What Should My Business Post on Social Media?

I’m sure you hear it over and over again –post regularly on social media to leverage the power of your following, create brand ambassadors and increase your company’s name recognition online. Posting to social media is one thing, but publishing strategically and sharing the right content is another beast entirely. For those who are unsure what to post, this article provides some helpful ideas that can get your creative juices flowing.

8 Challenges of Creative Content Marketing

It isn’t easy to come up with fresh, new and exciting ideas for your business day in and day out. As Jeff Bullas mentions, there are eight main challenges that can be barriers to your content marketing plan. They are:

1. Finding inspiration and ideas for the content
2. Creating it
3. Making it relevant
4. Resourcing it
5. Managing it
6. Monitoring it
7. Measuring it
8. Making it “liquid” and contagious

As CoSchedule continues, the most important questions to ask yourself when determining if content is a good fit are:

1. What’s in it for my audience?
2. Would I click on this?
3. Is this relevant to my business?

Without a solid plan, like creating, drafting and scheduling your posts at least a week at a time, this can feel overwhelming to the average busy business owner. To really shine, you might have to step outside your comfort zone.

World Creativity and Innovation Day: April 21^st

This upcoming April 21^st is known as World Creativity and Innovation Day, so why not think outside the box for your content marketing strategy? According to DaysOfTheYear.com, “Creativity and innovation are beneficial in every walk of life, and every career. From those in customer service finding ways to improve their customers’ experience, scientists whose every work day is filled with learning new things about the world and finding new ways to apply it, to politicians who could use their creativity to find new ways to solve problems and aid the public. World Creativity and Innovation Day encourages everyone to imagine a different world with different solutions.”

Want to reimagine the world of your business? Here are 11 excellent ideas for what to post next.

11 Creative Content Marketing Ideas

1. Create Instagram Stories

Have you noticed that Instagram has a new feature? The photo sharing platform has instituted Instagram Stories, which allow users to share more than one photo at once and live video, in the form of a story that lasts for 24 hours. This is an awesome opportunity for brands to take advantage of, because it allows you to share more content marketing material without clogging up customers’ newsfeeds and appearing spammy. It also allows you to create a “story” for each day, which is a great place to highlight current specials or happenings at your company.

While viewing an Instagram Story, users can send the creator a direct message easily through the app, which makes it easy for customers to contact you. If you turn this option on, remember to have a social media point person assigned to monitoring for fan engagement, because the average customer won’t wait long for a response.

2. Offer a Tip of the Day

While you wouldn’t give away all of your company’s secrets, there is great value in dangling a carrot! Try sharing a Tip of the Day related to your industry to showcase your expertise for your customers. While you don’t want to give away too much free information, there is a fine line to walk. For example, if you’re the author of a cookbook, try sharing a tip about boiling the perfect pasta, but refrain from sharing the recipe for your spaghetti bolognaise (because they’ll have to buy your cookbook for that!)

3. Prepare a Top 10 List

Curated content is another great option to share on social media, especially when you are feeling some writer’s block. There is tons of fantastic content on the internet, so take a research day and dive into the ins and outs of your industry. Compile these into a blog post (adding an introduction, conclusion and your own commentary), then share it with your followers on social media. This helps establish you as a thought leader, and shows that you are always learning.

4. Share a Video Demonstration

Some business’ products are hard to explain using words and pictures. If this is the case for your company, try a more dynamic approach. Create an interesting video demonstration of your product or hold a Facebook Live session where you can answer customer questions. This helps shake things up, keeping your content marketing approach fresh and fun.

5. Start Interviews and Podcasts

According to Medium, “As of 2015, the percentage of Americans who have listened to podcasts in the past week has increased to 17 percent, and that amount is only expected to increase. Allowing users to listen to information while on the go is just another way to get your content out there in a unique way so you can meet your customers where they are and make it easy for them to access information.”

6. Ask Your Followers a Question

Similar to sharing a Tip of the Day, why not ask a Question of the Week? This not only engages your followers and brings them into your world, but it also offers you a valuable opportunity to get into their heads and collect data about their needs and behaviors. For example, ask them what their favorite TV shows are so you get a sense for their preferences and sense of humor, or ask if they have suggestions for improvement on any of your products.

7. Predict Future Industry Trends

Do you have a great idea about a cutting edge new trend in your industry? Share it with the world! Create a blog post that details your predictions and share the link on your social media channels. Encourage your fans and followers to add their two cents, and encourage comments on your website. This will help build your business’ credibility as an industry thought leader.

8. Showcase Your Company’s Culture

If you and your team members have fun, be sure to show it! Besides allowing customers a peek into your world, it can help them see you as a trustworthy figure who is passionate about your business. Do you have casual Fridays or company picnics in the summertime? What about allowing dogs in your workplace? Whatever it is that makes you unique, be sure to share some behind-the-scenes images.

9. Take Advantage of Unique Holidays

Ever wonder where people find out that it’s National Clean Up Your Desk Day or World Creativity and Innovation Day? There are many sites where you can learn about obscure holidays, including DaysOfTheYear.com. Take a look on a monthly basis and identify which holidays would make sense for your business to participate in. These can include business, customer-centric dates or fun holidays for increasing team building and morale. For example, the Three Girls team recently took part in last week’s National Grilled Cheese Day, and our Office Greeter Effy got in on the action!

10. Repurpose Company Blog Posts

If your business doesn’t yet have a blog, you should. Blogging has countless benefits for your company, including:

• Marketers who blog experience 67 percent more leads than those who don’t
• Writing 21-54 blog posts can increase your company’s website traffic by 30 percent
• Websites with blogs have 434 percent more indexed pages (which helps search engines find your site and boosts SEO efforts) and 97 percent more inbound links
• Blog posts that are shared on Twitter and Facebook receive 149 percent more inbound links than those not shared on social media
• Blogs are 63 percent more likely to influence purchase decisions than magazines

Once you’ve dedicated time to blogging (or asked a company like Three Girls Media to do so on your behalf), you’ll want to promote those posts to increase their mileage. Take small sections of the posts and share them on social media, linking back to your blog, or take a fact and statistic and turn it into a question to increase your follower engagement.

11. Share About Your Community Involvement

Another great way to raise visibility is to showcase your community involvement on social media. People love connecting with brands that feel human and genuinely care about giving back. For example, you could host a local park or stream clean up. If you take this route, just make sure to get permission from the city first. An extra way to boost your company’s name recognition is to invest in shirts that have your company’s name printed on them and include your logo, website URL and social media handles. If your community service initiatives are extensive, share the news! Contact local members of the press to let them know about your community involvement!