Strategize for Engagement

100 ideas for engaging through social post

Social-media marketing has become so pervasive that 93 percent of marketers utilize it. The problem isn't whether it's important and whether to integrate it into our marketing plans. It's how to integrate it into our daily business lives on a day-to-day basis.
Creating a Strategy is a must! 

100 ideas for engaging through social post 

1-Quotes: Humorous, inspiring or motivational quotes always perform well.

2-Fill-in-the-blank posts (e.g. “If I had $1 million I would _________”)

3-Polls: While Facebook offers built-in polls, I find running them manually works best for boosting engagement (e.g. “Which of these books is your favorite?”)

4-Behind-the-scenes photos: Take candid shots of yourself, your employees, or snap a shot of your office or workspace.

5-Statistics or data: Share new, relevant industry statistics (these perform great in terms of retweets and shares)

6-Post a link to an old blog post: There’s nothing wrong with recycling, and old posts will gain new engagement, extending their life.

7-Questions: Pose simple, basic questions that your followers can answer quickly.

8-Link to a guest post: Share (or re-share) a link to a post you contributed to another site. If you’re interested in learning how and why guest blogging should be part of your online strategy, see my article, The Ultimate Guide to Building Your Business by Guest Blogging.

9-Post a branded image: Post a funny or inspirational image with your logo or website URL on it.

10-Infographics: Find an infographic your followers would appreciate. Check out Daily Infographic for ideas, or better yet, create your own.

11-Product photos: Work best on sites like Pinterest or Instagram. Think about how you can add a unique angle to the shots (e.g. an employee actually using the product, a customer-submitted photo, etc.).

12-Photos that have nothing to do with your products or business: Instead, they convey the feeling behind your brand. For instance, how Starbucks shares photos on Instagram to associate their brand with sunshine, warmth, and good friends (not just coffee).

13-Behind-the-scenes product shots: Photos of your products being manufactured or sourced.

14-Link to a controversial blog post: There’s nothing better for eliciting engagement than a little controversy.

15-Ask for input on your products: Your followers will love giving their thoughts on how to improve your products.

16-Let Pinterest inspire you: Pinterest is a goldmine in terms of finding beautiful images you can share (particularly images with quotes). Just be sure to give proper credit.

17-Share a helpful resource: If you’re truly concerned about sharing the most useful info with your followers, don’t be afraid to direct them to other people’s valuable content (not just your own).

18-Post a Slideshare presentation: If you want to find one that’s already proven itself to be popular, go to the ‘Trending in Social Media’ section at the bottom of the Slideshare homepage.

19-Link to a case study: Case studies are great for delivering useful info in a way that’s often more palatable and actionable than a standard blog post.

20-Link to an industry-related IFTTT recipe: Haven’t heard of IFTTT (short for If This Then That)? You need to check it out. Then share a link to a recipe your followers would find useful.

21-Ask for reviews or testimonials: Eliciting reviews from fans or followers is one of the best ways to get testimonials you can use as social proof on your website.

22-Fan photos: Search for hashtags related to your business or products, and share a customer photo on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

23-Recommend a tool: Share a (preferably free) tool or resource you think your followers would find useful.

24-Share a favorite book: Similar to #23, share a book recommendation your fans or followers would appreciate.

25-A day in the life post: Give a recap of a typical day in the life of a graphic designer, author, CEO, etc.

26-Recommend your favorite products: If you’re an e-commerce site, share a list of your top sellers or highest-rated products. If you’re a service provider, share a list of the products that help you succeed in your business.

27-Share random tips: Periodically post a random tip or trick your followers would find useful. Hint: using random tip numbers adds interest to your post (e.g. Tip #256: __________)

28-Link to your most popular blog post: Give a brief intro to the post and explain why it’s your most read and shared post.

29-Provide a recommendation: Share the love by recommending a business you’ve worked with successfully in the past.

30-Share a work/life balance tip: Your social media followers want to know you’re a real person with the same struggles as them. Share a tip you’ve learned for balancing work, life and family.

31-Ask for advice: Pose a hypothetical question and ask your followers what they would do in that situation.

32-Take a trip down memory lane: Share photos of old logos, websites or your very first product.

33-Random posts that show you’re a real person: For instance, what you had for dinner last night or what you’re doing this weekend.

34-Share popular Reddit topic: Visit Reddit’s Trending Subreddit page to find popular and trending topics to post about.

35-Recommend someone else to follow on social media: Share a link to someone else’s social media profile and encourage your fans to ‘like’ or follow them.

36-Share a Pinterest board: If your customers are on Pinterest (hint: if your demographic is educated, high-income females, they probably are), share a Pinterest board via Facebook or Twitter.

37-Share a comic or meme: Getting your customers to laugh with you is a great way to start building relationships.

38-Post a video testimonial: Share a video review; or better yet, ask your social media followers to submit their own video testimonials.

39-Recommend a colleague on LinkedIn: Encourage your connections to reach out to someone who acts as a valuable resource for your business.

40-Hold a photo contest: Ask for photo submissions and then get your fans to vote. Share the winning photos, too!

41-Share a trending Twitter topic: Use Topsy to find content that’s popular and trending on Twitter.

42-Hold a debate on social media: This can go downhill pretty quickly, so be sure to stay on top of it!

43-‘Caption this’: Post a photo and ask your fans to come up with creative or funny captions.

44-YouTube video: Find a cute or inspirational video and promote it to your fans or followers.

45-Tag another Facebook page: Generate some good karma by helping to promote another business.

46-Share breaking industry news: Stay on stop of what’s going on in your industry or niche by using Google Alerts.

47-Share country-specific holidays: Wish your followers from around the world happy holidays (a full list of worldwide holidays can be found here).

48-Share (and ask for) predictions: For instance, “I predict that Germany will win the World Cup. Who do you think will win?”.

49-Offer a free e-book: Build your email list while generating some goodwill with your fans.

50-Ask for questions: Let your fans ask you anything.

51-Post a controversial view: Play devil’s advocate, but tread carefully.

52-Use Facebook Interest lists for content ideas: See what topics are trending and share them with your fans or use them to generate your own content.

53-Profile an employee: Let your followers know they’re dealing with real people.

54-Post product recall notices: Keep your ear to the ground so you can be the first to share important safety information with your followers.

55-Post a ‘truth or fiction’ question: Let your fans guess whether it’s the truth or a myth.

56-Share a trending Google search: Visit Google’s Top Charts to find out what people are currently searching for; give your own spin on one of these topics.

57-Fan of the month: Acknowledge your brand ambassadors and let them know they’re appreciated.

58-Share industry research: Post a link to and synopsis of research your fans would find useful.

59-Hold a flash sale: Use Snapchat to offer a limited-time coupon.

60-Celebrate odd holidays: For instance, did you know June 17 is Apple Strudel Day? Use a tool like Days of the Year to find out what today’s holiday is.

61-Awards or accolades you’ve received: Just do this carefully…the idea is to build trust, not to brag.

62-Promote someone else’s sale: Share a link to a coupon or sale from a complimentary (not competing) business.

63-Latest company news: Anything changing in your business? New employee? New hours of operation? New product offering?

64-Share pictures from a recent industry event: Don’t forget to use the event hashtag for maximum exposure.

65-Promote a free download: This could be a plugin, white paper, e-book or anything else that would be useful for your audience.

66-Thank your fans: A simple thank you can go a long way to building connections with your fans.

67-Offer expert insights into a topic: This helps establish you as a thought leader in your field.

68-Do a post series: We do this on our blogs, why not on social media? Share a series of similar posts over a certain number of days.

69-Weekly round up: Post a list of the ‘must read’ articles for the week.

70-Get your employees to guest post: Have your employees take turns posting a ‘fun fact’ on Facebook or Twitter.

71-Create and share a compilation of industry news stories: Flipboard is a great way to do this.

72-Host a Google+ hangout: Promote it through all your social media channels.73. Encourage your followers to support a cause: Post a link to an online fundraiser (and contribute to it yourself).

73-Post an expert quote: Ask an industry expert a question and post their answer on social media. This is great for getting retweets and shares.

74-Hold a giveaway: This can be as simple as asking your fans or followers to comment to enter.

75-Offer a sneak peek: Whet your fans’ appetites by showing a sneak peek of an upcoming blog post, contest or product launch.

76-Start a conversation with an industry leader: Tag or mention an industry guru in a post (just be aware you might be left hanging!).

78-Post a photo collage: A tool like PicMonkey can help you create one.

79-Teaser content: Posting a link to a blog post? Don’t reveal the punch line. This will usually increase your clickthroughs.

80-Make an industry prediction: Speculate on what’s in store for your niche or industry.

81-Post a creative or unexpected use for your product: Be sure to also ask your fans for ideas.

82-Link to a blog comment: Have a particularly helpful or controversial comment on your blog? Post a link and get your fans and followers to weigh in.

83-Answer an FAQ: Have a question you get asked a lot? Answer it on social media.

84-Post a link to old newsletters: Recycle your newsletters and gain new subscribers at the same time.

85-Ask your fans for content ideas: Find out which issues or problems your fans need help with.

86-Post a link to a helpful Facebook or LinkedIn group: If you know of a helpful resource on Facebook or LinkedIn, share a link with your fans.

87-Tell a story: Share a funny or interesting anecdote from your life.

88-Find out what your competitors are sharing, and do it better: An easy way to do this is by using a tool like Social Crawlytics.

89-Use your website analytics to find content ideas: Take a quick look through your analytics to find out which topics generate the most interest from your audience.

90-Hold a Q&A session: Promote a live Q&A period where you’ll answer fan questions.

91-Share an opinion: Your followers want to know you stand for something; don’t be afraid to take sides on an issue (as long as you can and do stand behind your views).

92-Post a link to an employee bio: If you have bios on your site, post a link to help your fans get to know the brains behind your company.

93-Answer a question from Quora: Find a relevant question on Quora and answer it on social media.

94-Respond to a tag or mention: See who’s been trying to get your attention and respond to them in a post.

95-Post an excerpt from a blog post: Rather than just posting a link and summary of the post, cut and paste a particularly intriguing excerpt to pique your readers’ interest.

96-Share a chart: Share an interesting chart or graph that’s relevant to your audience.

97-Post a screenshot of a social media conversation (with permission): Add your own thoughts to the conversation.

98-Promote an industry-related event: This can either be a live or online event.

99-Share a funny commercial: Post a commercial that would be appeal to your fans or followers.

100-Promote your products or services: There’s a reason this one is last on the list. There’s a time and a place for self-promotion on social media, but first and foremost, use social media to build relationships, establish trust, and build your reputation as an industry expert. When people do want to buy, who do you think they’ll come to first?