Millions of posts go up on social media everyday. Chances are, your posts are jostling for the attention of some of social media's 3.6 billion users.

Regardless of what platform you're on, coming up with high-quality content that boosts your brand's engagement and conversion rate is no easy feat. It means having to come up with fresh content regularly–often daily.

If you're posting that regularly, you might find yourself struggling to craft effective social media posts. Well, we've been in your shoes, so here's a list of things we found helpful in creating engaging and interactive posts for social media that increase conversions.

Write for your target audience

Before you even begin, you need to be very clear of who you're crafting your social media posts for. You want to ensure that your content can resonate with your target audience. List down the characteristics of your brand's target audience so they can guide the way you communicate your value proposition.

Start by thinking through your customer's preferences, interests and behaviour. Put yourself in their shoes and consider what you might find appealing and motivate you to take action.

One aspect that is often overlooked is the language used in writing the caption. No, we're not talking about just being grammatically correct. Instead, think about things like the tone of voice.

Consider the adjectives you would use to describe your brand. For example, if your brand is fun, light-hearted and targets a younger demographic, you might want to use some trendy slang words or inject humour into your caption.

Figuring out your brand's tone of voice with your target audience in mind can go a long way in influencing the way they perceive your brand. If they're able to form that connection with your social media post, it's more likely they'll follow through with what you want them to do.

Tip: List down three adjectives you think best describe your brand, then think of three ways you can convey this in your caption (e.g. word choice, tone of voice)

Tailor it to the platform

Having a solid understanding of the social media platforms you're on is crucial. This would allow you to create native content, that is, content optimised for a specific platform. Each social media platform has its own limitations and so it's best that you design your posts around them.

For instance, consider how platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are often used for gathering visual inspiration, while Twitter is used to share ideas or engage in public conversations. Therefore, you'll want to focus on creating visually captivating images/videos for Instagram and Pinterest, but concentrate on writing concise, compelling copy for Twitter. As for the latter, some tricks include using an active voice or posing a question to kick start a discussion.

Visualising your posts or ads as a mockup would give you a much better idea of how your ads will appear to your audience too. With native content on social media, you can ensure that your message is conveyed to your audience.

Tip: Create a mock-up of your post (hint: there are plenty of tools available online) and consider how it might come across to your target audience.

Remember, consistency is key

We don't just mean posting regularly. Consistency in your branding on social media, such as the appearance of your feed and tone of voice, is essential too. As explained by Sprout Social, consistent branding helps your leads move through your funnel without second-guessing and bouncing out.

Not only should you ensure that each post aligns with your brand, you also need to maintain consistency across all posts, including your captions. For one, this means using vocabulary that is similar in terms of the image and emotions it conveys.

It can be hard to execute on a daily basis, especially if you have multiple people working on your social media content. Having to create engaging content regularly while ensuring it aligns with your branding can be a challenge, though tools like social media schedulers can make the job easier.

Tip: Look at the captions for your upcoming social media posts and ask yourself if they sound like they're crafted by the same person.

Plan and schedule posts ahead of time

Now that you've understood the importance of consistency, another good practice is to plan and schedule your social media posts ahead of time. We also recommend preparing your content in batches. This helps to ensure consistency across different posts. Writing several captions at one go allows you to check that you're using the same tone and style of writing.

A social media scheduler can also help you visualise how your social media posts would look on your profile beforehand. This is particularly important on platforms like Instagram, where the aesthetics of a cohesive feed can further impress and convey your brand.

Scheduling your posts can also take out the stress of ensuring content is published on time. This will free up time you can channel towards creating more effective social media posts.

Tip: Find a tool that you can use to help prepare and schedule your upcoming social media posts. Some popular tools include Agorapulse, Buffer and Sendible.

Run tests to find what works out

Testing would allow you to get a better idea of what works and what doesn't, before you spend a significant amount of resources on it. If you've a few ideas and want to know which works, A/B testing is one strategy.

For the uninitiated, A/B testing is a basic method for comparing between two versions of the same social media content. The different versions can differ in terms of their video/image, caption, headlines, et cetera. For example, your brand might run two posts with different captions as part of A/B testing.

The split test will shed light on which version performs better on your desired metric, such as the engagement or conversion rate. With this knowledge, you can run only the most effective social media posts.

Tip: Write up a plan that will allow you to conduct A/B testing on a social media platform you use. Consider the two versions you'll be using, as well as the metrics you want to compare them on (e.g. impressions, conversion rate, click-through rate).

Round it off with a call-to-action

We'd like to think of it as sealing the deal. After you've captured the attention of your audience with an exciting image or caption, you'd want to end it off with a call-to-action (CTA)–a prompt that encourages your audience to act. This could get them to share your post or click on a link to your website. One little trick we've tried is to end with an imperative statement, that is, a sentence that starts with a verb (e.g. 'Sign up now', 'Share this deal with your friends').

A well-thought-out CTA can move your target audience through to the next step of the conversion funnel with ease.

Tip: For your next social media post, come up with at least three CTAs and pick the most compelling one.

Conclusion

Admittedly, it can be challenging to create high-quality social media posts that will improve your conversion consistently. Even with these tricks up your sleeve, it'll take a good amount of practice and fine-tuning before you discover your recipe for success.

In fact, there are tools that can make your job easier, one of them being our AI-powered Instagram caption generator. How about finding out what tricks our AI has up its sleeves?