.png){kind=icon}
Social media offers numerous opportunities to connect with your customers, increase sales, and reach a wider audience. However, in today's fast-paced world, you'll need a strong marketing strategy to make people stop scrolling and direct them to your profile. Researching the best social media content ideas for small businesses could turn a bland profile into a popular community with high engagement rates.
With millions of people logging on daily, social media offers a new opportunity to find customers, drive sales, and advertise your products. You might not need a global following if you run a small business. However, social media could help you reach customers in your area and stand out from your competitors.
Social media also makes it easy for guests to write reviews, leave comments, and ask for help. If you've ever seen a corporation's comment section after a controversy, you know that people often turn to social media to voice their complaints. Fortunately, this gives you a new opportunity to reach out, resolve issues, and boost your reputation.
Your online presence also shows potential clients that you're an active, established business that stays on top of the latest trends. When visitors can't find you on the Internet, they might assume you have closed your doors or don't know how to use technology.
Social media lets you list your hours, address, and contact information. Guests can find your location in minutes, visit you in person, or call your office to learn more. Without the Internet, potential customers will have no idea how to reach you, forcing them to turn to a competitor with an active online presence.
Once you've joined a few platforms and polished your profiles, building a content calendar is the next step. Your content calendar is a schedule that helps you plan ahead, keep track of events, and post steadily throughout the week. Make sure you plan at least a month so your team has plenty of time to generate high-quality assets.
Each day on your calendar could look like this:
Your followers may get bored quickly, so it's essential to hold their attention with photos, blog posts, infographics, videos, and polls. Take some time to research the best social media content ideas for small businesses, then determine how you can incorporate them into your routine.
You can disguise your content to make it look organic, but at the end of the day, followers know that you're trying to sell a product. However, customer reviews aren't trying to sell anything. They give honest opinions about your business, making others more likely to trust them.
When you need a quick, easy post to round out your calendar, try screenshotting your recent five-star reviews and uploading them as a carousel or photoset. This breaks up the monotony of ordinary posts and shows your followers how much people love your brand. Sometimes, one glowing review is the push people need to purchase.
If you want to take it further, you could partner with influencers and invite them to share reviews in exchange for free products or services. This gives you professional content you can share on various platforms, and you'll reach a new audience of people who trust the influencer's recommendations.
Throughout your career, you've learned a lot about your industry. You have the answers to questions that could lead potential customers on a journey right to your website. Once they've found your business, they might take time to read more posts or explore your product selection.
To start, think about questions that you frequently hear from customers. You could also look up popular search queries related to your industry, such as "is soy wax safe for people with allergies" or "how do I season a cast-iron pan?" Next, figure out how to format the answer in a blog post or social media update, then send the topic to your writing team.
When people look up this topic online, your blog post may appear in the search results. This drives traffic to your website without forcing you to pay for ad placement. While you're at it, you could repurpose the content by shortening the text and sharing it on your social media profiles.
Making a human connection is one of the small businesses' best social media content ideas. When followers see the real people behind the screen, they'll want to purchase to help you succeed. They might even feel like they are part of a community of like-minded people who want to help others.
Spotlighting your employees is a popular way to build empathy and grow social media audience. For each post, share an employee's name and portrait and ask them a few questions about your business. In addition to increased engagement, this method improves workplace morale and shows your team that you appreciate their contributions.
When you're getting ready for an event or product launch, sharing behind-the-scenes content will drum up anticipation and give your audience a glimpse of the excitement. You'll also build connections by making your followers feel like industry insiders. Try sharing temporary posts, such as 24-hour Instagram Stories, to strengthen this effect.
Pictures, concept art, mockups, and prototypes can show your process. Just make sure you're not sharing any personal information or secret formulas. For more fun, you could give your audience a video tour of the factory, office, or event setting. Reach out to any coworkers you see for an impromptu interview.
Everyone loves sharing their opinion. With polls, your customers make their voices heard in seconds, creating positive associations with your brand. Polls also snap them out of their scrolling trance, which builds stronger memories. Most social media profiles immediately display the results to see how many people agree.
Similarly, adding questions to your captions will turn your posts into a public forum. Make sure you read the responses and give people a "like" or personalized reply so that they know you're listening. Your followers can also interact and learn from each other, which builds a community around your business.
If you're looking for extensive feedback, invite customers to complete a short survey with a discount code at the end. The survey should be anonymous so that people can freely share their thoughts. Afterward, make a post that discusses the results and thanks your followers for their time.
One downside of online shopping is that you can't test the product before you buy it. Sometimes, visitors don't know how to use the product and don't know where to turn for answers. Product tutorials offer a simple demonstration that helps them imagine using the product or service daily.
As a bonus, these tutorials might reduce the number of customer questions and complaints. You could also show them how to use innovative devices or provide styling tips. Plus, you're advertising the product every time you upload a video, which may increase your sales. Live demonstrations on Instagram or TikTok add a sense of urgency to the process.
When a product, behavior, or social movement goes viral, relevant hashtags become popular. Millions of people jump on the trend, sharing pictures or videos and inviting their friends to join in. Celebrities add their input to increase the trend's lifespan. Some trends even make news headlines, which turns the moment into a "monocultural" event.
Amid this whirlwind, you could reach more customers by becoming part of the movement. Some people will find your post while scrolling through social media and decide to follow your brand. Your existing followers will note that you're on top of the latest trends and appreciate your enthusiasm. Plus, you'll create a funny or touching moment that may become part of your company's history.
However, this doesn't mean that you should jump on every trend you see. Most viral moments are fleeting, and if you jump on a dance or hashtag months after people have moved on, your business might look stuffy and out of touch. It's also impossible to keep up with every phase, and even if you tried, you'd probably drown your followers in short-lived memes.
Instead, watch for trends that last for weeks or more. This gives you ample time to analyze the hype, make assets, and add them to your content calendar. While it's hard to say how long each trend will last, try waiting a few weeks after the initial explosion to see if they're still relevant.
For example, Dubai chocolate is one of 2025's biggest food trends. If you wanted to join the hype, you could buy a few bars and film your employees having a taste test. You could also film yourself making your own Dubai chocolate bars at home or share a recipe with your followers. This keeps your brand relevant while returning the viral moment to your business.
Holidays offer plenty of opportunities for bonus content. A simple post that states "Happy Halloween!" or "Happy Thanksgiving!" can quickly accrue likes, comments and shares from people who love celebrating holidays. If you're short on time, a graphic is all you need, but you could also share pictures of your team celebrating or discuss your favorite traditions.
If you want to stand out, post about lesser-known holidays, such as Indigenous Peoples’ Day and World Mental Health Day. Depending on your chosen holidays, you could have fun, discuss a serious topic or show your followers that you care. They might even learn about holidays that they didn't know existed.
Giveaways can quickly multiply your following and attract people who wouldn't have followed you otherwise. Choose a reward, such as a gift basket or a free service, then invite your followers to earn tickets for the drawing. They could gain entries by following your profile, sharing the post, or using your hashtag.
You'll choose a winner when the giveaway ends and announce them on social media. Afterward, you'll privately message the winner for more information about redeeming their prize. Some followers might drop off when they don't win, but overall, you'll have a larger audience and increased goodwill.
The online landscape is constantly changing. To help you stay ahead, E-Marketing Associates offers a free digital marketing newsletter. Simply enter your first name and email address, then sign up for news on the small business or hospitality industries. We'll send you tips, advice, updates, and other essentials.
Staying informed helps you succeed, but you can't do it alone. E-Marketing Associates sells high-end products and services, such as reputation management, web design, search engine optimization, AI chatbots and ADA compliance, at prices that small businesses can afford. Reach out today to schedule your 15-minute discovery call.
.jpg)
