How you present your posts is as important as what you post.
Do you think a TV network would buy this sitcom idea?
“It’s about our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York.”
Probably not because it sounds just like a million other sitcom concepts and there’s little about it that feels unique or exciting.
But that concept actually sold because it was wrapped in an interesting package.
Here’s the full pitch:
“It’s about our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York and is narrated by a main character who’s telling the story of how he met the mother of his children. It’s called How I Met Your Mother.”
This version of the pitch is infinitely more interesting and unique even though it’s essentially the exact same show. But the narration element — the packaging — presents the content in a much more compelling way.
Packaging is a way to format, present, or wrap your content in a story that makes it more interesting and it can have a HUGE impact on the success of your creations.
This may seem obvious in the world of high concept TV shows and movies, but it’s every bit as true when it comes to social media posts.
Following are a few simple ways to package your social media posts and examples of how others have attraced outsized attention for their posts by creatively packaging them.
You can package posts around a ritual like Lin-Manuel Miranda does.
Lin-Manuel Miranda built a huge Twitter following for a lot of reasons, but the way he packages his tweets has helped him get even more attention for them than the typical celebrity.
Back in 2011, he started to post daily “good morning” and “good night” tweets on the platform every day.
While he initially did it to help manage his Twitter habit — it ensured he would tweet daily AND prevented him from spending too much time on the platform — the format stood out to fans and got noticed as something unique.
Packaging what are otherwise regular tweets in this format tied to a universal daily ritual, his posts suddenly felt bigger, more interesting, and ingrained themselves into his fans own daily routines.
His social media activity got press attention for the packaging that he never would have gotten from just posting regular tweets like everybody else and employing the format didn’t actually require any additional work on his part.
The packaging proved so successful that his good morning and good night tweets have now even been published as a book.
via Lilli
You can package posts around a helpful theme like Gary Gulman did.
Gary Gulman is a veteran standup comedian who regularly tweets advice to other up and coming comics about the craft.
Most comedians who decided to do this would simply tweet their advice whenever they feel like it.
But Gary was smart — he wrapped them in a larger story and packaged them to present them in a way more likely to resonate and get noticed.
At the beginning of this year he announced his plan to tweet one joke writing tip a day and that’s exactly what he’s done ever since. He numbers each tip tweet and connects them with a #WriteNow hashtag.
It may seem simple and obvious (most good ideas are), but the packaging of his advice has generated a lot more attention than his tweets would likely get without it.
There have been numerous articles written about what he’s doing, he’s become a must-follow within the comedy industry, and lots of other comedians regularly weigh in and share their own tips as replies to the advice he shares.
Plus, every new person that discovers one of his advice tweets now, instantly understands there’s a lot more where it came from (because they’re numbered) and is likely to go back through his old tweets to read his older tips.
That wouldn’t happen if he hadn’t packaged them in this way.
Think about it: When was the last time people sought out something you posted 100 days ago?
Smart packaging can make that happen.
You can package posts as a recurring bit tied to something that has its own audience like David Spade does.
The Bachelor is a phenomenon.
Every Monday night “Bachelor Nation” tunes in to watch the ridiculousness and it ABC isn’t the only one who’s figured out how to capitalize on that.
A couple years ago David Spade started to post Instagram Story videos in which he provides hilarious commentary over clips from the show and attracted a ton of attention (and followers) by doing so.
While there’s no shortage of people who post about each week’s rose ceremony, the way Spade has packaged his posts (in addition to how much funnier he is than the average random fan) has helped them gain traction.
Fans can count on him showing up in their feed with a full rundown of commentary each week and he even turns each week’s rundown into a highlight on his Instagram page so people can watch it beyond the first 24 hours.
Spade has packaged his content in a way piggybacks on an existing habit for an existing large audience to make consuming his content a part of that experience. Lots of people watch The Bacheloreach week, and now lots of those people watch Spade’s Instagram Story about it the next day.
Another reason Spade’s packaging works so well is because he keeps those Instagram Stories focused on The Bachelor during those nights. If his commentary was interspersed with other non-Bachelor posts, it wouldn’t perform nearly as well.
via David Spade
How to start packaging your social media posts…
Packaging is a state of mind.
The above examples are just to get you thinking — there are infinite ways to package your social media posts and get more attention for them.
Here are three questions to consider to help you get started:
- Is there a topic you regularly post about which could in some way be connected to make all of those posts feel bigger than the sum of their parts?
- Is there a particular day, time, or event it makes sense for you to tie your posts to? For example, is there content you share that might make sense to always post at lunch time as a lunch break video or to always post first thing in the morning as a Rise and Shine read?
- Is there a way you help people that can be packaged? Do you have expertise on a particular topic you could package and share in a particular way or could you regularly highlight the creations of others who you admire?
Good luck and please reply to share any post package ideas you roll out so others can learn from and be inspired by them as well!
(By the way, if you want some help figuring out how to do this you can check out my advice on how to hire a great social media consultant.)