Social media managers know the joy (and unfortunately the pain) of planning their content ahead of time and filling out their content calendars. Sometimes, inspiration is plentiful and ideas come faster than they can be written down.
However, there will inevitably come a time when thinking of something to post feels like imagining a colour that doesn't exist.
media update's Joreke Kleynhans is here to help with twenty ideas to fill the empty spots in your content calendar!
Post Your People
Audiences have been proven to relate more to brands that they can associate humans with. While faces are not mandatory, they can seal the deal and humanise your brand to audience members and possible clients.
1. Introduce the team — post introduction videos of different departments or teams, for example, which employees look after your clients and who works behind the scenes.
2. Showcase your processes — packaging, production, or even planning!
3. Share brand community investment — of course, to do this, your brand needs to take part in community initiatives! Then, share footage and visuals of employees making their contributions.
4. Hear from your clientele — share your customers' reviews or experiences. Bonus points for pictures of clients (with permission!)
5. Feature your customers — this works well for brands that sell physical products. Ask your customers to submit pictures of them using your products for a chance to be featured on the brand's page.
Share Your Knowledge
An important part of being recognised as a knowledgeable, trustworthy brand is showing your audience why you deserve that title. Share enough information to show your target audience that you know what you're talking about, without giving away your secrets.
6. Infographics — are visually pleasing, yet substance-based types of posts that can build upon your feed's aesthetic as well as your brand's reputation.
7. FAQ posts — keep track of the questions your brand gets asked by potential and existing clients most often. Create a series of posts that address these questions. More knowledge about the brand and its offerings is a win for both the customer and the brand!
8. Q&A sessions — like FAQ posts, these address questions from your audience. However, Q&As leave room for more specific, personalised questions that foster direct client relationships.
9. Explainer videos — videos perform best and allow brands to merge informative posts with people-focused posts. Re-use blog posts or infographic content for video scripts to save time!
10. Tutorials — share how to use your brand's products to their full capacity, alternative uses, or how to take care of products to ensure they last.
Get Interactive
A great way to secure higher engagement and draw more people into your brand's social media sphere is to… ask. The occasional post encouraging people to engage can work wonders for your pages' performance!
11. Polls — ask a question, as random as you like, and have your audience cast their votes.
12. Ask for input — this can be on new designs, limited edition offerings, or general feedback.
13. Quiz your audience — create a quiz or question based on knowledge-sharing posts or your brand in general.
14. "Caption this" — post a funny, absurd, or relatable photo and ask your followers to create a caption for it!
15. Giveaways — create a post announcing that your brand is hosting a giveaway and set requirements, e.g. liking and commenting on the post, to be entered into a draw.
Document Your Brand's Story
The story of how a brand came to be can drastically improve its image to the public. Even a "less interesting" brand story can help foster connection and interest in your brand, so share it!
16. History — if you have an established brand, share insight into where it all began and how things grew!
17. Beginnings — sharing the history of a newer brand is not always possible, but you can share the first steps of your brand's journey in real-time!
18. Achievements — showcase your brand's achievements or milestones and give credit to employees who made it happen (without bragging, of course).
19. Share your why — feature the founder and tell your audience why this brand was started and what it hopes to achieve.
20. Foreshadowing — Share hints whenever something new or exciting is happening for your brand. This will also get your client base excited for what's to come.
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*Image courtesy of Canva