Where To Get The Best Post Ideas For Social Media
Darren Westall
May 5, 2021
Marketing
Executing a valuable social media post strategy isn’t a straightforward task. There are countless factors to take into consideration, such as which channels you should use, which content formats work best for your business, who you should hire to manage your social media channels, and so. (And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.)
However, one common problem we often run into when it comes to utilising social media channels properly is knowing what is best to post, and where to get ideas from.
Fear not – we’ve got the answers.
It’s not one size fits all with any social media post
The first thing to remember when you’re struggling with what to include in your social media post is that not everything will work with all your audiences. For example, a particularly popular video on LinkedIn might not be as popular with your audience on Instagram, as it’s two completely different demographics you are engaging with.
The trick to starting off with is to look at the analytics for each social media channel you are using and dig deep into what works best, where. Make a note of any patterns you can see emerging, and be sure to utilise the data to know what kind of content you should be creating and sharing for each channel.
The competition is high
Keeping an eye on your competitors doesn’t mean you need to copy everything they’re doing, but it’ll certainly let you know what you’re up against. If you find that they’re posting a certain type of content that’s getting a high rate of engagement, have a think about whether a similar format would benefit your business, too. Similarly, if they are posting on a specific social media platform that you haven’t considered for your business yet – is it worth considering?
Don’t forget, you don’t have to be doing everything your competitors are doing just to keep up with the crowd. Monitor them to see if there are certain content formats or channel strategies that could work for your organisation too, and take it from there.
How to know what to post on each channel
The more time you spend on each dedicated social media channel, the more you will know what people engage with and what will work for your industry. For example, depending on the sector you’re in, an Instagram live Q&A could work particularly well, in comparison to asking your followers to sign up for a webinar (or vice versa). As long as you stay active on your chosen platforms and keep track of what seems to work and what doesn’t, you won’t be too far off the mark.
Do you feel like your content formats have become a bit stagnant? Are you constantly posting the same types of blogs and social graphics, and not getting much engagement? This is when you know it’s time to shake things up slightly and step outside of your comfort zone with content.
Try videos, podcasts, webinars, eBooks, whitepapers, surveys, SlideDeck – experiment with a variety of content formats and monitor the analytics for a few months. This way, you’ll be able to see what is good for brand awareness, what works for engagement, what encourages your followers to convert and what doesn’t work at all.
Where can I get original content ideas from?
Aside from switching up the format and monitoring what everyone else is doing online, you’ll be able to get some inspiring and original content ideas by doing the following:
- Forums - having a search on forums (such as Quora) to see what questions people are asking that are relevant to your business means you can create content to answer these questions. For example, if your company is a tech recruitment agency and you find a question in a forum such as, “What are the most popular programming languages in 2023?” - you could create a video, podcast or blog about this.
- Industry publications - don’t forget to do a weekly check in on the most popular industry publications. Whether they’re online or you get hard copies delivered to the office, make a note of what is being discussed in case any of the topics could be useful for a compelling campaign.
- LinkedIn comment sections - if you have plenty of connections on LinkedIn, you’ll know how useful the comments section on LinkedIn can be. If people respond to certain posts and ask questions, this can trigger meaningful conversations. Monitor relevant posts and see what people are talking about - you could get some content ideas based on the topic of conversation, without even trying.
- YouTube videos - are you utilising video as part of your overall content strategy? If so, you’ll know that monitoring other businesses’ videos (either your direct competition, or simply businesses in your sector) on YouTube and seeing what gets the most views and engagement is a simple way to be inspired. You don’t need to do specifically what they’re doing, but it’ll definitely give you a few ideas.
- Surveys - if you’re unsure what your audiences want to know, ask them. Posting surveys on social media (and in email campaigns too, if possible) asking your audiences what you could help them with or improve on, will give you a whole array of content ideas. Hearing specifically from your target demographic about what they would like to see is one of the most direct ways to generate original content.
- Website search queries - what are people typing into the search bar on your website? Monitor this within your analytics as a quick and easy way for content ideas.
Create, share, monitor, plan
The best social media post come from a well-researched, well-executed test and trial process. Putting a strategy in place is fine, and gives you guidance on what to aim for so you can plan ahead – but it takes a lot of creativity and testing before you know what sticks. When you’re generating enough content ideas, simply create them, share them strategically, monitor their performance, and plan ahead based on the data.
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