Be genuine. Put up Reels. Goal your splendid viewers. Sacrifice a goat. Perhaps these issues bought you seen final 12 months however not anymore.
With virtually half (46%) of Gen Z “continually on-line” — and Millennial oldies like me not far off, I’d argue — social media is extra crowded than ever.
It’s not sufficient to put up usually, grasp Reels transitions, be a part of TikTok, or comply with what everybody else is doing. To develop this 12 months, manufacturers have to be unique, likable, and helpful.
For those who’re not any of these issues, listed below are 17 social media content material concepts to do as a substitute. (Kidding! You’re already nice, and these concepts will make you even higher.)
Bonus: Obtain our free, customizable social media calendar template to simply plan and schedule all of your content material upfront.
1. Use unique audio in Reels
It’s been a traditional Instagram development technique for some time: Discover a trending Reels audio clip, make a Reel, get hundreds of recent followers, and repeat.
These days are gone. Sure, you possibly can nonetheless use a voiceover of Michael from The Workplace and sure, it might develop your Instagram a bit. However 2023 is all about unique audio.
Brainstorm your personal humorous skits as a substitute, or for the only Reel of all? You + digital camera = answering your prospects’ questions.
Utilizing unique audio in your Reels can:
- Hold folks watching longer, not figuring out the way it will finish (as they do with trending audio after seeing a couple of).
- Showcase your creativity and, doubtlessly, make you — gasp — go viral.
2. Create “the way to” content material on YouTube Shorts
How-to YouTube Shorts hook folks immediately with fast visuals and a particular finish end result. For those who promote a product, present your target market the way to use it — both the “common manner” or one thing artistic.
Service suppliers, share your course of or steps to attain a fast win, like your finest gross sales electronic mail script or a software program tutorial.
How-to YouTube Shorts may help you:
- Entice new subscribers.
- Quickly check to search out out what your viewers needs to see or study most.
3. Begin a sequence
You’ve heard of #ThrowbackThursday and #SundayFunday however as a substitute of regurgitating these drained traits, create your personal day by day or weekly sequence. It’s extra unique, and it’ll make your content material planning course of simpler.
As a substitute of getting to think about three new put up concepts for the upcoming week, you’ll already know the format and theme of your sequence and might get into creating it immediately. For max effectivity, preserve a working checklist of all of your concepts then decide one to movie for the week, or movie and schedule all of them in bulk a month or extra forward of time.
In-depth academic sequence work particularly properly on YouTube. To maintain folks watching, create a YouTube playlist and hyperlink to it from every video’s description.
Supply: YouTube
A content material sequence may help you:
- Construct momentum towards a product launch or occasion.
- Reveal your experience and earn belief.
- Hold a constant publishing schedule.
4. Put money into UGC content material
UGC, or “user-generated content material,” isn’t new however it’s positively time to hop on board when you haven’t already. Like influencer advertising, UGC content material is created by folks as a substitute of the model, however — historically — UGC content material comes from unpaid, actual prospects.
Why hassle? Your prospects are 2.4 instances extra probably to work together with UGC vs. brand-created content material. Authenticity sells.
Create a hashtag on your prospects to make use of and have their pictures or movies in your feed.
Don’t have an enormous viewers but? No worries: You should purchase authenticity, too. UGC creators are massive in 2023: Folks paid to create content material that seems to be like natural buyer content material.
UGC content material may help you:
- Promote your merchandise with out seeming too sales-y.
- Collect various property to repost throughout your social accounts or use in different content material. For instance, pictures of individuals of many various ethnicities utilizing your merchandise, or a number of dwelling decor kinds, like Wayfair’s instance above.
5. Hold it easy
Spicy take: Some companies are luckier than others with regards to social media content material concepts.
Exhibit A: What kind of content material is universally adored by everybody, no matter language, location, tradition, demographics, or pursuits?
Cute animal movies.
The San Diego Zoo doesn’t overthink their social content material technique. Folks like cute animal movies, so they offer them cute animal movies. It’s actually that simple generally.
@sandiegozoo Most boopable moments of 2022 ✨ #boop #cuteanimals #animalsoftiktok #bestmoments #SanDiegoZoo
Consider what “easy content material” seems to be like for your online business. What are you able to make in 5 minutes or much less? Then, make a bunch abruptly and bulk schedule as much as 350 items of content material at a time to robotically publish with Hootsuite. Ahh, the straightforward life.
Easy content material can:
- Permit for batched manufacturing and scheduling, slicing down content material creation time.
- Attraction to a number of buyer sorts and audiences.
6. Curate content material from others
Nice information: Content material curation remains to be scorching. Your unique content material is what retains folks sticking round, however curated content material can beef up your posting frequency and appeal to new peeps.
Put aside time every week for strategic content material curation and your publishing queue won’t ever run out.
What you share must be related to your online business and in step with your ordinary model voice and tone, in fact. Attempt sharing business information, or media options out of your workers, like this text by Adobe’s Chief Product Officer.
Content material curation can:
- Refill your content material calendar while not having to create visible property.
- Develop cross-promotional relationships with different manufacturers and/or business leaders.
7. Embrace memes
Humor is at all times in fashion as a result of there’s at all times one thing to be unhappy about. So give your viewers a lil’ giggle, eh?
Perhaps run tremendous spicy stuff by authorized compliance first. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
SO BASICALLY IT’S LIKE CHAPTERS AND AUDIBLE AND NETFLIX AND SPOTIFY HAD A BABY BUT YOU CAN BORROW ALL THE STUFF FOR FREE. pic.twitter.com/tpWVSOnR8N
— ReginaPublicLibrary (@OfficialRPL) August 18, 2022
Memes may help you:
- Achieve new followers by cashing in on new, trending memes.
- Seem cooler than you might be. (That’s a joke. You’re very cool. Memes will assist your viewers see that.)
8. Launch a problem
Challenges are a enjoyable option to enhance engagement, doubtlessly get some juicy UGC (user-generated content material), and subtly promote your self on the similar time.
Some companies have extra apparent problem concepts than others. Nikon hosts month-to-month pictures and videography challenges which inserts their enterprise completely. You might have to hunt for an thought when you, say, manufacture paper cups.
@nikonusa For this month’s problem, right here’s Nikon Ambassador Kristi Odom’s tackle movement with lovely wildlife cinematography 🎥 Suggestions and methods on NikonUSA.com
Challenges may help:
- Educate or encourage your viewers, and encourage them to take motion on a purpose or use your product extra.
- Refill your content material calendar. Share your viewers’s work as a part of your content material curation course of.
5 Social media content material concepts for small companies
1. Leverage AI for social content material concepts
I’m only a author standing in entrance of ChatGPT asking it to not take my job. Simply kidding. AI can’t change this type of—
Supply: OpenAI
Crap. Okay, however significantly: AI is our buddy (a minimum of till it tries to reprogram our microwaves to kill us all).
I didn’t use ChatGPT after I outlined this text, however it got here up with a number of of the identical social media put up concepts. None of them are rocket science, however that’s precisely the purpose: Let AI do your simple duties so you’ve got extra time to create the unique parts of your content material that can make you stand out.
As a small enterprise proprietor, you’re most likely both nonetheless doing all your personal social media or counting on a small group. If developing with concepts is stopping you from posting as a lot as you’d like, AI content material instruments get the ball rolling.
Simply don’t put all of your eggs in a single synthetic basket. Use your human mind for content material concepts, too.
AI content material instruments may help you:
- Refill a listing of content material concepts so you will get creating quicker.
- Overcome author’s block.
- Save time on thought era so you possibly can give attention to the true work that strikes your online business ahead. (Spoiler alert: It’s content material.)
2. Run a contest
Social media contests are at all times a good suggestion as a result of folks love free stuff.
Give away a present card to your online business or one thing you promote. You are able to do something from the super-simple “like, comply with, and remark” format, to extra concerned contests like asking your followers to share a photograph, or fill out a survey.
A superb rule of thumb is to maintain the trouble of coming into the competition in step with the prize worth. Smaller worth prize = much less effort to enter, larger worth prize = extra effort.
For brick and mortar companies, goal native folks with a enjoyable scavenger hunt contest:
@cookcountysaloon Thirsty anybody? 🤠 #yegscavengerhunt #yegbar #cookcountysaloon #edmontonfun #yeg #edmontontiktok #yegfun #edmonton #countrymusicalberta
Social media contests may help you:
- Quickly develop your follower counts and viewers.
- Generate potential leads.
- Discover out precious details about your prospects by surveys to tell your advertising technique.
- Collect content material property you should use for future campaigns (for photograph or video submission contests).
3. Characteristic your prospects
What’s one of the best ways to promote your services or products on social media? Displaying not telling.
Share a testimonial or transformation story from a buyer. It goes a lot additional to realize belief than speaking about your self.
This may be as simple as whipping up a testimonial quote graphic, or higher but: Movie a brief video interviewing your buyer. Edit it into a number of variations and share them throughout TikTok, Reels, Instagram Tales, YouTube movies, and extra.
Hold social media movies beneath 60 seconds for finest outcomes.
Buyer tales (particularly video ones!) are:
- Extra impactful and versatile than a written testimonial.
- Nice promoting instruments: Folks with the identical downside as your featured buyer see you as the answer.
4. Accomplice with content material creators
Creators, a.okay.a. influencers (or KOLs), are sometimes pictured working with big manufacturers solely, however 2023 is the 12 months small companies take over.
Our Social Tendencies report discovered solely 28% of small companies at the moment work with creators whereas 42% of companies with over 1,000 workers do. Including influencer advertising to your technique this 12 months will show you how to stand out out of your friends, and ship cost-effective campaigns in these unsure monetary instances.
You don’t want an enormous announcement to begin partnering with creators. New analysis exhibits influencer campaigns have as much as 30.5% larger ROI once they’re not for brand spanking new product launches.
You additionally don’t must dish out 1,000,000 {dollars} to rent an influencer. Micro and nanoinfluencers are a way more budget-friendly choice — and might truly be simpler than very massive creators in getting their audiences to take motion (e.g. click on by to your web site or purchase a product).
@gracewellsphoto Replying to @drinkpoppi the gamification of soda 🎮 👀 #epiccommercial #videography #videographer #filmtok #popcultured #poppipartner
Creator partnerships may help you:
- Attain precious audiences who belief the creator introducing you, usually for a lot lower than paying for adverts.
- Collect high-quality pictures or movies you should use in future campaigns, in your web site, and extra.
5. Get suggestions out of your prospects
Dying to know what your prospects need? Simply ask them.
This doesn’t imply that as a result of one particular person suggests one thing, it’s a good suggestion or that that you must do it immediately. However permitting prospects to decide on new flavors or the following occasion matter brings them nearer to your online business and builds a way of group.
Asking for suggestions on social media can:
- Encourage engagement. Ensure to answer to feedback, even simply to say thanks.
- Deepen current buyer relationships and develop new ones.
You’ll be able to positively use the guidelines above, however these social media concepts are particularly efficient for B2B manufacturers:
1. Share your finest case research
Testimonials, success tales, earlier than and afters, yada yada — same-ish, totally different phrases for one factor: Demonstrating your capabilities.
B2B consumers are in search of a end result, not the hope of a end result.
By how a lot % did your buyer’s electronic mail open charge improve after utilizing your A/B testing software program? Precisely how a lot cash did your resolution save your buyer?
Pull some key stats out of an current case research and make a couple of graphics to put up on social, or edit them right into a video for a TikTok or Reel (relying which platforms you’re on).
Can’t point out your massive shopper successes by title? Pull collectively common statistics into averages, like how Heyday’s AI chatbot saved purchasers a mean of $3,000 USD per day throughout Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
Case research may help:
- Construct belief. Testimonials are nice, however numbers and statistics persuade.
- Your prospects perceive your product’s key options in motion.
2. Assist your group
Do you usually give cash or volunteer time to native non-profits? Do you supply workers a paid day to volunteer at a corporation vital to them? Lately sponsored a fundraiser or occasion?
Present how concerned you might be with native and business communities. Faucet into the Instagram Reels algorithm by asking your workers to report a brief clip of their volunteer day to share.
For those who help an occasion, sew a couple of clips collectively into a fast Reel, TikTok, or YouTube Brief and let your prospects know the impression of their contributions to the trigger.
Neighborhood involvement may help you:
- Construct belief inside your native space and make folks be ok with purchasing at your online business vs. a competitor.
- Community with different native companies and not directly, although successfully, promote your self to draw new purchasers.
3. Put up your analysis
Have a brand new white paper or research? Seize a couple of key stats and create social content material linking again to the complete report.
Make graphics for carousel posts and quick movies for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Or, supply a couple of pages of your report as a PDF on LinkedIn with a hyperlink to obtain the remaining.
Use on-line graphic design instruments to show your statistics into animations you possibly can put up as Reels for larger visibility within the Instagram algorithm.
Sharing your analysis may help you:
- Goal and appeal to your splendid viewers.
- Construct credibility inside your business, particularly for brand spanking new corporations.
4. Share your organization tradition
Apart from promoting, recruiting prime expertise also needs to be a most important purpose in your B2B social media advertising plan. Sharing open jobs is a part of that, however so is sharing why somebody ought to contemplate you within the first place.
For those who can, weigh in on a preferred hashtag to additional improve your attain.
After all, this implies you even have to supply nice advantages on your group members. For those who don’t already, begin now.
Displaying your organization tradition can:
- Hold you prime of thoughts when a competitor’s star worker is in search of a change.
- Assist advance vital advantages and protections for workers throughout your sector or nation. (Social progress is cool.)
Plan, schedule, and analyze all of your social media content material from one organized workspace with Hootsuite. Go additional than the fundamental options you’d anticipate with Greatest Time to Publish, social listening instruments, automated put up boosting, and extra. Do all of it throughout all of your platforms with Hootsuite.
Do it higher with Hootsuite, the all-in-one social media instrument. Keep up to the mark, develop, and beat the competitors.
