Content marketing is based on a simple yet powerful idea: your brand’s target audience will pay more attention if you deliver them value. By making your digital content revolve around their core interests, you’re more likely to meet the 3 core requirements of brand loyalty: Know, Like, and Trust. These content marketing ideas for social media will help you build the brand loyalty you’re looking for.
The original purpose of social media was to build digital communities, so it’s an excellent candidate for content marketing — especially when the platforms are now inundated with ads! By posting content that your ideal customers will find helpful, you can cut through the noise.Â
Eager to get started but struggling for ideas? Here are a few content marketing ideas for social media to get you started!
5 Content Marketing Ideas for Social Media
Do a Q&A series
Let’s start with the “Know” in “Know, Like, Trust.” One of the primary barriers for service-based businesses is explaining what you do and why you do it. That’s the first question on prospective customers’ minds. Most service industry sectors are oversaturated. There are countless salons, home services companies, marketing agencies, etc. What makes yours the best choice for your target audience?
Give them the chance to learn about you with a Q&A series. There are several ways to implement this format, including:
- Meet the Staff series with standard questions and each team member’s unique answer.
- Questions about each of your services and products.
- A Brand Story narrative, e.g. “Why did you start your business?” “What do you want your customers to achieve?”
Once you have the topics down, you can create your Q&As as quote graphics, short video clips, value statements, etc. — anything that highlights the answer in an engaging way.
Create an FAQ or Explainer
People don’t buy for the sake of buying. They want to fix a problem or make their lives better. And in this digital age of knowledge, they’ll start by searching for solutions.
Service-based businesses’ main value to their customers is their expertise. Great content leverages that expertise to earn the “Trust” in “Know, Like, Trust.”
On social media, identify the main questions and problems among your target audience. Then, assemble the answers into valuable content. This could take the form of a classic FAQ as a social post (or a carousel of images.) Here are some prompts for brainstorming content:
- Frequent questions about your industry and product type (e.g. FAQs about dog grooming, suspension training, etc.)
- Common myths and misconceptions (e.g. myths about lawn care, yoga, etc.)
- Details of your product’s or service’s development, innovation, and operation.
When crafting FAQs or explainers, consider your target audience’s stage in their buying journey, then match your content to the appropriate platform. For example, if you know that experienced makeup artists follow you on Instagram, that platform is better for detailed explainers and niche-interest content (e.g. microblading and lash extensions rather than basic color and makeup tools).
Make Reels
Reels are the hot new way to consume content. These bite-sized videos are upbeat and easily consumed, which makes them a bit addictive. Many brands are now using Reels to entertain their audiences — and perhaps show off their expertise as well.
Create a series of Reels on different topics in your industry, as well as your product. Most Reels are brief video clips or a series of even shorter clips, edited together with captions and/or music. This format is excellent for a wide variety of formats, including:
- Brief product walkthroughs and demos
- Behind-the-scenes clips
- “Expectation vs. Reality”
- Progress/Evolution
- Before and After
Note that most Reels are humorous or whimsical in tone. If your brand identity is more serious, you don’t have to give up Reels… but do try to maintain the punchy format to garner more interest. Save the longer, more pragmatic videos for YouTube.Â
Create Engaging Sound Bites
If you have a lot of long-form content, such as blog posts, white papers, and e-books, repurpose it for social media. These content types are already high in value. Try breaking out the key points across several social media posts. You’ll be able to explore some new angles and formats, as well as attract new people to your other digital channels.
Avoid the “redux” approach in which you simply copy and paste from your blog into a social post. Remember, social media is very different from website channels. Your audience has different expectations, and they’re likely also at a different point in their buying journey. When repurposing content, identify your key points/facts, then tweak them for a social media audience.
For example, you have a blog called “10 Warning Signs Your HVAC System Needs Repair.” The purpose of this content is to attract organic search traffic and demonstrate your expertise. One warning sign reads “Your house seems to collect more dust than usual.”
If you copied-and-pasted that into a social post as-is, it loses its context and appears to be a fairly overt request to book your services. That could backfire when your social audience doesn’t have high buyer intent.
Instead, reword it to make it more engaging. You could say, “How often do you dust your home? 45% of people dust only once a month.” Then, segue into your call-to-action: “If you notice your home is dustier than usual even though you’re dusting often, it could be a sign of a malfunctioning HVAC system. Get it checked out!”Â
Go Live
Going live is nothing new on social media, but it’s become even more appealing during the pandemic. People are consuming digital video more than ever, and there’s nothing quite like real-time content. It creates a feeling of participation and exclusivity. That alone can capture more attention than a pre-edited video posted on your social channels.
Service-based businesses especially benefit from going live because you gain an opportunity to prove your industry expertise and connections. Plus, you can show people things that are harder to capture in short social posts or videos. Here are some ideas for live video events:
- Interview others in your industry (or in complementary industries) who could provide value to your audience.
- Invite viewers for a special event in your business, such as an anniversary celebration or company retreat.
- Walk people through a day on the job or take them behind the scenes.
Focus on topics/events that provide value, whether in the form of entertainment or information. The best part of live videos is that they’re harder to fake. By inviting people to view unedited footage of something interesting to them, you hit all three points of “Know, Like, Trust.”
Wrapping Up Our Content Marketing Ideas for Social Media
Remember, no one likes to be sold to. They want to solve their problems and improve their quality of life. This is what content marketing can uniquely achieve compared to other forms of digital marketing! You can retain your ideal customers’ interest…and win their brand loyalty with these content marketing ideas for social media.
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