One of the questions I get asked most is, “What do I share on social media?”. When you’re committed to consistently and actively using social media for your business, it’s easy for the so-called ‘idea well’ to dry up from time to time. So what do I share on social media?
And if you’re also committed to connecting with your fans and followers in an engaging and authentic way (i.e. not just talking about your business and products), coming up with content ideas can be even trickier.
For this reason, I’ve put together this list of 50 ideas to help you connect with your social media followers; both in terms of business-related posts, as well as more personal posts that will help you engage with your community in a more personal and meaningful way.
50 Ideas To Help You Connect With Your Followers on Social Media
Remember: [Tweet “People want to connect with you, not just get updates about your business or products!”]
Here is something I posted on Google+ almost 2 years ago, and I still believe it 100%!
- Unique business tips that help your social media audience in some way.
- Humor…people love to laugh!
- Inspiration is HUGE and it is one of the most SHARED types of content on social media!
- Questions! Even random questions like “What’s your favorite dessert?”
- Offers and deals. This is still the #1 reason people like a brand on Facebook.
- Behind-the-scenes photos of your life or business.
- Opinions. People love to know you’re a REAL person with REAL ideas and REAL views!
- Personal recommendations for your favorite products or services.
- Industry news your social media audience will find relevant.
- Handy tips for how to succeed at something.
- Photos of your family members or pets.
- A personal introduction: Share a little about yourself and ask your community to share too! Click to retweet
- Encouraging and positive quotes (positive messages get more shares than negative ones).
- Fill-in-the-blank posts…people love to show their creative side!
- A photo or video of your office, desk or wherever it is you’re working from.
- Start a conversation: Give your personal take on an issue, and ask your community what they think.
- Uncommon ideas: This is a great way to become a thought leader in your niche.
- Photo albums of events or parties (work or personal!).
- Content shared by your audience…this lets your fans know you’re really listening.
- Customer success stories or testimonials.
- A summary of how you started your current business.
- Hold a Q & A session…let your community ask you anything! >>>>Click here to retweet<<<<
- Use a poll to collect opinions and ideas from your community.
- Image of the Day post: Post one photo of yourself every day so your followers can get to know the ‘real’ you!
- Ask for input on a particular issue or problem.
- Create audience-specific boards on Pinterest to encourage all segments of your community to engage with you (for instance, ‘moms’, ‘dads’, ‘aunts’, etc.)
- Get employees not usually involved with social media to post something. This is a great way to put a more human face to your business.
- Contests or sweepstakes are always good for growing your fan base.
- Caption a photo: If you want to make it extra-personal, post a funny photo of yourself J
- Make predictions. Prediction posts are always popular, and can help establish you as a thought-leader in your industry.
- Post an audio clip. Many marketers don’t make use of audio (apart from podcasts), but posting a brief audio message adds an extra-personal touch to your posts.
- Crowdsource: Ask your audience to pitch some ideas.
- Current events: Ask your followers what they think of a breaking news story or issue.
- Share your thoughts from an industry conference or event.
- Debunk common myths in your niche.
- Customer profiles: Share information or facts about one of your customers (with their permission, of course).
- Links to other people’s content…you shouldn’t just share your own!
- Book or movie suggestions.
- Tips for technology or tools your followers could benefit from.
- Personal news: New baby in the family? A big move? Let your followers know!
- Viral videos of interest to your audience.
- Infographics…just be sure to give credit to your source!
- Share your travel schedule (within reason!) so you can potentially meet up with your followers.
- If you don’t offer a particular product or service, recommend someone who does.
- Share other people’s social media posts, and be sure to tag their business in your post.
- Expert advice…whether it’s yours or someone else’s.
- Thank your fans and followers for being a part of your life and business.
- Think out loud: Something on your mind? Share a candid thought with your fans and encourage them to do the same.
- Recommend people to follow. Share the love by recommending other people or businesses your fans can like or follow.
- Ask your followers their biggest need or pain point. You can offer advice, support or create a product or service to fix it! Hint, Hint!
About Author
Kim Garst
Kim Garst is a renowned marketing strategist and speaker who is trailblazing the use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing. With over 30 years of experience as an online entrepreneur, Kim helps entrepreneurs grow their business and authority online by using AI technology. She is leading the way with proven AI frameworks that help entrepreneurs build authority in their space.
She is keynote speaker and an international best-selling author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media.
Named by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer, Kim is well-known for her skill to simplify complex technology and make the use of AI understandable for business growth. Her relatable, actionable advice helps guide new entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI to succeed in digital marketing. Kim is leading the way in combining human and technological skills to create a new model for AI-powered marketing.
Awesome post Kim! I’ll be coming back to this again and again for fresh ideas!
Thanks for dropping in, Clinton! Glad you got some value from today’s post.
Love hearing this, Linda 🙂
As I always say, people will connect with you on a personal level before they connect on a business level. People buy from PEOPLE that they know, like and trust 🙂
Awesome! That is all.
Love you, Donna! 🙂
Thank you for a great presentation and for these helpful hints. Hope to see you again soon! 🙂
Glad you got some good ideas, Lisa!
Great to hear that you got some good tips from this one 🙂
It’s a huge issue for many biz owners to wrap their heads around but true nonetheless!
Love this, it is really great reference material some thing that people can go back when they just need to boost their memories. This is just great for me also because I am not a detailed person so these one liners really work for me.
Angela, glad you got some good nuggets to run with :-). I agree on the one liners! They totally work for me too.
Kim, what a wonderful list! #37 is my own #1 rule with social media – share other’s content. Some bloggers and businesses only share their own stuff almost all the time. #30 is not one I’ve thought of before – gives me another idea. Thank you for all the tips, Kim!
Appreciate you dropping in, Reginald! Glad you got a nugget or two that you can use 🙂
Great tips for social media posts. Thanks a bunch!
awwhh, thanks Angela 🙂
Thanks for dropping in and glad you picked up some nuggets!
So happy to see this post. Really appreciate your point of view on this. These 50 tips will increase post engagement extensively. I was so lost earlier:- Khuram Dhanani
An excellent list of ideas on how to share and engage on the social web Kim. One of my favorite phrases when working with clients to develop a SMM strategy is “Don’t Do Social ~ Be Social” which you cover in spades in this A+ article. Nice!
Amazing post. Thanks a lot Kim for the tips. The ideas are great.
So glad you got some value, Glenn!
Awesome post. I find the information most valuable and will refer to it from time and will even to my audience. Really good stuff. Thanks very much
Thank you! So glad you got value from it 🙂
So helpful, thanks