It’s safe to say that when businesses invest time and money into their social media platforms, they have a clear goal in mind: to capture more customers and create content that actually converts them. A recent article by Social Media Today had some great suggestions of how to create the type of content that will capture followers’ attention, keep them engaged and ultimately convert them into a new customer.

Here are the top types of content that can help convince prospects to become a customer.

Interactive

There’s a reason the New York Time’s most popular piece of content isn’t actually an article, but rather a dialect quiz. Some of the leading and most popular social media pages end most of their posts with a question mark. It’s a simple yet effective strategy for businesses to use in order to create engagement. Ask a question and people are bound to answer.

Additional examples of interactive content on social media pages could include:

• Starting a poll asking followers which company products they prefer. This also provides great business insight.
• A company contest for followers to potentially win brand merchandise.
• A Q&A session with an executive at the business where followers can tune in and ask any questions they’d like.

Starting a conversation with followers keeps them engaged with the business and potentially more loyal. In fact, according to Salesforce, 72 percent of marketers are using social media to develop loyal fans, indicating how crucial it is for businesses to be participating on social media platforms.

Positive

Posts that evoke positive emotions—especially awe, amusement and laughter—perform better on social media. Posts evoking emotion are doable for all industries, including construction. For example, companies should consider sharing content that includes inspirational quotes, such as a #MondayMotivation post. Businesses can also share and be candid about company struggles and achievements. Businesses that are transparent develop deeper connections and commitments with their followers.

Visual

Peoples’ brains are actually wired to process visual content faster than written, and it helps increase information retention! According to Business2Community, people typically only retain 10 percent to 20 percent of information they read, but if paired with an image this retention increases to 65 percent.

One way to include more visual content into a company’s social media strategy is through a very popular format nowadays: memes. Memes have been hugely popular on social media and nine times out of 10, are humorous in nature. Companies should consider using some humorous memes that relate to their industry to grab the attention of their audience and put a smile on followers’ faces. There’s no better first interaction with a potential customer than one that elicits a laugh.

Here’s a great example from Equipment Trader.

User Generated Content

To get more followers involved, businesses should consider featuring the content followers create themselves. For example, caption contests are a top engagement technique. This means that if a company posts a funny photo of something that happened around the office, they can then ask followers to “caption this.” Once followers have submitted some caption ideas, the company can select the best one and highlight the follower so that he/she gets credit. It’s a great way to get followers engaged and give them a little 15 minutes of fame.

Another social technique is to have a photo contest and have people share their photos with the potential to be featured on the business’ page or win some company merchandise. It’s key to come up with a creative hashtag for the photo contest too so that the company’s name is attached to it. Tagging the winning follower in the post to give them some credit is also a central element to this kind of content.

Businesses often get overwhelmed when determining which kind of content to create for their social media profiles, but it doesn’t have to be so complicated. Businesses shouldn’t be afraid to get a bit more creative.