Social Media Post Ideas for Small Business

Social media is now a large part of many small businesses marketing strategies. As much as 77% of companies have social media accounts to boost engagement, drive sales, and increase brand awareness. However, having social media is not just about sharing photos about your business.

For social media marketing to be effective, one must have a strategy. The strategy could be a list of practical social media post ideas and a content calendar suited for the small business’s niche. What are the types of content that bring results for small businesses? In this post, you will see many social media post ideas for small companies and examples of how you can add them to your content strategy.‍

Social Media Post Ideas For Small Business: Sample Posts That Get Results

Inspirational Quotes‍

The first content idea that never gets old is inspirational quotes related to your niche. Quotes are one way to bring in traffic to your social media channels as they do not discriminate your target audience from those who want to buy at the moment and those who want to look around.

Since social media marketing is not just about commerce but building engagement over time, inspirational quotes are one way for people to find value in your page. When you constantly sell products or services without adding value on your social media platforms, your audience could think that your brand is impersonal and unrelatable. Thus, quotes are one way of providing value and inspiration for your audience.

To make inspirational quote posts more effective, try to do the following:

1. Design your post according to your brand: To make your inspirational quotes more associated with your small business, it is best to re-design the quoted post according to your branding. Using fonts, colors, logos, and designs that suit your business can help in brand recognition.
2. Use captions that maximize your engagement: If the quote is thought-provoking, perhaps you can ask questions in the captions section to encourage more comments.
3. Schedule quote posts: Quotes can also be a great way to enhance the design of your social media pages on Instagram, boosting engagement. You can schedule these posts alternating other posts or for every number of other posts for a great-looking aesthetic.‍

Testimonial and Review Posts‍

Testimonials and reviews are great examples of social media post ideas for small businesses that help build trust. Depending on your business niche, you may have a built-in system where you can get ratings, reviews, and testimonials for your products or services.

You can ask for consent to post from your previous customers to boost your business’s credibility. Some ways to do this effectively are:

1. Adding a name and location: Names do not have to be complete, but they do have the bonus of helping your target audience identify themselves with your previous satisfied customer.
2. Placing with photos: Photos are also a great way to improve the credibility of the reviews and testimonials. A photo shows that you did not just make up the review, but some actual people are ready to back their claims.
3. Summarizing the testimonial: What are the strongest statements in the review or testimonial you received? It is best to summarize the post if it is long to help increase social media content’s digestion.‍

Live Videos‍

Another post idea that brings immediate engagement is live videos. There are different purposes of live videos, and what you would use all depends on your social media goals and objectives.

Some notable examples to think about are:

1. Live eCommerce or selling: Some small businesses use the Facebook Live or Instagram Live option to have a selling session. If you have seen these types of posts, the seller goes live for about 30 minutes up to an hour and sells a wide variety of items to audiences in real-time. They showcase the items, and users will comment if they would like to purchase the items with further details to follow.
2. Question and answer: Question and answer live posts are also helpful for small businesses with new software or service to launch. In this type of live video, the business owners will open the floor for questions about the company, and users will get answers right away.
3. Discussion: Live discussions can also help your audience see that you are willing to provide valuable information up front. You can discuss topics relevant to your niche, such as tips on how to save for financial advisors, baby sleep patterns for infant sleep consultants, and so forth.‍

Use of Trending Topics‍

Trending topics that are somewhat related to your niche is also an excellent way to bring in a pool of new audiences to your social media pages. The most important thing to target when you are using trending topics as a part of your social media post strategy is how you can be of value in light of the pressing concern or issue.

How does this come into play when using current issues as part of your social media strategy?

1. How you can prevent the problems in pressing concerns: For example, you can present how the news and media show the current health risks statistics. If you are a business specializing in hygiene and safety, you can place the percentage of effectiveness in your products if you have done some in-house research.
2. How you offer the current trends: Some trending topics are not necessarily issues or concerns. For example, fashion businesses can create posts about the latest seasonal styles or holiday events relevant to their audience.
3. Using non-copyright references: Trending topics can also be a great way to use pop-culture references that are not within copyright rules. You can use popular sayings, imitations, and other witty references to make your posts recognizable.

User-Generated Content (UGC)‍

User-generated content is one of the many effective ways businesses with a significant following continue to build their social media pages. User-generated content helps in building trust, boosting engagement, and provides proof of relatability for new and present audiences alike. If you plan to have user-generated content to post on social media, you can utilize these ideas to improve your strategy:

1. Using branded hashtags: Branded hashtags are single or a list of hashtags solely created for your brand. When customers purchase on your website or any other platform, you can send in an automated “thank you” note while mentioning that they can post their comments or photos with the product/service along with your branded hashtag. This way, you can access many types of user-generated content that can be a part of your social media calendar.
2. Holding contests and promotions: To have more user-generated content, you can hold contests, giveaways, and promotions. These include encouraging previous customers to post why they love the product or testimonials about one’s services. From here, you can have different types of user-generated content that you can re-use as social media posts.

Sponsored Posts‍

There is never a shortage of sponsored posts made by small businesses on social media. The question one needs to answer is, how can you truly stand out? Sometimes, it’s not as simple as posting a photo and hoping that many clicks will convert. If you want to learn more about social ads for beginners, or whether you already have some intermediate background on creating sponsored posts, here are some tips that can help:

1. Using a relevant photo with simple captions: An eye-catching image with a simple one-word or a statement that serves as a caption can help retain engagement. Many users would not look at the text copy immediately before looking at the photos first. Thus, your first photo impression must be attention-grabbing with a simple caption for the best results.
2. Creating a copy that compels action: Creating a compelling copy is a craft to be developed in itself, but you can hire experts that can help you have great ones for your sponsored posts. Otherwise, your social media sponsored post text should be short, engaging, powerful, and can cause your target audience to click a link to buy, know more, or subscribe to your list.
3. Utilizing user-generated content: Another interesting trend for improved engagement in sponsored posts is using user-generated content (UGC). These can include the posts you accumulated from branded hashtags, contests, and promotions, as well as reviews and testimonials from previous customers.‍

Case Study Reels‍

Case studies are not just limited to in-depth blogs. Case studies can also be used in social media too! To make the case studies more digestible on social media platforms, you can do the following tips:

1. Partner with infographics: Infographics can be a great way to present information visually in social media. You can create charts of results, before and after samples, or pie representations to help users visualize the case study you hope to present.
2. Results-forward post: Blog readers have the time and effort to read through case studies that have in-depth information. However, case studies in social media should be results-forward, meaning you have to present the results compared to the status quo.
3. The best photo comes first: How do you catch the attention of your target audience on social media? By using your best case study photo first as a part of your reel. You must strategically arrange the reels to tell a story, present a logical sequence or any other order that can help you build upon your case study even more.‍

Influencer Marketing Posts‍

Influencer posts are pretty different from user-generated content as they are subtly more professional-looking and can be the types of media attuned with your brand. If you are wondering how to get influencers to post about your business, you can use the following strategies:

1. Join influencer collaboration groups: There are many collaboration groups, such as Facebook, where companies can share their information on how influencers can join their current campaign. Businesses either offer free products or services in exchange for a post or compensation for any deliverables.
2. Contacting influencers: You can also personally reach out to influencers within your niche by emailing them or privately messaging to express your intent to collaborate.
3. Marketing networks: Some companies offer influencer collaboration services on their websites. You can sign up and have access to many quality influencers depending on the social media platform of your choice.

You can also use the posts that influencers will create on your social channels. Aside from user-generated content, you can present relatable, personable, and engaging social media posts made by expert influencers.‍

Informational Posts‍

Like inspirational quotes, informational social media posts will never go out of style. They provide value, interesting ideas, and helpful tips on how your target audience can solve their problems.

Some general examples include:

1. Trivia and facts: It can be fun to add a “Did you know” type of post to your social media strategy once in a while. These are trivia and facts relevant to your niche that not everyone knows but are pretty interesting.
2. Tips and Tricks: Tips and tricks are always valuable and are considered evergreen social media content. A weekly tip and trick post in social media can also help your social media gain traction in engagement in followers.
3. Product or service related: Another common but helpful type of informative post is related to your products and services. Presenting your offers clearly and concisely can help address the questions and concerns of your present and future customers.‍

Social Media Post Ideas: A List To Get You Started‍

Having a great social media strategy starts with brainstorming post ideas that bring results. Knowing what applies to your small business and creating a social media calendar is a significant first step in making more effective campaigns. Hopefully, the list of social media posts mentioned above can help you get many ideas on how to plan your content in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Are you looking for an overall online marketing expert that can help you build a solid strategy for your business? E-Marketing Associates offers online marketing software to gain insights and help you manage online reviews and all of your social media channels from one dashboard and more. Learn more about our services by reaching out to us today!