The online connoisseur needs constant feeding. Since you’re the chef, having good quality ingredients can turn your mediocre posts into sensational ones.
In other words, you’re a social media content creator needing some fresh spin.
Every social media content creator has been there. Everyone has gotten distracted scrolling through all the clever concepts that other social media masters are producing.
Time to buckle up and get your fingers at the ready!
Here are some tried and tested social media content ideas that you can steal and customize to suit your brand.
Never get sidetracked or uninspired again. Refer to this list and make each of these social media content ideas your own.
15 Killer Social Media Content Ideas You Can Try
1. Produce Episodes for a Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Series
This is a great format when you need social media content ideas that can sustain themselves over a longer period.
Develop an idea that has legs…or wings.
A broad concept that can be broken down into easily digestible chunks and then delivered in a series to your viewers.
This series can be educational, where you dissect and look deeper into a serious topic.
Or can be light-hearted and full of fun.
Take inspiration from a great campaign series by dating platform Bumble, which aimed to do both.
Collaborating with popular content creators from Europe, Bumble threw them into various dating scenarios.
It’s titled “Date with Better Answers’’. The goal was to help people connect more authentically and share their personal interests or hobbies.
Bumble even had TikTok users contribute questions and suggestions, which helped to drive up engagement.
Another great example is Moz’s #WhiteboardFriday series.
Every Friday, a team member from Moz uses a whiteboard to explain an SEO-related tactic, concept, or topic.
This educational series is excellent for their target audience, who want to keep up with everything SEO, and keeps them coming back every week!
2. Host a Good Old Fashioned Challenge
Challenges can get you more mileage than a lot of other social media content ideas.
Find a quirky challenge that suits your brand or business personality and run with it.
You can challenge other companies and help drum up some healthy competition.
For example, the Getty Museum devised a challenge to art lovers everywhere to recreate a piece of work using materials from home.
During the pandemic, this challenge exploded in popularity on social media.
It was successful because it was fun and appealed to viewers’ sense of humor. Also, it was a wonderful opportunity for bored people at home to tap into their individuality and inner artiste!
3. Instructional Video Social Media Content Ideas
These videos have become the norm for any brand wanting to educate its customers.
Instructional videos give your followers useful information about your product or business.
They can highlight:
- a process
- an issue
- a product
- a promotion
There are various forms these videos can take:
- long instructional video – showing how a process gets completed
- slideshows – containing graphs, statistics, and instructions
- infographics – data that illustrates a problem
- behind the scenes – how the sausage gets made
- guest post-social commentary interview with an industry leader
A good example is when Wistia taught their followers how to shoot a DSLR camera for video.
They’re a company that provides tools for entrepreneurs and social media influencers to build their brand and business with video.
In this video, they taught their followers to shoot everything from white balance to shutter speed.
4. Post Some Relatable Memes
If it’s not a meme, it’s not real commentary, is it?
Scary but true.
Our flippant fast-devouring culture likes humor that is hard-hitting but funny.
Memes are a constant source of social media content ideas. You can share a popular meme but it’s so much better to make your own…it could go viral.
There are many brands with an exceptional social media meme game.
It’s a great way to make content that your followers can enjoy, share, and relate to.
Just take a look at Chipotle, for example.
They know how to put their product in the spotlight and send a clear message with their memes.
5. Do an AMA (Ask Me Anything)
These important social media posts started on Reddit.
But their popularity has spread across other social media platforms.
Originally text-based, where your followers and the public could ask you questions, the trend has now moved to live video and chats.
This informal form of an interview may be nerve-wracking at first. But it’s a great way to maintain your credibility and allows your followers to really get to know you.
In the modern world, fake news and information are being generated at an alarming rate. Viewers, fans, and followers appreciate getting their knowledge straight from the horse’s mouth.
Barack Obama’s Reddit AMA landed up being one of the most popular in Reddit history.
He answered a hard-hitting question that covered student debt, unemployment, and campaign finance.
But, he also had some fun touching on subjects like basketball and music.
Remember, when doing an AMA it’s important to be completely honest, prepared with your facts, and have a good sense of humor.
Congenial exchange with your followers or customers can often lead to even more interest in whatever you represent.
6. Poll Your Audience
Polls are all the rage in politics but are seeping over into business marketing.
They allow your followers to vote about an idea, concept, new product, or marketing path.
Showing results immediately, followers receive instant gratification for their voting contribution.
It also gives you a visual insight into how many followers or potential customers are interacting with your brand.
Krispy Kreme did a poll to market a new release. They asked their customers what their favorite Krispy Kreme mini donut was in a Twitter poll.
This was a super fun way of getting feedback from their followers.
7. Share Content For A Good Cause
Collaboration is the name of the game in social media. That means sharing relevant social media content ideas from other users, industry insiders, and communities.
It is always good to cross-pollinate your brand.
And sharing is caring, after all.
Brands that use their social media platforms for good are especially rewarded.
So, share and highlight social justice organizations and NGO causes.
Take a big brand like Levis, for example. One of their campaigns highlighted a small issue-focused organization in South Africa.
Levis’ Do Good, Feel Good campaign teamed up with Clothes 2 Good charity, which upcycle and redistribute clothing to local entrepreneurs.
Levis shared Clothes 2 Good on their Facebook to their millions of followers. And, they also combined this social media content idea with a 20% discount for their customers if they donated.
Showing support for a good cause makes your brand more human. It shows that you care about others, which will positively reflect on your brand image and encourage people to buy from you.
8. Use Stories
Stories started on Instagram and soon spread to Facebook and Twitter amongst others.
They work on auto-play for around 15 seconds each and are a good way to draw your followers or customers into your brand and create awareness
Stories are not affected by social media algorithms. Thus, they are an almost exclusive enclave for your actual followers.
Social media users love watching stories so it works as an extra mini platform on top of your main feed.
Most stories are only available for 24 hours, so you can also be more daring in your approach. Or, you can post those extra pictures of your products that don’t quite make the cut for your more official feed.
Stories are so versatile. You can use them for practically anything.
Your followers can ask questions, you can answer. You can use them for storytelling with a series of posts. The options are endless.
There are many brands that use the Story feature on social media to its full potential. And using it well can mean more engagement and better, stronger customer relationships.
Glossier is one example of a brand that uses Stories to connect with its highly engaged audience. They post Question and Answer series, tutorials, quizzes, reposts from their users, and more.
9. Giveaways, Contests, and Special Offers
Giveaways and special offers are a great way to win friends and gain more followers.
It is also an opportunity for you to reward people for supporting you or your business.
There are a few types of offers you can post:
- discounts on shipping
- limited time offers
- invites to special online demo sessions
- product release specials
- exclusive special bundles of your products
- presale launches exclusive to social media followers
For giveaways, get creative and shape a giveaway from the heart. This can celebrate a milestone in your business or a special event or person.
These posts are especially punchy when you do them around the holiday season. Or you can make it more specific and give followers and customers a give-away on a special day.
Here, Anderson Pens’ asks their followers to vote on their favorite pen and stand a chance to win a sample pack.
Another example is Wayfair. They ran an Instagram contest where they asked their followers to tag them and use a specific hashtag for a chance to win a $250 gift card.
These types of posts are an excellent way to gain some instant engagement as well as some new followers that may stick around after the giveaway or special offer is over.
10. Posts with Questions
You don’t always have to go full-on interview or AMA mode. Sometimes, the smallest of queries from your side of the social media exchange can yield big results.
These kinds of posts are especially useful in finding out where your customer’s or followers’ heads are at.
Open-ended questions can center around:
- Major national or global events, like the pandemic, where you can gauge your viewers’ emotional state and spread positive supportive messages.
- New product launches.
- A recent webinar or AMA, to see how successful it went.
- A specific aspect of your product or brand, like a new application or new service offering.
- Call to action to participate in a contest or online survey.
- Asking your followers for a product review you can use on other social media channels.
- Something silly and fun that you know your followers will relate to.
It can be as simple as asking your followers what they prefer between two options.
Take a look at this post by Breadbrand to see what we mean:
You can also use this idea to spark fun debates amongst your followers. For example, check out what MILO did with their #MILOHotvCold campaign.
11. Tap into Trending Topics
If you’re feeling lost for inspiration on what to post regarding your own products, services, or brand in general, why not tap into an already trending topic and enjoy some easy engagement?
You can get your followers’ opinions on various topics. Depending on the nature of the topic, it can spark an interesting debate in your comments section.
While you can post on more serious topics, it’s good to keep things lighthearted and fun so as to keep the trolls away.
Discussion posts often get shared amongst users that might not be followers of yours. This opens up your space to new viewers.
Take inspiration from this fun post from Chubbies, weighing in on how short is too short when it comes to men’s micro shorts.
12. Helpful DIY Content
Do-it-yourself posts are fun for viewers and followers. Here you provide actionable tips for users to put in place in their actual lives.
These posts are often saved and referred back to by viewers. They are the gift that keeps on giving.
Everybody wants to learn how to solve a problem or create something cool. These kinds of posts can be videos or graphic instructions.
DIY posts that work well usually add a time limit – like how to fix a broken tap in 5 minutes, for example.
DIY video ideas can be:
- Cooking-related (eg. sharing how to make Nutella icing)
- Crafting (eg. knitting a small furry bunny for Easter)
- Computer and internet related (eg. how to design a collage logo for your Facebook banner)
- Retail orientated (eg. how to find the best deals on XYZ platform)
IKEA are pros not only in the DIY installation of their products but also in quick DIY home decor videos.
Here they show how to fake an established garden nook in your home.
13. Social Media Take-Over for the Day
Every once in a while, it’s good to take a day off and hand over the keys to your social media car to someone else.
Here you trust another social media influencer, a celebrity, or even your mom to curate your social media channel for a short period.
Fans and hardcore followers of your brand or business love these posts.
It shows that you’re able to let go of the controls once in a while. And also adds spice to your timeline and content.
Whimsical posts generally do better with these kinds of posts – especially if the person you’re handing your account over to has a good sense of humor.
For example, Rachel Fujihara from Frosted Fuji Cakes did a 5 part post series on Wilton Cakes Decorating.
14. Show Your Support For “International Something Day ’’
This one is a guaranteed ‘like’ and new follower generator.
And the premise is so simple.
Do a Google search of popular social media days or made-up days. There are tons of them.
Create a hashtag or piggyback on that particular day’s popular hashtag.
It’s best here to find a unique angle.
If it’s a popular culture moment or just a cute day like “National Teddy Bear Day’’ you can adopt a fun, tongue-in-cheek approach.
On the other hand, social justice days are a way for you to convey a serious message about your brand or background.
As an example, for International Women’s Day, Greenpeace Africa took a poignant, hard-hitting look at the plight of women in society with a meme.
15. Don’t Be Afraid To Joke Around
Last, but not least, HAVE FUN engaging with your followers.
Reply to comments or tags with jokes and funny responses. Have a laugh with your customers.
We’re sure you’ve seen Wendy’s infamous Twitter posts. The brand is not afraid to roast its competitors and post savage comebacks to tweets about them.
It’s creative and refreshing to see from a brand on social media. At the same time, they are extremely responsive to customer queries, which is incredibly important for customer satisfaction.
Or take a look at how our CEO Chris M. Walker decides to bring out the bars and covers 50-Cents famous Candy Shop.
Final Thoughts
Whatever you decide for your daily posts, it’s always good to have a schedule where you prepare your social media content ideas for the week or month.
Use this list of the best social media content ideas you can steal and adapt them to your brand. This is bound to give you some inspiration to completely fill up your social media content calendar.
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