The Social Media Post Checklist: 9 Examples of Engaging Social Media Posts

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One click and you’re done! Sharing on social media is as easy as clicking a single button.

But a little more effort gets you a lot better results. Especially in a super crowded space like social media, more time and attention on each social media post is the key to better engagement.

Let’s start with an example of a social media post that combines all the elements we recommend. It’s easy to imagine how this sample post would get more traction than just a simple share.

Here are guidelines for what to post on social media for business, and how to roll up your sleeves and upgrading your social content with better writing, images and mentions. Adding these elements to your posts will increase visibility and engagement on everything you share.

In these social media post examples, we’ll use Twitter, but these guidelines are relevant to every social network.

1. Headline best practices

Most social media posts are headlines, so for starters, use every trick in the book for maximizing click through rates.

• Promise a specific benefit
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• Use numbers
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• Ask a question
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• Create urgency
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• Trigger curiosity or emotion
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For a complete list, see?How to Write a Headline That Won’t Get Ignored , but ignore the keyphrase tips. This is social, not search. Keyphrases aren’t important here.

2. A second headline

A second headline will give the reader another reason to click. It gives them a better idea of what the content is all about. You’ve got plenty of room, so why not write two headlines?

The second headline is a second chance to catch attention and get them to engage.

The Buzzsumo?research on headlines ?found that the top-shared posts on Facebook were 15 words long on average. Here’s a 15+ word, double-headline social media post example:

3. Special characters and emojis

Special characters add visual prominence. Just notice how these characters stand out on this page:

→ An arrow is an easy way to draw attention to a link in your social post

? A pointing finger may be even better

★ Using a star can make something stand out

??Adding a checkmark shows that something it’s actionable

Some social media networks will also support emojis. But don’t overdo it. And make sure that these more playful, less formal characters fit with the voice and tone of your brand, or you may upset your boss.???

4. Hashtags

A hashtag is a clickable keyword or topic, such as #contentmarketing, #blogtips or #Chicago. They can increase the visibility of your social posts, especially hashtags for trending topics.

When someone clicks a hashtag in any post, they’ll see all the posts with that hashtag. If they see yours, that’s good! But if someone is looking at your post and they click the hashtag instead of the link to your content, that’s bad. So use them only if you believe your content is more click-worthy than the other content on that hashtag.

Instagram posts don’t include links, so hashtags there won’t compete with links to content. That may be one reason why Instagram posts include often have?tons and tons of hashtags .

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