[INFOGRAPHIC] Optimal social media formats guide: 2018 edition

When should I post to social media? Which formats are best? How could my posts get more reach and engagement? These are the questions we ask ourselves when we’re looking to get more out of our social platforms.

To help you find your bearings, we’ve put together an updated infographic with the key information you’ll need when it comes time to post content to social media. In addition, here are three tips to help improve your social presence.

Tip #1: Quality content trumps quantity

While many studies recommend specific times to post content in order to maximize engagement, it’s important to understand that the thing that will have the greatest impact on engagement is the content the publisher is sharing. That’s why it’s recommended that you focus on the relevance and quality of your content, and not on how frequently you post. Think quality, not quantity. Any content you create needs, above all, to (1) be relevant to the target audience and (2) meet specific business and digital goals. Facebook operates on three principles, and has made a huge amount of information available to guide you in creating and evaluating content.

Tip #2: Understand the logic behind the algorithms

It used to be that the various social platforms presented information in a linear, chronological order. Which meant that posts were seen at the time they were published. That’s now far from the case, which means publication time matters slightly less. The different algorithms used by the platforms are fairly complex, and lots of data is taken into consideration: the type of content, the person who posted it as well as your relationship with that person, the type of pages you like, etc. One of the most important factors is engagement. The more a post is liked, commented on, seen and shared, the more the platforms will serve it to users whose profiles mark them as being “people interested in this content.” In fact, the Facebook algorithm works like a virtuous circle: each viral post increases the reach of the next post, and so on.

Tip #3: Think mobile

It’s no secret to any of us, the use of mobile devices is on the rise and the trend shows no signs of slowing. 80% of the time we spend on social media is on a mobile device, and more than 56% of Facebook users log in exclusively from mobile. That means it’s crucial (even necessary) to adapt. For example, think about integrating subtitles when you publish a video, make sure your site is well set up for mobile browsing and optimize the material you publish!