22 Types Of Social Media Content That Get Engagement
Running out of ideas for what to post on social media? You’re not alone.
Staying up to date with content creation and regular publishing on social media channels can be extremely difficult. However, it’s important to keep your profiles populated with engaging content that piques the interest of your followers.
But don’t worry, if you’re in need of some fresh inspiration, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, you’ll find 22 different social media content ideas that are great for boosting engagement and growing your following.
1. Stories
Stories are an integral part of social media these days. You can post stories on Instagram, and Facebook. They last for 24 hours and are great for sharing impromptu content and information with your followers.
The great thing about stories is that anything goes when it comes to content. You can share other users’ content to your story, jump on to share a video of yourself, or share pictures, text updates, and more.
Using the story function is a great way to stay active on Facebook and Twitter, and they’re great for driving engagement. Some creators also use stories to promote their newest social media posts in order to increase engagement.
Here’s an example:
2. Memes
Memes are a great way to add a little bit of humor to your social media feeds. They’re also extremely popular with social media users, so they can help to make your profiles and content more relatable to potential followers.
Whether you’re running social media profiles for your business, or you’re an independent creator, memes can be adapted to suit your target audience. Some companies also use memes as part of their social media advertising campaigns.
The best way to utilize memes is to find out which meme formats are trending, and adapt them to make them applicable to your own following.
For example, the senior operations manager for NextBike adapted this meme format to suit the businesses audience, and posted it on LinkedIn:
3. GIFs
GIF stands for graphic interchange format, and it’s a type of image that is not static. Essentially, it’s like a super short video clip. Like memes, GIFs are very popular on social media, and they’re a fun way to keep your followers engaged and entertained.
GIFs are very versatile, and they can be adapted to fit any type of social media profile or brand. You can either repost gifs that you’ve found online or create your own GIFs using an online GIF maker. GIFs can be posted on any social media platform, from Instagram to LinkedIn, but they’re also very popular on Twitter.
Here’s an example of a GIF posted on Twitter:
4. Quotes
Quotes are an extremely simple content option, as you can use other people’s words and the posts take just a few minutes to create.
Another great thing about quote posts is that they are good for encouraging engagement, as you can ask your followers what they think about the quote, and inspire discussion in the comments, just like user Imadeaplaylistforyou has done here:
The best way to post quotes is to use a tool like Canva to create an image featuring the quote to post to your feed.
You can create your own quotes, or you can quote people that are thought leaders in your industry or even famous figures from throughout history.
5. Affirmations
Another popular social media content type is affirmations. Some social media sites have a reputation for creating a toxic environment for users, so many people are now keen to change that. That’s where affirmations come in. Affirmations are affirming quotes or sayings that can make people feel happier, more confident, and calmer.
Daily affirmation posts are extremely popular on social media sites like Pinterest, and Instagram and they’re a great way to create a good social media reputation and give you a daily post idea.
Any brand can post affirmations, but they are more suited to individual influencers and creators that are looking to build a very personal social media image.
Here’s an example of an affirmations post from Personal coach Monica Marie Jones on Instagram:
6. Promotional posts
For many people, the main purpose of social media is to promote products or services. This is a great way to populate your feed and drive engagement. You have tons of options when it comes to creating promotional posts.
Some businesses will post pictures of their new products to Instagram, and some will even post promotional videos of users reviewing their products on TikTok, YouTube, and more.
Here’s a great example of product promotion on Instagram from the computer accessories brand Azio:
This post shows their product in use to draw the attention of their followers, and they make full use of the caption section to provide a promo code for customers. Promotional posts are a great content option.
However, it’s important to vary your posts and ensure that not everything is ads and promotions, as this can be seen as spammy and impersonal by social media users.
7. Contests and giveaways
Another fun and exciting way to drive engagement on your social media channels is to run a contest or a giveaway.
You can give away a free product, or you can even give away cash, discount codes, and more. If you really want to boost engagement and grow your following, then it’s important to add some entry requirements for users to be entered into the contest.
For example, you can ask users to:
- Tag a friend
- Share the contest to their story
- Save a post
- Like and comment
- Follow
Here’s an example of an Instagram giveaway from Tweed Mill:
If you’re not sure about how to host your contest or giveaway, you can use a contest app like SweepWidget to create and manage it.
8. Polls
A great way to get people talking, and get your followers engaging with your social media is to use polls to find out what people think about different topics.
Apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook all have poll features, which makes it extremely easy to set up a poll for your followers. You can poll them about their favorite products or services, or you can run polls about important discussion topics related to your niche.
You can also ask them about what sort of content they enjoy most, in order to get ideas for your strategy, just as Instagram user Cancer Destruction Club has done here:
What’s great about polls is that they’re really easy to make, and they also encourage your followers to interact with your content, which is great for increasing social media reach.
9. Q and A’s
If you want to increase engagement and get to know your followers, then Q and A content is a great way to do it. Q and A’s allow your followers to ask you questions about yourself, your product, or your services.
One of the easiest ways to host Q and A sessions is by using your Stories on Instagram. You can use the ‘Ask me a question’ sticker, and you’ll receive responses directly to your inbox. Here’s what it looks like:
You can also host Q and A sessions via video.
If you ask your social media followers for questions ahead of time, you can record your answers, and post them as a video on Facebook or Instagram, or YouTube.
You may also want to host live Q and A sessions, where followers can use the comments section to ask you questions.
10. Short video content
Since the rise of TikTok in 2020, most social media platforms have introduced some sort of feature to support short-form video content. Instagram and Facebook have Reels, and YouTube now also has Shorts.
Short-form video content is extremely popular and very engaging, so it’s worth incorporating it into your social media strategy if you can.
You can try using trending sounds and effects to increase the reach of your short-form videos, and you can also post the same short-form clips to different platforms to maximize exposure.
Here’s an example of a YouTube short posted by online baker and cake maker Side Serf Cake Studio:
11. Live streams
Going live on social media is a great way to increase engagement and reach new followers. Although it can be quite daunting, it’s a fun way to build bonds with your audience and even earn some extra cash.
When streaming live, platforms like Instagram and YouTube will allow you to receive donations, which is great if you’re looking for a way to monetize your social media following.
Live streams are also good options if you’re short of content ideas. You can jump on a live stream and just chat with your followers, even if you don’t have any specific discussion topics in mind.
One popular livestream format is AMA (ask me anything), where viewers can ask personal questions about you, your life, or your business.
Here’s an example:
12. News stories
If you’re not sure what to post and you want an easy and quick post idea that will encourage engagement, you might want to consider sharing news stories that are related to your niche.
This content type is most popular on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn, and it’s a great way to get your followers talking, and engaging with your content.
What’s great about news stories is that you don’t have to do much to prepare the post. You can just share them directly from your favorite news sites, and add a caption that encourages discussion.
Here’s a great example of this from LinkedIn:
As you can see, the user has linked the article and provided their own take on the topic, which inspires discussion and debate in the comments.
13. Influencer collaborations
One of the best ways to increase reach and engagement on social media is to team up and collaborate with other influencers in your niche.
Influencer collaborations are like endorsements for your brand or social profiles, and they can help you reach new audiences that have already shown an interest in your niche.
Some platforms like Instagram, have features that allow you to easily collaborate with other users so that you can both have access and control over collaboration posts.
Here’s an example of a post that uses the collaboration tool:
If you want to make the most of influencer collabs, it’s important to choose the right influencers to work with. You can use tools like Awario to find the top influencers in your niche.
14. Infographics
Most social media platforms focus heavily on visual content, so if you have a lot of information to get across to your followers, it’s a good idea to use an infographic.
Infographics make information easier to digest for readers, and putting the information in a graphic format makes it easy to repurpose as a social media post.
Infographics are particularly useful if your social media profiles focus on science or marketing. They are also really versatile so you can repurpose them easily and post them on most major social media sites, from Twitter to LinkedIn and Reddit.
Here’s an example of a social media infographic posted by Dr. Kirk Borne on Twitter:
15. Testimonials
Another good way to populate your social media profiles is to post testimonials from your customers.
If you’ve recently received some good reviews or worked with a high-profile client, then it’s a good idea to share the testimonials with your followers.
Not only will it send the right social signals to your existing following, but it will provide social proof of your brand’s reputation to new customers and followers that find your social media pages.
If you want your testimonials to really stand out, it’s a good idea to turn them into a graphic so you can post them as a photo.
Here’s an example of this from entrepreneur Cindy Ertman on Instagram:
16. Educational posts
Social media is a great place to share information and educate your followers about issues relating to your niche, or information relating to your products and services.
If you’re stuck for ideas on what to post then try sharing some knowledge or facts.
Many people start educational posts with the phrase “Did you know…” to catch the attention of readers.
Educational posts are also great for increasing engagement, as people often ask follow-up questions or give their own take on a subject in the comments section.
Here’s an example of an educational post on LinkedIn from user Rebecca Pay:
17. BTS (behind the scenes) content
Social media users love to see what’s going on behind the scenes of a business, from how products are made, to what your offices look like.
Therefore, creating behind-the-scenes content is a great way to encourage engagement.
One of the most popular forms of behind-the-scenes content is order packing. Business owners film themselves packing specific orders and post it to Instagram reels of TikTok for the customer to see. This format tends to encourage users to comment, particularly if it is their order being packed.
Here’s an example:
Other BTS content types include office tours or a day in the life of a staff member.
18. Blog post promotions
If you run a blog, then it’s always a great idea to promote your blog posts on social media.
Not only does it mean that you have a simple way to regularly populate your social media profiles, but it can also help you to get some extra views and initial traction on your blog posts.
You can promote your new posts, or promote some older posts that have performed well, to give them an extra boost. You may also want to pin your best blog posts to your social media profile so that new visitors see them right away.
For example, Blogging Wizard promotes their posts on social platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to keep their followers in the loop about our newest posts.
Here’s an example:
As you can see, we always include a snippet of information about the blog posts that encourages the reader to click through and read the full posts.
19. User-generated content
If you want to save some time creating your own content, then you can repost some user-generated content in order to drive engagement on your social media channels. User-generated content is content that’s been posted by your followers.
This can be anything from written reviews of a product to users posting videos trying your products or to your content.
Resharing user-generated content is a great way to build bonds with your followers and provide social proof of your brand to new followers.
If you want your users to generate content for you, you can even incentivize them to do so by running hashtag campaigns or competitions.
Here’s an example of a UGC campaign that Coke launched a few years back that encouraged users to share pictures of their coke bottles:
20. Team spotlights
Team spotlights are a great way to increase engagement on your social media content and allow your followers to get to know more about your business and team.
With team spotlights, you choose a member of your team and introduce them to your social media following by posting about them.
You can provide information about how long they’ve been working at the company, where they went to college, and what their favorite things are.
It’s also good to celebrate the team members’ achievements and contributions to the company.
Some companies will post team member spotlight posts when a new member joins the team, but it’s also a good idea to spotlight seasoned members of your team from time to time too.
Here’s an example of a team spotlight post from media company Rossman media on Instagram:
21. Webinars
If you’ve recently hosted a webinar, then you have a ton of content that can be repurposed for social media. People love to watch video content on social media, but posting a full webinar may be a little much for most social media platforms.
However, you can edit your webinar content to make it suitable for social media, but splitting it up into shorter clips.
Try to create clips of different segments of your webinar that deal with different topics, then post them to social media along with a caption that goes into some detail about what the clip is about.
You can also promote your webinars on social media, like this company has done:
Not only is this a great way to create valuable social media content, but it can also be a good promotional tool too. If your followers find the webinar clips informative and engaging, then they may be keen to sign up for any future webinar events that you’re holding.
Note: Want to run your own webinar but not sure how? You’ll need the right platform to help you. Check out our roundup of the best webinar software to get started.
22. Announcements
For most people, social media is the first place they go when they want to know up-to-date information about their favorite businesses and brands.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to share important announcements about your business on your social profiles, as well as on your website.
Announcement posts are a great way to increase engagement, as your followers may congratulate you on your achievements, or ask questions about the announcement and how it affects them.
Here’s an example of an announcement post from the School of AI Algiers on Instagram:
As you can see, they created an eye-catching graphic that detailed the main point of the announcement and then went into some further detail in their caption.
Another good idea when posting announcements is to use the loudspeaker (📢) emoji to catch people’s eyes as they are scrolling through their feeds.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it – 22 unique types of social media content to include in your social media marketing strategy this year.
If you want to learn more about creating content and reaching your social media goals, be sure to check out some of our posts on social media scheduling tools and social media statistics & trends.
