Posting content on your small business’s social media channels is a great way to organically raise awareness about your brand and build trust amongst your audience and customers! Still, it can be hard to continually come up with fresh, engaging content! Have you ever found yourself staring at your phone or computer screen, not sure what to post? You’re not alone. Every small business owner, at some point, has found themselves stumped when it comes to social media content. On days like those, look to this blog for some inspiration! We are going to cover 25 different social media content ideas for your small business PLUS a bonus idea at the end!
Do you own a restaurant? A home service company? A beauty salon? An auto shop? A retail store? Or any small business? These ideas are for you! Enough chit-chat. You’re here for one reason, so let’s get started!
1. Before and After Photos
Before you get started doing what you do best, remember to take before photos! Once you’re done and ready to show off your fantastic work, take some after shots! Whether you’re a hairstylist, a contractor, landscaper, etc., before and after photos showcase what you can do and help customers visualize your work for their own hair, home, yard, etc.!
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Stunning transformations are bound to catch attention, and that’s exactly the case in this post! Are you starting to picture yourself with a gorgeous red look like this? That’s the goal! These beautiful before and after photos by @hair_by_courtneya showcase a whole lot of talent and bring a WOW factor to their Instagram feed. Be sure to check out more of their posts on their Instagram!
2. Step by Step Guides, DIY Guides, or Tutorials
Social media is not all about promoting your products and services. It is also about building trust! Giving your audience valuable, helpful content can go a long way in this regard! Posting a step-by-step guide or a tutorial shows that you want to help your customers and positions you as an expert in your field! DIY ideas and tips also allow your audience to feel as if you’re giving them exclusive, secret information, letting them do the work at home. Allowing you to… that’s right, build trust! Own a painting company? Try giving your audience a couple of DIY home painting tips. Own a nail salon? Give your audience some DIY pedicure tips.
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This nail brand. Vrenmol, sells nail polish, nail gel kits, and more, but as you can see in their post here, they are not focusing on that. Instead, they are giving their audience an entertaining and helpful tutorial! At the same time, their viewers can see how their products work, and a fun idea to do at home! Want to see more of their content? Take a look here!
3. Tips, Tricks, and Hacks
Got a tip that you think may help your audience? A hack that you use regularly? Think about the problems your customers are usually trying to solve when they use your services or purchase your products. The answers to these problems can become social media posts! Try developing a series, such as “Tuesday Tips,” to create a pattern of consistency and something for your customers to look forward to.
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Essential Oil Magic is a holistic wellness brand that sells aromatherapy steamers, essential oil carrying cases, and plenty of other resources and tools, so it makes sense for them to post a tip giving their audience another use of essential oils! Maybe their customers have asked about uncommon uses of essential oils. That we are unsure of, but we are sure that their audience appreciated it, as you can see from the post’s level of engagement. To see more of their content, visit their Instagram page here!
4. Fun Facts Related to Your Industry
Sharing a fun fact every once in a while is a great way to break up your social media content and entertain your audience! Need an example? Say you own a Pizzeria, do some research to find out how many people like pineapples on their pizza! Your caption can be something like, “Pineapples? Yay or nay? 5 out of every 10 Americans like pineapples on their pizza! Give us your opinion!”
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Keeping strong with the pizza theme, Earl’s 377 Pizza in Texas shares a fun and relatable fact to engage their audience. They’ve also included a question to encourage comments from their viewers. Want to see more fun pizza content? Check out their Instagram!
What sort of fun facts do you think your audience would like to see?
5. Inspirational Quotes
Depending on your industry, your audience may appreciate an inspirational quote every now and then! Motivation can be hard to build up, so help your audience with a relevant quote! You can even start a series – “Motivational Mondays”, “Inspire Me Fridays”, or “Thoughts of the Day”.
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This coffee shop is all about taking the time to enjoy life, so an inspirational quote like this works perfectly with their brand message. AND you don’t need to be an expert graphic designer to create your post, we are loving how this quote is hand-written on a chalkboard! It gives the post a personal feel! @fikacoffeeliverpool has made their “Thought of the Day” publications a regular occurrence and something for their audience to look out for. See more of them on their Instagram page!
6. Product/Service Highlight
Are you launching a new product? Offering a new service? Highlight it on your social media channels! Let your audience know what you have to offer. Posts like this are the perfect opportunity to include a killer CTA (Call to Action)!
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This post by @westlakeaesthetics.wellness explains what their product does, and with a clear photo of the packaged product, their audience knows exactly what to look for when in-store! They also used the opportunity to mention that they’re offering a discount to get their viewers excited.
Social media is a great source to showcase your awesome customer service! As you can see here, Westlake Aesthetics & Wellness understands that adding a new product to your skincare routine can be confusing. So they’ve included a way for their customers to get their questions answered with a free skincare consultation. To see more content about their products and services, have a look at their Instagram!
7. Behind-the-Scenes Content
People love behind-the-scenes anything! Let your audience get to know your small business on a deeper level by posting social media content focused on you or your employees. Behind-the-scenes content can include posts of your employees working in your store, office, at a job site, at an event, or even them relaxing in your break room! Posting content like this allows your audience to see the people behind your business, builds trust, and helps your customers relate to your brand. You can also post behind-the-scenes content focused on your products and services! For example, a short video showcasing how one of your products is made or packaged.
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With a simple post like this, KidzVil Pediatric Dentistry introduces their team, their energy, and their passion for their work, helping their audience get to know their business. Showing the faces behind your brand can go a long way to build trust and relate with your audience! Check out their Instagram to see more of their content here!
8. Company Events
Onsite events, offsite events, they both work! Hosting a bring your pet to work day? A company dinner? If you’re doing it, showcase it! This goes along the lines of behind-the-scenes content, adding a personal, authentic element to your small business and letting your audience get to know your brand.
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@autods_tools shows that their company can be playful and fun with this post, giving their brand a personality! Each business has unique values, in this case, we can see that teamwork is huge! Showcasing your company events is a great way to let your audience get to know what you stand for! Want to see more of this dropshipping automation company? Make sure to take a look at their Instagram!
9. Polls or Quizzes
Posting a poll or a quiz is a great way to directly interact with your customers online as it encourages them to engage with your content. It also helps you learn more about your customers! Win-Win! The key is to create fun posts that relate to your business or brand. If you own a plumbing company, for example, you can post a quiz asking when your audience thinks toilets were invented. If you own a coffee shop, you can ask your audience in a poll how they take their coffee.
Todays poll: best meat (or plant based meat) topping on a pizza? #pizza #pizzapoll
— Yellow Brick Pizza (@YBPizza) October 4, 2021
We’re all about Pizza today! Yellow Brick Pizza is a Pizza shop in Columbus, OH that has taken the opportunity to learn more about its customers with an interactive, engaging Twitter poll. When it comes to targeting your marketing efforts towards a specific audience, the more you know, the better! Check out Yellow Brick Pizza on Twitter here!
10. Q&A live videos
Live videos are amazingly popular! What better way to connect with your online audience than to answer their questions live! Are you a real estate agent, for example? You can host a live Q&A about a specific topic related to your industry or an ‘ask me anything about real estate’ live session! Sharing information in this way helps customers see you as a professional who knows their stuff!
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Don’t forget to post about your live streams beforehand to build up anticipation! @teamrajpal is a Toronto real estate team that often uses live streams to engage its audience! With this post, the team is letting their audience know about their future live stream and what sort of topics they’ll cover. Don’t miss any more of their content, check out their Instagram!
11. Online Reviews
Have you heard of user-generated content? Then you probably know that you should be using it! User-generated content is content created by your audience and customers. Don’t have anyone posting photos about your small business? Do you have online reviews? Online reviews are a form of user-generated content! Use them! People love to hear about someone else’s experience with a business. It is the new word of mouth!
With this testimonial post, we can see that James loves what he does and his customers love him too! @JamesHollowayRealtor shows the star rating, what his customer said, and who his customer is, all in a visually appealing Facebook post! This is a great way for prospective customers to see how current or previous clients feel about your business. Remember, you can create many different types of testimonial publications, such as graphic designs (like this), video reviews, and more. See more of James’ Facebook content here!
12. Company Anniversaries
Are you celebrating your small business’s 10th anniversary? Share that online! Everyone goes through milestones in life, and businesses are no different. Give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate with your audience!
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Happy 4th Anniversary! This small law firm in Atlanta GA knows how to celebrate with their customers and online viewers! During their 4th anniversary, they shared their company story and goals, giving their brand a human aspect. They also took the time to thank each of their customers. Showing appreciation can make a big difference when it comes to how your company is seen online. See more of this law firm on Instagram!
13. Product Reviews
You may be thinking product reviews are only for customers to post. Think again! Are you using a new product in your workplace? Let’s say you own a remodeling company. Just started using a new cordless drill? Sharing your product review can be valuable for those in your audience who may be looking to complete a DIY kitchen remodel. But wait! Isn’t that the opposite of the goal? Don’t you want customers to choose your business over a DIY? Remember what we said about building trust? Posts like this can help build trust amongst your audience, helping more customers choose your business!
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Dr. Jaime Schehr is a Naturopathic Physician and Registered Dietitian, and as you can see in her post above, she gives helpful tips and advice in the form of product reviews on her Instagram channel. These posts help showcase her professional knowledge, allowing her to build trust amongst her viewers. Product reviews like this have become a consistent and regular publication series for @jaimeschehr To see more of them, have a look at her Instagram!
Think about the products that you use in your everyday work life, would a product review be helpful for your audience?
14. Share your Blog Posts
If you’re already writing a blog, why not give it as much exposure as possible? Share the link on your social media channels!
@spotfreight, a transportation service, showcases their latest blog post with a visually appealing graphic on Facebook. They’ve included why they chose their blog topic and what exactly gets covered in their post so viewers know what to expect! If you want to take a look at their Facebook page, click here!
If you’ve already taken the time to write a blog post, repurposing it on social media is a great way to get more eyes on your content.
15. Holidays
Are you providing a holiday promotion? Spread the word! There are many different holidays throughout the year, and giving a discount on your products or services can help boost your sales over these busy periods. But, we’re not just talking about traditional, well-known holidays. Have you heard of International Accounting Day? It could be an excellent opportunity to help your small accounting firm get more clients! You don’t need to be providing a promotion to celebrate though! A simple “Happy Holidays” post can do the trick!
Take a look at this post by GrowthForce, a business in Texas that provides accounting and bookkeeping services. They decided to celebrate International Accounting Day on Facebook with their audience. They made their celebration playful by including a joke related to their industry. Although they are not providing a discount for the holiday, their post gives their brand a fun personality. Creating a relatable online presence can be an effective strategy for any small business, and celebrating uncommon holidays in a fun way like this is a great way to start. Have a look at their Facebook page to see more of their content!
16. News, Data, and Statistics Related to Your Industry
Keeping up to date is crucial for some industries, and it’s important your customers know that you’re on the ball! Sharing relevant news articles, data, or statistics about your industry is a great way to show that. Just remember to use reliable sources and to give them credit!
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The key is finding news articles or statistics that are relevant to your audience and match your brand. This real estate company specializes in Oklahoma Luxury Homes, so the statistic they shared is right on topic. Information like this may be helpful to those in their audience who are looking to sell or rent their vacation homes. Have a look at their Instagram here!
17. Memes
If it works for your brand, try sharing memes or creating your own! This plays into giving your business a personality and a voice. Memes are relatable, funny, and popular, which means they usually receive a lot of engagement! Posting memes could be an opportunity for your business to get a lot of attention!
@BluePhoenixPM has found or created a meme that works for their industry and gives us quite a laugh, giving their brand a fun personality! Sharing memes is the perfect chance for you to have a little fun with your content. Find Blue Phoenix Property Management on Facebook!
18. Share Links
Many people on social channels use the platforms to educate and entertain themselves. Found an article or video that you think your audience would like? Share it! Your social media content doesn’t have to be all your own original posts. Sharing content should be a part of your strategy to build connections and start conversations. Just make sure to give credit!
What better article for a moving company to share than a moving checklist! The key here is the same as with news related to your industry. You want to find links that your audience views as relevant and helpful! Sunshine Movers has done exactly that, honing in on some content that is useful for their viewers – all the while giving credit! See more of their Facebook posts here!
19. Company Accomplishments
Hitting 10,000 followers or making your 10,000th sale is a huge accomplishment! So is hitting 100 followers or making your 100th sale! Company accomplishments deserve to be celebrated! No matter what they are. Let your online audience celebrate with you. After all, they could be part of the reason why you’ve hit this milestone.
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Congrats on the 50 Google reviews! Lana’s Cleaning Company, a cleaning service in Middleburg FL, took the time to thank their customers for leaving them a review and celebrated their 50 Google reviews with their online audience! Customers like to know that the businesses they work with are genuine and appreciative of customer feedback. So just like in life, saying thanks can make a big difference! Have a look at Lana’s Cleaning Company on Instagram!
20. Customer Success Stories
Have a customer who’s extremely happy with your products or services? Post a customer success story and if possible, tag them! Highlight the project you worked on them with or the product they purchased. Let’s say you remodeled their kitchen, snap a photo of your customer’s new kitchen and explain the work you put into it. This especially works well for B2B businesses since a post like this creates exposure for both companies.
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This motorcycle repair shop does a great job of explaining in detail the work they put into revamping this bike – all to their customer’s specific requests! From this post, we can see that @edrperformance knows what they’re doing and takes pride in their work. We also get to see the fantastic end result. This customer success story was definitely a SUCCESS! See more of their work on their Instagram!
21. Employee Highlights
Do you have an employee of the week or an employee of the month celebration in your workplace? If not, don’t worry, you can still use this type of social media content! Simply pick an employee, snap their photo, and add a fun, clever, or informative caption! Highlighting an employee on social media not only humanizes your brand but also helps to build company morale.
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Just from this Instagram post, we’ve all gotten to know Austin, an employee of @funkypicnicbrewery. Posts like these shed light on the people behind your brand and show that you know and care about your employees, which is definitely a plus in the eyes of most customers! Have a look at their Instagram page here to see more!
22. Jokes
Have you got a dad joke to share? Maybe it doesn’t go so well with your kids, but social media can surprise you! Funny content tends to do well as it is relatable and gives your business a personality. As long as it works for your brand, try sharing your jokes on your social media channels!
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Remember! Make sure they relate to your industry! Even if you’ve got a killer joke, if it’s not relevant, it may confuse your audience. Al’s Plumbing and Gas squeezes two jokes into one post, and we are loving it! Social media is a huge source of entertainment for many online users today, so why not try entertaining your audience with some jokes?
Check out Al’s Plumbing and Gas on Instagram!
23. Community Involvement/Charities
Sponsoring a children’s soccer team is something your audience wants to know about! Any kind of community or charity involvement can be valuable information for customers as it shows how you are connected with your local area. It also shows how you are giving back as a business and are not just focused on your profits (which most customers love!)
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Philanthropy is a core value of this design team, STG Design, and we can see that here with this post. They’ve included details about their efforts, what organization they are working with, and a quick thank you to all of those who have helped. If giving back to your community is important for you as a business owner, let your online audience know that! Share your values and efforts on your social media channels!
See more of STG Design’s involvement and work on their Instagram!
24. Employee Pets
Do you have a dog? Does one of your employees have a cat? How about a bird? People everywhere love pets! Give your social media content a boost of engagement with some posts about your employees’ pets!
Pet posts are not just for animal pages, as you can see here from this Facebook post by @banksouthmortgage. Their pet collage is not only adorable, but it makes for great, engaging content! Whether it’s a collage, like in this case, or a single photo, your audience may appreciate your business’s connection with animals! See more of their content on their Facebook page!
25. ‘Thank You’ Posts!
Every once in a while, post a THANK YOU to your followers! Content like this makes people feel special and valued, and it’s things like that that might turn your online audience into buying customers!
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There’s nothing like a business that knows its customers are at the forefront of its success. @thefoodhavenhq shows that they care about each of their online viewers through a Thank You post! Try taking a step back from the daily hustle and bustle and give your audience a thank you! Want to see more of their content? Check out their Instagram!
26. BONUS: Video and Carousel Posts
Most of these content ideas can be shared on your social media channels as video or carousel posts (posts with more than one photo). Although images are visually appealing, seeing the same type of content repeatedly can get a little dry. Try spicing things up by making video content or carousel posts to give your audience something new! We know, making videos can be intimidating, but don’t let that stop you! There are a bunch of different tools you can use to help you along the way. We will be sharing a future blog post going into more detail about some tools small business owners can use to create graphic designs, videos, and more for their social pages! Keep an eye out for it!
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Take a look at this publication by Car Factory, a used car dealer that has locations in Miami, Hollywood, and West Palm Beach, FL. Your Tips, Tricks, and Hacks content can be turned into carousel posts! Their first photo catches attention with a high-quality graphic and eye-grabbing copy. This makes users want to swipe to see the 5 tips! Adding carousel posts is a great way to create interactive content, allowing your audience to swipe through at their own pace. Check out Car Factory on Instagram here!
Expert’s Tip
There we have it! 25 social media content ideas for your small business! Which ones are you going to try? Remember, your content strategy should depend mainly on your business’s specific target audience. So these 25 social media content ideas CAN work for your small business, but that doesn’t mean every single one will! It’s all about testing to see what works and what doesn’t! Monitor your reach and engagement levels, and if one type of post doesn’t perform up to par, simply don’t use it!
Still Need Some Help?
If you would still like some help with your small business’s social media content, we’ve got your back! Adler Social provides affordable social media management services for small businesses throughout the United States. We can manage your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even your Google My Business accounts! Learn more about us by giving us a call or scheduling a FREE demo on our home page!
