It’s no secret that the benefits of social media marketing are plenty. A strong social media presence can help keep your community engaged, can increase traffic to your website and can generate brand awareness. Social media also has the power to connect people everywhere. It serves as a stage to present your brand to a vast audience of varying demographics. To a small business owner who would not have otherwise had access to all of these potential customers, this is a game-changing development. However, social media can also be intimidating to maintain!
The key to social media is consistent posting of engaging content. So, what happens when you have a creative block and struggle to come up with new content ideas? How do you continue to create attention-grabbing content to capture your audience and utilize the true power of social media? Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration. Keep reading for social media marketing tips and content creation ideas that you can use to change things up and generate new content for your small business.
1. Launch a fun contest.
We all love getting things for free. Tap into that excitement by creating a fun contest that encourages customers to engage with your social media and spread awareness about your business. Typically, the caption will include details of how to enter and what is included in the giveaway. You can have people like, share, and comment on a post or even have them post pictures using your products for an extra chance to be selected. An added bonus is being able to feature this user-generated content on your social media later on.
2. Organize a takeover.
Utilizing the power of influencers is a great way to bring new kinds of content to your social media accounts. A social media takeover is usually a day when an influencer who actually uses your products and promotes your business’s values will bring in a new audience. Their followers want to see what they are up to. This will bring attention to your social media and you will have access to a new committed audience who already has a trusted relationship with the influencer being featured. This is also a great way to get new kinds of content on your platforms.
3. Share custom content.
When you are thinking about how to market on social media, reflect on what makes your brand unique. What is special about your small business that sets you apart from others? When you answer that question, you can start to create custom content that genuinely portrays your small business to a target audience. You can build an authentic relationship with your audience, while also following trending forms of content. Right now, short-form videos are taking the social media world by storm. Consider trying TikTok for the first time if you haven’t already or creating a Reel in Instagram. You can also start doing employee takeovers or profile features so people can get to know the faces behind the brand. All of these connections are great ways to tell users more about your small business and give them a chance to interact with you and your content.
4. Participate in trends.
This is especially helpful when you are in a creative rut. If you are struggling to come up with original content or feel like you are running out of fun ways to share, turn to what’s trending. It can be as simple as observing the trends taking place on your feed, whether it be a popular song or dance, and then applying it to your brand’s niche.
5. Use trending hashtags in your posts.
Hashtags are a great way to increase your visibility. They not only show up in your follower’s feed but also people who follow that hashtag or have interacted with similar content recently. It is a key tool to end up on the Instagram Explore page of your target audience or get filtered into the TikTok algorithm of people who interact with similar content. It is crucial to keep up with trending hashtags and brainstorm how you can create content specific to your small business within those trending hashtags.
6. Try shoppable posts on Instagram.
An Instagram Shop is like a landing page where users can discover your business’s customized digital storefront. Customers can then shop right from your Instagram profile. You can then promote your products on your followers' feed with tags and descriptions directly in your feed and in turn, you will see a boost in your sales from social media. This is a fun and engaging way to add to your product features within your feed and cumulate more interactions on your post from users.
7. Invest in social media advertisements.
Social media advertisements allow you to create unique “thumb-stopping” ads that appear in users’ feeds. This is a great way to tap into audience-targeting features that social platforms provide. You can then drive effective results by promoting your products and services to those who are most likely to convert into paying customers, boosting your sales.
We understand it can be hard to come up with new and exciting ideas for social media posts. We hope this blog helps spark some new and fun ways to engage with your social media following, boost your social media presence and even increase sales!
