Putting aside your physical store or website, your social media profile acts as a platform and catalogue where your customers form a first impression of your company.
Thus, it is important to plan out your social media content calendar. post the right content, at the right time.
Creating content can be a time consuming process as there are certain factors you will need to consider.
This includes:
- Being relatable to the audience
- Ensuring that your content aligns with what your company stands for
- Being consistent with your photo editing style
If you’re a small business owner juggling between operations, marketing and content management, it’s easy to get caught up with your workload and hence, face difficulties finding time to brainstorm content ideas for your social media.
To lighten your load, we’ve come up with a list of helpful content ideas that you can use on repeat to plan out your monthly posts.
Most of the photos were taken from our own customers social media profiles.
1. Lifestyle product shots
The first thing every business owner thinks of posting is definitely the product!
In fact, there are many ways you can showcase your product so each picture looks different.
It can be in the form of a flat lay, a studio product or model shot, outdoor lifestyle, or your product being used in different scenarios.
If your company specialises in a feature that differentiates you from others, show it off.
2. Customer testimonial
People like seeing products used in real life so they can imagine how it looks like on them.
If you have loyal customers that have previously posted photos with your product, repost them.
If not, you could always reach out to your customers to interview them about your product.
Social proof will help to build trust toward your brand.
3. Inspirational posts
Share beautiful and inspirational stories or photos relevant to your company’s values.
You can find content from media publishing companies, celebrities, as well as from influencers on Instagram and Pinterest.
Another angle that always works is humour, so long as it goes well with your company branding, and is posted at the right time.
In our example, August Store features celebrity, Ming Xi as a style inspiration on how she styled their skirt.
4. Behind the scenes
How is your product made?
Does it take long to produce an item?
Show your customers the process of how your product is brought to life, from ideation to production and then, shipping.
Being transparent and showing your customers the effort and hard work you’ve put in will only make them appreciate you more.
5. Introduce your employees
Build a human touch to your profile.
You can do this by introducing the people who run your company.
Your employees could share something personal about their life and job role that your followers could relate to.
Love Bonito’s Head of Merchandising even slipped in a free advice that she lives by, as seen below.
6. Product demonstration
Make a product demonstration or try-on video for your customers to visual your products used in real life.
This is especially important if your product requires more technical skills, such as fixing a table together.
Here’s an interior styling video by IM Home Stylist.
Bonus example: If you own a beauty and cosmetics company, a video of your product being applied on different skin tones would be very helpful for customers to picture how it would look on them.
7. Events
Got an event coming up?
Notify your followers by posting about it.
Plan out your content – prior to (teaser or invitation), during and post event (throwbacks).
8. Giveaways
Hold a giveaway!
This is your best bet to increase your post engagement, grow your followers and get new potential customers to notice you.
The example below is a giveaway from Mek Kembang Cotton done over their Facebook Live video.
9. Ask questions
Customers like feeling valued and often like to share their opinions.
Ask your followers anything that is relevant to their needs as well as your business.
This encourages interaction amongst your followers and acts as a form of customer research that will help you understand your customers better.
Check out this example from Twenty3.
They asked their followers which was their preferred way of styling their dress.
10. Share about a new trend or upcoming event
Ride on the viral trend wave!
If there was a hot topic highly shared on social media that you could adapt content from, chances are that your post will get recognised much faster.
Here’s an example from Dominos Pizza & Huawei after the trending news about Chickaboo, the ostrich that was filmed running on a highway.
11. Talk about your company
Share your story – who are the founders, how was the company started, why, how far you’ve come & your future plans or advice for someone starting up.
12. Promotions and updates
Everyone loves a good deal.
If you have any upcoming sale happening, whether in store or online, remember to hype up your followers with teasers posts before and reminder posts during the sale (Refer to examples below).
Any changes in company policy and processes or updates on your company’s products and services should also be mentioned on your social media.
13. Show off your physical store
If you have a physical store, you can snap a picture of your beautiful store interior with a caption to invite customers over.
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