Small business owners wear countless hats every day, so it's easy to let your social media strategy fall by the wayside. After all, running a successful business takes up almost all of your time and energy - at the end of a long workday, figuring out what to post on social media is probably the last thing on your mind.
We've put together some tried-and-tested ideas to help you increase engagement on your Facebook and Instagram pages. Simply adapt these content types to your industry, and you're ready to get posting!
Why Facebook & Instagram Engagement is So Important
Your social media pages are like the shop window for a brick-and-mortar store. Not every person who walks past will be your target audience and come inside to see what you're selling, but you want to make sure it appeals to those looking for exactly what you're selling.
Increasing your social media engagement (i.e., getting more people to take a pause and look at your shop window) is integral to any business's digital marketing strategy. Increasing your engagement helps you:
- Reach a larger audience
- Build trust with your followers
- Contribute positively to your SEO
- Humanise your company
- Build positive brand sentiment
Now that you know why social media engagement is essential to your social media and overall digital marketing strategy, you can use ten easy post types to boost engagement!
1. Quotes from Well-Known People
Quotes are a quick and easy way to increase engagement on your social media pages. When looking for quotes, ensure that they speak to your brand's core values or your industry because a selection of random unrelated quotes can make your business look unfocused.
Quotes are easily shareable (which is a significant win for boosting engagement), easy to create in Canva and tell your audience more about your business's values.
2. Share UGC (User-Generated Content)
Anything your audience creates about your brand is considered UGC. Whether they post a positive review, tag your business in a photo, enter a competition you're hosting, or upload a video speaking about your product.
Not only does it show your existing customers that you value their feedback, it acts as social proof to show potential customers that you're a reliable, trustworthy brand.
3. Live Streaming Video
Did you know that, on average, the reach of a Facebook video is six times higher than that of a static post? Live streaming video enables businesses to connect with customers on a deeper level because it feels like a one-on-one interaction.
If you're not sure what to film to start live streaming, here are some ideas:
- A webinar on a topic related to your industry
- A product demonstration
- Current news or the latest trends in your industry
- News or updates on your business, upcoming launches, etc.
4. Celebrate Milestones
No matter how new or established your business is, you'll inevitably reach certain milestones along your journey. Sharing these with your audience on Facebook and Instagram makes them feel more invested in your journey and helps to humanise your brand.
Here are a couple of examples of milestones you can celebrate on social media:
- A sales target (e.g., 1000 products sold)
- New employees
- Work anniversaries
- Industry awards or recognition
- New or renovated office space
5. Educational Posts
How-to guides and educational posts are great for boosting engagement, increasingly share-ability, and providing value for your audience. By putting this content on social media, you can establish your business as a knowledgeable leader in your industry and increase your audience's trust in you.
Here are some examples of educational posts you can share on Facebook and Instagram:
- If you're in the fitness industry, share tips on achieving a fitness goal.
- If you're in the baking industry, share your tips on baking the perfect brownie.
- If you're in the clothing industry, share information on upcoming trends.
- If you're in financial services, share information on managing the accounts payable process.
6. Competitions
Competitions are some of the best-performing posts across Facebook and Instagram, and it's easy to see why: People love the opportunity to get something for nothing! There’s no rule that says you need to give away something expensive, but make sure it's valuable to your audience and related to your business, like a gift voucher, for example.
When running a competition, consider what you want your business to gain from the competition. Do you simply want to increase engagement, grow your following, or collect user-generated content?
Make sure you know what your goal is because it's going to drive your competition entry mechanism. For example, if you want to increase engagement and grow your following, you can ask your audience to like your post and follow your page to stand to win
Consider your competition mechanism carefully and ensure it aligns with the value of the prize you're offering. Unless you're offering a high-value reward, a complicated multi-step entry process could be a barrier to entry.
7. Celebrate Holidays
Along with posting on nationally celebrated holidays, you can also post about more obscure holidays like Bicycle Day or National Doughnut Day. When posting about fun holidays, make sure they tie into your business somehow.
An accountancy firm can still celebrate something like Bicycle Day if a number of the staff ride bicycles, and you can upload their riding photos. Still, if you stretch too far to celebrate obscure holidays that don't relate to your business, product, or people, it can feel like a space-filler for your audience.
8. Before and After Photos
Everyone loves a before and after photo! Both businesses with physical products and service-based offerings can benefit greatly from this from posting before and after photos to boost their social media engagement.
If you're in the fitness industry, beauty industry, cleaning, landscaping, or auto repair, before and after photos can help you build trust with your audience because they will be able to see exactly what your business can do for them.
9. How-to Videos
As we mentioned earlier, videos get significantly more engagement on Facebook and Instagram than static posts, so why not take advantage of video content to show your audience how to use your product or what your service can do for them?
If you aren't sure what kind of how-to videos your audience will find interesting, you can run a poll on Facebook or Instagram Stories to find out what they'd like to learn how to do. Things like cooking/baking videos, make-up application videos, gardening videos, and workout videos are trendy and will help establish your business as a thought leader in your industry.
10 Share memes and GIFs
Everyone loves laughing at a good meme or GIF, and they’re a great way to bring a bit of humour to your brand. If you decide to post a meme or GIF, make sure it’s relevant to your brand or product. Even though you want your audience to laugh, you still want your business to be top of mind!
Along with these post ideas, remember to be consistent when posting content! If you post consistently for two weeks and then stop for two months, you're likely to lose followers and struggle to reach your engagement benchmarks when you start posting again.
Ultimately, the goal of posting on social media is to create a genuine connection with your audience and build a community around your brand. Even if this means you can only post once a week, rather be consistent than posting sporadically with long gaps.
