For a marketer, there’s nothing worse than struggling with a creative block. When you’re pressed to create on a deadline, but you just can’t think of something original for a post or campaign, it’s easy to fall into despair. In fact, that’s probably why you’re here. It’s okay, though. We all need some inspiration now and then to help us shake off the rust and get back to creating awesome stuff. If that sounds like something you need, scope out this enormous list of social media post ideas. There’s inspiration here to cover every social network, too. No matter where your audience is most active, you’re sure to find something you haven’t shown them before.
First, Here Are Some Super Useful Social Media Resources
If you’re going to succeed on social media, you need the right tools. These downloadable templates and resources will help you do something with the inspiration you’ll get from this post.
- Social Media Calendar Template: Plan all your posts ahead of time.
- How Often to Post On Social Media Infographic: Learn exactly how to map out your posting schedule.
- Social Media Strategy Checklist: Build out a comprehensive strategy for your social media content.
Or Become A Certified Social Media Strategist
Enroll in Actionable Marketing Institute’s Social Media Strategy Certification course to unlock exclusive video tutorials, templates, and even more tips to brainstorm more effective post ideas that will stop the scrollers & improve your engagement.
Earn your Social Media Strategy Certification today. This course is jam-packed with 6 lessons and 8 premium templates to help you create a more effective social strategy from ideas to measurement (and everything in between).
Not Sure Which Social Media Network to Choose?
Before posting to any social network, it’s worth considering how each one is used. Here’s a quick reference sheet:
How Do You Actually Put These Ideas Into Practice?
If you’re searching for social media ideas, you might be experiencing a few different problems:
- Lack of creative inspiration. Sometimes, you just don’t feel like you have anything kicking around in your head.
- Constant fire drills to find content to share. You might also be scrambling day-to-day to find enough content to share.
- Content that isn’t getting results. In this case, it might be time to try something you haven’t thought of before.
Sound relatable? Keep these solutions in mind:
Plan Ahead With a Social Media Calendar
The best way to keep social media posts organized is with a calendar. In fact, that’s why we’ve included a free calendar template in this post. Here are some of the benefits of using a calendar:
- They give your team full visibility into your social media schedule.
- They make it easier to plan posts ahead of time, and make sure you’re posting at the best times.
- They make it possible to plan content and social promotion in one place. No more switching between tabs and tools to map out your publishing schedule.
Plan Cohesive Campaigns
The best way to drive a message home is to build a complete campaign. Oftentimes, brands struggle to keep up with their social posting schedule because they’re too reliant on one-off posts. This makes staying organized difficult. Plus, it’s tough to always be writing posts on the fly without much thought ahead of time. Plan campaigns. These can be around:
- Campaigns to promote events.
- A series of posts promoting a single piece of content.
- A string of branded posts carrying a consistent message or hashtag.
Schedule Ad Hoc Posts
In addition to your planned campaigns, mix in some ad hoc posts. These are spontaneous one-off posts that aren’t necessarily connected to a broader campaign, but they still reinforce your overall brand message. This leaves some flexibility in your schedule — making it easier to react to trending topics and hashtags, which you can capitalize on for added brand exposure. With these three tips and all of the following ideas, you should have no trouble staying inspired and keeping your posting schedule full.
52 Content Ideas For Businesses to Post on Social Media
There’s an endless possibility of content to share on social media, but these are the types of content your audience will appreciate.
1. Your Company’s Blog Posts
Does your business have a blog? The best way to get your blog seen is to share it on your own social media platforms. You know it’s relevant to your business because it came from your business.
Be sure the content you’re writing for your business blog is valuable and will connect with your audience.
2. Posts Showing Your Company’s Culture
What better way to showcase your business than by sharing a culture post? A culture post is an image or article that highlights what your business is all about. It could be a behind-the-scenes image of your employees doing something quirky, or an article about how your business does something a certain way.
3. Industry News
In raw numbers, news articles get more social shares than any other type of article. Most businesses that produce content are focusing on deep, long-form content rather than as-it-happens breaking news. Create a list of news sources in your industry. This could include trade publications or websites. Then, find those sources on Twitter and follow them. When they share something interesting, retweet it to your followers or share it on another social network, like Facebook or Google+.
4. Curated Content
Content curation is simply sharing the content of others in your niche. Sometimes, the things you want to share with your audience have already been written. Rather than spending the time crafting an in-depth post, you can quickly share one that’s already been written (by giving them credit, of course). At CoSchedule, we use our handy-dandy Chrome Extension tool to help with our content curation. Here’s an example of a post we shared from Kissmetrics:
5. Question Posts
Not everything you share on social media has to be a blog post or article. Get your audience talking and engaging with one another by asking a burning question. For example, you could ask, “What sort of content should I blog about next?” It’s the best way to know what your audience really wants to read. Asking a fun question or creating a Twitter poll is a good way to get your audience’s insights.
6. Product/Company Videos
Visuals are eye-catching when your audience is scrolling through their news feed. It’s been proven time and time again that visuals help improve engagement, but what about videos? Research shows that videos have a 135% greater organic reach compared to photos. That’s a crazy high number. Take advantage of this organic reach opportunity by sharing videos about your company or a new product you have.
7. Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Does your company have dedicated fans? Let their voices be heard and share their thoughts on your social media. You can do this by retweeting their kind words or creating a graphic with their testimonial directly on it. Don’t forget to include their name/handle!
8. Quick Tips and Advice
Aside from sharing an entire “How to” post giving in-depth tips and advice, you can share a few tips that you think are the MOST important. Sharing a simple tidbit is an easy way to share valuable information with your audience. Here at CoSchedule, we call them “Pro Tips”.
9. Memes or GIFs
Aside from sharing images to your social media, you can use memes and GIFs when publishing your content. This adds a fun spin to your plain post and will be too irresistible for your audience to scroll past.
Memes and GIFs are extremely popular on social media, even among top companies. At CoSchedule, we’ve recently started using memes and GIFs on Twitter and have found that they receive far more likes and retweets than regular images.
10. Contest Posts
11. Holiday Posts
No matter where you live, holidays are a big deal. Show your holiday spirit by sharing a holiday-related post on your business page. Whether it be an image, video, or article, your audience will appreciate that your business has real people that also get excited about holidays! Starbucks is known for getting exceptionally excited during Christmas season.
12. Photos From Company Events
We discussed sharing culture posts that showcase your company’s personality, but you can take that a step further by sharing photos from a company event. If your business hosts a charity event or fundraiser, a great way to spread awareness is by sharing it on social media.
13. Post an Answer to a Commonly Asked Question
Are you receiving the same question over and over again from your audience? Instead of constantly responding to this question one by one, solve it once and for all by sharing a post with the answer.
Make sure to “pin” the answer to the top of your social media page, so your audience can easily see it. Here’s how to pin posts on Facebook and Twitter.
14. Share Infographics
Infographics are a fantastic way to show a step-by-step guide, especially on Pinterest (hello, DIY). Infographics allow you to share a ton of information with the use of visuals. They make boring statistics look appealing! Whether it be your own or a curated infographic, your audience will be drawn to the visual aspect and be sure to keep reading.
15. Start a Conversation With a Leader In Your Industry
Cross-promote yourself by getting your name out there. The best way to do this is to start a conversation with somebody in your niche. Twitter is a great way to start up a conversation your audience will see. Find an industry leader’s Twitter handle and make the first move! This presentation from Jay Baer explains the importance of connecting with influencers and how to find them.
16. Links to Free Resources
Who doesn’t love free stuff? Whether it be ebooks, white papers, or other downloadable content, your audience will appreciate the free resources. Put together a content bundle or a downloadable infographic, so your audience can use it for reference.
17. Podcast Episodes
Sometimes reading content can be time-consuming, so give your audience’s eyes a break and share a podcast episode. Even better; start your own! We recently started our own podcast and have had great success with it! We cover topics and challenges our audience faces. If you decide to start your own podcast, check out this post to help get you started.
18. New Job Listings
Is your team expanding? Let your audience know! Who better to work for your company than a dedicated fan who’s watched your company grow? Maybe they have a friend who would be interested in working for you. Be sure to list what positions are open, like Built Visible does in this example:
19. Hiring Announcements and New Team Members
After posting your job listing, you’re likely going to find the right candidate. Once you’ve found the right candidate(s), take it a step further and show them off to your audience. Let everyone know that you’re excited to have them be part of your team.
20. “On This Day In History” Posts
The Huffington Post shares “on this day in history” articles every day. Take this approach and use it in your own social media strategy. Find something interesting that happened in your town or city, and let your audience know! You can also share “National Day” posts. Check out NationalCalendarDay.com to find things like National Coffee Day — and tons of other days you probably never knew existed — and create some posts for ones relevant to that day.
21. Event Promotion
If an event happens and nobody hears about it, did it really happen? You can create an Event Page on Facebook to make your event feel more personable to your audience. Then promote the heck out of it on your social media channels!
22. Live Videos
Live videos have become huuuuge on social media recently. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, AND Snapchat have options for going live. Find the right platform that works best for you and where you will get the most views from your audience. Try to make it a weekly video. For instance, “Tip Tuesday” or “Fun Fact Friday”. This way your audience will be sure to tune in on those days.
23. Promote Email Sign-Ups
If you want your audience to attend a webinar or demo, you’ll need to let them know by promoting the sign-up link on social media. Promote signup forms for webinars, demos, email newsletters, and so forth.
24. Image Scrambles
You’ll have your audience scratching their heads in no time when you post image scrambles. Image scrambles can be posts where an image is scrambled up or zoomed in, so your audience has to guess what it is. This is a great way to get engagement from your audience. What is this a picture of?
25. Inspirational Quotes
Okay, I know. Inspirational quotes can be cheesy, but if done correctly, they can be effective. At CoSchedule, we use quotes from industry leaders that we know our audience will find relatable. Find quotes from leaders in your industry or testimonials from your audience that will resonate with your target audience.
26. Company Accomplishments
Believe it or not, your audience cares about you, and they want to see you succeed. Share your successes with them on social media and celebrate together! Whether it be awards you’ve won or reaching a certain number of customers, let your audience know!
27. Host a Twitter Chat
What is a Twitter chat? It’s a conversation around one unique hashtag. This hashtag allows you to follow the discussion and participate in it. Twitter chats are usually recurring and on specific topics to regularly connect people with these interests.
- Decide on a clear and brief hashtag that represents your brand.
- Choose a day and time that you can consistently hold Twitter chats.
- Come up with an appropriate topic and questions.
Plan and promote your chat via Twitter.
28. Ask For Customer Feedback
Not sure how your audience will respond to a new feature, event, or your next post? Find out how they will respond before it happens by getting customer feedback.
- “Would you be interested in a social media event?”
- “Would you like if we created a custom label feature?”
- “Would you like if we wrote a blog post about email marketing?”
You can even do this via Twitter poll to get your answer.
29. How-to Videos
Aside from going live, you can create simple and short how-to videos explaining how a feature or tool works. These videos will give your audience an inside look, and make them more likely to try out your tool after seeing how it works.
30. Product Reviews
User reviews are proven sales drivers, and something the majority of customers will want to see before deciding to make a purchase. Many people read online reviews before deciding to buy something. I’m guilty of this, too! This is a great tactic if you’re working in e-commerce. Try sharing reviews of products you carry. You could also review a tool that your company uses or integrates with to help drive sales.
31. Images or Videos of Your Product
The best way to show how something works is through visual representations. You would never buy a car without test-driving it first, just like you wouldn’t buy an online tool or product without seeing how it works first. Give your audience a firsthand look at how your product works, and maybe even throw in a cool tip they might not know if they didn’t see the image or video.
32. Twitter Q&A Sessions
Sure, you could do a Twitter chat, but your topic has to be relevant, PLUS there’s a great deal of planning involved. By simply hosting a Twitter Q&A session, this allows your audience to ask a variety of questions. Your audience can finally get their burning questions answered, and you can interact with your audience in a new way.
33. Spotify Playlists
If you want to share music or whole playlists with friends, posting a Spotify playlist is the way to go. Sharing music with friends is a time-honored way to discover new bands, talk over your music tastes, and learn a bit more about the bands that you love. Spotify has fun and useful playlist sharing features. You or a friend can build a playlist packed with your own music or music you’ve discovered through Spotify’s massive music library, and you have the option of sharing that playlist directly with others by passing around the playlist URL or Spotify link. Let your audience know what you’re listening to and get them inspired!
34. User-Generated Content
We know you have super fans out there. Don’t be afraid to show them off by posting fan-worthy content. Here at CoSchedule we send out ‘swag’ to those that grab our attention on social media or leave killer product reviews. Those people often share pictures of themselves decked out in our swag, and it’s so awesome to see!
35. Posts Showing Off Your Company History
Has your company been around longer than microwave popcorn? Then you have some history to share! It’s always fun to see how far a business has come and where they started. Sharing a quick tidbit or piece of history is sure to intrigue your viewers. At CoSchedule, we are a start-up company, which means we’re constantly changing, evolving, and even getting new space!
36. Company News Announcements
Speaking of sharing your history and getting a new space, let your audience be in the loop. Getting a new space? Launching a new product? Just have big news in general? What better way to get the word out than by sharing the news with the people who care. Make it fun, and make it big. Get your audience as hyped about the news as you are.
37. Create a Regular Series
Here’s a great way to use live video on social media: create a weekly series or show. There are a few ways you can do this.
38. Repurpose Blog Graphics
Creating new visual content for every social media post can be resource-intensive. Why not create blog graphics with social sharing in mind? To do this, create versions of your blog graphics correctly proportioned for your chosen social network:
39. Share How-to Videos
Social media is great for sharing quick videos showing people how to get something done. Here’s a fun example from the DIY Network:
40. Share Your Company’s Financial Earnings
For large, publicly traded companies, your followers might be interested in knowing how you’re performing financially. Consider creating an engaging GIF or video to accompany your earnings page on your website, or a blog post announcing your quarterly earnings. Here’s an example from Home Depot:
41. Share a Case Study On One of Your Customers
Do you have a customer that you know has had success thanks to your company or product? Get them involved in a case study! Then, share it on social media:
42. Share a Survey
Check out this example from Case Study Buddy:
43. Promote a New Product or Event
Here’s another example from Case Study Buddy:
44. Share a Fill-in-the-Blank Post
Asking your audience to finish a sentence can be fun, and it definitely encourages engagement. Think something like this:
45. Share a Statistic
This tweet from the CoSchedule Twitter accounts shares a snippet about Starbuck’s marketing strategy that people might not have known:
46. Reshare Your Top Performing Posts
You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. If a post did well once, what’s to say it won’t do well again? In fact, according to research from CoSchedule, there’s data backing up the idea that it might even do better the second time around.
47. Promote Your Partners
Add some positivity to your audience’s feed and shout out a company you work with that’s killing it out there.
48. Share Some Interesting Industry Research
In a lot of industries, having the latest knowledge and research is key to maintaining a competitive advantage. Tap into that by sharing stats and snippets of industry research reports, either ones you’ve created yourself or ones you’ve curated around the web.
49. Use Paper.li to Share News Roundups
Ever since Storify closed its doors, marketers have been searching for a replacement. Paper.li is a great stand-in, making it possible to create custom social media-driven online newspapers. By creating an account, you can curate content from different social media networks and present it all in one place. Here’s a look at how it works.
50. Preview a New Product or Event
Everyone loves being first to see new stuff. By consistently sharing previews of new products or features, your audience will know to go to your social channels to find your latest developments. This example from NAMM, a major musical instrument expo, uses a GIF to promote an exclusive events.
51. Get Creative With Emojis
Love them or hate them, emojis can add fun and flash to your social media posts. Make sure you’re using them appropriately, and in conjunction with other guidelines, by following this infographic.
52. Give Away Something Free
Who doesn’t like free stuff? By offering your audience an incentive to take action to get a freebie, you can drive some strong engagement and help promote your products. Here’s an example from PlayStation. In exchange for pre-ordering a game, fans can get a free customized theme for their console, which the video demonstrates.
