What To Post On Social Media to Win Followers and Leads

Wondering what to post on social media?

You know why to post on social media.

You’ve set a social media strategy.

You know you could be driving leads to your business if you just knew what to post!

No worries! 🙂 I have ideas to spare.

Check them out below, and get inspired!

Why post on social media?

Let’s face it, your goals for using social media are to build your business.

These goals might include:

• Attracting an engaged audience.
• Spreading awareness of your business.
• Building trust in your expertise.
• Sending traffic to your blog.
• Signing up subscribers to your email list.
• Selling your own or affiliate products.

The bottom line is your business’s bottom line: make more money!

But, it’s not a straight line. You can’t just go on Facebook and Pinterest and say, Buy this! Read this! Sign up here!

Because people don’t use social media to be sold to. They use it to be – social!

You’ve got to connect with people, and show them why they should be interested in what you have to offer.

So you must cover a broad range of social media content categories to keep things your audience interested in what you have to say.

Social posts start with your business

Surprised?

Even though your social media posts can’t be all about your business, it’s still the basis for what you do on social.

Entertaining and engaging with your audience is great, but if all you do is post social media holidays and memes, your followers will forget why you’re there.

And so might you!

Your business’s time-sensitive events and sales are the cornerstone of your social posting.

Ideally, you’ll want to plan these well in advance, so you have time to make the content required to spread the word about them – and why your products and services are the answers to your target market’s needs.

Create a monthly theme based around your events and promotions, then tie your social media posts into that single theme. This will help with branding, but more importantly, it will ensure you always know exactly what to write about, graphics to make, videos to record, and content to share.

But the content won’t all be promotional! It’ll be about helping your followers solve their problems, and letting them see your expertise in doing so.

For example, say I plan to launch a course about Pinterest at the end of March. Throughout the month, I’d post helpful blogs, videos, and tips on social media about why marketers should use Pinterest.

I can quote others, share stats from studies, and post a testimonial or two.

Followers would also enjoy some behind-the-scenes peeks into my daily routine.

So, I’d show my expertise and willingness to help long before I ask for the sale.

Give your followers valuable new content

You’re blogging, podcasting, being featured on other sites, and creating how-to videos for your readers, but unless they’re super fans with lots of free time, they’re unlikely to see everything you produce. You have to let them know, and social media updates are the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to do that.

One thing that’s critical to remember: no one sees every social media post.

That means you will need to share the same piece of content several times — and across multiple networks — to get the best results.

The good news about that is — you don’t always have to recreate the wheel! Reusing your carefully-constructed content will save you loads of time.

Include at least one piece of your own new content weekly in your social media plan.

Tell new fans about your best stuff from the past

Archived blog posts, older podcast episodes, and last year’s YouTube videos are an important part of your social media plan. By sharing this less-than-fresh content you can introduce your audience to more of the things they love about you, as well as get fresh eyes on profitable posts from the past.

While it may sound appealing, it’s best not to just let an automated system recycle your content. Let’s be a bit more strategic!

Be sure you’re sharing the content that’s going to bring you the most benefits, and also be careful not to continue sharing things that are no longer relevant, such as time-sensitive posts. That could be embarrassing!

Here’s what to look for when you’re searching through old content to post.

• Check your Google analytics for posts that have the most traffic.
• Go through your older posts and videos and look for those that have a strong call to action (and improve others if you can).
• Choose posts that promote your own products, or evergreen affiliate products. Review posts are perfect.

Consider adding at least one valuable evergreen post weekly to the schedule in your favorite planner or scheduling tool.

But it’s not all about you

Sure, the point of social sharing is to drive traffic and sales, but if all you ever do is shout “Me, me, me!” even your biggest fans will stop listening. Be sure you’re adding in a good selection of content from other providers as well.

By finding and sharing the best content in your industry, you will quickly become known as the go-to person in your market.

Consider sharing:

• Infographics. Ideal for condensing large amounts of data into a small space, infographics are popular on nearly all social media platforms.
• How-to articles. Depending on your niche, how-to articles can be one of the most important types of content you create or share.
• Viral videos. Whether they’re funny, helpful, or just plain entertaining, videos are almost always a hit.

Ideally, you’ll want to share content from complementary businesses, but you can even mix in articles and videos produced by your competition. Consider adding your own thoughts about the content, and ask questions of your readers so you’ll know what they’re thinking too.

Another option when sharing this type of curated content is to write a short post on your own site, and then link to the original content from there. When you share on social media, share the post you created. It’s an extra click for your readers to get to the original, but it will improve your traffic numbers.

Short of ideas on what to curate? Keep a list of go-to sites you can check weekly for new content. Consider adding one of their posts to your social media schedule!

Tip: Use SmarterQueue to find viral content in your niche. Schedule and share the best, or recreate your own content based on what’s grabbing engagement.

Engage your followers, too!

So far, we’ve talked a lot about educational and blog content. But remember, people use social media – to be social! Be sure to make some time for fun, too.

Here are some content ideas to consider including in your posting plan:

• Quotes and Questions
• Fun holidays
• Day of the week themes

Quotes and questions are great to connect with your audience. Both you and your followers will get to know each other.

You can find some easy yes-or-no questions to ask in this article about how to get more Facebook likes. They definitely pump up the engagement!

How to find quotes that suit your business:

Quote yourself from your blog posts or favorite sayings.

Use inspirational quotes your audience would like.

Search 100,000 quotes by topic in the easy design tool, Stencil.

Check out this list of the best quote sites.

I recommend you make the quote or question into a graphic, as text posts are virtually invisible on social media.

There are lots of simple tools for non-designers to create visual content.

You can use mobile apps to add text to photos, or find easy ways to make picture quotes online. Just choose your fave and start creating.

Fun and wacky holidays are a great way to show your brand personality!

Pick the ones that make sense for your business and audience. Choose 1 or more per week to keep your audience looking forward to what you’ll come up with next!

I have a collection of holiday ideas for each month of the year – and each includes a free downloadable calendar with daily prompts. Just search this site for the month you’re working on. For example, here are my September marketing ideas.

You can combine holidays and quotes, too. I have a number of quote lists on this site, like these Halloween quotes.

“Days of the week” themes and their hashtags can also inspire a series of posts.

Pick one that’s relevant to your business. Create the content in a batch and post one on the day of the week, each week.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is important to build your business, but first you must build a relationship with your followers.

Know your audience: what they need, what they like, what makes them smile.

You must build the “know-like-trust” factor in you and your business by connecting and engaging through a variety of social media content.

Want specifics for your best social media platform? Try these!

How to Create Facebook Content Fans Love to Share

23 Instagram Post Ideas You Can Steal Right Now

Creative TikTok Video Ideas to Explode Your Audience

Top 10 YouTube Video Ideas for Business Success 

Pin this article so you can return for more ideas when you need them! Then you’ll always know what to post on social media.