One of the biggest parts of my job as a Social Media Manager isn’t just creating content. It’s understanding the audience behind the account and constantly testing what makes them stop, watch, engage and ultimately take action.
Because social media isn’t always about getting it right first time.
Sometimes, it’s trial and error.
Sometimes, the best-performing piece of content comes from trying something completely different.
Social media is testing
There are so many variables that can change how a piece of content performs.
The format.
The hook.
The filming angle.
The topic.
The way the information is presented.
The length.
The style.
The tone.
And this is exactly why I’m such a big believer in testing.
You can look at the data, understand what your audience already engages with and build a strong strategy around that, but there still needs to be room to experiment.
Because audiences change.
Platforms change.
And sometimes, people respond best to something they haven’t seen from you before.
One test that completely paid off
That’s exactly what happened with one of our clients recently.
We introduced a content format we hadn’t really used for them before.
It was a test.
We weren’t abandoning the existing strategy or changing everything overnight. We were simply trying a new way of presenting content to see how the audience responded.
And the results spoke for themselves.
From that one piece of content, we generated:
- 30+ booking enquiries
- 2.7K+ new followers
- 2.5K+ shares
Those numbers are great, but the shares are particularly important.
Shares create opportunities
When someone shares your content, your business is being placed directly in front of another audience.
People who may never have searched for you.
People who may never have discovered your page organically.
People who could become future customers.
That one post didn’t just generate views.
It generated enquiries.
It brought new potential customers into the business.
It increased brand awareness.
It grew the audience.
And it created thousands of additional opportunities for the brand to be seen by new people.
That is why looking at views alone never tells you the full story.
You need to understand what people are actually doing with the content once they see it.
Are they sharing it?
Saving it?
Following?
Visiting the profile?
Sending an enquiry?
Booking?
That’s where the real value sits.
“But we’ve never posted anything like that before”
This is something I hear a lot.
And I understand why.
When you’ve built a certain style for your brand, trying something different can feel risky.
You might think it won’t look right on the feed.
You might worry your audience won’t understand it.
You might feel like it’s too different from what you normally post.
But “we’ve never done that before” isn’t necessarily a reason not to do it.
Sometimes, it’s exactly the reason you should test it.
You don’t fully know what your audience wants until you give them something new to respond to.
The content you’re debating might flop.
And that’s okay.
Because even then, you’ve learnt something.
Or it might completely outperform everything else you’ve posted and give you a new direction to build on.
Either way, you have more information than you had before.
Strategy doesn’t mean doing the same thing forever
A strong social media strategy shouldn’t be rigid.
It should give you direction while still leaving room to test, analyse and adapt.
If something performs well, understand why.
If something doesn’t, look at what could be changed.
Then take what you’ve learnt and apply it to the next piece of content.
That is how a strategy gets stronger over time.
Not by guessing.
Not by blindly following trends.
And not by posting the same thing repeatedly because it feels safe.
By understanding your audience and being willing to experiment.
Test. Analyse. Learn. Adapt. Repeat.
That’s where the real growth happens.
I currently have one space open for Social Media Marketing Management. If you’re looking for strategic content that does more than simply fill your feed, submit an enquiry🤍