As a social media manager, it can be really tricky to constantly come up with new ideas to keep your audience engaged. But with everyone in the market pulling out all the stops to post new exciting content, how can you break the social media algorithm and stand out from the crowd?
No fear! We’ve put together some fresh, real-life examples of how you can jazz up your feed and make your posts stand heads above the rest.
Social media posts for business
1. Let people take over!
If you’re lacking ideas, why not let someone else come up with them for you? Give yourself a bit of a break, and get involved with social media takeovers.
Choose an influencer that aligns with your brand and give them free rein (almost) of your brand account for a day. This could simply be a feed post or some how-to stories. It’s great to provide your audience with a fresh new face, but it can also help to get your brand seen by some new eyes too.
If you’re not keen on handing over the baton to someone from outside of the business, you can do this internally! If your marketing team are usually the ones behind the camera, why not get someone from your product team to take the reins?
Fenty Beauty has famously allowed influencers to hop on their stories to show off their skills.
2. Share others’ posts
Again, let others do the talking… and share their posts! If you see something you like posted in your industry, share or retweet it rather than creating a post about it yourself. It’s a great way to take the pressure off, but also share exciting and relevant content that your audience will want to see.
Take a look at how Sprout Social share Ad Week’s blog on LinkedIn.
3. Make use of the platform’s features
As each social media platform continues to introduce new features, why not make the most of it? If you want to overhaul your content plan and give your audience something new and exciting, try out all of the brand new toys.
On Instagram you’ve got Reels, IGTV, Stories and Guides to play with – not to mention all of the new features being added to each of these.
Across each of the platforms, you also can create live videos. With 80% of consumers preferring to watch a live video than to read a blog, it would be silly not to make the most of the feature. Try an open discussion around a content piece you’ve just published, or an improvised Q&A session.
Check out how Gong has used this feature to host a webinar.
4. Create videos
Fed up with posting the same old branded graphics and images? Get stuck into videos!
Get colleagues doing how-to videos or short, silly clips. Or create an animation on a tool like Canva. With these tools, you don’t have to be a designer to make it look good! Your audience won’t be expecting a Hollywood movie. Simple shots are often the most authentic.
Trial shooting them across live video, IGTV and stories as well as the feed.
Take a look at this super simple animation by The Guardian.
View this post on Instagram
5. Repurpose your own material
If your blogs aren’t performing well on your social feeds, try distributing them in different ways. Take a quote from it to post, make a video version or create an infographic. It doesn’t have to be fancy!
Take a look at this handy graphic made by the United Nations.
People with chronic kidney disease are more likely to develop severe symptoms from #COVID19.@pahowho has more details on Friday’s #WorldKidneyDay: https://t.co/17yr0Iug1l pic.twitter.com/pVPwEIr9T6
— United Nations (@UN) March 12, 2021
6. Make a meme
If you want to create relatable content for your audience to share with their colleagues, friends and family, then memes are on the money.
Shareable and engaging, they’re a social media gem if they fit in with your brand’s messaging.
Follow in Netflix’s footsteps, who are notorious for sharing short clips of their tv shows and films alongside a funny caption.
Randy Jackson, whenever a dog auditioned for American Idol pic.twitter.com/WFiABlKGRf
— Netflix (@netflix) March 19, 2021
7. Commit to a daily, weekly or monthly series
Have your audience come to expect the same sporadic blog content posted across your channels?
Create frequent content at a cadence that they can rely on. Building a weekly series of shoutouts, Q&As or AMAs (Ask Me Anything) is a great way to give your audience something to look forward to at regular intervals. Even better if it’s something they can take part in!
If weekly is too much of a commitment, monthly will do just fine! Just give your audience a frequency that they can count on and look forward to.
Take a look at this fantastic example from Bill Gates on Twitter.
After you finish your pancakes this morning, come ask me anything on @reddit at 11:15 Pacific Time: https://t.co/R3wfDhtqxD pic.twitter.com/fAPRPUWQtu
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) March 19, 2021
8. Post polls!
8. Post polls!If you really want to get your audience involved in your posts, give them something to answer. Create polls on Twitter to ask for your customers’ or clients’ opinions on an industry topic, or head to your Instagram stories for some speedy poll engagement.
Your customers will be clicking through stories in their downtime and people love to engage with quick questions that are fun and relatable.
In this example, Lowe’s Home Improvement simply asks a cheeky, relevant question to their house-proud customers.
9. Get exclusive
Want to drive people to your social accounts and create eye-catching, irresistibly clickable content? Give your social media audience exclusive discounts on your products or services. You can do this organically with discount codes or through carousel ads just like Domestika have in the example below.
10. Get generous with giveaways
Who doesn’t enjoy a freebie? Giveaways are such a popular post across social media channels. In fact, in Tailwind’s recent study, they proved that 91% of posts on Instagram with more than 1,000 likes were linked to a contest in some shape or form.
From on post engagement such as post likes and comments, to sharing posts to stories and tagging other users, giveaway and contest posts are a great way to up your brand’s engagement and expand your audience.
Consider collaborating with another like-minded brand to increase your brand awareness – you might even gain a few of their followers too!
Check out how peanut butter brand, ManíLife, and home baking subscription, Bakedin, combined to create a stellar giveaway.
View this post on Instagram
11. BTS shoots
Remember that your brand is about its people. That’s who your customers want to buy from. Speak to your colleagues and gather ideas on what you could all share collectively. Get them involved!
Show off your fun team events on social, as well as behind the scenes office content. You could even give insights into each of your team members with introduction photos or videos.
Take inspiration from Zendesk who are great ambassadors of showing their company culture across their social platforms.
View this post on Instagram
And that’s the lot!
Hopefully, your social media toolkit is now bursting with ideas! Go ahead and fill your feeds with all your bubbling new ideas.
However, don’t forget to analyse your efforts by compiling regular social media reports. Doing this will enable you to continue improving and evolving your content in the future.
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If you need a little more support than that, you can book a strategy call with Emma here.
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About us
Flamingo Marketing Strategies Ltd is a marketing agency in Leamington Spa. We work with small to medium-sized businesses, creating bespoke marketing ideas for B2B and B2C. If you are targeting a local audience, we won’t work with any other companies from the same industry within an agreed milage radius. If you’re targeting a national or international audience, we won’t work with any other companies from the same industry at all. Our job is to make sure we position YOU as the flamingo of your marketplace.
