If you’re a business owner, then I’m sure you’ve heard how important is it to have a social media presence. I’m sure you’ve also sat down to create your posts on social media only to be met by a blank screen, blinking cursor, and no idea what to post or where to start! Me too, me too…
Posting on social media can feel like SUCH a daunting task, and it is the thing I get asked about the most from my clients. That’s what inspired me to write this post. Because, the truth is you have so many good things to post about—they’re just hidden behind that menacing blank screen. Here are my creative ideas for planning social media content:
1. Offer Education / Inspiration Related to Your Industry
The truth is you have waaaaay more valuable content to post about than you think you do. You started your own business, so you have to be an expert about something to do that.
What are the things you are passionate about? And what have you learned about those things that you can share with others? Odds are that you aren’t the only person passionate about that thing!
If you sell something, how can you educate your audience about your products? Or how can you educate them about things related to your products?
What questions do your clients / customers ask you? What do your friends ask you about your business? Use the answers to these questions as ideas for content.
What are you inspired by? How can you share that inspiration with others? How can you use your business to inspire others?
These are the questions to come back to when you feel that you have nothing to offer—because I promise, you do! You just have to do some brainstorming to figure out what it is.
2. Share Personal Stories
You may think that people only want to hear about things related to your business and nothing else, but that’s simply not true. People really do care about personal connection! That’s the reason that influencers and bloggers are even a thing. People love to hear the story and meet the person behind the business. Because of that, it’s important to share your face on Instagram once in a while or share a little bit about what your life is like “behind the scenes”. Instagram stories are great for this!
What have you learned recently that you can share with others? Did you go through something difficult that taught you a lesson? People can always relate to these kinds of stories.
What is happening behind the scenes? Share about what you’re up to today. Share an update on what you’re currently working on to push your business one step further.
What are your hobbies? What do you love to do when you’re not working? You don’t always have to post about things related to your business. People love to hear about anything from the books you’re currently reading, to your living room decor, to your pets or your children!
3. Create a Series
This is one of my favorite ways to create social media content! What I mean by a series, is to post regularly about a theme or topic related to your business. This may take a bit of brainstorming to come up with a solid idea, but it can be a great tool for creating consistent content on Instagram. Here are some suggestions to spark an idea:
Defining Words: If you own a business that uses difficult language / ideas that most people don’t know, consider doing a series where you post these words and explain their definitions.
Instructional Tutorials: If selling products is a part of your business, consider posting once a week about a specific products and explain how to best use that product or how owning that product will make their lives better.
Inspiration: If inspiring your audience is an important part of your business, consider creating a series of posts that have an inspirational quote and a caption that expands on that idea. You could even do a series of these posts where these quotes and their ideas all follow a specific theme.
The options truly are endless when it comes to this! Not only that, but the options for series’ you can do on Instagram are very specific to your type of business. For example: a fitness business could do a series all about ab workouts, a wedding photographer could do a series about cute DIY wedding decor they have seen, a restaurant could do a series about simple cocktail recipes they’ve come up with.
4. Get Your Followers Involved
Often times we forget all the creative ways we can get out followers involved with our posts. And I’m not talking about including a question/call to action at the end of you caption (which I’m sure you’ve heard before). I’m talking about thinking of creative ways to get your followers interacting with you and your business:
Host a photo competition: If you sell products, have your followers send in photos of themselves using your products and then choose the best photo and feature them on your account.
Use Instagram stories and put together a quiz: People love doing quizzes! The results can even help you get a better understanding of your audience.
Ask for your followers opinion: This is similar to the idea above, but there are so many fun options for this! You can post a poll or question on your stories asking what they think about something. You can even ask a question in the captions of your post. I personally love when people I follow do this! It can be so fun to see the results and can gives insight into what your followers think. Don’t forget to share the results with your followers in the end!
I hope you found this blog post helpful! The most important thing I encourage you to do (and I am trying to do this more myself) is to take the time and brainstorm some post ideas that are “outside the box.” Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and post about something new, even if you’ve never seen it done before. Mixing up your content output is the best way to keep your followers engaged and excited for more!
