Today, you will learn 8 social media content ideas that will help you connect & communicate efficiently with your audience, turning them into paying customers with ease.

A lot of business owners are so focused on making sales through their social media platforms. Their content begins and ends with buy. They forget that they are on Social Media, not Business directories or Yellow Pages.

Let’s be realistic. We all have one friend or family member who’s completely observed with something. I have a friend who is a gadget freak, he talks about gadgets all the time. We all know him for that.

Any time we have issues with your phone or laptop, we call him. We also ask him to recommend the right laptop or smartphone whenever we are in need. The same thing applies to social media.

I follow the Robb Report page on Facebook and they provide me with daily updates on all the expensive things in the world. Whenever I am ready to buy anything expensive, I will contact them to assist because I perceive them to be an expert. Another reason is that I want to support them with all the free updates they provide me. I feel indebted to them.

It is the power of creating and sharing relevant content with your audience. Now that you know this, let’s dive into the social media content ideas that will help you grow your brand and build an effective audience.

1. Fact

Did you know that I got your attention by starting the sentence with “did you know? Everyone loves facts. It helps you argue professionally with your sibling at home or with your colleagues at school or work.

Providing your audience with helpful facts about your business industry is a great way to connect with them. They will also check your page/profile frequently for new content. This will save a lot on advertisements.

This type of content will position you or your business as an expert in your industry, especially if your facts are exclusive. Your audience will contact you whenever they have trouble.

2. Promoting a Cause

You can support a cause and share insightful messages about them. Currently, we can see many big brands sharing health and prevention tips about the deadly Corona Virus.

Most of these brands are not in the health industry but it does not matter. This shows that they genuinely care about their customers and audience. You can do the same when a need arises.

In our case, we are focused on reducing the rate of unemployment in Nigeria by helping you and many others start and build a successful business. This will also lead to a decline in the rate of insecurity in the country.

3. Riding on Trends

Last year BB Naija a friend of mine who is also a business owner signed up on Twitter. He learnt how to “Trend Surf” from a Twitter Influencer. Before the show was completed, he accumulated over 2,000 followers on Twitter.

It is a cool idea to generate content that relates to a trend. But, you can surf all the trends. You need to identify trends that are related to your business/niche/industry.  Before you begin, ask yourself –

• Is this trend related to my business?
• Will I be connecting with my target audience?
• Does it align with my brand essence?

If you got 3 yes, then you should go ahead. Riding trends is a powerful content strategy that works very well on Twitter.

Lately, LinkedIn is encouraging Page owners to take advantage of trending conversations to build their audience. Before you start surfing, plan your content ideas to include some kind of signature. This will make you stand out and help you attract the right followers.

4. Holiday Special

This is quite common. We see a lot of graphic content from businesses during festive periods or holidays. It is not enough to post an image wishing your audience a Happy New Year on the first of a new year.

You can take advantage of the period to share amazing tips about the new year or Christmas. You can give them free tips on how to set goals correctly for the new year. Also, you can share new back to school tools that will help a student enhance their productivity, depending on your business and its industry.

Note: You are not selling anything. It is recommendations, avoid words like “buy”. Use “get” and “own” instead.

5. Co-create Content

Collaborating with a celebrity or an influential person can be a great way to deliver amazing content to your audience. It is also a great way to tell your audience that you have a working relationship with other leaders in your industry.

Co-created content can come in the form of interviews, podcasts or articles (you can convert the articles into infographics for social media use. However, a lengthy article is good as it can earn you a lot of followers on LinkedIn.

You can also make money from your articles via Facebook articles (it requires a blog).

6. Question & Answers – Q/A

Question and answer is another powerful content idea that can help you genuinely communicate with your audience and get real feedback. You can attach a price to your question and answer to make it more fun.

7. Poll

A poll is a creative way to get the opinions from your audience about a subject matter without stress. Polls provide the audience with multiple objects to choose from, without necessarily having to state the real for their choice.

Most polls are usually private as they do not reveal the identity of the voters. The poll option on Facebook did not appeal to its users.

People rarely used it, so they removed it from the profile post option to the page option. Currently, it is completely deprecated from Facebook.

However, polling working well on Twitter with tons of voters, expressing their views on a different subject.

8. Memes

Memes can also be a great way to communicate with your audience. In 2018, the Cakemania team used memes to promote their show. On the contrary, you do not want to use memes as a primary content idea, if you are not in the comedy business.

You can use them sparingly to break the tension and make your audience smile. Be intentional when using memes. Ask yourself;

• How do I want my audience to feel? (giggle, laugh or smile)
• Does this type of joke resonate with my brand personality?

Also, consider branding your memes, so it does not get lost in the meme planet.

9. Get User-Generated Content

Have you ever been a part of a contest on social media, where you get to win a price if your picture, article or video had the highest reactions or comments?

This is a good example of user-generated content. You can ask your customers to share a photo of a new product they bought from you with a specific #hashtag. The photo with the highest reactions or comments wins a gift from your company.

What if I offer services and not products?

Let’s say you are a dry cleaner, you can render free services for a certain period of time. Make sure you make the price look enticing.

10. Quotes

Lastly, you can use inspiring quotes from your industry leader to motivate or inspire your audience. Sharing quotes has been one of the most popular social media content ideas of all time.

“It is a pleasure to be able to quote lines to fit any occasion” – Abraham Lincoln

Do not share random quotes because they sound nice. Share quotes that connect with your audience and inspire or motivate them to take action.

Most people think that motivation does not work and that’s okay. True is – Motivation is like food, if you stop eating, you will get hungry and weak.