the 5 KEY ingredients your content should HAVE

Written By Alicia Haszard

1. Dwell Time (Are people staying on your content?)

One of the biggest signals right now is how long someone spends consuming your post.

That means:

  • Are people stopping the scroll?

  • Are they reading your carousel?

The longer someone stays, the stronger the quality signal.

What creates dwell time?

  • Strong “pattern interrupt” hooks

  • Carousels that make people swipe

  • Storytelling captions that pull people in

  • Reels with curiosity-driven openings

  • Educational or save-worthy content

More time = more reach.


2. Saves (Is your content worth returning to?)

Saves tell the platform:

“This has lasting value.”

This is one of the strongest indicators your content is useful.

Content people save:

  • How-tos

  • Checklists

  • Step-by-step frameworks

  • Industry tips

  • “Steal this strategy” style posts

  • Opinion-led content people want to revisit

Ask yourself:

Would someone want to come back to this later?

If not, it may not be save-worthy enough.

3. Shares (Would someone send this to a friend?)

Shares are often stronger than likes.

Shares indicate emotional reaction:

  • “This is so me.”

  • “You need to see this.”

  • “This is helpful.”

  • “This made me think.”

Shareable content usually has:

  • Relatability

  • Strong opinions

  • Humour

  • Contrarian takes

  • Highly useful advice

If people share it privately, the algorithm notices.

4. Retention (Are people watching until the end?)

For reels especially, watch time matters.

Not just views.

Retention is what separates a post that dies at 500 views from one that reaches 50,000.

Think:

  • Hook in first 2 seconds

  • Open loops

  • Fast pacing

  • Curiosity

  • Reward at the end

  • The goal:

  • Make people stay.

5. Conversation (Are people interacting?)

Comments still matter, but not empty engagement bait.

Good comments come from content that sparks:

  • Debate

  • Questions

  • Recognition

  • Emotional resonance

Instead of “Comment YES if you agree…”

  • Try:

  • “What would you add?”

  • “Have you noticed this too?”

  • “Do you agree or disagree?”

Invite conversation, don’t force engagement.

At AF Creative, this is how we approach content:

We don’t build content around “filling the feed.”

We build around:

  • Attention

  • Retention

  • Shareability

  • Strategic content signals

Because content that performs isn’t accidental.

It’s engineered.

Alicia Haszard