What Should Businesses Post on Social Media?

Updated April 2, 2024 using social media for marketing

The key to success on social media as a business is not just about being visible, but about crafting content that resonates with followers and attracts an audience who are genuinely interested in what the business is all about.

The right kind of content has the power to transform casual followers into loyal fans and brand advocates.

So what should businesses post on social media to have the most impact?

In this guide, we explore 18 diverse ideas designed to grow your presence and visibility on social media, foster meaningful connections with your followers, and grow your audience.

Let’s dive straight in…

1. Behind-the-Scenes Insights

We’re all curious, right?

It’s why giving your audience a sneak peek behind the scenes can be so effective, not just in garnering engagement, but also in building their sense of relationship with your brand.

You’re inviting your audience into your world.

Possible angles include:

Showcasing the dedication and creativity that goes into your products and services.
A day in the life at your office or other type of workspace.
Highlighting your team in action, focusing on individual members' contributions and stories.

Such openness makes your brand more relatable, real and memorable, while also building trust.

Trust is crucial for growing the impact your business can make, including turning casual viewers into loyal followers, and customers.

But keep it authentic and don’t overdo the editing—let the genuine spirit of your brand shine through.

2. Customer Testimonials and Stories

Most of your audience won’t believe what you say about you.

But they’re far more likely to believe what someone else has to say.

Sharing customer experiences, testimonials and stories are a far more subtle way to help promote your brand without appearing overly ‘sales-y’.

And it fits right into social media’s love of storytelling.

The benefits of sharing this type of content include:

Building trust
Humanizing your brand
Providing social proof via real-world results

Wherever possible, use visuals such as photos, videos and other graphical elements to maximize engagement.

3. Product Demonstrations and Showcases

Leverage short-form content on platforms like YouTube Shorts to create engaging "how-to" videos that highlight how your product or service is used in the real world.

Such videos:

Capture attention quickly and help distribute your message without demanding much time from your audience
Show practical use and bring your product and service to life in ways your audience can relate to and think about how they can benefit from
Educate and engage by turning potentially complex processes or less-understood aspects of your product into something that seems simple and achievable, giving your audience immediately value.

4. Industry Insights and Updates

When you share the latest industry trends, changes, and innovations, you elevate your brand’s authority by positioning your social media channels as a source for reliable and relevant information.

You can curate such content from sources such as:

Relevant news outlets and websites in your industry
Conferences
Industry peers, whether through personal connections or via their own social media output

5. Interactive Content: Polls, Surveys, and Q&A Sessions

It’s always going to be beneficial to regularly throw content into the mix that invites your audience to interact in order to get value, while also making them feel a valued part of your community.

This type of content includes:

Polls and surveys—collecting opinions and feedback not only stimulates audience interaction, but provides you with valuable insights you can use to further tailor your content, as well as you products and services.
Q&A sessions—these can be live or scheduled sessions where your audience can ask questions directly related to your business.

Image Source: Laurie Wang - YouTube

It’s important however to also be responsive to their interactions, such as by responding to comments in a timely manner.

6. User-Generated Content (UGC)

The good news is that your brand doesn’t have to be the sole creator of your social media output.

By taking advantage of User-Generated Content (UGC), you involve your audience much more directly while also:

Boosting your brand’s visibility
Enhancing its credibility
Gaining access to new audiences
Marketing your products and services in a non-pushy way

Some ways to approach UGC include the following:

Encourage customers to share their experiences with your products or services via a specific hashtag (which, while promoting a sense of belonging and community, makes it far easier to collect and feature their content on your channels)...
Feature customer posts which share positive experiences of your products or services…
Partner with UGC creators who produce organic-looking content (while of course adhering to relevant laws and regulations).

In brief, encouraging and leveraging content created by your users is authentic and can significantly amplify your brand’s reach and credibility.

7. Educational Content: Tutorials, Tips, and How-Tos

Share educational content that addresses your audience’s questions, challenges and interests, such as with tutorials, tips, and how-tos.

In doing so, you empower your audience, position your brand as a source of value and authority, and enhance your audience’s sense of connection with you.

Such content can include:

In-depth tutorials such as step-by-step guides and video walkthroughs
Handy bite-sized tips and tricks that solve common problems or improve everyday tasks
Engaging infographics (but more on these below!)

8. Inspirational and Motivational Quotes

Lift your audience's spirits and inspire action with quotes that resonate with your brand’s ethos and align with your values and mission.

Examples of the types of quotes that are suitable to share include:

Quotes that reflect your brand’s core values and the aspirations of your audience.
Quotes from respected figures within your industry.
Positive testimonials from customers (see #2 above!).

This type of content works because it:

Has universal appeal—a simple, well-chosen quote can add meaning to someone’s day while fostering a sense of shared experience.
Is easy to engage with—quotes are highly shareable and naturally invite comments
Boosts your brand’s identity by helping to reinforce what you stand for.

9. Exclusive Offers and Free Resources

Reward your social media followers with exclusive offers and free resources that enrich their experience, add value to their lives and create a positive sense of interacting with your brand.

Freebies can include ebooks, guides, downloadable content, videos and other relevant resources. Such content elevates the position of your brand as a go-to resource in your field.

Try also offering special discounts or exclusive offers to your audiences on social media, making them feel valued and encouraging their loyalty.

10. Contests, Giveaways, and Challenges

Boost engagement and fun by organizing contests, giveaways and challenges.

Such content spurs participation, content creation, and a sense of community, while potentially expanding your follower base significantly.

Try the following:

Brand-related challenges that tied into your brand’s identity and values
Hosting contests with enticing rewards in return for activities such as following your account, sharing your content, or tagging friends

To maximize user participation, make entry into contests or challenges easy, fun and engaging.

For best results:

Ensure the rules for participation are clear and the prizes desirable for your audience.
Promote across all your social media channels.
Celebrate and share results by highlighting the winners and sharing the outcomes or best entries.

11. Milestones, Success Stories, and Celebrations

Share your achievements and celebrate milestones and success stories with your community to foster a sense of shared success, while strengthening the relationship between your brand and its followers.

Celebrate all your achievements—no success is too small! Consider sharing when you reach a new milestone, launch a product, receive an award, or welcome a new team member…
Share detailed success stories where you highlight the challenges that were overcome, thereby adding depth to your achievements and inspiring your followers…
Involve your audience such as by thanking your followers for their support, and engaging them in celebrations through live events, special offers, or interactive content.

When sharing celebratory content:

Be authentic and genuinely grateful for your customers’ and followers’ support.
Use visual and interactive content to make it more engaging and shareable
Encourage user participation to help grow the content’s engagement and reach, such as by inviting your audience to share their own stories related to your brand or product.

12. Job Openings and Company News

Announce job openings and company updates to keep your audience informed and attract potential talent.

Doing so can help you not just find candidates who are suitably qualified, but who are also genuinely interested in your mission and values, and who have already built some loyalty towards your company.

Remember too to use LinkedIn to your advantage. It’s an excellent platform for posting job listings and attracting suitable professionals who may already be connected through the network with your brand.

13. Live Streaming Events and Announcements

Utilize live video to engage with your audience in real-time, whether it's for product launches, announcements, or interactive sessions.

Live streaming is a popular option across most of the major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or X.

You can also think about establishing a regular live event, such as Tip Tuesday or Fun Fact Friday, to keep viewers coming back.

For best results:

Promote your event before you go live via your social media channels, helping to build anticipation and ensure a larger audience
Interact with viewers by encouraging them to submit questions or comments during the broadcast and addressing directly, giving the experience an intimate, personalized feel
Follow up afterwards by engaging with participants who commented or asked questions.

Remember too to take advantage of the recorded version of the live stream, which can be repurposed in multiple ways:

Use social media to grow your email list by strategically promoting your newsletter’s unique benefits, including:

Highlighting exclusive content
Providing sneak peeks
Offering access to webinars, demos and other free resources to incentivize your audience to subscribe.

Make it easy for your social media audience to subscribe by sharing a direct link to a suitable landing page that’s designed for optimal conversions.

Remember that, unlike your email lists, your social media audiences are never owned by your brand.

It therefore pays to encourage followers onto your email lists, where you own and control the relationship, and where communications with them are far more profitable.

15. Humorous and Relatable Content: Memes and Fun Posts

Incorporate a dose of humor into your social media strategy with memes and light-hearted posts.

These not only help your audience relate to you and help deepen the connection, but also showcase your brand’s personality.

The use of humor can:

Attract new followers from your audience sharing funny and relatable posts
Enhances your brand appeal by showing that you understand your audience and are in tune with what’s currently happening
Humanize your brand and make it more approachable

For best results:

Know your audience—tailor humorous content to match their tastes and preferences, while still reflecting your brand’s values
Don’t overdo it—balance splashes of humor with informative and valuable content, thereby building a well-rounded social media presence
Be mindful of sensitivities—if not handled carefully, humorous content can land you in hot water. Aim to be inclusive and respectful.

16. Engagement Threads and Community Spotlights

Organize themed engagement threads on your social media channels to:

Boost interaction
Foster a sense of community
Bring attention to areas your audience cares about
Spotlight members of your community.

For effective engagement threads:

Use a unique hashtag that’s memorable and related to your brand to make your threads more discoverable
Schedule them regularly so your community knows when to tune in and participate
Prepare in advance with topics, questions and prompts that will resonate with your audience.
Promote upcoming discussions to build anticipation and attract a wider audience

17. Infographics

Share visually appealing infographics that break down complex information into digestible and shareable content.

Infographics turn complex info and potentially dry data into engaging visuals that capture the attention of your audience, particularly on visually driven platforms like Pinterest.

For maximum impact:

Use bold colors to grab attention, whilst also aligning with your brand identity
Use clear fonts so your content is easy to scan and digest
Focus on clarity with a clean and organized design
Highlight key points with appropriate design elements that point towards the most important data and takeaways

They can be easier to create than you think too, with various software tools available to help.

Once you’ve created an infographic, there are other places you can share them too, not just social media—here’s a full list.

18. Spotlight on Industry Peers and Partnerships

By fostering collaboration and a sense of community within your industry, you can significantly amplify your brand’s impact and reach.

Spotlight partnerships and give shoutouts to peers to demonstrate your brand’s commitment to mutual growth, whilst potentially encouraging reciprocation.

Approaches can include:

Sharing success stories such as partnerships and collaborative projects that have led to successful outcomes
Giving thanks publicly to partners or industry peers for the contributions they have made
Creating co-branding content such as webinars, interviews and articles

To maximize the success of such content:

Use tags and mentions
Incorporate visuals
Encourage reciprocity, such as by encouraging partners to share their experiences and perspectives on the collaboration.

To Conclude

Navigating social media can be a daunting task for any business, but a large part of the battle is determining the right mix of content to share with and engage your audience.

The 18 ideas outlined above provide you with a feast of ideas with which to enhance your social media presence, grow connections with your followers and increase your visibility and reach across various platforms.

But remember that the essence of social media is connection. Be authentic and show the genuine side of your brand. Engage with your followers as if they're friends, and attract and nurture a community that resonates with your message.