10 New Content Ideas for Your Social Media Marketing

Author: Kaitlyn Partington Category: B2B, B2C, E-commerce & Retail, Marketing, Nonprofit, Social Media & Digital Date: January 26, 2017

Coming up with a social media content calendar can add organizational benefits to your marketing strategy. While you may be able to piece together a social media campaign, the specific social media post ideas can be a creative challenge sometimes. Your goal is to create an engaging social media platform where your followers and supporters not only view your posts, but also communicate back to you by way of commenting, ‘likes,’ re-tweets, or shares. This engagement not only tells you that your followers are out there “listening,” but engagement leads to a viral outreach. It increases your viewership exponentially if done right. Additionally, on many platforms, it will boost your odds that your posts show up in some people’s feeds. Social media platforms use algorithms to determine the most relevant, highest quality content to show in each person’s feed. If you aren’t offering engaging content, then your content can be missed altogether. If a social media post falls in the woods and no one can see it…did it actually happen?

So, how do you increase your social media engagement? You know what you want to talk about, but how do you talk about it? What is the best way to keep readers listening, engaged and tuned in?

10 Content Ideas for Posting on Social Media

1. Behind-the-scenes photos. In our new Social Media Calendar download tool, you will see we include “behind-the-scenes” photos as an option for social media posts. These are generally candid shots of your business, employees, workspace, and more. It brings life to your organization and keeps it personal.
2. Questions. Asking basic, simple, one-word-answer questions can actually increase your engagement. When people are scrolling through their feed and they see a simple question that they can answer in one word, they are more likely to read and respond. It is imperative you keep it short. Too much to read and readers will keep on scrolling.
3. Infographics. Paradigm Marketing and Design is a big fan of infographics. You’re taking content that you want to share, whether it is statistics or lists or other text, and designing it into an image. Using graphics is more visually appealing and infographics are actually the most socially shared form of content.
4. Controversial blog links. You want to know how to get engagement? Post something that is controversial. It does not have to be something that you or your team wrote. It can be something you found online, written by someone else, but is charging. Make a short comment or ask a question, but a controversial blog post is sure to get some feedback. Of course, this is up to you and your business as to what kind of content you want to share.
5. Share a favorite book. Before you do this, know your audience! It is imperative that you know your audience before you share anything because if you share something that your audience is not interested in, then you’ve lost them. If you can pinpoint what their interests are, then sharing your favorite book, in that category, will intrigue them. You may be thanked, or start a discussion.
6. Share Random Tips. These tips can be related to your business, industry or products/services, but it can also be a tip that your audience would also find useful. Again, it’s important to know your audience before you share anything.
7. Ask for advice. This is similar to a straight question, but you’re going to get the more involved/engaged followers to respond with in-depth responses. You should be asking something useful, honest, and genuine. Do not just ask for advice simply to get comments on your page.
8. Post a Video Testimonial. You’re not only showing your followers/readers that you have happy clients, but the clients have a face, a name, and can show their enthusiasm and personality through a video. Plus, videos have a higher engagement rate than text or photos.
9. Hold a Photo Contest. Paradigm Marketing and Design held a photo contest a couple years back and it was a wild success! What were we voting for? It was a charity contest. Regardless of the industry you work in, you’ll be surprised how creative you can get with a photo contest.
10. “Caption this.” Post a candid photo, either a behind-the-scenes one or something from an event you recently attended. Ask your readers to ‘caption this.’ You’ll get a kick out of the creative responses and it’s almost guaranteed engagement!

Now, these are just ten ideas for social media content posts. There are hundreds more that you can probably think of. We’ll share a few more of our favorites in the next few weeks. And, don’t forget to download our Social Media Calendar Tool from our Resources section. If you have any questions at all, you can contact us at info@paradigm-md.com or (973) 250-4995.