21 Social Media Ideas to Spice Up Your Brand’s Online Presence

The hardest part of running a social media campaign is coming up with fresh ideas.

As a marketer, you are expected to have multiple social media profiles that you regularly update with new posts. This can be tough to do since your followers are always looking for new content, but you must be consistent in order to be successful.

If you are constantly recycling the same posts, it will start to feel like you are reliving the same day over and over again, like in the movie Groundhog Day.

21 social media ideas for brands to keep their feeds from growing stale.

1. Create a daily, weekly, or monthly series

If you want your social feed to feel more like an event than a list of random posts, there are a few things you can do. First, try to post regularly and at consistent times. This will give your followers something to look forward to and help them know when to check your feed. Second, vary your content so that there’s something for everyone. If you post mostly photos, throw in a few videos or text-based posts as well. Finally, be engaging! Respond to comments, ask questions, and start conversations. There are a few things you can do if you want your social media feed to feel more like an event. Try to post regularly and at consistent times. This will give your followers something to look forward to and help them know when to check your feed. Second, vary your content so that there’s something for everyone. If you post mostly photos, throw in a few videos or text-based posts as well. Finally, be engaging! Respond to comments, ask questions, and start conversations.

Start a series of regular posts where you interact with your fans and followers. By providing relevant content on a consistent basis, you can develop a habit among your audience of looking forward to seeing specific content from your brand.

2. Run a contest or giveaway

The power of “free” is something that people can’t resist. Hosting a contest from time to time is an idea that can have a big impact when it comes to getting followers to engage.

We can see that contests are a great way to increase engagement and grow an account on Instagram.

You don’t necessarily need a third-party solution or service to run a contest. All you need is a combination of the following:

• Something to give away. Ideally, the prize for your contest should somehow be related to your brand (think: free products or a membership). Big-ticket, unrelated items tend to attract freebie-seekers that won’t translate into long-term followers.
• Terms and conditions. To cover yourself legally, terms and conditions are a must for your contest. 
• A point of contact. On your terms and conditions page, make sure to leave an email address where people can get in touch with questions or concerns.
• A creative way to enter. Whether it’s through user-generated content or a hashtag, asking followers to post about your brand is the best way to encourage entries. After all, the purpose of a giveaway is brand awareness, not just to give away free stuff. 

Hashtags are the easiest way to keep track of who entered your free contest.

Running contests every week is not necessary to get benefits. Contests are a good way to increase your number of followers and how engaged they are, which can be helpful for promoting things like new products.

3. Use video

Audiences are engaging more with videos on social media platforms. Videos are becoming a more popular tool to generate engagement. People generally prefer videos over other post formats.

Creating video content is not simply a process of recording and posting; it requires planning and creativity.

It is recommended that you create a storyboard for your video project in order to ensure that the video is well-organized and effective.

Video is a great way to communicate because it is so versatile. It can be intimidating at first, but with more practice it will become easier to produce videos on a regular basis.

4. Tag a friend

If you tag a friend in a social post, it will be very effective! It will appeal to the human need to be seen as a good member of society.

When you create a tag a friend post, make it more effective by including an incentive. For example, if you’re an ice cream store, you could run a contest where you choose two lucky friends who will each receive a free sundae.

5. Discounts, coupons, and deals

The way to get people to respond to your offers on social media is to make sure that the offers are good. If the deals are not good, hardly any followers will take advantage of them.

Discounts are a great way to bring in new customers and increase sales, but if you really want to maximize your profits, you need to do more than just offer a discount. You need to channel traffic to a sales page where they can buy your product. By doing this, you create a user path that leads directly to revenue.

If you want to use this social media idea on Instagram but don’t have any money for ads, put a URL in your bio that leads to your buy page.

6. Host an AMA

The AMA series on Reddit offers you a great chance to educate and connect with your followers. The series is essentially a Q&A session where you can share your knowledge, experiences, and insights.

If you have had struggles that you have overcome or have influence in your industry, you are probably capable of conducting an AMA. From sharing stories of success to personal challenges, these sessions can be compelling for audiences and brands.

Why bother hosting an AMA, though? Consider how an AMA ticks the following boxes for brands:

• You get to show off your personal side, showcasing the face behind the curtain of your business
• You raise awareness for your brand without being pushy or salesy about it
• You learn more about the concerns and interests of your audience

7. Conduct a social media takeover

Having someone else take over your social feeds can help inject new life into them.

A takeover is when someone else takes control of your social accounts, usually for a day. This is a good way to get your brand seen by new people, as well as to change up the voice of your account if you need some new ideas. You can also have someone else from your company take over.

Identify business partners and industry relationships that could be potential candidates for a takeover. The goal of a takeover is to gain exposure, so it is ideal to choose someone whose target audience is similar to your own.

Popular chefs take over the Food Republic’s Instagram account on a regular basis to provide their followers with new content to enjoy.

8. Share, pin, retweet, and regram

Let your fans and followers promote your brand for you by giving them a platform to talk about it.

You don’t have to post all original content on your social media feeds. In fact, it’s generally accepted that you shouldn’t. Sharing relevant content from other brands and followers is a great way to show that you’re part of the conversation in your industry, rather than just a copycat.

9. Repurpose your content

It makes sense to get the most out of every blog post or video you make by planning ahead, putting in effort, and taking the time to create quality content.

A majority of articles only receive a small amount of social media shares, with 50% of articles receiving eight shares or less.

Consider additional ideas for promoting your content on social media. For example, you could take a quote from your piece and create a shareable image using a program like Canva.

You can turn your video content into social media “sneak peeks.” For example, First We Feast does this on Instagram with short previews of longer videos on their YouTube channel.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could use everything you’ve already created in new ways? If you published blog posts or videos, you would have a ton of content to share!

If you want to keep your social media followers engaged, you should repurpose your content. This means breathing new life into old posts or posts that have been ignored, so your followers don’t get bored of seeing the same message shared over and over.

10. Partner with a brand

Collaborating with other brands can help both companies grow, especially if they are not in direct competition with each other. Offering a compelling deal to the new audience you are reaching can help you get and keep their attention, and produce strong results.

11. Run a poll

You can generate engagement on social media by using polls and by utilizing the results to develop an offer.

If you are the social media manager for a restaurant, you can poll your followers to find out what their favorite food and drink combination is. With the results of the poll, you will know that the winning combination is most likely to be successful if it is presented as a special.

12. Live stream

The popularity of live streaming is increasing rapidly, due in part to the convenience of being able to interact with brands directly via mobile phones. Because it is a video, live streaming can be used to promote and communicate almost anything.

If you want to improve the performance of your live streams, make sure to include a strong call to action for your audience. This could be a link to a longer video, a report, or a guide. The goal is to convert social traffic into leads for your funnel.

13. Share from behind the scenes 

Sharing what happens behind the scenes of your business is a growing trend and it’s definitely worth trying. Behind-the-scenes content gives your audience a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of your company, making them feel like your company is more than just another business. It also feels like exclusive footage for viewers.

The social media idea also allows you to show your followers the people who make up your team, making your brand look and feel more like it is made up of people.

14. Create instructional videos

There is no denying that tutorials are excellent content. However, people often mistakenly believe that they can only be utilized by makeup and cooking influencers. The truth is, tutorials can be created for any brand, product, or service.

15. Run a social-exclusive deal

Social-exclusive deals are a more direct way to generate ROI. Creating a sense of scarcity by making your deal exclusive to your audience also creates a sense of urgency.

Here are 4 tips on how to make your social-exclusive deal a success: 

• Have a clear offer that you know your audience wants
• Highlight the deal end date
• Promote it before you run it to generate interest 
• Create supporting social posts around the deal to draw your audience to it

16. Give customers the spotlight

What’s a better way to show your customers you care than giving them a shout-out?

In order to truly engage with your customers, go beyond simply retweeting when they mention your brand and start a campaign that really highlights them.

For example, you could have a customer of the week program highlighting your most loyal advocates, giving them some swag or a prize.

17. Conduct an interview

Arguably, social media has made it easier than ever to conduct interviews by serving as an alternative to a traditional Q&A session.

You can use services like BeLive to do split-screen interviews with relevant influencers and professionals in your industry in real time on Facebook. This is a perfect way to combine education and entertainment.

Informal social interviews conducted off-the-cuff often come across as being more authentic to audiences. Additionally, these interviews can be repurposed into podcasts, blog posts, and YouTube videos.

18. Make a meme

Brands shouldn’t be afraid to have a sense of humor.

Memes are not for everyone but social media is a place where there are a lot of humorous images and satire. Some examples of this are brands like Chubbies. This means that there is a time and place for memes.

Remember that memes have a limited lifespan and won’t be funny forever. If your audience doesn’t think humor is important, memes can make your brand seem cringe-worthy and out of touch. However, if your target market is young and you have a strong social media presence, incorporating some lighthearted content in the form of memes could be beneficial.

19. Get nostalgic

Everyone loves when a brand evokes nostalgia in their social posts. Lego does a great job of this by introducing moments from their brand’s early days.

20. Produce native ads

Over time, people can become numb to advertisements. However, they are typically drawn to content that is powerful and convincing. This is why native advertising is often effective.

According to Adroll, these 7 tips will help you produce compelling native ads:

• Understand what you want your audience to do after they’ve seen your ad
• Always make the engagement valuable for your followers
• Personalize your ad to make it resonate with your audience
• Write how you would speak and not how you would sell
• Use your brand name to establish an association between it and the offer 
• Keep your message simple and clear to make it easy to follow and understand
• Include an easy-to-understand call to action

21. Share a milestone

Finally, brands should be willing to share their successes and victories with their followers.

If any of the above have happened to your small business recently, be sure to share the news in a press release. If any of the following have happened to your small business recently, share the news in a press release: being featured in a major publication, reaching a sales goal, being stoked about a new hire, or finally upgrading to a swanky downtown office.

Make sure your followers are aware of these moments, as it will show your human side while representing your brand’s growth.

It is not only about promoting your products through social media but also about telling your brand’s story and accomplishments to strengthen your company’s image in the eyes of your audience.