~ by Haley Lynn Gray ~.
My business coaching and social media clients frequently tell me that they draw a blank when trying to come up with ideas for what to post on social media. Thus, I decided to come up with a list of 100 ideas for posts that you can use for your social media.
If you get stuck, refer to this list of social media post ideas to get yourself unstuck.
1-Post a picture of yourself. Many people simply don’t post enough pictures of themselves. Our clients want to know what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.
2-Post about a holiday. Daysoftheyear.com is a great website with so many holidays and obscure options for holidays. There are almost always fabulous choices for holidays you can celebrate. From Blueberry Pancake Day to National Sibling Day, there are holidays galore in there.
3-Post your blog posts. If you’ve written blog posts, share them. You can and should share them over and over again on platforms like Twitter. You can also share them again on Facebook and LinkedIn, but you will need to spread out posting of the content over a period of time.
4-Create custom graphics using sites like Canva.com. You can put together quotes, memes and other little cute things. You can use photos and graphics provided by Canva or you can upload your own images.
5-Share your favorite or interesting videos that resonate with your audience.
6-Post pictures of your products or services. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to highlight what you’re selling.
7-Tell people what you are up to in your business.
8-Ask questions about topics that are interesting to your audience. Questions can be fun, silly, serious, or that require thought.
9-Run a 3, 5, or 7 day goal-oriented challenge. Give people a goal and have them work towards it. This can be a great audience building exercise, as people will want to learn more about your business. This works particularly well for coaches and entrepreneurs who work with clients.
10-Ask your audience to post a picture of themselves or their pets. Make it more interesting by proposing a theme.
11-Share other people’s content. This is called curated content and is an important part of showing your expertise. The more you can show that you are involved with the world around you, and are sharing resources, the more of an expert you will appear to be.
12-Guest appearances. If you appear on any other blogs, podcasts, tv shows, radio shows, or other media, share it with your followers.
13-Share your accomplishments and milestone achievements with your audience.
14-Fill in the blank posts work well. For example, “If I could go anywhere on vacation for free it would be to _____”.
15-Polls. Facebook has a built in poll feature. Usually I just prefer to ask a question – such as, “What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?”
16-Statistics or data. People love to argue over statistics, but be careful what you post! I learned to check every statistic before I post because sometimes they are wrong. And people enjoy discovering that you were wrong and posting about it.
17-Infographics. You can easily create infographics on Canva.com. But there are so many really good infographics out there on Pinterest that can be shared as well. I particularly like sharing information on teenage driving safety and other causes that I care about in addition to work-related posts.
18-Post beautiful pictures. You can find lovely pictures on Pixabay and Pexels for free. There are so many wonderful places that have images which are free for commercial use. Just be sure to read the rules on the website carefully. You don’t want to be guilty of copyright infringement.
19-Share your own artwork, poetry, or photography. People want to get to know you, and sharing these can show a deeper, more meaningful side.
20-Link to a controversial blog post or topic you feel deeply about. Lately, I’ve been posting about equal pay.
21-TED Talks are frequently a good source of information, especially for entrepreneurs.
22-Ask your followers for feedback on products or services. People love to give feedback, and beta-test products, services, websites, and even get a sneak peek at your books or videos.
23-Pinterest can be a great source of inspiration. I keep Pinterest boards specifically for inspiration. You can make those boards either public or private. If you attribute the source correctly, this can be a gold mine of fun content.
24-Share valuable resources and tools. There are many times that I actually refer people to other experts in the field who know more about a particular subject than I do.
25-Facebook Live or other videos get a lot of views and interaction. You may find it difficult to get interaction on a business page, but you will be shocked at the number of views you end up getting.
26-Offer a free download – a free ebook, a free guide, a checklist. That will help you build your email list while building your tribe’s loyalty.
27-Ask people what they would like to see. You may be surprised at the responses you get.
28-Profile an employee or a valued client. By sharing who works with you, and who you work with, you will offer insights into your business and also help shine the spotlight on clients.
29-Case studies are powerful tools for education and empowerment. Please share lots of great case studies to be used as educational content. We used them extensively at Duke University and I think that they are a phenomenal tool.
30-Ask for reviews or testimonials. Most us need more reviews or testimonials on our social media pages or on Google. In fact, those reviews are worth their weight in gold.
31-Ask your fans to submit photos that you can feature on your social media. Fan photos are fabulous, and the quality can be phenomenal.
32-Share a favorite book or a book that you’ve recently read. Bonus points if you include a review and a link to it on Amazon. (Double bonus points if you leave a review on Amazon!)
33-Recommend your favorite products and services. I send out an email periodically with links to the products and services that I use to run my business. I am an affiliate with some of them, and this gives me the opportunity to make a few dollars as well as recommend products and services that I stand behind.
34-Post tips. I have found that creating a list of tips in my social media scheduler (MeetEdgar.com) and having it post those periodically is great help. People love them, comment on them and share them. By creating a repository of those tips, I’ve got them for the long haul.
35-Share time management tips. People appreciate learning more about how other business owners manage their time and how they’ve managed to become successful while building their business. By sharing this kind of information, you become even more of a great resource, and more human and real.
36-Collect quotes from other industry experts and post them on your website.
37-Start conversations with industry leaders. You may not get an answer, but you should at least try.
38-Create photo collages. You can use Canva or PicMonkey to create one.
39-Show ‘then and now’ photos. People love to see what your first website looked like or where you were 5 years ago.
40-Share comics or memes. Show a bit of humor and people will love you. One of the best examples is George Takei. Millions of people follow him and share his hilarious, witty memes.
41-Recommend a colleague or associate. By bringing visibility and attention to your colleagues you will help them grow your business, and they in turn will help you grow yours!
42-Share breaking industry news. You can set alerts on Google to alert you when there is new news that affects your industry.
43-Post inspirational videos from Youtube or Facebook. There are so many fun, inspirational and educational videos – the hardest decision is where to start.
44-Ask people to guess or predict the results of major events. This can be about who will win an election, or a sports match or tournament.
45-Ask True/False questions. Or Fact/Fiction. You can use Snopes.com as a source of interesting urban legends.
46-Share the latest news about your business. Did your business just hit a major milestone? New employee? Share it, preferably with photos!
47-Post coupons and links to someone else’s promotion or sale. I find that telling people about sales and promotions gets them excited. (And who doesn’t love a good sale?)
48-Share some personal details. I have people who I swear follow me for stories about my kids. It amuses them to see me get hit and held up by a certain child of mine who likes to shoot nerf bullets at me while I’m on Facebook Live. Obviously, you don’t want to overshare, but some details show that you’re more than just a business owner – that you’re a real person too.
49-Share stories about your company in the news. That tends to spark more news.
50-Look for opportunities to appear on podcasts as a guest. Then once the show goes live, post that on your social media feeds.
51-Guest blog for other blogs and other news media sites. Then share these on your social media pages. You’ll generate great backlinks to your websites and buzz about your company.
52-Share awards that your company has won. Done properly, this helps build trust with your followers.
53-Hold a flash sale. People love a good buy, and by running random sales, you will get them looking for more.
54-Share the latest industry research. Do you have some studies or statistics you can share? (Bonus points if they become an infographic)
55-Give a shout out or thank you to your fans. People will appreciate being acknowledged.
56-Give expert advice and information about a topic of interest to your followers. This helps establish your reputation online.
57-Do a series of social media posts around a topic or theme. I frequently put together a series of topics for a month or two or three that tie together. I also create custom graphics for all of the posts to tie them together.
58-Get employees or fans to guest post for you. The more the better.
59-Interview guests on Facebook Live. You can interview other industry experts, and in the process you’ll further establish your own credibility.
60-Do a video about a current event in your business on Facebook Live, YouTube, or other format.
61-Create a compilation of industry news. Top 10 lists are always appreciated.
62-Create a list of books to read. These can be industry-related or even books for enjoyment.
63-Support a cause or charity and encourage your audience to support the same cause.
64-Run a 3, 5, or 7 day self-improvement challenge. As an example, you can challenge people to improve their health, organization, time management, or some other aspect of their lives.
65-Host a give-away of something good. Different social media platforms have different rules regarding contests, so you will need to make sure to comply with all applicable rules.
66-Pull out interesting points from your blog posts and share those. You can link back to your original blog so that the readers get “the rest of the story”.
67-Make predictions about where the industry is headed.
68-Post life hacks. Just as there are many websites dedicated to Ikea hacks, take the opportunity to show novel and unexpected uses of your products in real life.
69-Link to comments on your blog that are particularly interesting or helpful.
70-Create FAQs to answer questions that you get asked a lot.
71-Share your story and back history with your audience. People like to know where you’ve come from and what your background is.
72-Just as you share where you’ve come from, share where you see the your company going, as well as your vision.
73-Share pertinent pieces of information or background on topics from your education. For some, when we leave school we want to forget where we’ve been, but there are many extremely helpful resources or pieces of information that will be helpful to our readers.
74-Connect people to a helpful Facebook or LinkedIn group. This is just another way for you to show your value and helpfulness.
75-Post a link to an old newsletter.
76-“Throwback Thursday”. Post about something in the history of your company, whether it’s a picture of an old logo, website, or story about the way things used to be.
77-Tell a funny story. People love stories and anecdotes from our lives.
78-Stalk your competitors – on social media, that is. Look at what your competitors are sharing and find a way to do an even better job than they do.
79-Share (or post a link to) an employee biography.
80-Give an award for employee of the month. Then share the information on social media.
81-Search Wikipedia for an interesting topic. Add to the content and quote it on social media.
82-Answer a question on Quora – “A place to share knowledge and better understand the world”.
83-Answer questions you receive. If someone has sent you a question, answer their question publicly as either a video response or in a mini blog post.
84-Share a funny commercial.
85-Run a photograph contest by asking viewers to submit photos to be voted on.
86-Share a great music video.
87-Write a post in Haiku format and challenge your readers to respond in Haiku.
88-Share your best time management tips learned as an entrepreneur. We can all use more time and find better ways to manage our time.
89-Share a favorite piece of artwork.
90-Create a story and run that story thread through your business.
91-Get a mascot and show pictures of the mascot in action. I have a pink pig named “Oink”. I take photos of him taking a bath, getting into trouble in the kitchen, and more. My friend has a frog who drinks a lot of wine at her vineyard.
92-Post inspirational quotes from your favorite role models.
93-Ask people to post a picture of their pets.
94-Show a picture of your desk. People are intrigued by our offices and desks. They may even agree to show you their desks. (My desk is always a pile of papers)
95-Post a “thank you” to your clients. Let them know how much you appreciate each and every one of them.
96-Comment on world topics. But be sensitive to the political climate – be sure to stop your posts and feeds if there is a significant world crisis or news event.
97-Give examples of what NOT to do. Whether it’s fashion or how to cause yourself to be blacklisted by Google. A ‘what not to do’ tip can be extremely powerful.
98-Ask your audience what questions they would like answered. You can structure your responses around their questions.
99-Conduct a live Q & A session. Announce in advance when you will be available and show up to answer questions.
100-Promote your products and services lightly. You should promote only once after every 10 or so other posts; the goal is to draw in customers. The reason I mention this last is because you should keep your business promotions to a minimum.
Meet the Author: Haley Lynn Gray
Haley helps female entrepreneurs create a strategy plan for their businesses – so they can make enough money to spend quality time with their family, pay for their children’s dance lessons, pay bills – and not worry about where the next client is coming from.
Haley is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Leadership Girl. She helps other entrepreneurs build their businesses by sharing the benefits of her business education and experience through Business Coaching.
