It’s often challenging to find new ideas for content marketing, especially when focused on social media platforms. Many people often have great ideas for landing pages, but writing content for social needs is a bit tougher.
You should be posting something each day on those platforms, and quality content that attracts your target audience and keeps their intention while informing them is crucial. People are likely to be excited about what content creators post next, so they’re more likely to engage and become customers.
The issue, however, is that content creators run out of things to say or post—all the ideas you originally had to get used repeatedly (from you and the competition). You’re constantly looking for upgraded content ideas so that you’re ahead of the curve. That way, you’re never staring at the creation tool and wondering what to say or do.
These ideas are sure to help you think about what you can create now so that you’re ready to post on your favorite channels, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or something else.
Creative Content Marketing Ideas for Major Platforms That Work
It makes good sense to have a variety of content ideas to help with your digital marketing efforts. Though you need to know what to do and post, you should focus primarily on keyword research.
Content marketing isn’t just about adding a photo; you also need content that ranks on search engines. Most people don’t realize that awesome content takes time and effort to create. Don’t expect to post an image and wow the crowd. Provide information that they can use in their everyday lives to help you gain followers and customers. Here are the top options to consider:
Video Content
Video content is driving about 80 percent of all web traffic. Therefore, you’re missing opportunities for more engagement if you don’t post videos on your various channels. There are many options available. A few examples include:
- Stories (Instagram and Facebook)
- IGTV
- Snapchat
- YouTube videos
- Tik Tok
- Live Videos (Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook)
- In-feed videos (Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook)
You can share videos on all of your channels. However, when posting social media content on Twitter or Facebook, you should upload the videos directly instead of sharing your link from YouTube or Instagram.
There are countless content ideas to help you create videos that wow the crowd. Showcase your products or even show videos that are only indirectly related to your brand. For instance, you could find a Tik Tok video with a perfect hardwood floor and someone dancing. Post something in the comments, such as, “Look at that great floor. They must have used our products to clean it.”
If you’ve never created or posted a video before, don’t worry. There are plenty of guides to help you make videos, and social channels often have instructions for posting them properly on their platforms.
Live Videos
In addition to your regular video posts on social channels, the great idea is to have live videos and updates. Most people prefer to watch live videos (or staged ones) from brands rather than reading blog content.
How could you use a live video on your preferred platform? Press conferences and launch events are a great idea. Plus, you can use Twitter Live and Facebook Live to host preview events for your upcoming products. It’s also a great way to stage live demonstrations of the services or products you provide.
If possible, try to coordinate your live videos with important things happening in the world or your audience’s lives. For example, you can show how well your vacuum cleaner works around spring cleaning time; people are sure to enjoy seeing the product in action and might want a new vacuum for their upcoming cleaning fests.
Focus on the Employees
Most companies don’t realize that it takes years to build up enough trust in your brand before people start buying. However, there is a way around that. Showcasing the real people who work at the company builds connections with the audience. They can share personal stories.
This is an excellent content idea that can take on many forms. Feature posts from a few employees and try to pick those who don’t often post on your social media accounts. You can also show employees to help personalize the feed or share different voices.
Let employees advocate for you right from the social media content. Followers are sure to appreciate that you’ve put a face to the brand, helping them feel even more connected to your offerings. Think of other content ideas that utilize your employees and help them get more involved. They’re likely to enjoy it, and you get free (good) publicity.
In fact, snap a photo (with the employee’s permission), and highlight their skills and why you’re proud for them to be on the team. They get motivated to continue working, and you show that you’re a caring company to work for, also building trust.
Headline Company News
One underused content idea is focusing on company news. You can share exciting things that are happening with your organization. However, you’ve got to personalize it. For example, share photos of the team celebrating after they got an industry award or new client. Introduce a new hire or product. Don’t just post a link to your press release.
While you should include the link (link-building purposes), you should also show people why you’re posting it so that they know why it matters.
For instance, if you want to announce your new hires, take a team photo, share it, and then talk about the company’s values.
Screenshots
Screenshots are also one of the most underused content ideas out there. However, they’re perfect for showing examples to prove your point. Social Media Examiner relies heavily on screenshots to complement its blog posts. In fact, you’re likely to find one after every five or so paragraphs.
These are great for step-by-step or how-to articles. Once you’re done, post a few tidbits of the article on social media and include a link so that everyone knows where to find all that great information! This breaks up the monotony in your blogs and prevents the “wall text” nightmare that smartphone users hate.
Use Market Data
As a content marketer, you should never leave any stone unturned when you’re focused on content creation.
If your company provides original data about important insights into the industry or your daily operations, share them!
One example is Hootsuite. It posts its annual Social Trends Report, including data from a survey on thousands of social marketers.
You’re not done there, though, because you can create content, such as articles and reports on LinkedIn, covering the important findings. Other content ideas for market data include turning quotes and stats into visual posts for Instagram or Facebook. You can even use software to create statistical posts that are interesting without having to hire a graphic designer. The presentation style isn’t overdone, and it’s a great way to add creativity and uniqueness to your posts.
Use Your Blog Post and Article Forum
You should be posting your own content to your blog and have a company blog hosted by your website. This is a goldmine of information, so why not use that shareable content as direct links wherever possible.
There are plenty of blog post ideas, and a quick search can help you discover new and interesting topics that can get the buzz generated.
Once you have a blog post in mind, you can redirect users on social media to your company website. It’s a win-win situation; they’re already engaging with you on social media, and now you can get them on your site. From there, it’s much easier to request their email address and turn them into a qualified lead.
On Instagram, you can post an appealing graphic that fits your content. Those who post to their own Stories can use the “Swipe Up” feature if they’ve got over 10,000 followers.
LinkedIn users can also use in-house blogs and articles to share their expertise on a particular matter or offer updates on their work. Plus, you can share them directly using the publishing platform on LinkedIn.
Keep it short but make it informative. People are interested in reading the long post before they even get to your website! Don’t forget to add a caption explaining the image and the reason for the article.
Content marketing doesn’t have to be difficult, and if you’re already creating blogs (and you should), you can have them do double-duty in your social media content.
Provide a Behind-the-Scenes Look
As content marketers, you should realize that your followers are primarily interested in what you do. Share some information about what goes on that no one else sees. Content ideas like this aren’t often used, so people get an inside scoop about your business.
While the competition is likely to see it, too, that’s okay. You’ve already done it, and your followers realize that.
Use your social channels to share videos and photos that show your followers what they might not otherwise see. Focus on workplace or office events. Consider giving your followers a peek into your creative process (through photographs). Show your products and how they’re packaged or how you prepare for events.
Content marketing comes in all forms. For example, if you create clothing, show the pattern you use to make a dress or shirt. Follow that with a caption that explains you always look for ways to improve quality and fit.
You don’t have to share company secrets; any inside peek into the inner workings of your brand can help followers gain trust and build relationships with you.
Giveaways and Contests
One content idea that is always a hit with followers is to reward them with giveaways or contests. This is also a great way to gain new people into your audience. Social media channels are the perfect spot for this. You can boost engagement by requiring certain conditions for entry, such as posting a comment, liking the post, or sharing it.
As your loyal fans start doing that, their friends see it, hear about the contest, and become followers, as well.
You can get more from your social media content with giveaways, too! They help you promote new services and products or re-feature fan favorites. If you give a new product away, someone has the chance to try it for free. They end up liking it, and you’ve got yourself a new customer.
Just make sure you understand the legal requirements before running a giveaway or contest on your preferred channel. It’s also a good idea to provide all the details within the original post. This includes the rules, when the winners are announced, how they’re announced, and anything else.
Influencer Content
Industry influencers are a great way to boost followers and help you generate content ideas. The goal, though, is to pair with someone who fits in well with the brand.
Then, they can generate content to share social media content on their channel and yours. The posts must make sense with the rest of the content, and they should be focused on reaching new followers through the influencer.
When you choose an influencer for such posts, you should be focused on follower numbers and engagement. For example, a blogging mom could pair with a children’s clothing brand or a diaper company. Brands offering delivered food could partner with influencers who are too busy to cook for themselves.
You can always get content ideas from the influencer, and they are sure to have some amazing ones. However, your Instagram posts need to be relevant to your brand, needs, and the influencer. Otherwise, it’s an odd pairing, and followers are sure to notice this misstep.
How do you reach out to influencers? The best way is to make a list of brands or bloggers who fit in with your brand. Contact them directly and ask them to be an influencer. Provide many examples of how your content goes well with them and sell it hard. You can also offer the benefits you’ve already come up with and why they should work with you.
GIFs
GIFs are moving images that often tell a story. They’re highly popular on all social media channels. In fact, they’re a fun way to ensure that your post stands apart from the competition. You can even use them to share jokes for lighthearted content.
Often, well-chosen GIFs can help with trending topics, cultural conversations, or pop-culture moments.
While you could do the same thing with an article and a photo, something is mesmerizing about watching the picture come to life before your eyes.
Content ideas like this can be a little off-putting at first. You may worry about whether or not the search engine can crawl your GIF. In general, it reads that image like others, so don’t forget to put in alt tags.
Your goal should always be focused on SEO, so make sure you follow the rules for Google Image optimization and utilize the best techniques to ensure that your GIFs are parsed, crawled, and indexed correctly.
Twitter and Facebook have integrated search engines for GIFs so that you can find one easily. Plus, you can use Giphy or create your own using in-house images and videos.
Animation
Sometimes, creating content is difficult, especially when you’re trying to go digital and don’t have the money for high-quality equipment or real actors. Therefore, you can get by with spending less when you use the content idea of animation.
Animations combine the appeal of videos and GIFs, and there are many services out there to help you create an animated video for sharing on social media.
With that, animated videos are unique; your competition isn’t likely to do it. You can share the content you’ve already created more times, too. If you use the same link on Facebook, you might see lower engagement ratings.
However, you could repurpose blog posts and use them as text-driven animated videos, sharing similar content but in a new and more interesting way.
Photos of Products
With most content ideas, you repeat the same things but seem to make them slightly different. The photos can’t look like those in your online content, such as on your store. However, you could get very creative, finding new ways to share product photos online. This is a chance to have some fun and promote your business online.
Group together products, take photos of them against unique backdrops or show them in new ways by deconstructing them.
Just make sure that the product photos you choose to share fit your brand aesthetic, especially on a platform like Instagram. The point of the photos is to blend well with the rest of your content and help it stand out in your followers’ feeds.
That way, you get more from your social media content without much more work.
User-generated Content
User-generated content is one of those content ideas that isn’t used enough. You might have fans on your page which already use your products and services. Ask them to generate content for themselves and then repost it with credit on your social media posts.
This is an excellent way to expand your posts, show appreciation to customers, and rack up the trust factor with other followers.
Remember: most people want to see others using the item before buying or trying it for themselves. This naturally promotes that flow in the buyer’s journey.
On Twitter, you can retweet and share posts that discuss the company positively. With Facebook, add a post on your page with links to another. Just make sure that you talk to the original poster and ensure that they agree. You can also do this on Instagram; apps like Report for Instagram or InstaRepost help you share content that other users create.
Instagram Stories
Don’t forget to use Instagram Stories! It’s a prevalent feature on this platform, and there are about 500 million stories posted each day.
Content ideas like this are often easy to implement; you’ve already created a post, so put it on your Story, too.
You can also get very creative and use different apps to make visual posts, add stickers or text to your photos, and much more. Plus, the platform lets users share feed posts directly to their Instagram Stories, making your posts reach a wider audience.
Social media content comes in many forms, and you can’t neglect Stories if you want to reach more people in creative ways.
Inspirational or Interesting Quotes
Another underused content idea is to use quote posts. They’re a great way for you to highlight important aspects of your blogs and articles. In fact, you can use them to share advice, insights, and tips from people at the company.
These social media content posts are viral on Pinterest and Instagram, but they’re effective on any platform that uses visual elements.
To make the quote or message pop, even more, consider adding a colorful background. Create your own or use the ones provided and trending on your platform.
Guest Takeover Articles
Guest takeover articles are similar to influencer content, but there’s a twist. You have an employee, industry figure, or influencer takeover your social media accounts. They choose the content shared for a specific time period, usually a day, but it could be longer.
Tie the takeovers to special events, and let the person use their own words to promote them. For example, a home decor blogger might takeover in December to talk about holiday decorations. You should think about making them a regular appearance on your accounts, such as on the first Friday of each month. That way, followers are ready and waiting.
Instagram Stories are the perfect takeover location, but any social media platform works.
Industry-specific News
Most companies don’t have breaking news stories, but you probably have specific industry news regarding your organization. A great content idea is to share relevant updates and articles about the industry, too. They work well on Twitter because people already go to that source for news. Plus, LinkedIn is where everyone networks to find industry-focused information.
Scour the internet for exciting developments within your industry, positive work done by similar organizations, and all the rest. Such posts widen your social reach, helping to position your brand as the industry leader.
Infographics
One of the best content formats includes infographics. These visual posts can share tons of information quickly. Here’s just one infographic example: You have new market research or sales results to share. Create an infographic to include the key findings and individual posts highlighting specific statistics.
By nature, infographic images are vertical. Therefore, they work well on Pinterest. However, you can create horizontal ones for LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Give the social media followers a feeling of being company insiders. Share previews about what’s coming up. That could include software screenshots, details about an upcoming event, or pictures of an item you plan to release soon.
Be careful with these posts because you don’t want to give away too much information without appropriate approvals. That could create a disadvantage with the competition.
However, such social media content builds anticipation when they’re done well.
Funny/Relevant Memes
If you’re searching for a content idea that seems out of whack with the others, consider sharing memes. This type of social media content engages with a wide audience, helps boost cultural conversations, and indicates that your company is fun and relevant to the times. Plus, they’re often shared if they’re funny or focused on the trends of the day/week.
Before you use a meme, understand its meaning. Never embarrass your company by putting up something offensive or incorrectly used.
A Better Look at a Particular Product
While you already know about product photos in social media content, this is a twist on traditional pictures. Yes, you can show it in a video or photo, but you could also give the followers an inside peek about it that they might not otherwise get until they bought it.
Content marketing like this comes in many forms, but unboxing videos are the most popular option. They’re all over YouTube and can be used for almost anything. Make one yourself, or reach out to a creative influencer who has used your products. If you’re a writer, you can also use this concept by sharing pictures of a few pages to entice.
Customer Photos
Consider searching your username and hashtag on other social media platforms that the organization utilizes. Just make sure that you get permission from the original poster! Someone may have posted photos of themselves with your service or product. Share that to your page and thank them for being customers. With that, you get new content you can share on your Instagram feed or other platforms.
The aesthetic for those posts could matter or not. For example, Pinterest and Instagram need photos from customers that match your other content. However, it’s less important for Twitter and Facebook.
Another twist here is to ask customers to take selfies with your services or products.
Client Feedback
You’ve probably received some flattering product reviews or feedback from customers. Ask them if it’s all right to share their quotes on social media. To sweeten the pot, you could offer them a discount.
This content idea is great because it highlights positive experiences, shows that people use the product, and promotes engagement. In fact, be so bold as to ask the customer to make a video about their experience (videos say more than words!)
Questions and Answers
Engagement is critical and one of the reasons for your content marketing efforts. A simple way to do that is to ask open-ended questions.
Though text posts are nice, they’re less likely to see engagement and not fun. Consider using Instagram Stories and the Instagram Questions sticker. Once you start getting responses, please share them with your Instagram Stories, too.
Tricks or Tips for Using Your Products
Sometimes, your product might have a learning curve, or you’ve got insider advice that can help consumers. Add them to your social accounts. There are plenty of ways to do that, such as pre-recording or live videos, tutorials (with photos), and more.
Content marketing comes in many forms, and you don’t want to give the impression that you leave clients hanging once they buy. Those who have a mixture of pictures and videos might prefer Instagram Stories. Otherwise, use YouTube for long videos and Tik Tok for shorter ones.
Evergreen Blog
You’ve been content marketing for a long time, so now is your chance to dust off some of your order information. If you have relevant articles written earlier, re-share them using a video or as a link. It’s also possible to repurpose it into new content. For instance, screenshots in an old video might be shared as a photo post.
Events
Event posts work well for workshops or parties, but you can use event pages for virtual events, as well.
For example, post an event for a webinar or upcoming sale. Use Twitter chats for events or social promotions.
Twitter Conversations
Upgrade your content strategy by using Twitter and having conversations with customers. They could be ones you create or that come out naturally. For instance, Hootsuite offers Twitter chats frequently to discuss its social media strategy.
Surveys and Polls
People love to give their opinions, and various social media platforms make it so much easier. Engage with followers using surveys and polls. Just make sure that the input feels meaningful.
Press Mentions
If your brand has been getting a lot of positive attention, brag about it on social media. These posts should tag the reporter account and outlet, as well as have relevant hashtags.
Tips for Social Media Marketing
Content marketing requires appropriate research tools and Google Analytics to help measure success for your social media exploits. Here are a few tips to help:
Pull Personalities and Language from the Followers
Social media is a great way for you to show brand personality through engaging and fun content. Plus, it can quickly and easily convert customers. Use language that your followers often use and consider their personalities when building content.
Use Influence Wherever Possible
When others use your products and share them on social media, everyone takes notice. If you can get celebrities to endorse it, that’s even better. However, use influence as often as you can because it’s a great way to get conversions.
Combine Personality and Education
To increase search volume, consider combining education and personality. You want to teach people why they should use your product, and you need to use their personality traits to do that. Social media is a great outlet!
Offer Hacks (that Use Your Products)
Another way to boost search volume for your brand is to offer hacks. Post on social media about how to fix various problems with your products. That way, people are searching for those tips and your items.
Conclusion
Content marketing requires you to use various outlets, such as digital publications and social media content. The ultimate goal is to expand your existing audience, gain more followers, convert more leads to sales, and sell more products.
Put these ideas to work for you to grow your business by harnessing the power of visual content.
