Good morning everyone! It’s Friday. Life is good. And today we’re diving into a unique topic that I can’t wait to speak about. Before we jump in and just a reminder - I finally redesigned the Stronger Social site if you haven’t checked it out yet. There are issues across personal development, career development, social strategic development, and so much more. Check it out. Dive in. And enjoy.
In this issue, we will go over the following:
A message on making content for social.
What stopped my scroll: Abercrombie BTS won me over
Social Pro Spotlight: Who the best people to work with are
5 hot social job opportunities that you should check out
Let’s get to it.
-Sam
Once upon a time (in a previous social role of mine), I was handed a social asset and was told to post it. I wasn’t involved in the planning. The creative direction. Or anything. It was an expensive hero post that cost the brand a wholeeee of money.
I posted it. It flopped.
I posted a meme the next day. It outperformed the expensive hero post in 30 minutes.
What a concept.
If you have worked in social media as long as I have, then this has most likely happened to you before.
You were excluded from planning creative. You were handed a post to just “get up”. And it flopped.
After thinking more about this, I came to the conclusion of why and what happened in this situation. And it really summed up to this - “good brands make content for social. World-class brands make social-first content”
Mind blown. Puzzle solved. Tweet this (and tag me please).
All jokes aside. This is what differentiates a good brand from a world-class brand.
👉 Good brands make content for social. This includes a 9X16 cropped asset. Maybe it’s under 30 seconds. In most cases, social teams are handed high production, commercial-led creative and told to “just post it.
👉 World-class brands make social-first content. “Social-first content” is the byproduct of social teams being at the forefront of social creative. This creative is embedded within culture, optimized for shareability, inspired by social listening & social insights, is native to the platforms, and even possibly creator-led.
It’s no coincidence that some of the best brands on social media are the ones that are creating social-first content. Social is your brands biggest megaphone. The heartbeat of your brand. The always-on brand and business driver for your brand. Content needs to fit the platform. Content needs to be led by the social team. Content needs to be “social-first”, not just made for social.
So how do you create “social-first” content? To keep it short and simple. It’s this:
I hope you found this helpful! Have any questions about creating social-first content? Hit reply and let me know.
What Stopped my scroll
I’m a big fan of brands bringing ‘behind-the-scenes' content to life through in-feed content. The standard is to upload this creative to Instagram stories and TikTok. But BTS can live in-feed and can add a whole new relatable, human-element to your campaign. Abercrombie executed BTS content to perfection through their newest NFL x Abercrombie campaign.
Social Pro Shoutout
The better you are to work with. The more successful you will be in your career. It’s that simple. And Katie summed it up perfectly in this LInkedIn post. Make sure to go give Katie a follow on LinkedIn!
Social Opps
If you’re on the job hunt and exploring new Social Media Opportunities, here are some roles to check out.
✌️ KBYG (Know Before You Go)
Before you go…here are a few quick hitters for you! We’ve got a new Instagram update and a few reminders.
🔥 Build strong social teasers If you’re interested in building winning social teasers, then check out last weeks issue here.
‼ Forward to a friend! If you do find Stronger Social helpful, be sure to forward to a friend.
🤔 Got a topic that you want to see addressed in a future issue?If so, respond to this email and let me know!
Sam Wells
Thanks for reading and hope you have a great week!
Follow me on LinkedIn here
If this newsletter was forwarded to you,subscribe here!
