You asked for it, and we begrudgingly made it! It took us weeks to write, but we finally finished part 1 of our comprehensive guide to social media posting for small businesses. Ever found yourself wondering: what should I post today? How do I continue creating interesting social media content? How do I cure my age-induced erectile dysfunction? Well, we’ve got answers for two of those questions! And for the love of god, don’t ask us to help with that third problem and instead see a trained physician.

This guide isn’t meant to be followed in chorological order, but for more timely recommendations, subscribe to daily social media post recommendations via email with our partners over at socialpost! Together, we created this list in-tandem to eliminate social media woes and to ensure that every small business can easily find content and creative ideas for posting.

30 social media post ideas for small businesses

Again, there are thousands of things you can post, but we’ve narrowed that list down to our favorite 30 in the list below. Think we missed something? Drop us a comment and let us know how we can improve! Also, tune in next week for a follow-up blog outlining more ideas. Without further ado, here’s the guide:

1. Inspirational quote

Posting something inspirational ads variety to your posting schedule—it opens the doors to new people interacting with your post and takes the focus away for self-promotional posts. Additionally, these kinds of posts are universal and increase shareability as other companies and customers may share the post as well.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Not ideal for: Snapchat, YouTube

2. Company review

Please don’t share a review from Karen ripping the customer service at your local restaurant. That would only be sharable if you tried roasting back, which very few small businesses have the confidence to do. Instead, share a positive review from someone who loves your company. First, this shows that you value customer feedback. Second, it allows you to soak up the positive clout.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Not ideal for: Snapchat, YouTube

3. User-generated content

If you sell a product, more likely than not people will one day post about your product on social media. The same can be said about most services. Reposting a photo or a video review that a happy customer uploads of your product or service is a great way to interact with customers and show them that they are valued.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

4. Curated blog post

We get it—you can’t write your own blog posts every day. But sharing blog posts that already exist are an effective way to provide your followers with readable content that can keep them informed. Curated content (i.e. blogs that are already online) is a quick way to post on social media when your busy. Just be careful not to inadvertently advertise your competitors—that’d be a real jabroni move.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter

Not ideal for: Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube

5. GIFs

Nothing spices up a dull Monday like a GIF. They are effective at showcasing your brand’s personality, while also staying trendy. They’re relatable and therefore are often known to elicit more reactions than ordinary posts. GIFs make your company seem more playful in nature—which generally is a good impression to give off.

Best shared via: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (Stories)

Not ideal for: Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, LinkedIn

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6. Visual Infographic

A thought-provoking infographic is a great way to boost engagement with your posts. They often are eye-catching and force readers to engage with content in ways that other media forms just can’t. There are generally two options when going to post an infographic. You can either use a curated infographic and repost someone else’s work, or you can spend the time and create one that specifically satisfies the needs of your specific company. One requires a much greater initial investment, but producing homegrown content is important for any company.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

7. (New) Employee spotlight

Shouting out your employees is a great way to humanize your company. It’s also an effective way to promote the size of your company to viewers. When you add on a new employee, it can be a great way to convey to your followers that your company is healthy and expanding.

If your small business isn’t hiring at the moment, maybe you can spotlight an existing employee who has just been killing it lately. Just be careful to not offend your other employees. If you have a company of two, it could get awkward if you spotlight only one of them.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Not ideal for: Snapchat, YouTube

8. Product/service spotlight

We generally have said in past blogs that you shouldn’t self-promote often. Maybe once or twice a month is acceptable. It’s easy for small businesses to walk a fine line between spamming followers in a desperate plea for sales and using inbound strategies to let clients reach out to you directly. Once in a while you can sneak in a product or service spotlight without annoying followers.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

9. Video promotion

Nothing looks sleeker than a well-written video promotion. Previously, we’ve written about producing a video promotion on a budget—it generally doesn’t take anything more intricate than a stabilizer and a modern 4k iPhone. Or, you could try renting professional equipment and getting into video marketing the old-fashioned way—but that may break the piggybank.

A video promotion should be both creative and thought-out. For instance, if you plan on posting a video promotion on social media, you’ll want to use text in the video for followers who may be listening without audio on. The video below is a great example of this:

Best shared via: Any social media platform

10. About us video

Let’s stay on the video train for right now. Recording an about us video is a fancy way to build meaningful connection with your followers. It humanizes your company and gives you a platform to tell your company’s story. You’d be shocked to learn how engaging these videos usually end up being.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

11. An original blog post

Blogging is surprisingly easy and shows your company as a foremost expert in your industry. I’ll admit, I blog everyday despite the fact that Mintleaf is a video marketing company. Written content is still a great way to connect with followers, drive traffic to your site, improve SEO ranking, and expand your company’s reach. What’s best? Maybe another company will share your blog as their own curated content. That’s a win-win.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter

Not ideal for: Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram

12. Paid promotion

Once in a blue moon, it’s a good idea to run a paid promotion. Create an ad—either a photo or a video advertisement—and boost it via paid promotional services. It generally costs only around $5 to get your post in front of a few hundred new eyes on Facebook and Instagram. That’s a great way to quickly grow an account. You’ll never see faster results than that.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

13. Boost an old successful post

Alright, maybe this one’s cheating—as you’re not really creating a new post. But boosting (i.e. paying to promote) a successful post is a great way to reach new clients. Why reinvent the wheel? If your small business had a post that performed very well on social media, why not spend a few bucks to keep that momentum going?

Best shared via: Any social media platform

14. Quote your owner or CEO

Never forget that your company is a source of wisdom and knowledge within your industry. Quoting your owner or CEO is a quick and efficient way to impart that wisdom to your followers. Just try not to come across as too cocky and full of yourself.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Not ideal for: Snapchat, YouTube

15. Industry news

As a marketing agency, we’re always seeing our industry evolve. Google changes its SEO algorithm on the monthly, WordPress websites come in-and-out of style like a mullet, and social media is about as stagnant as the mythical Poland Springs. News always is emerging within every industry and sharing this news with your followers can help keep them informed.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube

Not ideal for: Snapchat

16. Quick tips

Short, sweet and straight-to-the point. What more could you ask for in a social media post? You can inform followers, share expertise and more! Not every social media post has to take hours to design. Thus a quick tip is perfect for saving time and resources for your company.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

17. Memes

Similarly to GIFS, memes are a way to keep your social media accounts more modern and trendy. Have a consulting firm? Spice things up with a few memes. We get the comeback that: memes make my company look unprofessional! But they get engagement and make people laugh. So often it becomes a necessary tradeoff. The worst thing you can do on social media is bore people. Memes change that.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat

Not ideal for: YouTube

18. Run a contest

Everyone loves free stuff! Want a free social media calendar. Click here. See, everyone loves free shit. So run a contest, give out some free stuff—encourage people to like, share and comment—and bask in the engagement glory.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

19. New product/service spotlight

We already covered regular product/service spotlights. Want to show the world that your company is growing. Feature a new product or service! It’s a cool way to let people know that your company is keeping up with times and taking steps towards expanding. Just don’t self-promote too much!

Best shared via: Any social media platform

20. Case studies

Case studies don’t work for every industry, but they can be pretty impressive. Are you a consulting firm that helped a client save $250,000! Cool! Your client probably doesn’t want the world to know about that. But by using deidentifying measures, that project can be turned into a pretty nifty case study. Just make sure you have a discussion with your client before running a public case study on them.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube

Not ideal for: Snapchat

21. Highlight an upcoming event

Everyone wants to be in the know. Did you know you can get a free content calendar from us here at Mintleaf? Wait, we already talked about that. Highlighting an upcoming event is an easy way to keep your followers informed. It’s a quick post to make, and therefore saves time and resources.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

22. Podcast

Okay, we get it—podcasting sounds like a lot of work. But they can be wildly addicting to listen to, and therefore can be a worthwhile investment in certain industries (i.e. agriculture, lifestyle and fitness, culinary). Podcasts are a unique way to reach people—they emphasize humanizing interaction and help your company diversify its communication processes.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube

Not ideal for: Snapchat

23. Video tutorial

Video tutorials are the perfect way to inform your followers about things they don’t know. Plus, they showcase you as an expert—which is a pretty nifty added benefit. Do you own a yoga studio and want to teach people how to do the mountain pose? That’d probably be pretty hard to do in a podcast, but a video tutorial would be perfect!

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube

Not ideal for: Snapchat

24. Go live

This is your chance to be famous. You’ve pictured it a thousand times. Your on-center stage, thousands of wild fans are cheering you on. You just went live on Instagram for the first time. Just kidding. Get ready for only 10 of your followers to tune in. But that’s 10 valuable connections you may make. Going live once in a while—especially during events—is a great way to make a positive impression with your followers.

Best shared via: Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

Not ideal for: LinkedIn, Twitter

25. Behind-the-scenes look

What happens behind the scenes at your company when no customers are around? On second thought maybe we don’t want to see that. But a behind-the-scenes look can be a valuable way to show followers what your company is like when nobody’s looking. What happens at your restaurant in the hour before opening? What happens at your local store in the hours before Black Friday? People love seeing new perspectives.

 

 

 

 

 

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Happy to be back on location!

A post shared by Mintleaf (@mintleafllc) on Jul 11, 2020 at 12:17pm PDT

Best shared via: Any social media platform

26. Animation

Similarly to a video tutorial, a well designed animation can work to inform followers about your company’s beliefs, products or services. Plus, animations can be very engaging and don’t often require possessing any fancy equipment. They do necessitate some experience in animation programs—which can be quite a challenge.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

27. Guest post

Once in a while, it can be beneficial to have someone else in your industry generate content for your social media page. For example, you could have a guest on your podcast, or could contract a special guest to write a blog for your company. This shows that your company is connected with others, while also working to generate industry-knowledge.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Not ideal for: Snapchat, YouTube

28. Digital coupons

For some people, coupons are a crappy sales gimmick. For others—including my mother—they are a godsend of free money. They can be a great way to drive traffic to an e-commerce site, or to a physical location. Just make sure to have followers, because nothing is trashier than advertising when you have 0 followers.

Best shared via: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Not ideal for: Snapchat, YouTube

29. News mentions

Ever have your company popup in the news? If it was for a good reason, you should share it. If not, then you should contact the law offices of Saul Goodman. Positive news coverage can be a subtle way of giving yourself a pat on the back. Just don’t overdo it.

Best shared via: Any social media platform

30. Hit ‘em with a teaser

Is something big on the horizon? When we were about to move into our first office in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, we dropped the following post. It teased that big news was coming without explicitly stating it (which would serve as its own post later).

 

 

 

 

 

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Beginning in September. Downtown Portsmouth gets a little more minty. #BigChanges

A post shared by Mintleaf (@mintleafllc) on Aug 13, 2020 at 11:41am PDT

Best shared via: Any social media platform

Speaking of teasers, that’s it for this week’s guide on what to post on social media! But tune in next week for part two of our guide, where we cover another 30 post recommendations. Social media content creation is an endless struggle--but as always, we're here to help.

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Mintleaf is a creative marketing agency located at 159 Middle Street, Suite 2B, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It serves the greater Seacoast Region and specializes in videography, content marketing, social media management and web design.