Social media campaigns are an essential part of a business’s marketing strategies nowadays. Any business that hopes to survive in the long run needs to have an active social media presence.
While this has become the norm, the toughest part of running social media pages and campaigns is coming up with unique and new ideas. Marketers have to juggle several social profiles and use fresh posts for keeping them updated. Followers are always hungry for new content and you have to deliver it on a consistent basis, which is nothing short of a major challenge. If you recycle the same posts repeatedly, your followers will notice and may go elsewhere.
Therefore, every business needs to have multiple ideas for their social media campaigns in their back pocket. Listed below are 20 social media ideas that Guy Galboiz recommends for businesses, both big and small. Each of these ideas is fair game for people who are trying to keep their social feeds fresh at all times:
Idea 1: Creating a series
Rather than making your social feel come off as a laundry list of random content, you can try to make them feel more like an event. The best way to make it happen is by starting a series where you can interact with your followers and fans on a regular basis. This can be a daily, monthly or weekly series and a number of businesses have already opted for it. You can communicate with your followers via Twitter as it is painless and you only need a branded hashtag to begin.
When you schedule these sessions regularly with your followers, they will engage with your brand because they know that their voices will be heard. Furthermore, when a business picks the brains of its followers, it indicates that it cares about them. A business can also learn the concerns and problems their customers’ face, which allows them to improve their services. Starting a regular series will help you show up in social feeds as well.
Idea 2: Organize a giveaway or contest
The word ‘free’ has a lot of power and people simply cannot resist it. According to Guy Galboiz, one of the most impactful social media ideas for engaging your followers is running an occasional contest on your social page. Statistics indicate that more than 90% of posts on Instagram that have a high number of comments and likes are related to a giveaway or contest. In addition, accounts that are organizing contests on a regular basis have undergone 70% faster growth than others. The numbers may seem far-fetched, but you can personally check accounts running a contest and compare them with others.
The good news is that you don’t have to hire a third-party service or solution for organizing a contest. There are only a few things you need to run a contest, starting with something you want to give away. Outlining terms and conditions is also important as this can cover you legally. Provide people with a point of contact in case they have any queries and come up with a creative way of entering the contest like a hashtag or user-generated content.
Idea 3: Do a social media takeover
Sometimes, when you want to inject some new life into your social profiles, it means allowing someone else to take over them for a while. This means you hand the reigns of social accounts in someone else’s hands for about 24 hours. One of the best ways to get your business in front of some new faces and to give your account a new voice is by handing your social media presence to a celebrity or influencer with a huge and active audience. In fact, when you are running short of ideas, you can even let someone else in your own business take over your social accounts to give some new flavor to your posts. You can consider industry relationships and business partners that can be good candidates for a takeover. As exposure is the purpose of a takeover, you should select someone whose audience demographic is similar to your own.
Idea 4: Repin, regram, retweet and share
A business can also get their followers and fans to do the talking. Who said that all the content on your social media feed has to come from you? As a matter of fact, it is smarter to include your audience in producing the content. One of the best content ideas is to promote relevant articles, brands and photos from your followers, as this will show that you are part of the overall industry’s conversation. When it comes to promotion, it is a good idea for brands to follow the 80/20 rule. This means that 80% of the content should be engaging and entertaining and the remaining 20% should be promotional. This prevents your social feed from coming off as a sales pitch.
If it seems too complicated, you can go with retweet or regram, as it is relatively painless. There is no rule dictating that all social media campaign ideas have to be complicated or in-depth, particularly when you already have a dedicated and strong following.
Idea 5: Make bite-sized video clips
Experts like Guy Galboiz have repeatedly highlighted the benefits of video content marketing for businesses. The problem is that a lot of businesses consider investment in video out of their reach or too complicated. However, they need to realize that video content tends to get exponentially more shares than text or pictures. Hence, they need to focus on coming up with creative social media ideas that also include video.
One of the best way to use video content marketing is to create bite-sized video clips for Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. These clips can be shot in a few seconds, require very little editing and are great for sharing. There is no need to film full-blown commercials when creative and short video clips can be used for keeping your followers entertained.
Idea 6: Repurpose your content
If you have been coming up with content regularly, then you already know the sheer amount of planning, time and effort it takes to do so. When you invest so much, doesn’t it make sense to get as much out of every blog post as possible? But, you also need to remember that 50% of the articles that are posted on social media only receive eight shares or less. Thus, every time you shoot a video or write a blog post, you should think about additional ideas that you can use for promoting it on social media other than its original format.
For instance, you can take a quote from your blog post and repurpose it into a photograph that you can share with your audience. If you produce some video content, it can also be repurposed into ‘sneak peeks’ and shared from time to time. You can repurpose every video and blog post that you have created, which means you have a solid backlog of shareable content. You can breathe new life into some of your old or mostly ignored posts through repurposing. Plus, your followers wouldn’t have to read the same content over and over, so they wouldn’t get bored.
Idea 7: Partner with another brand
According to Guy Galboiz, co-marketing is another great idea for keeping your social media campaign fresh. It is a win-win situation for two businesses and all they have to do is team up on a piece of content like e-book, webinar or a special promotion or start a new campaign. Each business will be able to get exposure to the other’s audience. Social media is the perfect platform for co-marketing ideas because syncing your efforts is extremely easy. It is recommended that you don’t look for businesses that are direct competitors; instead, look for those who share a similar audience as yours.
Idea 8: Go live
To put it simply, live video is extremely compelling and nothing can match it. In fact, statistics indicate that people are three times more likely to watch Facebook Live videos instead of pre-recorded ones. Whether you conduct an online Q&A session or vlog from your car, you will be able to respond to people in real-time. This will help you establish a more personal connection with your clientele and followers. The best thing about live videos is that they can be repurposed down the line like in the form of ‘sneak peeks’ on Insta or YouTube videos.
Idea 9: Do an interview
The traditional Q&A session has been eliminated after the introduction of social media. Conducting interviews has become arguably easier, thanks to this alternative. Whether through Facebook Live or Twitter, businesses can interview a professional within their industry or a relevant influencer and this will become the perfect combination of entertainment and education. There are a number of services that have made it easy for brands to conduct easy and simple split-screen interviews in real-time. Social interviews feel authentic to the audience because they are off-the-cuff and informal. An added advantage is that social interviews can be repurposed into blog posts, podcasts and YouTube videos.
Idea 10: Give spotlight to the customers
There is no better way to show your appreciation for your customers than giving a shout-out to them. Instead of just sticking to retweeting those who discuss your brand, you can go further and begin a campaign that truly puts your customers in the spotlight. For instance, you can start a customer of the week program through which you highlight your most loyal followers or customers and give them a prize or reward them in some way. The more appreciation you show to your customers and followers, the more chances that they will promote your business and share your content on your behalf.
Idea 11: Tutorials and How-to’s
You don’t have to focus on blog posts alone when you wish to educate your followers. There is no doubt that articles are an excellent medium for providing people with step-by-step instructions. However, social media can be a lot more effective. You can make tutorials and How-To videos that will engage your followers, but make sure you can make them interesting. When you are trying to think of tutorial topics, you should opt for ideas that can be explained in less than a minute.
Idea 12: Come up with a meme
In today’s world, having a sense of humor will only add more appeal to your business. A business shouldn’t be afraid of showing off their sense of humor. It is true that not everyone can use memes for marketing, but it is also a fact that social media has become a breeding ground for satire and humorous images. There is definitely a place and time to use memes and you should remember that they also have a shelf life. Bear in mind that memes can come off as out of touch and cringe-worthy if your followers are not privy to humor. With that said, there is no denying that numerous brands that have a young audience and a strong social media presence can benefit from some funny and lighthearted content.
Idea 13: Ask your followers to tag-a-friend
If you talk to professionals like Guy Galboiz, they will tell you that the mere act of asking is an extremely easy way for you to attract more eyes to your social feeds. One of the newest trends these days are a tag-a-friend posts because they are great for encouraging responses from your existing customers and also attract new potential clients to the fold.
Considering how easy it is to tag a friend in the comments of a post on social media, it is fairly straightforward to add a tag-a-friend request to your post. Lots of brands are already following this practice because it is an effective way of increasing your followers. This doesn’t mean that a business has to ask for tags in every single post, but doing it every now and then is an excellent way of encouraging a response from posts that may not receive much engagement otherwise.
Idea 14: Tap into the potential of trending topics
Sometimes the best ideas for social media campaigns come when they are least expected. Businesses can take advantage of topical content by keeping up with trending topics on Facebook and Twitter. It is true that there is a short window of opportunity for such topics to be relevant, but if you use trending topics, it will help you in scoring some solid numbers.
Another way that you can stay topical in a time-sensitive way is by referencing any major event that you know is about to happen. Nonetheless, Guy Galboiz advises that businesses should steer clear of potentially sensitive or political topics. There is nothing worse than having to deal with a PR nightmare on social media when you were just trying to be clever.
Idea 15: Poll the audience
If there is one thing that social media has made obvious is that people just love sharing their opinions. One of the easiest ways that businesses can use to get a pulse on its customers and followers is by making use of social media ideas like Twitter polls. The best thing about these polls is that they don’t need to be formal and neither do they have to be sales-related. Social media is like having a conversation and you have to be willing to listen to the feedback that your customers leave for you.
Idea 16: Start a social-exclusive deal
While businesses shouldn’t push their clients and followers too hard with deals and offers, they can definitely get a high financial ROI from their social presence if they capitalize on social media ideas like Facebook carousel ads. One of the biggest perks of running ads on social media is that it is easy for businesses to track them. For instance, you can find a huge amount of information on Facebook’s ad platform about who can see your ads, who is clicking them and how much the clicks are worth. Similarly, you can also run exclusive coupon codes on Instagram or Twitter for figuring out what percentage of your followers is ready to spend money.
Idea 17: Answer your followers
As mentioned earlier, social media is very much like having a conversation and keeping that in mind, businesses should always be ready to respond to their followers. Yes, your time is valuable and the same applies to your audience as well. When you respond to them, it shows that you also care about them and their time. Whether it is a concern shared by a customer, praise or a simple ‘Hello’, your response can speak volumes about your business. In today’s era, social customer care is of the utmost importance and businesses cannot afford to go silent and ignore their followers.
Idea 18: Share your milestones
It is also necessary for businesses to be willing to share and celebrate their victories, successes and achievements with their followers. Are you excited about a new hire you have made or have achieved a sales goal? Perhaps your business just got featured in a prominent publication or you have finally made the upgrade to a swanky downtown office that you wanted. No matter what it is, social media provides brands the perfect opportunity of sharing it with their audience.
Marketing professionals like Guy Galboiz emphasize time and time again that you should share such things with your followers. Sharing such things with your audience will help in showing them a more human side of your business and also highlight the business’s growth. Businesses shouldn’t forget that social media is not just about promoting your product. When you share your business’s story and show what your brand is worth by highlighting your accomplishments, it can go a long way in helping you cement your firm’s status in the eyes of the audience.
Idea 19: Add a personal element
At its core, a business represents people and that is something you shouldn’t forget. Your social feed needs to have a personal element and you shouldn’t let it fall to the wayside. One of the greatest ways that experts like Guy Galboiz suggest for establishing authenticity of your business is by giving a ‘behind the scenes’ look to your followers. It doesn’t need to be anything elaborate or complicated. After all, it is not rocket science to take a video or snapshot at the office. Are you throwing a party or have designed an office mascot? Give your followers a chance to see what you are up to.
Idea 20: Host an AMA
An AMA (ask me anything) series is very popular on Reddit and it provides a wonderful opportunity to businesses for engaging with and educating their followers. In simple terms, AMAs are basically Q&A sessions that can be used for sharing your insight, experiences and knowledge. If you have clout in your industry or have overcome a lot of challenges, then you probably have the chops to host an AMA. From sharing personal challenges to success stories, these sessions are compelling for the businesses and audience alike.
Hosting an AMA allows businesses to showcase their personal side i.e. the face behind the curtain. They are also a great way of raising awareness for your business without being too salesy or pushy about it. Plus, businesses are also able to learn more about the interests and concerns of their audience. You can ask multiple team members to host an AMA of their own to give your audience a big-picture of your audience.
If you are tired of posting the same content repeatedly on your social media, Guy Galboiz has given you some great ideas to try. You can give some of these ideas a try to see what works for you. Businesses don’t have to stick to a single type of content for their social feeds when there are so many options and ideas that you can try to keep things fresh and engaging.
