Social media has become one of the most powerful digital tools for the modern enterprise. Unfortunately, it is also challenging to navigate. Among the challenges marketers and entrepreneurs encounter when managing their social media accounts is running out of content. If this sounds like you, you’re in the right place.
We curated 25 social media content ideas perfect for small brands, according to six main purposes.
Social media post ideas for an engaging brand feed
- Get your customers involved
- Share your company culture
- Inform your followers
- Break the ice and have fun
- Promote your products/services
- Amplify your social cause
Get your customers involved
1. Make your customers shine by sharing their posts
There’s no better proof that your products or services are top-notch than seeing your users rave about them on their social media feeds. Take advantage of user-generated content (UGC), like photos of OOTDs and product shoutouts from your customers, and repost them on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!
Aside from making your followers feel recognized and appreciated, having diverse content also helps others visualize how your products may look on them. Take your cue from Cluse, a watch shop that leverages UGCs to showcase that they have watch designs for everyone.
Black Milk Clothing, a startup Australian online clothing retailer, has also often relied on organic reach or audience reach made through unpaid posts on social media. As an online retailer, buyers struggle with the thought of purchasing clothes they cannot try on first. Clothes shoppers, for instance, may have doubts about whether the items they wish to buy will fit them or if the style and color will go well with their body shape and skin tone.
However, the inclusive brand has garnered a diverse customer base who happily share their look on social media. Black Milk Clothing then reshares these posts, creating a gallery of users with different body shapes and colors modeling their clothes for potential buyers to peruse.
2. Share customer success stories
Aside from sharing UGC posts on your brand’s social media feed, you can take it up a notch by featuring customers’ testimonials. Here, you get to know your audience better and leverage their personal stories about your brand. While it may be tempting to manipulate your content to make it more compelling, keep authenticity at the forefront of your branding efforts.
Check out Depop, an online fashion marketplace where people can sell and buy pre-loved items. The brand doesn’t just repost UGCs on its Facebook and Instagram pages; it also features some of its most successful sellers and gives a peek at how Depop has benefited them as small entrepreneurs.
Depop honors one of its most successful sellers via Facebook
Testimonials that highlight how the brand positively improved the lives of its customers foster brand trust and can effectively entice would-be customers who are still on the fence. You can choose to post a short reel on Instagram and Facebook or create a longer YouTube video content about your featured customers.
3. Celebrate milestones with your followers
Your social media followers and loyal customers can catapult your brand to recognition. So, give thanks to them even through simple posts. Such efforts can make a huge impact and boost your brand’s image.
If you have the budget, throw a simple giveaway, like what Hydro Flask did on its Instagram channel. Upon reaching 200,000 followers on Instagram, the brand hosted an online raffle where two lucky participants would get the chance to win flasks.
Hydroflask thanks its followers for reaching 200K via an Instagram giveaway contest
Interested participants were asked to follow the brand’s Instagram page and tag two friends in the comments to qualify for the raffle draw. Winners were announced on the page at the end of the day. The stunt increased traffic to their page and their number of followers and sparked brand engagement.
Vat19 celebrated its 1000th video milestone with its fans on Youtube
Vat19, a platform that features quirky and interesting gifts, hit its 1000th video milestone on YouTube in 2017. The brand created a two-minute YouTube video featuring its founder reminiscing some of Vat19’s memorable content and crediting its avid YouTube followers for its continuous success.
4. Organize a live Q&A session via video or chat
Social media has paved the way for more accessible communication between brands and customers. Aside from having a customer support team, consider hosting live Q&As on social media platforms that have live streaming features, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter. Here, you can address any concerns, generate more engagement and foster a feeling of closeness between you and your customers.
Create an effective action plan to execute a successful info session. Begin by setting a theme to narrow the scope of questions from your followers. For example, you can separate Q&As according to products. Doing so avoids dragging info sessions for several hours more than necessary.
Facebook recommends keeping your videos at a reasonable length, allowing time for your audience to catch up.
A visualization of a man thinking by olhar via 99designs by Vista.
There’s also nothing worse than dead air, where you repeatedly ask your viewers if they have any questions only to be met with silence. Instead, encourage your followers to send in their questions days before the Q&A session. This should allow you time to create a pipeline of highly relevant questions and prepare your answers.
5. Let your audience decide your next move
If you think you have hit a dead end, you may need to seek help from your audience. Create polls or post a question asking what they want to see next. It’s also an indirect way of saying that you value their input and interests.
Veggie Pret asks its followers which recipe should they share next via Twitter
Take Veggie Pret, which has a social media base of vegans and health buffs looking for healthy food, as an example. One of their past campaigns involved sharing easy-to-follow recipes. So, the brand created a poll for their followers to decide which recipe to release next.
Flying Flowers gave its followers a chance to name its latest product via Twitter
Flying Flowers, a flower delivery service, let its followers on Twitter name its adorable lamb-themed floral arrangement. Amused and intrigued, the followers retweeted the post multiple times, too.
Share your company culture
6. #Meettheteam posts
Running a Meet the Team social media campaign provides flexibility in terms of content that you can provide. These posts can range from giving a shout-out to your best employees to providing a behind-the-scenes look at what they do or welcoming new members. Or why not give TikTok a shot just like what My Muesli did in introducing its social media team?
Get to know My Muesli’s team on Tiktok
This type of social media content is a great way to establish your credibility through your team of experts. Recognizing your team members also helps boost their enthusiasm for campaigning for your brand.
7. Tell your brand’s origin story
Everyone loves a good story.
The good thing is, you don’t need years in the business to share yours. As a startup, why not acquaint your followers with your brand values and goals early? Share what inspired you to launch your business and what you envision in the long run.
It’s an organic way to nurture relationships with your consumers. With a dash of creativity, you can captivate followers and strengthen your connection with them. Consumers can relate to brands better when they see brands like humans with characters, motivations, values and goals.
Linh Truong tells how she started her stickers and prints business on Etsy via YouTube
Linh Truong has always dreamed of creating an Etsy shop selling stickers and prints. And when that dream became a reality, she decided to share how she started via her YouTube channel. The video content was a wonderful medley of her business’ origin story, her creative process from ideation to production, and her overall business learnings.
8. Give a peek at your production process
Consumers are now becoming more conscious of choosing brands that they support. Many want to know what goes into the products, how the products impact the environment and if businesses are socially responsible.
So, why not show and tell?
Askinosie Chocolates is a chocolate manufacturer that fills its social media feed with product development updates and its bean-to-bar process. Followers get access to videos and photos that feature how the business sources organic cacao from local communities in emerging countries.
Remember that transparency is something that consumers appreciate and can increase their trust in your brand.
Inform your followers
9. Let the data speak for itself
Moringa Vinga gives an overview of its health benefits through an infographic created by Luz Viera via 99designs by Vista.
Turn your data into tools to showcase your achievements or break down complex information about your products. To make data more engaging, communicate them through infographics that your followers can easily understand and share.
You can also share articles, videos and other industry-relevant content from reputable sources on your page. Over time, you can become the go-to source of your followers for the latest industry trends and information.
10. Share interesting how-to guides and explainer videos
Contour Cube shows its recommended skincare recipe via TikTok
Tutorials and how-to videos are becoming extremely popular across several video platforms. After all, learning through video can be more entertaining than reading.
Identify knowledge gaps about your products that consumers are unaware of and provide explainer or tutorial videos. If you’re not sure how to execute this type of content, check out Contour Cube.
Contour Cube sells contouring molds that help lessen puffiness and tighten your pores. To appeal to its audience, Contour Cubethe brand’s founder uploaded explainer videos on TikTok where she highlights the versatility of their products in contouring every face shape.
One of the brand’s shared tutorials on TikTok teaches its followers three ice facial recipe hacks they can try at home. As a result, the brand’s TikTok views quickly surged to millions, with customers rushing to buy their products.
11. Boost traffic to your blogs by sharing them on your feed
Got branded blogs and articles?
Leverage the vast user base of social media platforms by cross-promoting your blogs. Aside from increasing your blog readership, this strategy is also an excellent way to bridge your social media followers to your website.
99designs by Vista shares its blog on what’s trending in packaging designs via Instagram
When sharing your blog on social media, accompany your post with an enticing photo or a creative illustration that represents the subject of your content to catch the attention of your followers. Top it off with an intriguing blurb to spark curiosity.
12. Create FAQs post
As your list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) grows, you can use them for your social media content. Doing so saves you and your customers time addressing the same issues repeatedly. Once posted on your brand’s feed, you can pin them on top of your page or create an FAQ album on Facebook. Or take advantage of Instagram’s highlighted stories so followers can refer to them anytime.
Your FAQ content could either be an animated clip or creative infographics that help attract more attention to your post. Remember that when writing down questions, phrase them just like how customers would ask them. For example, ‘How long can I store my (insert brand and product) in the fridge?’ or ‘How do I measure my shoe size?’
Raven Bank created a clear and concise illustration of one of its FAQs shared via Facebook
Keep your answers short and straight to the point. And finally, don’t forget to integrate your product features when possible.
13. Quiz your followers
Social media quizzes are fun and versatile! You can use brand-and-audience-relevant quizzes for many purposes, like to know more about your audience or to simply increase user engagement. They are also easy to make via quiz/poll tools on social media or in-app quiz makers, like Quizzes for Pages.
Try customizing personality quizzes, like ‘Which X Product Matches Your Personality?’ or ‘Which Product Is Right For You?’ Another option is to test the knowledge of your followers with trivia questions.
Chiquita asks its followers to take its Face Shape quiz via Facebook
One thing to remember is to keep your social media quizzes short. Nowadays, people spend over two hours on social media every day. But they jump from one social media to another, consuming content quickly.
Based on Buzzfeed’s experience as a social media quiz master, stick to five to eight questions when creating your quizzes. Quizzes of this length would only require at least two minutes or less to complete, keeping your followers interested.
You should also ask simple questions and use terms that are easy to understand. Finally, make the quizzes about your participants as much as possible. People are innately complex, and quizzes allow them to learn something about themselves and feel understood, even if it is just for fun.
14. Dispel myths
The internet has democratized information sharing. But social media and other digital platforms have also become a breeding ground for fake news and misinformation, which can hurt your business.
One business owner who can relate is aesthetician Ashley. Many of her customers shared the wrong notion that microblading eyebrows is a painful process. In effect, some customers were hesitant to try her services.
To ease her clients’ worries, she created a post addressing the misconception. She also followed up with a detailed explanation of her technique to achieve a painless and comfortable microblading experience for her clients.
Ashley Renee educates its followers on eyebrow microblading via Instagram
Want to make your claims extra credible? Partner with a trusted specialist or an industry leader, to help debunk myths that can damage your brand. Correcting misinformation fosters brand trust and saves consumers from making horrible mistakes.
Break the ice and have fun
15. Join or start trending social media challenges
One of the many perks of social media is it allows everyone to create their own fun. Joining existing challenges is a great way to show the lighter side of your brand and entertain your followers. Fortunately, they’re not difficult to pull off.
If you’re feeling extra creative, you can always come up with your branded challenges. Just don’t forget to include a catchy branded hashtag, an easy yet entertaining challenge concept, and a dollop of silliness, sassiness, or whatever attitude you are going for.
e.l.f. customers and influencers, like Avani, join the ‘Eyes, Lips, Face’ challenge on TikTok Instagram
e.l.f. Cosmetics went viral with their ‘Eyes, Lips, Face’ challenge. What sparked the challenge is realizing that many of its Gen Z customers are not aware of what the brand stands for (Eyes, Lips, Face). With a catchy branded song created for the challenge, e.l.f. asked its followers to drop their hottest looks on TikTok using e.l.f. products.
e.l.f. sets its rules on how to join its viral #eyeslipsface challenge on TikTok
Each entry needed to include branded hashtags #eyeslipsface and #Contest. By the end of the challenge, winners received $250 worth of e.l.f. cosmetics products.
The campaign garnered seven billion views and five million user-generated content. The branded song also went viral and joined the ranks of Spotify’s Global Viral charts. Suffice it to say, it was a success!
16. Post episodic content
Episodic content refers to long-form content broken down into shorter or bite-sized episodes. Conceptualizing episodic content may take more effort than other ideas on this list. But once it becomes a hit, you can run it for as long as it lasts.
Several suggestions include creating a series of interviews with seasoned experts. Or how about several blind react videos where participants test your products and provide honest feedback? You can also run a series of mini-documentaries relevant to your brand.
Depending on your audience, you can post short reels on Instagram or longer videos on Facebook and YouTube. One of the many brands that found success in episodic content is Death Wish Coffee, a brand known for its passion for creating one of the ‘world’s strongest coffee.’
Death Wish Coffee ran a Grind It Out series on YouTube
The brand launched a social media campaign that highlights how remaining passionate can help you thrive in life. In its Grind It Out YouTube series, Death Wish Coffee featured admirable everyday people from all walks of life, including a tattoo artist, a coffee barista, a florist and a boxing coach.
In its campaign, Death Wish Coffee put a lot of effort into creating video content that resonates with and inspires its audience more than just promoting the brand.
17. Pique interest with funny, witty, sassy, or all of the above one-liners
Wendy’s is one of the most popular brands in the Twitterverse, thanks to its witty one-liners. It has also delivered scathing burns to other brands, including Gillette, Velveeta and 7-Eleven, on #NationalRoastDay.
Even non-brand users didn’t escape Wendy’s on Twitter
7-Eleven and Wendy’s engaged in a classic roasting session on Twitter
So, why did it work? The tweets’ wittiness and brutal yet funny delivery have encouraged users to engage and share the posts. According to its marketing team, Wendy’s not only tweets to be funny but also to highlight the quality of its products in the process.
While it may be tempting to tweet like Wendy’s, note that the tone and personality Wendy’s uses don’t fit every brand. Your best bet is to find your own brand voice, remain authentic in your tweets and stay consistent.
18. Take your followers on a virtual tour
Virtual tours are one of the most engaging ways to say, ‘Come visit us!’ That’s why cafes, hotels, restaurants and retail shops capitalize on this type of content.
Fortunately, you don’t need a fancy production to create a virtual tour.
DNA Norwich knows how to entice book enthusiasts with a shop tour via Instagram
You can start by staging and designing your place to be Instagram-friendly. In a photo-sharing world, shops that are nice to look at win by miles. This also encourages your customers to show off your shop/store to their friends on social media. That’s an added user-generated content drive!
Independent bookstore DNA Norwich attracted bookworms and book collectors after uploading a shop tour video on Instagram. The video shows a wide array of books, cozy reading nooks and a gallery of framed art pieces.
19. Celebrate holidays and quirky global events
It’s easy to fill up your social media calendar with major holidays. But did you know that there are quirky and unique global events that you can commemorate, too?
Among them are:
- National Bloody Mary Day
- National Soup Month
- National Squirrel Appreciation Day
These fun holidays are great when you’re feeling festive on not-so-major days. Check out National Today and see which international holidays to prepare content for. Or you can always make your own national event!
Eskort Food asks its users how they are celebrating National Hotdog Day via Twitter
Eskort Food is known for its hotdogs, among others. To further its popularity, the brand made its own #EskortNationalHotdogDay. Eskort Food encouraged its Twitter followers to use the designated hashtag and share photos of how they enjoy Eskort Food hotdogs. Soon, the brand’s loyal customers were posting their delicious versions of Eskort hotdog sandwiches.
Promote your products or services
20. Announce discounts, social media contests and giveaways
Data shows that brands who launched giveaways and contests on Instagram increased engagement on the platform by tenfold. So why not follow in their footsteps and share your promotions on social media?
Huck Magazine launch a competition on their IG channel to engage users and gain a larger readership
While you’re at it, amplify your reach and encourage your followers to generate content for you by integrating them into your giveaway and contest mechanics. For example, you can require them to share your post on their feed, tag friends, or upload their photos with your product to qualify.
21. Brand x Brand collaboration
Two brands are better than one!
For one, you get to boost your customer base as you receive additional exposure from your partner’s content and vice versa. Brands that collaborate also create better and bigger social media campaigns. And you get to share knowledge and perspectives on how to strengthen your social media strategy.
Tap into your network and see which non-competing brand complements what you offer. For instance, if you have a dog grooming business, you may want to partner with a reputable animal clinic or a pet hotel.
Pepa Mood and Dada Light create unique home decor as seen on their feed via Instagram
You can also explore creating co-branded products, like what Pepa Mood and Dada Light did. Pepa Mood, an artist who creates illustrations, partnered with home decor shop Dada Light. Both brands collaborated in making a lighthouse box home decor that features the artist’s illustrations, which they shared on social media.
22. Sponsor micro-influencer posts
You don’t need to splurge on a major influencer to promote your brand. In fact, many companies think that micro-influencers (less than 50,000 followers) deliver more impact.
This is because today’s buyers put great value on authenticity. As a result, they deem micro-influencers to be more honest when promoting brands than more prominent influencers who may be promoting brands just for the money.
While it may be tempting to go for the micro-influencer with the most followers to squeeze your investment’s worth, we suggest prioritizing micro-influencers who resonate with your customers and really use your products instead.
Lauren showcases Ambassade Hotel via Instagram
Amsterdam-based Ambassade Hotel collaborated with micro-influencer Lauren Carey. Lauren’s IG page, @giirlgoneabroad, features photos of her travels to other countries, making her the right pick for the job because many of her followers are also avid travelers who are on the lookout for accommodation tips and advice. Lauren gave a hotel tour and its beautiful amenities in her sponsored post, which received plenty of engagement.
23. Build excitement with product teaser posts
Are you about to launch a new product?
Leverage the power of social media and build hype before your launch via teaser posts. Teaser posts leave your followers excited and curious about what’s to come. There is no standard period on how advanced your teasers should be released. Your best bet is to assess your product and its market demand.
For example, launching teaser posts for products that cost thousands of dollars, like phones or cars, should be done months before the official product launch. By the time it is out, interested buyers most likely have their funds and are ready to buy.
But if you have more affordable and in-demand products, you can release teaser ads at least a week before the product launch to create momentum. Eco-Kawayan posted this teaser ad on Facebook that revealed just enough information to create a buzz. It hinted at what type of product would be launched soon and included a hashtag that could help merge content for the product launch.
Eco-Kawayan provides a glimpse of its latest product via Facebook
For example, Eco-Kawayan released this teaser ad on Facebook that revealed just enough information to create a buzz. The post hinted at what type of product would be launched soon and included a hashtag that could help merge content for the product launch.
Although, Eco-Kawayan could have come up with a hashtag that is unique to the brand and memorable.
Amplify your social cause
24. Support a social cause you care about
Aside from donating to your favorite NGOs and local causes, how about bringing awareness to them through social media?
Ask for consent from the NGO or other organization that causes you support and repost it on your brand’s social media feed. r consider creating a corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign in collaboration with them. Running a CSR campaign increases social awareness and encourages your followers to participate in your initiatives.
A great model for running CSRs is the furniture brand Joybird. Joybird is a strong advocate for using environmentally friendly materials in creating its products. It also partners with NGO One Tree Planted to help plant trees across the globe.
Joybird furthers its efforts in saving the planet by partnering with One Tree Planted as shared on Instagram
Joybird actively uses Twitter and Instagram to campaign for its causes and influences its followers to do the same. In its recent update, the brand says it will plant a tree for every like that its IG post receives. A proof that you don’t need an extravagant campaign to support your cause.
25. Let your brand speak on social issues
Gone are the days when companies strived hard to disassociate themselves from controversial social issues. As consumers increasingly realize how brands can impact society, they expect brands to participate and join social discussions.
Carefully weigh in on how your brand can speak out on social issues while protecting your business interest. It helps to go back to your brand’s core and discern which social issues align with your values, company culture and community.
Cotton On, a clothing brand, makes a stand for equality through its #BlackLivesMatter statement via Facebook
Finally, strive to do something beyond social media posts. Donate to charities. Or host events, virtual or on-site, that educate others. The end goal is not to ride on the trend but to contribute to positive change.
BLK & Bold is an African-American owned coffee brand, vocal about its support for the underrepresented youth. Over the years, it has partnered with several non-profits that have youth-centric programs that aim to keep them out of the streets and help them get out of poverty, abuse, etc. The brand supports these initiatives by giving 5% of its total profit to them.
BLK & Bold amplifies its calls for helping at-risk youth in its video uploaded on YouTube
As part of BLK & Bold’s Give Boldly campaign, the brand released a video on YouTube spreading awareness about the positive impact that its patrons make on the youth community just by purchasing BLK & Bold products. It also encouraged its followers to give more support to organizations that actively champion sustainable impact on society’s future.
Create eye-catching social media content
While these social media content ideas can help keep your creative juices flowing, not all ideas will work for you. Expect to conduct tons of experiments to see what type of content your audience responds to.
Having a strategic social media plan in place that is backed with data is also a crucial aspect of your marketing. Without it, you may find yourself in an endless loop of churning social media content that does not achieve results or move you closer to your goals.
Equip yourself with the necessary tools and resources to manage your brand’s social media. Then, top it off by getting the help you need in creating eye-catching social media content.
Author: Rhalyn Claire Maske
