Engagement plays a big role when marketing your small business. There’s definitely a need to build a digital presence and to get noticed. It’s all for beating the competition – and for a better chance at increasing leads and conversion rates.

Moreover, one of the surefire ways to increase engagement is through social media.

The only problem? Social media platforms are over saturated with content.

It’s a struggle to think of original and witty posts that demand attention. It’s definitely another hurdle you’d want to jump over.

What you need is fresh, quality content that catches attention and provides value. As long as a user finds your content interesting, they will want to come back and engage with your posts. Furthermore, this may even lead them to become future customers or clients.

Save yourself from having to brainstorm over content ideas. We’re saving you the time and effort with our solid list of social media content ideas you can use.

However, having good content is not enough. Another thing to keep in mind is how these posts translate on each social media platform.

What platform should I use?

If this is your first time creating a social media account for your business you may be wondering which social media platform to use. Here’s a quick reference sheet to help you decide.

Many businesses create accounts and post engaging content, including their ads, with links to their website. Because of this, Facebook is the top one social media platforms that sends referrals back to a business’ website.

It’s also predicted to rely more on video content in the future.

Instagram is perfect for visual heavy brands. But, it’s not the best place to go if you’re looking to increase blog traffic.

We encourage you to try out Twitter if you want to promote website content or your blogs.

LinkedIn is the best platform to use if you’re targeting a more professional network.

If your target audience ranges between 15-27 years old, it’s time to jump on the TikTok bandwagon.

Resources to check out

A magician never reveals his tricks, but today we will. To succeed on social media, you’re going to need the right tools.

UNUM – Instagram is an app driven by aesthetic. Therefore, if you want your feed looking consistent, download UNUM.

TweetDeck – Consistency is another trick to a successful social media campaign. Without it, you’re going to end up forgotten. Constantly updating your social media can be exhausting. Fortunately, there are softwares like TweetDeck that allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time.

BuzzSumo – BuzzSumo is the place to find the most engaging pieces of content and discover new potential outreach opportunities. It’s also where you can discover the most shared content, likes, and comments around a particular topic from a particular site.

Google Analytics – Google Analytics is a web analytics tool that allows you to see which social sites are generating the most traffic to your website. It can also track your ad campaigns.

Google Trends – Google Trends is great for discovering top search queries on Google. This makes it easier to create relevant content that’s trending in your industry.

Importance of a social media calendar

Lessen the hassle of managing your social media accounts with a social media calendar.

A social media calendar is used to schedule posts/content you’ll upload across all social media platforms depending on the time of day, week, or month.

Your social media calendar should be maintained in order to keep you on track towards achieving your goal.

An example of a social media calendar can look something like this:

There’s a section for the date, the type of post, status of post, which platform to post on, captions, tags, and the link to the published post.
Now that we’ve discussed the basics, we can start with content ideas.

There are some small businesses that have their own blogs. To those who do, a great way to promote your blog is by posting it on social media. Your followers will certainly want to see it because it came from you.

With that being said, make sure your blog posts are interesting and provide valuable information that your audience will like.

The best social media platforms to advertise your blog posts are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Instagram focuses more on visuals than text.

Take a look at how Disney promotes their blogs on Facebook. They even go as far as to create an entirely separate page for it.

These days, brands are forming personalities on social media. It’s like businesses are becoming more human rather than being just a business. This is  certainly a very effective way to engage with customers. Buyers like it when a brand has its own culture and values. If they relate to yours, they will also follow your business and may become loyal followers.

In order for people to know your company culture, begin by posting it on social media. In additon, highlight what your business is about and start a conversation.

We’re a company that enjoys showing our clients and followers our company culture. If you check out our Instagram, you’ll see numerous posts about our team and values we like to keep within the company.

Just like with showcasing your company culture, you can also make your brand more personable by posting photos of your employees. This certainly allows you to build trust with your followers quickly and smoothly.

Featuring your employees in some of your posts will make your brand relatable. It also gives your employees a voice that your followers may connect with. In addition, it showcases the type of people you surround your brand with.

Just like in the photo above, we’ve featured our team members and asked them to share facts about themselves. This creates a personal connection with our followers and puts a face on the work we’ve done.

Showing off isn’t always a bad thing. Posting raving customer reviews on social media gives your clients a chance to have their voices and thoughts heard.

You can ask some of your happy clients or customers if they would be willing to send you a short review/video and if they would also be fine with you posting it on social media. Posting these reviews will highlight positive experiences from your interactions with clients. This way you get to engage with your clients and show off a little.

A repost/retweet will do. Or, you can create a graphic featuring their feedback. Include their name and tag their handles.

We made this little graphic for Mint Ultimate’s Instagram account. Aside from the text, we opted to include a photo of the product the client used. It makes for a more visually interesting way to showcase the review.

Social media isn’t that complicated. It’s all about engagement and connecting, so what better way to do that than to repost your followers thoughts.

Your social media doesn’t necessarily have to be filled with your own content.

There’s always the option to repost your followers posts or someone else’s as long as it’s relevant to your business.

Doing this shows you’re participating in the conversation, and that immediately sets you apart from the businesses that don’t.

Nobody wants to follow a social media account that’s filled with self-promotion. There should be a balance between both. The bigger percentage should be more entertaining and engaging content than promoting.

Take barbecue mob for example. They reposted a photo from a barbecue restaurant and boosted their business. This helps them build connections and support other businesses.

Consistency is always key, especially with social media posts. Having a schedule will put you on top of people’s minds without being annoying. Brands that post every hour of the day will end up losing followers. Go for a happy medium of once a day or 3-5 times a week.

You can even start a weekly or monthly series your followers can look forward to on a regular basis. Just like with what MAC Cosmetics did. They started and #madefor series featuring different influencers.

Social media wasn’t made to be completely serious. It’s a place where you can socialize and show your brand’s personality. So, if you’re running out of ideas, post something fun that people can relate to.

One thing you can try is posting polls or a this or that question. It’s engaging and compelling for people to reply. Talk to your audience and ask them questions you’d think they can relate to.

By asking the right questions you can even use it as a way to market research. For example, you could ask, “What product would you like to see next?”

Now you’ve killed two birds with one stone. Not only did you have new content to share, but also a clear look into your audience’s insights.

Sugar Cosmetics increases follower engagement by prompting their followers to like or retweet.

“Free” is a hard to resist word. Use that power by running a contest or giveaway on your social media account. It’s definitely a powerful social media content tool you can use to increase engagement and even boost your follower count.

It’s pretty easy to host a giveaway. All you need are:

Giveaway product – The best thing to giveaway are free products or free memberships.
Rules – Think of this as your terms and conditions. Do they have to share and tag friends? When will the contest end? Etc.
Contact – Your followers should be able to reach out to you for questions or concerns regarding your contest guidelines.
Hashtags – This is the simplest way to keep track of the people who entered your contest on social media. Create a hashtag your followers can use when entering your contest. Be sure to make it unique and true to the brand.

Even Taco Bell hosts giveaways.

Videos already take up the majority of the web traffic, and it’s still growing. If you’re not using this to your advantage, then you’re missing out on the opportunity to increase your reach and engagement.

All social media platforms have them. For example:

• Instagram and Facebook stories
• IGTV
• Instalive, Facebook Live, and LinkedIn Live
• TikTok
• YouTube
• And in-feed videos present on all platforms.

You have the option to post your own clips or share video clips from your followers and other social pages. We suggest doing a mixture of both.

Take a look at Nike’s TikTok for example.

As we’ve mentioned above, live videos are also a fun way to engage with your audience. According to a survey done by Vimeo and New York magazine, four out of five people would rather watch videos than read an entire blog post from a brand.

Lives are best when you’re launching new products or inviting an ambassador or spokesperson. You can even have a small Q&A session with your followers.

Pixi by Petra hosted their own live session featuring their own special guest.

Gifs and memes are a great way to capture the attention of your followers. When done well, memes and gifs have the power to stop your followers from scrolling past your post.

It’s a fun way to showcase your humor and to stay on trend. There’s a reason why memes are always going viral. People love them.

Our tip is to keep the memes or gifs relatable, funny, while still being relevant to your brand.

Let’s face it, motivational/inspirational quotes are relatable. We’ve all been put into a better mood after seeing a motivational post that somehow relates to what we’re going through.

Find quotes you think your followers can relate to. It’ll make them feel you care.

Book of The Month does this by posting quotes from authors they include in their curated selection of books.

Providing content that educates your followers will put you at a position of authority. If your followers see you know what you’re doing, they will deem you as a credible source and keep coming back to your account for more educational content.

HelloFresh does a great job at this by posting cooking tutorials using their available ingredients.

You’re also allowed to promote on social media. Use that small percentage of the 80/20 or 60/40 rule and feature some of your products. Additionally, you can use your own photos or use photos taken by your customers. It’s fine as long as you ask permission and give credit.

This way you’re promoting your products and showing appreciation for your customers at the same time. You can use a designated hashtag your followers can use to make it easier for you to monitor.

Function of beauty does this with their clients. They post a mixture of their own product shoots and some taken by their clients.

Product teasers take product photos to the next level. You can post a video or a short photo showing glimpses of your new product. It builds up excitement and will get people curious.

Apple does an amazing job with their teasers. They post videos to show their audiences what they should look forward to.

We definitely can’t deny how effective influence marketing is. Studies show that 49% of Consumers Depend on Influencer Recommendations. It certainly works and also gets their followers to want to buy the product they’re using.

Skillshare does this trick a lot. They reach out to influencers from specific industries and ask them to promote their social learning platform.

For this to work, you need to pair up with an influencer who fits with your brand. They should also have influence over the industry you belong in. Additionally, kindly ask them if they can post about your product in exchange for freebies.

Holiday posts are always a good idea. Share the holiday spirit with your followers by posting your greetings.

Photos, videos, or graphics, it’s your choice. Whatever it is your audience will appreciate the fact that you’re as excited as them about the Holidays.

Starbucks does this a lot and it’s endearing.

Feature industry leaders you know your followers want to see. It’s also a great way to spark a conversation and engage with your audience. Additionally, you can have a Q&A session with your guest and ask them questions your followers asked.

The Futur currently does this a lot by inviting different designers and other industry leaders to do a live session with them.

Instagram stories should always be part of your social media campaign. People love to keep watching the short clips. In fact, there are over  500 million stories posted everyday.

Have fun with it by using different apps to make your stories visually appealing. You can also add them as highlights if you want them to be permanently featured on your page.

Eko Plastic Surgery divided their story highlights into sections to make it easier for their followers to browse through their page.

Celebrate milestones and accomplishments with your followers. Make them feel like they’re part of your journey.

You’re showing your growth and that should be celebrated. Share your story with your audience and let them be part of it.

What are you posting next?

It was a long journey, but we’ve finally ended here. Don’t hesitate to try any of the ideas we’ve listed above. Not only are they beneficial, you can certainly also have fun doing them.

Still struggling? Hire a social media manager or an agency like us to get you started. We can work on your social media campaign for you.