The Ultimate Content Guide For Businesses
Never Run Out of Content Ideas Again
As a business owner, managing a social media account can be challenging, especially when it comes to generating content ideas. The pressure is on to create posts that resonate with your target audience, deliver value, and engage followers enough to drive sales. While no single post can achieve all three goals, striking a balance across your entire feed is key to success.
The 5 Content Pillars
Take a deep breath and relax—we’re here to ease that pressure. Over the years, we’ve come up with five broad categories that we think every business should incorporate into their strategy. We’ve included post ideas for each category for you to choose from. Remember, these suggestions aim to help you build a relationship with your audience. Social media users crave connection, knowledge, and entertainment. So, craft personable captions and showcase the people behind the account to help your followers relate to you! Let’s begin:
1. Personal
This section is to bring out the human behind the account. Share your experiences, fun facts about you and your team, and give your followers a glimpse into your life. Here’s an example of how we approached a “day in the life” reel.
- Your story
- Family / pets
- Values
- Personal updates
- Get ready with me
- A day in the life
2. Value-Add/Education
This is an opportunity to position your business as an authority in your industry. These will also offer free value to your audiences which will build rapport. For example, if you’re in the beauty industry, you could share the best ways to style a certain type of hair.
- Tips
- How-tos
- Benefits of...
- Infographics
- Ask an expert / Ask me anything
- Did you know
3. Business & Operations
Show your audiences what goes on in the day-to-day of your business. Share the story of how you started your business, important information they should know (like business hours), or projects you’re currently working on. If you run a bakery, show your audience what it looks like to prepare different baked goods!
- About the owner
- About the team
- The workspace
- How you got started
- Shop hours
- Location
- What you're working on
- Locally relevant events
- Behind the scenes
4. Social Proof
It’s important to toot your own horn now and then. If your followers post about your product or service, share that to your own feed to connect with them and encourage others to post about your business. The same goes for reviews, testimonials, and awards. This is an example of one we did for our client, LC and Co.
- Reposts, tags, UGC (User Generated Content)
- Testimonials
- Awards and achievements
- Influencer shout-outs
5. Sales
This section is last on purpose; only when you’ve developed a social media strategy with a variety of content should you then start making the “ask”. This is when you can push your product or service, announce sales and promotions, or go into detail on what you want your audience to buy from you. Overdoing sales can lose followers, but with the right balance, it can convert your followers and drive your business forward. If you’ve done the other four pillars right, your audience will be excited to see what you have to offer. This is a post we made for our client, LemonTree, that features their products. Captions for sales posts don’t have to be too salesy, either!
- Product/service posts
- New releases
- Features
- Sales
- Promotions
- Product details (ingredients, specifications, etc.)
It can be tough to brainstorm, plan, and create all the content needed for social media. We hope this made it a little easier for you! If you’re still feeling daunted by the process, we specialize in social media management for small to medium-sized businesses. 👋 We’re currently taking on clients, so feel free to reach out to us if you‘re interested in letting us handle your social media!
Don’t Forget to Follow Us!
The June Social Surge is going strong. We are challenging ourselves and others to share a post and a story at least once a day for the entire month of June.
Follow our Instagram to join us on this journey. We’ll be sharing more tips to help you along the way. See you there!
