Social media continues to be extremely powerful when it comes to content marketing. This not only holds true for content published on social media platforms, but the sharing of content published elsewhere, such as blogs.

As such, it’s vital for content marketing strategists to master the skill of leveraging social media platforms to their advantage. There are three key steps to achieving this – grabbing people’s attention, showing change and delivering messages with specific details.

Draw readers in quickly

The internet is vast, and there’s always another website to browse or another social media account to check. Therefore, content marketers must grab people’s attention quickly. This means written content needs to have a snappy headline and opening sentence. The best openings offer surprising examples, uncanny twists and utilise quirky verbs.

For example, it might open with a personal story to engage readers and keep them reading to find out what happens. Alternatively, writers can add a twist to something commonplace, drawing in people that want to know more.

There are signs that long-form content is becoming increasingly important, especially on sites such as LinkedIn and Medium. However, readers still need to be hooked, so the opening remains key.

Show how things change

Once readers are hooked, it’s essential to keep them reading. Delivering human stories in which the protagonist is transformed helps to do this.

An example of this is Bernie Sanders’s America Beyond presidential campaign video, in which an impoverished young boy does poorly at school, but when allowed to go to college he flourishes and ends up becoming a teacher and supporting others.

This campaign kept people’s attention because it made it clear how the protagonist’s life was changed, embodying the campaign’s promise.

Deliver messages using specific details

The internet is heaving with content, much of which is near identical, and social media has allowed everyone to have their say and publish content. This means there are so many blog posts and listicles and selfies that nothing truly sticks. Therefore, it is essential to offer real, authentic stories to truly resonate with readers.

Prioritising specifics might seem counterintuitive, especially for brands trying to reach a wider audience. However, the more focused content is, the more likely it is to stir the feelings, emotions and memories of readers. For example, Arizona State University attracts people to its medical research with one simple sentence: “What if we could detect diseases before symptoms even appear?”

Brands gain followers through the accumulation of small yet memorable moments. It might take more than a single status update for a user to be converted, but gradually, over time, the firms that are best at using social media build draw users in with authenticity and shared human experiences.

People don’t respond well to marketing lingo or clichés, especially young people, but storytelling can draw them into your vision and form a sustainable connection with your products and brand.