30+ Ideas That Will Make Your Social Media Posts More Interesting

Looking for a good way to engage your social media followers? Social media marketing has many benefits if you do it right.

Here are some ways to liven up your Social Media pages:

#1. User-Generated Content

This is one of the most commonly used techniques nowadays. Brands love including user-generated content for many reasons.
For one, it’s inexpensive. People take photos, film videos or write posts for free, add a hashtag or a tag and the content appears on the brand’s social media page. The great part is that most of this content that users create is incredibly good, especially with the rising quality of cameras in the phones and availability of editing and improving tools. As a bonus, no one wants to embarrass themselves by posting something of poor quality on their favourite brand’s page.

Next benefit of using user-generated content is that it engages the users. While brand could be posting their own content and wait to see how many people would care to take a look, they can now, with this approach, make sure that their audience is engaged and having fun on their page. Some people really love to contribute and others just love to watch other people contributing.

This approach also requires almost no additional resources from the company – they just create a hashtag or invite the users to contribute and that’s it.

“User-generated content also adds to their social proof – if other people are interacting with the brand and using the brand’s products while providing proof in this content, more people are going to trust the brand. There are many more benefits to it,” says Bran Tremaine, an author at Researchpapersuk and Last Minute Writing.

You can utilize this on your social media pages as well.

Just create a hashtag or a competition of some sort – or simply ask people to create content about your brand. It will liven up your page instantly and your stats will light up like a Christmas tree.

Here is an example of Aerie’s Instagram Campaign where they asked women to share their unretouched swim photos in their products.

#2. Contests and giveaways

Another popular approach is to host contests and giveaways. Just like with user-generated content, contests and giveaways have many benefits both for your page and for your users. There is little to no difference between these when it comes to the general rules and strategy or the effect either.

So, when you host a contest or a giveaway, you create a social media post in which you say that the winner will get your product, service or some other gift for free. However, there is often a set of rules that benefit you. Companies often ask users to like and share their page, comment on the post, like it and so on. Some of them get more creative and they ask for fun images of them with the product or some branding element as well. The effect of this is that your brand gets wider reach and instant boost in popularity and stats.

This can also help you increase your conversions.

Hosting contests and giveaways can help you engage your followers. Everyone likes this type of content because it’s so easy – it requires almost no effort and it could end with a possible reward. The wider reach you get could possibly lead to more sales and people will join your page solely based on that contest.

You can do this on a monthly basis or on a weekly basis – whichever one suits you the most. If your product or service is not something you can just send over, try with something related to your brand – merchandise or tickets for something often works well in this case, even discount. This approach entices the competitive nature that most people have and allows you to interact with your followers simply and effectively.

#3. Use the seasons

This is what many brands do. People usually have different behaviours for different seasons and your brand and social media should adapt to that. The simplest level of this is to change your aesthetics for each season, holiday or event. It doesn’t have to be that complex – add a Christmas hat to your logo, some snowflakes for winter or some flowers for spring, sunglasses or a cocktail for summer and so on. There are numerous options here. This will make your brand seem more fun and entertaining – small things that people love to see.

Next, your content should change as well, naturally.

Adapt your images to the season. For example, in Spring, post images of your products in a green, flowery setting, during Winter place your products or services in a snowy setting etc. However, you can do more than just adhere to different seasons. There are holidays as well – not so many in each season, but still something you can work with. Incorporate trending events as well. For instance, a new movie coming out, Oscars, sports competitions or something similar. “People love this because it’s relatable to them – you are adapting to their life and their needs. This makes your posts fun and entertaining, inviting people to comment and follow what you do.

It will also help you sell your products or services if you adapt to the seasons, holidays and events,” says Burton Alton, a regular contributor to Draftbeyond and Writinity

#4. Be relatable

People love when they can connect with a brand. So, for instance, people hate Mondays – use it, post about how much you hate Mondays too. People love funny and relatable memes, so you can maybe post a funny meme about how you like to stay in over going out etc. There are a ton of options here, especially if you combine it with the holidays and events.

#5. Create useful content

Nothing beats a good how-to video or infographic. You get to help your followers and show off your product. Videos are also some of the most consumable content online so it would benefit you if you could post this type of content with your product in it.

#6. More Ideas for Your Social Media Content Calendar

The infographic below by Mobile Monkey outlines the social media content ideas that can be included in your content calendar.

Final Words

These have been just some of the techniques you can use to engage with your followers on social media. The good news is that you can combine them to create the perfect social media posts. For example, season-themed contests or relatable holiday posts – it’s up to you. Hopefully, this list will help you.

About the Author!

Charles Phan works as a content writer and proofreader at Gum Essays and Lucky Assignments with years of experience. He has a degree in Marketing and enjoys writing about business strategies, entrepreneurship and startup companies.