Coming up with new ideas for social media can be difficult, especially if you’re not focused daily on social media strategy. There are many ways to make coming up with content easier, but an especially effective one is to implement 1-3 themes for your posts.
You can see this strategy at work on our own Instagram feed: every other post offers some sort of advice pertaining to social media, answering questions and giving ideas for further action. This gives our feed structure, both visually and content-wise, so it is easier for us to plan out posts.
In general, themes should offer some sort of structure to both you and your followers in order to be truly beneficial. By following a theme, ideally you shouldn’t have to work as hard to come up with new posts for social media.
Examples of themes can include:
Offering information
Regularly offering information to your followers provides them with valuable advice while also highlighting your expertise in your field. It is also a great way to break up your posts so they don’t all sound too sales-ey.
Posts based around a day of the week
Have you heard of #ThrowbackThursday? That’s a great example of what could be a fun theme–every Thursday, post an older memory or “throwback” to a previous product, job, or event. Throwback Thursdays can be an especially effective way to highlight what you’ve done in the past to give followers an idea of your work, but they aren’t the only theme based around a day of the week. Maybe you want to showcase an employee of the week every Monday, or offer a new discount for a specific product every Friday to celebrate the weekend. Whatever day you pick, you’ll know ahead of time what kind of content you have to create for that day.
Suggest discussion points
Not only are comments great for guaging the popluarity of a social media post, but they also offer you a chance to hear directly from customers and have a conversation with them. Try starting a weekly or monthly theme where you pose a question to start a discussion in the comments, and see where that discussion takes you! Just make sure the question is actually one you want to hear the answers to, and make sure you engage in the discussion yourself–a conversation is a two-way street.
Remember: themes are supposed to make your life and the content creation process simpler, not harder. If you find your social media strategy is getting taken over by themes, or you’re struggling to make a post align with your weekly theme, it might be time to try a new theme and retire some older ones.
What other themes can you think of, or what themes have been effective for you on social media in the past? Let us know in the comments!
Wreath Writing & Marketing Services 