When it comes to engaging customers on Facebook and elsewhere, there are two kinds of social media ideas: those that are awesome, and those that are awesome and actually WORK.
Because it's one thing to just be awesome - but if you're not moving the needle, the excitement wears off. So yes, go ahead and play around with them on your personal Facebook page if you’re bored (or if the endless status meeting you’re stuck in is neither providing status, nor is a meeting).
It's an entirely different thing to craft a social media post that is awesome and gets results – which is what really matters here. Because while having fun is always a worthwhile goal, having fun while you’re generating customers and profits is flat-out glorious.
With this in mind, based on our experience working with clients across the country in various industries and sectors, below we present the social media ideas that you should focus on:
5 Awesome Social Media Ideas that Actually Get Results
1. Feature relevant content.
The best way to achieve ROI from your social media is to answer the all-important question that customers ask: WIIFM? (“What’s in it for me?”). Do yourself and your customers a big favor by clearly answering this question in two ways:
- Drive them to relevant content, such as your eBooks, how to videos, slideshare presentations, Infographics, blog posts, feature articles, case studies, and so on.
- Quickly tell them WHY it’s relevant. Usually the topic/title will help point them in the right direction, but use your preciously limited social media real estate to hammer home why something is a must read, must have, can’t miss, and so on.
Please Note: It may be possible to embed some of the content suggested above (e.g. Infographics, slideshare presentations) into your social media posts. If not, then you can put a snippet and drive customers to your website, where they can access the content easily and quickly.
2. Run polls, contests and competitions.
As you’ve probably experienced on the other side (i.e. as a customer), polls, contests and competitions are excellent social media content ideas that foster engagement – which is a key metric. Just be sure to make it VERY simple, easy and fun for customers to participate. For example, “fill in the blank” or “caption this photo” contests work well. Or sometimes just asking customers to “like” a post to be eligible to win a prize is enough to get them clicking and leaning in.
3. Ask questions.
Customers love feeling important (because they are!), and a great way to validate this through social media is by asking their opinion on everything from potential new product names, to marketplace trends, and so on. These questions should be relevant and invite short social-media friendly responses. You don’t want people sending essays. And for obvious reasons: steer well clear of anything political, religious, controversial, or in any way negative, because you don’t want this great social media content idea backfiring on you!
4. Publish quotes from thought leaders or historical figures.
Without going overboard– i.e. you don’t want to be posting these daily, as they will “push” content down your Facebook page and can take over after a while – you can feature quotes from industry thought leaders or historical figures. An accompanying picture (you can probably grab something from Wikipedia – make sure you give credit) can also help the post attract attention and drive engagement.
5. Testimonials
Testimonials make GREAT social media ideas, because they’re short, branded, highly influential – and yet, they’re being said or written by someone else, which ensures that your business doesn’t cross the line between “confident” and “self-promotional”. As with #4 (above), don’t do too many of these in a row, or the optics can be wrong – i.e. you don’t want your Facebook page to be a vehicle for your testimonials. Once or twice a week is fine. It can also be valuable to write a small thank you note with each testimonial you post, so that you can share the love with your customers and tell everyone how great they are to work with.
The Bottom Line
Your social media properties are not just add-ons to your website or brand. They are highly valuable assets – or at least, they have the potential to be. Integrating the above social media ideas into your publishing rotation will help your business realize this potential and enjoy impressive bottom-line results.
Learn More
For even more social media ideas, including those related to management, tactics and strategy, contact the experts at Leap Clixx. Your consultation with us is free, and there’s no obligation or risk. Plus, we guarantee you’ll learn some valuable and practical social media content ideas that you can implement right away.
Topics: Social Media
