The Ultimate Guide: Creative Social Media Content Ideas
One of the most important strategies for growing a social media following is posting regularly and consistently. Inconsistency can make an audience think that social media is not a priority in your business and can make you seem unorganized. Let’s face it. Social media makes your company relevant. It is a must. That is why we have creative social media content ideas for you. Get yourself scheduling!
20 Creative Social Media Content Ideas
If you haven’t already, it is time to get into the mindset that your company is a resource for your clients and customers. You should be doing as much as you can to be helpful to them. That is your new paradigm. Do not let it go. Keep it in the back of your mind as you read each of these ideas, and you will be on your way to creating the best social media calendar that ever existed, ever.
1. Tip of the Day
A tip of the day is a great way to accomplish the whole “being a helpful resource” thing. Your company’s can be a quick, skimmable post that people can read quickly or it can be a longer post about something a little bit deeper. A short post is great because it is quotable and memorable, and hey, you can probably come up with one on the fly. That makes this is a great idea for you when you need something to post in a pinch, and (bonus!) it is easy for people to share — growing your organic reach.
2. Tutorials
Along those same lines, tutorials are a wonderful way to be a resource to others. They also are great because they can be accomplished a number of different ways. If you are more of a writer type person, you can write out your tutorials and plop pictures into them. If you are a designer, you can create an infographic to share your information (more on that in a bit). For those who are more outgoing, a video tutorial is the way to go. There are so many options, and again, this is something that is very “shareable.”
3. Infographics
Designers unite! Infographics are a wonderful choice for sharing information because they are easy to read and easily shared. (Are you seeing a theme here?) They are more interesting to read than paragraph after paragraph of dense content (ironic that we are saying that, we know), and they are very skimmable. If you have someone in your organization with design abilities, this is a great option for sharing information.
4. Previous Popular Content
Bringing back old content is another great option for when you need creative content quickly. This is not a route you should take all the time, but it really works well every so often. Be sure to update any old information in the post if it has become outdated. A revised post will not only be interesting to new readers but for the people who have already read and enjoyed your previous post.
5. Throwback (Thursday)
Relevant throwbacks are great for creative content, because they have that nostalgia factor going for them. What do we mean by “relevant”? Well, if it is the 10th anniversary of your company’s founding, an old picture of the opening day or a ground-breaking is interesting, relevant content. A “throwback” from two weeks ago is not a good throwback. You can hardly call that throwing… It is really more of a toss… Anyway, be sure your caption explains the relevance and importance of the picture you are sharing so that your audience feels in the loop with what is going on. This will make the post more meaningful and engaging.
6. Personal Story
People love stories, and a relevant personal story can bring people together and get them talking. Share a story of triumph or a funny story that your audience will enjoy. This is a great way to build and develop the relationship that you have with your clients and customers. Storytelling shows people that your business is personal and it humanizes your company. This builds a bond of trust that is so necessary today with all the competitors out there.
7. Showoff a Client
Cross promotion is a win-win and should be utilized when relevant. When you cross promote, you are not only helping your company, but you are taking the focus off your company which ends up bringing the focus back to your company. See, a company that is not all about promoting itself is very attractive to people. It showcases the integrity of a company, because it shows people that the company is not completely focused on money, money, money.
8. Promote a Package or Product You Offer
Showcasing something that your company offers is a great way to remind your clients and customers of what your company has available to them. You can explain who the product is for and what it can be used for. This reminds people of your company’s existence, bringing you back to the front of their minds.
9. Answer FAQs
If you don’t have time to answer many, many emails that ask the same kinds of questions, this is a great way to kill two birds with one stone. You can save lots of time by linking your post to your reply, bringing people to your social media. Win-win!
10. Question of the Day
Increasing follower activity on your social media is a great way to increase your organic reach. Instagram’s algorithm brings the profiles that you interact with the most to the top of your Instagram feed. This means that if people are commenting and liking your business’s posts, your business’s most recent posts are more likely to be on the top of their feed when they open their Instagram app. So, asking your followers questions is a great way to move your way up the totem pole of Instagram. It also is a wonderful way to develop and maintain a relationship with your followers. You make your company relevant because you are stepping into your followers’ days. Just be sure that if you choose to post questions, that you are responding to the comments that people reply with.
11. Make an Announcement
Keep your followers informed about the goings-on in your company. If they are following you, they are interested in your company. So, let them know what is going on and if any changes are coming.
12. Behind the Scenes
We love behind the scenes for our favorite movies, so why not try it out on social media? This really is a great option for social content, especially if you want to try out Facebook Live. Start a mini event and get people talking. Plus, you can easily showcase your personality in this type of content, showing your followers that your company is made up of real people.
13. Survey Results
Keep your followers up to speed on what new findings your company has gathered. Relevant survey information can help explain to your audience why your company is making any changes that it is. A lot of times, people feel out of the loop as to why changes are being made. Sharing information builds trust with clients and customers and helps them understand why your company is moving in a certain direction.
14. Life Hacks
Who doesn’t love a good life hack every now and again? Let’s face it, we like to save time and energy when possible. For busy clients and customers, sharing a life hack is like sharing a golden ticket. Be sure that what you are sharing makes sense with what your organization is, though. For example, a DIY building project works well for contractors but not so well for banks. Sharing cooking tutorials and hacks are great for restaurants but a little strange for say, us at RedMoxy. Be sure to think about who your followers are and what information is relevant to them.
15. Challenges
Get people active on social media. Issuing a challenge gets people talking about your company. It creates buzz about your organization. You can create your own hashtags for your challenges to organize the shared information. If you need a few days worth of social media content, this is the option for you. You can do a couple of awareness posts so people get excited about your challenge, and then you can repost/share the posts that other people made when they were participating in your challenge.
Here’s an example: The Cool Athletic Gear Company shares a post challenging their followers to share a photo of them in their favorite Cool Athletic Gear Company shirt. When photos with the challenge’s hashtag start rolling in, the company starts sharing some of the posts that they received, spurring awareness of their contest and gear. Bonus tip: Use more than one hashtag on your challenges. A specific hashtag for your challenge helps you find the posts people are making, and a generic hashtag is searchable later when people are just looking for content about your organization.
Also, you can make your challenge a month long thing. For example, a yoga instructor could create a 30 day contest, where each day participants post a photo trying a new yoga pose. This gives you longer term, creative content and increases follower activity.
16. Contests & Giveaways
Contests can be very similar to challenges. You can easily issue a photo contest if you are lost for ideas on what kind of contest to have. Like a challenge, create a specific hashtag for your contest so that you can easily find the posts of the people participating. Bonus tip: To increase awareness and organic reach, ask every contest participant to tag a certain number of friends in the comment section of your contest as a qualifying factor of the contest. You can also share a post showing off the prizes that you will be giving away to the winners of your contest.
For giveaways, as well, you should ask your followers to tag a certain number of friends in the comment section to qualify for the contest. Again, this brings new people to your page, increasing your reach organically.
17. Time-Sensitive Offers
Using the right marketing words and developing a limited-time offer can motivate your audience to take action. That sense of urgency can be an emotional motivator for movement. Create countdown posts that remind your followers that a special offer will be ending shortly. You could double this up with customer testimonials to create a mini special offer campaign, as well.
18. Printable Freebies
People love free things. It is just a fact. Don’t argue it. Offering a helpful printable freebie is another way that you can make yourself a relevant resource. Examples of freebies: templates for: schedules, checklists, daily habit trackers, proposals, monthly/yearly goal checklists, networking cheat sheets, etc., holiday cards, gift tags, labels, and pretty much anything else you think people will find helpful. You know your clientele best, so find something that will be useful for them and make a free printable to share. Bonus tip: make giving an email address a prerequisite for receiving the freebie. (This helps you grow your email list!)
19. Memes
Ok, who doesn’t love a good meme? If you can find a meme that works with your company, post it. Humor is wonderful way to increase organic reach, because people love to share things that make them laugh. This is another great way to showcase your personality and your company’s culture. It gives your company more depth, creating an edge beyond simply “being a business”.
20. Video
Talk about adding personality! This is a wonderful way to show the “human side” of your business. When you show off the people in your business, it reminds people that their is depth in your company. It builds trust. It grows connections. You are better able to make people your business. You are also better able to explain concepts to your audience because you now have voice inflection and visual context added to the words and the content that you are sharing. Bonus tip: posting regularly (as with all social media) increases the number of subscribers you have because they look forward to what they know will come.
Social media has become an essential part of any marketing campaign. If you don’t have a social media schedule, it can be really easy to forget about your online presence and push it to the side. Your platforms make you relevant, though. So, do your best to create a schedule and stick to it. You’ll be glad you did!
If you need help creating a social media schedule or you don’t have time to do one at all, we can be of assistance. RedMoxy specializes in digital marketing and has the resources to help you advance your marketing campaigns. Contact us here.