When it comes to marketing your business, everyone can agree that in 2022 every business should have a presence on social media. But social media marketing is challenging. It takes time. It takes experience. And sometimes, it feels like your efforts aren’t working. Today, we’re sharing 35 social media content ideas for boosting engagement.
Social media marketing is one of the best ways to grow your small business because it allows you to develop a relationship with your followers – a relationship that could one day lead to a sale.
Consider these stats from Sprout Social:
With statistics like this, it’s no wonder that 96 percent of small businesses report that they use social media in their marketing strategy.
That said, it’s not uncommon for small business owners to wonder if their social media efforts are working at all when they see no likes, shares, or comments on their posts.
This article is all about fixing that.
In it, we’ll share 35 social media content ideas that will help you boost engagement on your business’s social media pages.
Let’s go!
In a nutshell, social media engagement is when followers and prospects interact with your business on social media.
This includes likes, shares, comments, and clicks on your business posts and tags and mentions in their posts.
Having a large follower count is great, but it means nothing if your audience isn’t engaging with you. When they engage and have positive interactions with your business, you grow the know-like-trust factor that can lead to a purchase.
This means that a small number of engaging followers is much more valuable than a large follower count of silent people.
So how do you boost social media engagement on your business’s social media pages? We’ve got 35 content ideas you can try now!
When it comes to creating social media content that will boost engagement, it’s important to keep in mind that the QUALITY of your posts is much more important than the quantity of posts.
We are sharing a huge list of 35 ideas to try – don’t try to execute them all in the next week!
We’ve broken the ideas up into categories:
It’s best to review the list, choose a few of your favorite strategies, and work on coming up with quality posts related to these ideas.
By trying one or two strategies a week and measuring the results, you’ll be able to see what works best for your audience.
These general social media content ideas and strategies are the basis of good social media marketing.
The #1 rule of social media marketing is consistency. If your social media pages go quiet for weeks or months, your followers won’t engage because they’re not sure if anyone is there. For social media marketing to work, you need to develop consistency in your blogging and social media posting.
To aid in this, consider creating a schedule. This will give you more time to look at the big picture of your social media marketing plan and more time to engage with your followers.
The timing of your social media posts matters! We researched this subject in this article and discovered the best posting times for each social media platform. Use these times as a guideline, then play around to see what works best for your audience.
Videos are delivering the best engagement metrics across social media platforms. So, you need to be in the video game.
For best results, create videos on social media based on trending content. Assign a person on your team to be on “trend watch” and keep an eye out on TikTok and Instagram for the latest trends. Then jump on board by creating a video that puts a twist on the trend and shows your brand’s personality.
Photos work well, too – although they should not be a substitute for video content. You need a healthy mix of video and photo content for good engagement on social media.
When using photos, consider creating a carousel, which helps you tell a story and allows your followers to stay on your content as they swipe through multiple images.
If you want your audience to engage with you, state it in your social media post with a clear call to action that tells them what you want them to do next. Do you want them to like the post? Add a comment? Click a link? Something else? Tell them!
No one wants to follow a dry, boring social media page. Give people a reason to follow by showing off your unique brand personality.
Not sure what your brand personality is? Answer this…if your brand were a person, what would they sound like, what would they talk about, and what would their style be? Figure that out, and then write every post from that perspective. Make sure to weave in other branding elements in your posts, including your colors, font, logo, etc.
One final ‘basic’ social media marketing idea is to encourage your employees to have a social media presence and list you as their current employer in their bio. When followers search for your company, they’ll see some of the real faces behind the business.
These social media content ideas revolve around showing your expertise and positioning yourself as an expert in your area.
As we mentioned before, every small business needs not only a website, but also a blog. You’ll have plenty of content to share with your audience on social media by having a blog. Share new posts, share older posts to share your expertise, and push more people back to your website.
There are a lot of excellent content repurposing strategies that allow you to share your content without it getting stale. For example, you can take a blog post and turn it into a series of video tips, create some cool images, grab quotes and statistics, etc.
You can use social media to answer common questions you get from customers. What questions does your customer service center get most frequently? What questions do people have about your topic or area of expertise?
Make a list and use this to create social media content your followers are curious about. You can even create an “Ask Us Anything!” post where you solicit questions from your audience that you will answer in future posts or through a live event.
Your social media pages should not be about “me, me, me.” When creating social media content, think about the topics your audience cares about and questions they have, then find content on other pages to share with them. This will make you known to your followers as an expert who shares good information, not just self-promotion.
A lead magnet is a great way to build your email list while offering something interesting and valuable to your prospects. If you have a lead magnet, promote it regularly on your social media platforms, directing followers to a landing page to sign up to get their freebie.
If you need help creating an effective lead magnet, get a copy of our interactive ebook, The Ultimate Guide to Creating and Promoting Lead Magnets, to make the process fun and simple!
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Many people are multi-tasking as they scroll through the social media feed, and they aren’t always wanting to get involved in longer pieces of content. You can keep it short and sweet by creating fun facts, tips, or other tidbits of information that your followers will find interesting. You can even make it an ongoing thing by creating a series of these mini-posts to be released regularly.
We’re focusing on social media content ideas to boost engagement because social media is a public space that can generate buzz and interest in your business. However, the ultimate goal is to bring that engagement from social media into the person’s inbox by inviting them to join your email list.
Promote your newsletter periodically on your social media pages to get new sign-ups. As mentioned in #12, one of the best ways to build your list is through lead magnets.
Going on the trend of video popularity, one way you can share your knowledge with your followers is by creating how-to videos. Record a quick video that shows people how to do something related to your product or your area of expertise, and post it with a clear and concise headline that will capture attention and make people want to watch.
People love to be on the cutting edge of what is new and hip. If you have a new product or service coming out, share a teaser to give your fans a taste of what is to come.
These social media content ideas promote positive interactions between your followers and your business.
Questions are a fun way to get to know your followers and can help you improve your marketing and products. Make sure to ask questions that your followers care about so they are interested in commenting.
Although you can just type a question out and post it, consider adding an eye-catching image or creating a poll to make it quick and easy to participate. This page has instructions for making polls on various social media platforms, and if you’re looking for some potential questions to ask, check out this huge list.
Want to encourage social media engagement? Engage with those who engage with you first! Whether someone mentions your company, shares a review of your product, or something else, you can thank them and recognize them using the @ mention.
Knock, knock. Anybody home? Why would anyone want to engage with your business if it looks and feels like the company isn’t engaging back? This is why responding to comments should be a priority of your social media strategy, no matter what you post.
Let people know you are there and care about their feedback and mentions. Although you can use the ‘like’ button in a hurry, it is best to post a short comment, even if it is just ‘thank you!’
User-generated content, or UGC, is content created by your customers, employees, or brand loyalists and shared on their own social media pages–then reshared by you. It could take the form of an ‘unboxing’ video, a product photo, a review, or a testimonial. By resharing this content, you, in the words of Hootsuite, “take authenticity to the next level.” Check out this article to learn more and get started with user-generated content.
Giveaways and contests always get a lot of buzz on social media. If you are giving away something, just make sure it is something specific to your business or area that only your target customer will be interested in. This ensures that you get engagement from the right prospects. For example, a $100 Amazon gift card is enticing, but it will attract EVERYONE, not just your target audience.
Challenge your audience to do something for a short period (5 days, one week, 30 days, etc.). Guide them along the journey with new, short content each day via email and on your social media pages. To learn more about running challenges, check out these tips from Stu McLaren.
Another way to get comments and responses from your followers is to create short posts that encourage them to fill in the blank with their answers. For example, “My favorite way to relax after a long hard day is ____.” When choosing fill in the blanks, make sure to select those that are relevant for your business and followers and also questions that can be answered quickly.
‘This or That’ means a post that gives people two choices and asks them to select one. For example, iced coffee or hot coffee?
The topic can be anything, but the best ones will relate to your business somehow. To make it even easier, use the poll function to make it effortless to participate. You can also make This or That a regular feature to break up your usual stories of products and promotions. For example, a bridal store may do a weekly This or That dress poll every Friday. It is fun, but it’s also a sneaky way to get insight into what your customers like and don’t like.
These social media content ideas allow you to have more fun with your business social media page.
Talking about current events on your social media pages is a way to stay relevant and post about topics everyone else is talking about. One fun way to do this is to add ‘unofficial holidays’ to your social media marketing plan.
Check out how to do it in our Official Guide to Unofficial Holiday Marketing. Make it even easier by grabbing our free resource that lists over 2500 holidays, The Complete Calendar of Marketing Holidays.
People want to do business with people they know and trust. So share content that shares more about your business. Introduce them to your employees. Shoot a behind-the-scenes video. Snap a picture at your next company meeting or event. These social media posts increase engagement because they spotlight the human element behind your business.
Collaborating with complementary businesses, influencers, and others is a great way to boost engagement on your social media pages. Find a clever way to collaborate to expand your reach and generate new leads.
For example, you may hold a webinar together, a live event, run a special promotion, collaborate on an article, ebook, etc. For tips on collaboration, check out this article.
Inspirational and motivational quotes often get a high level of engagement on social media sites. By creating an eye-catching image with a few words of text, you are sure to ‘stop the scroll’ long enough for your follower to read and engage with a ‘like.’ Choose quotes that are relevant to your business, and include company branding on the images you create and share.
Memes and GIFs are popular on social media because they catch people’s attention and give them a reason to stop for a minute (and hopefully, smile, laugh, and like). You can also add memes and GIFs to your business social media pages; just make sure to choose relevant ones for your company and audience.
If you experience a significant achievement, reach a milestone, or receive an award, tell your followers about it and ask them to celebrate with you. You may also tie it in with a special limited-time promotion of your product or service when appropriate.
These social media content ideas help you take advantage of useful features of social media platforms.
By using hashtags on social media platforms, you are making your post searchable for those interested in that specific hashtag. You can use many tools to research the best hashtags for your business.
In addition, you can also use the search feature to search for popular hashtags on each of the platforms and engage with other posts, people, and brands who are using them.
Your social media marketing strategy should have a plan for monitoring mentions of your company and products. This will allow you to stay updated with what people are saying about your company and how you are being perceived.
When you find mentions, you can use some of the other strategies mentioned in this article–for example, engage with these comments, and mention the person who posted or repost as user-generated content.
Live video is hot right now, and every small business owner should make a point to try it. You can go live to share information about your business/products, answer customers’ questions, or talk about a subject that your followers are interested in.
Whatever it is, make the topic of your live session CLEAR so customers know what they can look forward to. To boost anticipation, put a countdown sticker to your live session on your platform so that people can add it to their calendar. When it’s over, you can save the video and reshare it later.
Another way to boost social media engagement is to create and promote an event for your audience. You can build a landing page or create an event page on Facebook, or both.
You may also use the countdown sticker function on Instagram that we talked about above. In addition to your events, consider promoting events from others in your industry or in your community (if you are a local business) that your audience may be interested in.
While most of the social media content ideas we have shared aim to boost engagement on your organic page, sometimes you get what you pay for. If you want to supercharge engagement, consider running an ad or boosting a post that is doing well.
Social media advertising is positioned around getting a specific type of engagement you are looking for. So, whether you want to increase your followers, boost website visitors, or get more views on your video, an ad can help you do it.
Now you have 35 social media content ideas for boosting engagement on your business’s social media pages!
As we mentioned before, engagement is always about QUALITY OVER QUANTITY, so don’t let this list overwhelm you.
Choose one or two ideas that you like and get started today by creating quality social media posts around that idea. Next week, repeat what worked and experiment with new ideas.
Over time, you will find what works best for your audience. After all, boosting engagement comes down to giving your followers more of what they want and carefully coordinating positive experiences with your brand.
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