberry, a justly celebrated UK fashion house. Take a look at this image. It’s a famous person in the image (or at least the son of a famous person) and nothing else. Just a head and shoulders shot. Burberry are not trying to sell here in a big way. Instead they are trying to convey a mood, a lifestyle. They’re a fashion house that exists to make beautiful people feel even more beautiful, and the rest of us somewhere halfway. It works because Instagram allow it to.

The message? Keep your Instagram shots as far away from selling as possible. Evoke a lifestyle and a mood. That will give you the kind of native content you need.

By all means create shots of you and your colleagues around the office. That stuff still works on the platform. But keep it as far away as possible from selling. That’s the way to make your content perfect for this particular platform. Think good shots of stuff that is ‘real’, and ‘authentic’. The audience will know it’s your brand from the account title, but what do you want them to know about your brand?

Facebook services more women than men. The age range is 18-29. So that’s young women primarily. But there’s an issue with Facebook in that it happens to be the biggest channel ever. This means that pretty much everyone knows about it and is probably on it. So if you want to get specific about demographics, there is no real demographic. It’s that big.

Like Instagram, Facebook (perhaps indirectly) has become ruled by imagery. Your main aim with your content is to try and create posts that immediately grab the attention of the people who are scrolling through their feeds. This means bright and colourful, eye catching and arresting. The aim is to stop them dead in their tracks and give them something to focus on. This is so fundamental to how Facebook is running right now. It could be argued that it’s the only thing to focus on when you’re thinking of making content that is tailored to the audience on the platform.

Facebook has been on a bit of a journey in this respect. The image wasn’t always the thing on this platform, and this has been a development that has only really taken off in recent years. Put it this way. If you want to create content that is perfect for the Facebook audience, you need to ensure that it has a high quality image attached. One that will stop someone scrolling. Once that image has done that, you can then be confident that people will read whatever it’s you are trying to get across. You’re nothing without a show-stopping image.

After you have the image, you need the substance. This is where the real tailored content comes in. Your aim is to take the content you want to supply, and make it super relevant and important to the Facebook audience you have. Remember that demographic? This is about serving them.

In the old days Facebook used to coast by on clickbait, and nothing much else. The users of Facebook got wise though, and the platform took on a new direction. Now it’s trying to help users steer away from stuff that was obviously meant to just get them to click and then be sold to. These days things are a little different. You’re looking at a situation where readers want real value. If they don’t get that value, you’re not going to last very long.

What works well? You could include links to data that means something, or a long form piece that adds value to the image. Or a video. As long as it is immediately useful, you will have a place on Facebook.

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. What kind of stuff would they like to read about? What would they share because it’s useful? If you’re struggling with this, grab your Locowise analytics and focus on the stuff that you know people are looking and engaging with. If you can’t get to know what it is that your audience wants to read about and watch, then you can’t optimise your content. By optimise we mean the right visuals, and the right keyworded content.

Facebook is, above all, a non-corporate channel. People who like Facebook and use it a lot don’t care about the suits that your colleagues wear. They don’t even care about your mission statement. They want to see faces behind the company logo and the brand values that shine through. Every now and then deliver them some images of your office, behind the scenes stuff.

Like certain other channels, variety is absolutely vital if you are to hold your own on this platform. You need to mix it up as much as you can with regards to the content types you deliver. We thoroughly recommend that you use arresting images, as previously stated, to get people’s attention. Use video too. A fast-paced, dynamic video is an absolute killer on Facebook. It speaks to the audience in much the same way great photos do. Use videos that are memorable and you’ll be creating content that Facebook users appreciate.

That’s right. Get something out there that makes them think. If you add in a few questions to your posts every now and then it really builds up engagement, makes the audience think a little and gets them involved. Ask a question about a topical issue, or just a question about your next product launch and what customers would like to see.

This is where many brands need to be careful. It’s very easy to get sucked into a situation where you just post twenty times a day and then receive absolutely no engagement, because you’re posting twenty times a day. There is a way to get around this. And that’s to optimise your posting frequency for engagement. You should focus on only delivering high quality posts, which takes time anyway.

Particularly those in the 18-29 age range and those who like their content quick and snappy. It’s basically Twitter’s audience but for video (Twitter owns Vine).

Vine is a short form video platform. Short is the word really. You’re looking at creating video content for a six second span of time. When the idea first came out and the platform started to take shape, we’re pretty certain at least a million people said it wouldn’t work. But it does. It has become one of the most popular ways to share fun and entertaining videos.

That’s where the problem comes in. There’s only one real way in which you can use Vine as a brand. It’s so poorly understood by brands. The concept is simple: stop using Vine as a platform and use it as an appetiser.

We’ll cut to the chase here on Vine. All you have to do is remember that you’ll never do more than wet a viewer’s appetite with your videos. They’re not going to treasure the videos forever. It’s the most perfect example of throwaway content online. Six seconds of bubblegum. You can make the bubblegum feel like it’s leading into something rather special. Something more substantial.

There is a good reason be excited by Vine. Branded video content will get shared. A massive amount of engagement if you take the right steps. You have to use Vine videos as a prelude to more meatier content further down the line. Use a Vine video to get someone’s attention, and then link to something much more substantial (i.e. something longer than six seconds).

Try this scenario. Create a Vine video that engages and tantalises, then link to a YouTube video that takes the audience a little further down the line. This moves them closer to becoming a lead, or at least a fan.

Make sure that the Vines you create are of a sufficient quality to grab that attention. Try the following tips for size:

● Entertain. This is a key aspect of Vine videos. They have to entertain the viewer to some extent. Don’t aim to be whacky and hope it just sticks. Whacky doesn’t always do well with brands. It’s easy to see when companies try too hard to be funny and weird. It can kind of backfire on them. Your aim is to make sure that you focus on telling the beginning of a story with your Vines. A story that people want to read more of. Be entertaining. Think about the best trailers of movies you ever saw, and try and condense that spirit into just six seconds.

● Another key element is the people that you serve, namely the community that are meant to see the Vine video. You need to be clear on how you manage this. Ask yourself if you would share what you are sticking out there. If you don’t think the answer is a resounding yes, then your community probably will feel the same way.

● Focus on making sure there is a narrative. Vine is way too short a medium to be of any real value in isolation. Your Vine videos should always link out to something bigger, or at least fit with your brand tones. The more you start to shoot videos that are one-offs, and don’t really get your branding across, the more you are simply wasting your time.

● We can’t forget the hashtags. Vine is a Twitter baby now, and hashtags are absolutely as vital as they ever were. In the mixed up and crazy world of Vine videos, you need to ensure that your content gets found. A quick and easy way to do this is to create hashtags that help your content stick its head up above the competition.

Vine is all about the reaction. It’s about you getting people’s attention and causing them to sit up and take notice. Sometimes this can be the result of crude shock tactics, or it could just be a thought-provoking short video that gets people thinking and reacting.

That reaction should lead them to click on your hub points, such as your website, blog or other social media profile. If they do this, then you’re succeeding. Just relax. Try and tell a very short intro story to your larger offering and branding. Let the platform be as fun as it’s supposed to be.

YouTube has a universal appeal. Don’t let that stop you from creating your own brand magic. It’s the perfect place to create bespoke video content that amplifies your brand. Entire businesses have been built on the back of YouTube. It still has a lot to offer any business that wants to commit.

To make the perfect YouTube video you need to think about a few aspects of the channel. Key points that allow you to fine tune the work so it’s optimised for the audience. These aspects are now so enshrined in the way YouTube works that any brand that wishes to use the platform has to follow them, and satisfy the criteria. If it doesn’t then the videos will simply not be effective.

Your first real issue is how to ensure that the video is direct enough to gain attention and guide the viewer through a certain path. Look carefully at what you want the video to do, what you want it to achieve.

Within the very first few seconds of the video, it should be clear to the audience what you’re trying to tell them and what the outcome of the video is going to be. It should be clear within the first five seconds. The title should be there to deliver an idea as to what is going to happen.

YouTube is big on being direct in calls to action. Do so within the first few seconds. Repeat it as often as possible throughout the video. You know all those ads on TV that just get very annoying because they keep asking you to do something? They work.

The call to action has to make it clear to the viewer what reward they’re going to get for seeing through the video. There has to be something tangible that they can expect at the end. Repeating call to action throughout the video is invaluable, and even just through repetition, you are simply maintaining a strong level of consistency in message. They know that they’re going to get the result they’ve been promised. They’re under no illusions that you want them to do something.

Vine is short as a medium. People accept that. YouTube is a bigger version but it still requires a certain amount of brevity if you’re going to ensure the content you create is ‘made’ for the platform. The golden rule here is the three minute rule.

Every single YouTube video you create must come in at no longer than three minutes long. If you break this rule you are essentially alienating yourself from the consumer, who will see it as boring and a waste of time. Avoid this and focus on three minutes being the very maximum amount of time you should use. It’s longer than a TV ad but shorter than a TV show.

This is perhaps as important now as it has ever been. With so many people using YouTube to effectively flog their wares, the temptation to get quick and easy stuff out there is often very strong. But wait.

There has been a glut of low quality YouTube video that has essentially turned millions of people off using the platform. You can gain a jump on these people by creating what is essentially high quality video content, with decent production values. Take a look at any YouTube channel worth its salt, and you will see just that. The best content creators try to create content that is glossy and well-produced. Or simply the opposite of other stuff, which often looks like something out of a cheap advertisement shown late at night.

Focus on bringing out the high quality stuff. Hire a crew to make real videos. Or take the time to practise and create good stuff yourself. It will pay off. Optimise your content so that people actually want to watch it, and engage with it.

One of the key elements is sound. Sound plays almost as big a role as vision in effective YouTube videos. Create videos with high quality music in the background. Audiences like that sort of thing. If the video has poor quality sound, you will get nowhere on YouTube. Pay attention to the sound quality if you want that engagement.

When it comes to optimising your YouTube content, you need to get couple of things straight from the outset. The meta tags have to be carefully optimised so that people will find your content. Choose the tags wisely and this will ensure that your videos get found, and that’s as simple as that.

The description and video should outline exactly what value the watcher is going to receive. It should also contain some idea on what the company does and the branding tone. If the branding tone and style isn’t there, the video is not going to market diddly squat for you.

This is the platform that young people use. Teens use it more than any other demographic. That’s an issue if you’re not in that market. If you want to hit that demo, this is a good, if incredibly fast-moving platform to use.

A fast and snappy channel. Snapchat is all about quick, fleeting messages that perfectly match the attention span of the average teen. Messages are not saved. Once they have been seen by the viewer they are deleted.

One key way to make Snapchat your friend is to include content that you don’t use anywhere else. The content has to be exclusive. By keeping it exclusive, fleeting and quick, you’re making it worth spending a few seconds looking at. The short-lived nature means that people will be hungry for more.

Bring out the truly human side of your business by shooting short videos from the office. Once viewed they are gone forever. This makes them truly exclusive. Remember when we used to wait for a particular ad break on TV to watch a one-off movie teaser? You get the picture.

Another great way to create exclusive, native Snapchat content is to offer promo codes that are made for the platform. These codes can only be used by the Snapchat audience. Remember that they are fleeting, and you understand why promos are a good idea.

Build it up with a campaign and you are certain to get people using that promo code. Build anticipation for a short, 20 second promo code piece and watch the engagement shoot.

To further ensure that your Snapchat work is native, and capable of boosting engagement, include clear design elements. Place your brand colours or your logo into a Snap. You are subtly optimising your content for Snapchat without seeming like a commercial behemoth that just wants people’s money.

Consider the points above if you’re in a position where you need to be in a number of different platforms at once. The more you get to know each platform the more you can fine tune your work. Each piece should be tailored for that particular channel. It takes time, and some trial and error. Just don’t churn out the same content everywhere. It doesn’t work.

Data is key here. Take note of the audience for each channel. Identify the type of content that works on it. Then focus on publishing your best work tailored for the channel. Sounds simple, but only a select number of brands have got this. It could be the reason why your brand gets ahead in the social media race.