and the distribution of digital products.
40 social media post ideas when you’re fresh out of inspiration
Be authentic. Post Reels. Target your ideal audience. Sacrifice a goat. Those things may have gotten you noticed a few years ago, but not anymore.
With over 5 billion social media users (that’s nearly two-thirds of the world population), social media has become more crowded than ever. This means you have to be more creative to stand out amongst the competition.
It’s not enough to post regularly, master Reels transitions, join TikTok, or follow what everyone else is doing. To grow this year, brands need to be original, likable, and useful.
We’ve put together 40 creative social media post ideas to help you reach your target audience and build your online presence.
Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.
40 original social media post ideasDiscover 40 social media content ideas that can help you increase your online reach, resonate with your audience, and improve your social media strategy.
Complete with examples and ways to use each idea; start browsing to gather content creation inspiration below.
1. Share educational informationOne of the best ways to use your brand’s social media platforms is to provide educational content for your target audience. Teach them about your industry, tell them how to make the most of your product, or simply offer relevant content and useful information.
Here’s a great example of what this could look like from marketing agency NoGood. The brand has created an educational video talking about why marketing jingles work so well.
Consider what your target audience would like to learn about your business and create content (videos, text post fun facts, infographics, etc.) that can teach them.
Source: NoGood
Why use this idea:
- Provide valuable information for your audience
- Position your brand as a trusted authority in your industry
Short-form videos — i.e., the ones shared on social media channels like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts — are bite-sized, digestible pieces of content that social media users love to consume. And they can be used in a number of different ways.
Some short-form video ideas include:
- Using trending audio to create a video meme
- Creating humorous video content
- Sharing educational information
- Breaking up a long-form video into bite-sized pieces
Check out this humorous short-form video from Duolingo showcasing the Duo mascot, which ensures users extend their streak even while attending a concert.
Source: Duolingo
Why use this idea:
- Reach social media users where they are — watching short-form videos
- Use many of these social media ideas in short-form video form to create a comprehensive video content strategy
Memes and trends provide tons of inspiration for our own social team. “Most of my ideas come from scrolling for hours on different social networks to see what we could parody or if there is a trend we could jump on,” says Trish Riswick, Social Media Team Lead at Hootsuite.
“I typically look at TikTok and LinkedIn for ideas because what you find on those networks can often be adapted for Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and X (Twitter).”
Though, maybe run super spicy stuff through legal compliance first. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Chipotle is well known for its memes, an example of which you can see below. If you’re not sure where to start, find a trending meme that you see multiple brands jumping on and recreate it in a way that works for your brand.
Source: Chipotle
Why use this idea:
- Gain new followers by cashing in on new, trending memes
- Employ humor that resonates with your online audience
What’s the best way to sell your products or services on social media? Showing, not telling.
Share a testimonial or transformation story from a customer. It goes much further to gain trust than talking about yourself.
This can be as easy as whipping up a testimonial quote graphic or filming a short video interviewing your customer. Edit it into multiple versions and re-share them across TikTok, Reels, Instagram Stories, YouTube videos, and more.
Pro tip: Keep social media videos under 60 seconds for best results.
Or, you can take a page out of Slack’s book. The brand reposted a customer testimonial from a real user on LinkedIn, which is a great way to showcase a happy customer.
Source: Slack
Why use this idea:
- Highlighting happy customers is a great selling point
- Showcasing different use cases can appeal to potential customers
Motivational quotes related to your industry are an easy and reliable content idea for your social media platforms.
Take this example from planner brand The Day Designer. Relate the quote back to your business, product, or service to help it resonate with your audience.
Source: Day Designer
Why use this idea:
- Fill the gaps in your content calendar with simple motivation
- Create shareable graphics your audience will love
An infographic is a graphic that shares information. Traditional infographics are big, long designs that share a lot of information at once. But social media is the perfect place for mini infographics that share a single bit of information.
You can then link back to a blog post, report, or webpage that provides more detail. Or you can create a thread of mini infographics that all lend themselves to a bigger picture.
Here’s a great example of what this can look like from UserEvidence. The customer evidence platform put together a flowchart showcasing the buyer’s journey and shared it on LinkedIn to attract its target audience.
Source: UserEvidence
Why use this idea:
- Grab attention with beautifully designed educational graphics
- Share important information in a bite-sized, digestible way
Challenges are a fun way to boost engagement, potentially get some juicy UGC (user-generated content), and subtly promote yourself at the same time.
Some businesses have more obvious challenge ideas than others. For example, the exercise tracking app Strava hosts annual running challenges for Pride.
See if you can create your own challenge like Strava — or find a challenge your business can participate in. By joining in on an already-popular challenge, you can use their hashtag and increase reach for your content.
Take a look at how Canva repurposed the 333 outfit challenge (a fashion project that challenges participants to create outfits using limited pieces) by seeing how many designs they could create with three images, three colors, and three fonts.
Source: Canva
Why use this idea:
- Increase your reach by jumping on a popular hashtag
- Invite audience members to participate, giving you UGC to share
- Educate or inspire your audience through challenges
Testimonials, success stories, before and afters, yada yada — same-ish, different words for one thing: Demonstrating your capabilities.
B2B buyers are looking for a result, not the hope of a result.
By how much % did your customer’s email open rate increase after using your A/B testing software? Exactly how much money did your solution save your customer?
Pull some key stats out of an existing case study and make a few graphics to post on social media, or edit them into a video for a TikTok or Reel (depending which social media platforms you’re on).
Here’s a video case study example (that also links to a text version on Square’s website) that showcases just how powerful these can be:
Source: Square
Why use this idea:
- Showcase how other users have seen success with your product/service
- Build trust by proving your worth
- Help potential customers understand how your product/service can solve their pain point
Posting a poll on social media gets your audience involved, making them feel heard and valued. Most social media platforms also have built-in polling capabilities, making this a fun and interactive way to engage your audience.
Plus, you get to learn more about what your followers think and like, which can help you create better content in the future.
Here’s an example of a LinkedIn poll posted by Durable to gather insight on how the audience of business owners will be spending the holidays. While this is more of a fun question, you can also use polls to help you get ideas for new features and gather feedback from customers.
Source: Durable
Why use this idea:
- Create interactive social media content for your audience
- Gather insights and feedback directly from your customers
“Get ready with me” videos have grown in popularity. They’re typically a video of a creator telling a story while they put on makeup to “get ready” for an event, or even just to start their day.
Hiring a creator to film one of these can be an engaging way to tell a story to your audience, or, in the case of this Fenty Beauty, showcase how your products can be used in such instances.
Source: Fenty Beauty
Why use this idea:
- Captivate your audience while you tell a story
- Sell your products (perfect for beauty brands) by showcasing them in action
Original research includes things like reports, survey results, market research, and the like. Gathering information like this can help your brand stand out while also providing both your audience and others in your industry with unique and recent data.
If you put together studies like these, sharing them on social media is a great idea. Take this Zendesk report, the company shared it with a link so interested people can download it in exchange for an email address — a smart way to generate leads.
Source: Zendesk
Why use this idea:
- Create shareable content that can help you reach a wider audience
- Generate leads by sharing email-gated links to your research
Social media contests or giveaways are always a good idea because people love free stuff.
Give away a gift card to your business or something you sell. You want to make sure you’re giving away a product that’s only going to appeal to your target audience. Cash giveaways will entice anyone to enter — but you want to focus on catering your giveaway to your specific audience.
For entries, you can do anything from the super-simple “like, follow, and comment” format, to more involved contests like asking your followers to share a photo, tag a friend, or fill out a survey.
A good rule of thumb is to keep the effort of entering the contest in line with the prize value. Smaller value prize = less effort to enter, higher value prize = more effort.
Here’s an example of a giveaway from Penguin Random House, a book publisher giving away some banned books to online followers.
Source: Penguin Random House
Why use this idea:
- Rapidly grow your follower counts and generate potential leads
- Give back to your audience
- Gather content assets you can use for future campaigns (for photo or video submission contests)
Partnerships with another brand — either in your space or in a related industry — is a great way to expand your audience and connect with new potential fans.
In the example below, Sipland partnered with a couple of brands to create this recipe video. One of those brands is an ingredient in this non-alcoholic drink recipe and the other features as the glass it’s poured into.
This is the perfect example of complementary brands targeting similar audiences together without worrying about competing.
Source: Sipland
Why use this idea:
- Reach new audiences from complementary brands
- Showcase how different products can be used together as a cross-promotion
Going live is a great way to encourage audience interaction. Live video streaming is authentic, engaging, and creates an unbeatable sense of urgency.
You can go live on nearly any social media platform, from Facebook and Instagram to TikTok and LinkedIn. Live streaming ideas include:
- Announcing a new product release
- Hosting a live shopping event
- Sharing an exciting collaboration
- Giving an educational talk
- Providing a product tutorial
- Holding an AMA (more on this later)
- Creating a sales pitch
Here’s an example of an educational live stream that BambooHR held on LinkedIn, the perfect platform for a B2B software like theirs:
Source: BambooHR
Why use this idea:
- Interact with your audience in real-time
- Create a unique type of social media content
Want to build loyalty on social media? Exclusive deals are a great way to make sure you’re making the most of your online audience. Special deals just for your followers also act as a low-stakes reward for your community.
Here’s a great example of what this can look like from Plant Proper. The house plant retailer shares a discount code on its Instagram for a limited-time offer, enticing followers to take advantage of it — and quickly.
Source: Plant Proper
Why use this idea:
- Jumpstart sales through your social media
- Track actual ROI through unique discount codes
- Give back to your online followers
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Free 30-Day Trial 16. Spotlight your employeesBesides selling, recruiting top talent is also a common goal in B2B social media marketing plans. Sharing open jobs is part of that, but so is sharing why someone should consider you in the first place.
By spotlighting your employees, showcasing your company culture, and sharing your overall appreciation for your team, you can position your company as a great place to work.
Plus, putting faces behind the brand can help your customers feel more connected to your business. Win-win, am I right?
Here’s a great example of what this could look like from Manychat. The company shared a document that spotlights its staff product designer and some of the amazing work he’s done.
Source: Manychat
Why use this idea:
- Keep you top of mind when a competitor’s star employee is looking for a change
- Help advance important benefits and protections for employees across your sector or country
- Facilitate better connections between your team and your customers
Joining in on a social media holiday lets you tap into trending topics and showcase your brand’s fun side, making your posts more relatable.
Holidays are a great way to engage with your audience in a lighthearted way, boosting your visibility and attracting new followers — and there are tons of holidays every month.
Psst: We made a handy calendar for you to keep up with all of them.
Check out how Dunkin’ is celebrating National Coffee Day on Instagram Stories. This is a perfect social media holiday for the donut and coffee shop to take part in.
Find holidays that make sense for your brand and offer similar discounts or freebies to have fun with your audience.
Source: Dunkin
Why use this idea:
- Get fun and engaging content ideas easily
- Create limited-time offers to go with your social media holidays
UGC, or “user-generated content,” isn’t new, but it’s definitely time to hop on board if you haven’t already. Like influencer marketing, UGC content is created by people instead of the brand, but — traditionally — UGC content comes from unpaid, real customers.
Why bother? 86% of consumers are more likely to trust a brand that shares UGC compared to 12% that are likely to purchase a product shared by an influencer. Authenticity sells.
To get more UGC, create a hashtag for your customers to use and feature their photos or videos in your feed. You can include that hashtag in your social media bio so users know they have a chance of being featured.
Some brands also turn to UGC creators — content creators who aren’t influencers but instead get paid to create content for brands to share on their pages.
Here’s an example of what an authentic piece of UGC looks like from stroller brand Mockingbird. They shared an image from one of their customers and tagged the customer within the caption to showcase that it’s from a real customer and not their product photography.
Source: Mockingbird
Why use this idea:
- UGC is a great form of social proof
- Promote your products without seeming too sales-y
- Gather diverse assets to repost across your social media accounts or use in other content
How-tos hook people right away with quick visuals and a specific end result. If you sell a product, show your audience how to use it — either the “regular way” or through a more creative or unique method.
Service providers, share your process or a step-by-step process to achieve a quick win, like your best sales email script or a software tutorial.
Here’s an example of a quick how-to video from baby wrap company Solly Baby. The company has obviously created tons of tutorials around how to use the wrap itself. Still, it has also put together additional tutorials like the one below showcasing different ways to store the wrap.
Source: Solly Baby
By creating multiple types of how-to videos, Solly Baby is making their product more accessible and easier to use, which in turn makes it more desirable.
Why use this idea:
- Make your product/service more accessible
- Showcase unique ways to use your product/service
- Help customers make the most out of their purchase/subscription
One simple way to engage your audience is by asking them questions. While you can easily do this in the form of a simple text post (like you’ll see in our example) on platforms like LinkedIn and X (Twitter), you can also create a graphic for more visual platforms to facilitate audience interaction.
Take a look at how Grammarly used this tactic on its LinkedIn to get an idea of how to use this idea yourself. You can do something as simple as Grammarly or come up with more creative questions that still relate back to your company or product/service.
Source: Grammarly
Why use this idea:
- Increase audience engagement on your social media platforms
- Get feedback directly from your followers/customers
Do you support a charity or global mission? Share it on social media! Maybe you’re running a fundraiser for a certain cause or you’re working to hit net zero carbon emissions like Tentree below.
Sharing this on social media can generate awareness while helping people who support that cause become more likely to work with your business.
Source: Tentree
Why use this idea:
- Give back to a charity or support a cause that means a lot to your business
- Connect with customers who resonate with the same cause
You probably create a lot of content across your sales, content marketing, and possibly even learning and development teams. But that content doesn’t have to have a one-and-done life span.
Repurposing it across different platforms and in different formats to give it even more life.
Take a look at this example from Ahrefs. The SEO tool’s marketing team took a blog post and broke the main parts of it down into a thread on Twitter, with the last post in the thread linking to the original blog post.
This is a great way to put your content to work for your brand.
Source: Ahrefs
Why use this idea:
- Save time by using the same piece of content in multiple formats
- Help your content reach a wider audience
AMA stands for “Ask Me Anything,” and is used as a session where someone from your company answers questions that your customers have asked.
There are a couple of different ways to host this on social media:
- Collect questions ahead of time and record video responses or write out posts on a platform like X/Twitter
- Use the question box on Instagram Stories to collect questions, then record videos or write out responses using the editing tools in your Stories
- Host a live broadcast where you can collect and answer questions in real-time
Whether you plan to collect questions ahead of time or simply want to increase the participation in a live AMA, it’s a good idea to promote it in advance, like we see SEO tool Clearscope’s founder doing below.
Source: Bernard Huang
Why use this idea:
- Interact directly with your audience
- Provide answers to real questions your audience has
Let your audience in on what goes on behind the scenes. For example, showcasing how your products get made, what product packaging looks like, a sneak peek of new product ideas, and more.
Here’s how soap and candle company Sparta Candle Co’s products gets made.
Source: Sparta Candle Co
Why use this idea:
- Let your audience in on a little secret of what goes on behind the scenes
- Make your company and its products feel more accessible
Platforms like X (Twitter) and LinkedIn support long-form text posts. On LinkedIn, you can create a post that’s up to 3,000 characters long. Many brands, like Iconosquare in the example below, take advantage of this to share in-depth tips in a single post.
While Twitter only allows up to 280 characters in a single post (more for premium subscribers), it’s common to create threads of interlinked posts to create long-form content.
Even Instagram allows up to 2,200 characters in its captions, allowing users to create long-form captions to accompany their videos or images.
Source: Iconosquare
Why use this idea:
- Go in-depth on a topic in a social media post
- Create more valuable content for your audience
An image carousel is a post that shares multiple images in one. Instagram is a popular platform for this, but you can do the same on Facebook and LinkedIn with up to 10-20 images in a single post. Twitter posts support up to four images in a single post, too.
Take a look at how plant retailer The Sill used an image carousel post to share different images of a new product it’s offering.
Source: The Sill
Why use this idea:
- There are a number of creative ways to use image carousels
- Showcase different angles of a product in a single post
Naturally, showcasing your products/services should be a major part of your marketing strategy. Especially if you run an ecommerce store, building out a social media shop on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok can help you make sales directly from your profile.
Take a look at how comforter brand Buffy tags its products in its Instagram posts, showcasing how they can be used in real life while also making it easy for interested buyers to make a purchase.
Source: Buffy
Why use this idea:
- Increase your customer base
- Make it easy for shoppers to make a purchase
Have a big milestone come up? Five years in business? First million products sold? 10 million users? Share that milestone with your audience to celebrate!
See how Visme shared that its graphic design platform reached 30 million users.
Source: Visme
Why use this idea:
- Celebrate with your audience
- Use as a form of social proof, showcasing that others use your products/services
Have seasonal products to promote? Do so by creating unique, seasonal content. Here’s a great example of what this could look like from Starbucks promoting its new fall drinks.
Source: Starbucks
Why use this idea:
- Create timely content that will relate to your audience
- Promote seasonal products to increase sales
Many social media users are on the platforms to share big life updates. You can do the same thing for your company. For example, sharing anniversaries, awards, and other recognitions your company has earned.
Take a look at how Bumble shared how a campaign was recognized with gold and silver awards by Event Marketer.
Source: Bumble
Why use this idea:
- Celebrate your company’s big wins
- Showcase why people should trust and work with your company
We often picture influencers working mainly with huge brands, but 2024 is the year small businesses take over. Our Social Trends report found only 28% of small businesses currently work with creators, whereas 42% of businesses with over 1,000 employees do.
Adding influencer marketing to your strategy will help you stand out from your peers and deliver cost-effective campaigns.
You don’t need a big announcement to start partnering with creators. Research shows influencer campaigns have up to 30.5% higher ROI when they’re not for new product launches.
You also don’t need to dish out a million dollars to hire an influencer. Micro and nano-influencers are a much more budget-friendly option — and can actually be more effective than very big creators in getting their audiences to take action (e.g. click through to your website or buy a product).
Skylight Calendar partnered with micro-influencer Erica Yettew (with just over 25K followers) to create a video about setting up her new digital calendar. It’s a great way to introduce their product to her audience while also showcasing how useful it is.
Source: Skylight Frame
Why use this idea:
- Reach a new audience of people who trust the influencer that’s introducing you
- Gather high-quality photos or videos you can use in future campaigns
Social media is the perfect place to promote upcoming events, whether online or in person. On Facebook and LinkedIn, you can even create event pages to help share more information about your upcoming event.
Either that or create a landing page on your website, just as Zapier did below, to collect registrations for your event.
Source: Zapier
Why use this idea:
- Increase awareness around your events
- Boost attendance by putting your event in front of even more people
Give your brand some personality! This is a great way to use social media — by letting your brand’s hair down and having some fun with it.
Here’s an example of what this can look like from MoonPie — an account that loves to hate on the sun and tout the moon (for obvious reasons).
Consider how you can inject some humor into your social media content.
Source: MoonPie
Why use this idea:
- Have fun with your audience
- Make your content more likely to go viral
Whether you’re retweeting, or reposting, sharing other user’s posts can be a great way to keep your feed filled with unique voices and perspectives.
Check out how Notion reposted an interview a user shared with its founder. Alternatively, many platforms will also allow you to add your own thoughts along with your repost.
Source: Notion
Why use this idea:
- Share any mentions of your brand so your followers can easily find them
- Interact with people mentioning your brand or your industry
- Share unique perspectives with your audience
You’re creating blog content — why not share it? This is a simple social media post idea, but a powerful one that can easily lead to more website traffic.
Take a look at this simple example from our Twitter account to see just how easy this option can be.
Why use this idea:
- Increase website traffic by sharing blog content across social media
- Fill gaps in your content calendar with this simple post idea
We talked about short-form videos, but what about long-form videos?
Whether you simply link to a YouTube video or upload a video to your platform directly (perfect for Facebook and LinkedIn), sharing long-form video content helps educate your audience on a topic more in-depth than other types of content can.
Here’s an example from Goldcast — the brand even includes just how much time it’ll take to watch the video as a courtesy to its followers in their caption.
Source: Goldcast
Why use this idea:
- Cross-promote your YouTube videos on your other social media platforms
- Upload long-from videos natively to educate your audience on an in-depth topic
This idea is platform-specific but is still a winner.
LinkedIn allows users to upload PDF files that appear as navigable document carousels within a post. This is a unique post idea for sharing educational information with your followers.
Here’s an example from AskNicely: the brand shared a 10-page document explaining its tip about empowering your team.
Source: AskNicely
Why use this idea:
- Take advantage of a unique content format
- Share detailed information from a document directly to your social media
Do you have an email list? If so, consider promoting it via your social media. You can simply share a link to your email signup list or do one of the following:
- Share what’s going to be in an upcoming newsletter to entice new subscribers (like Carry did in our example below)
- Share a lead magnet like an e-book or cheat sheet that requires an email to download
Source: Carry
Why use this idea:
- Generate more leads for your business
- Provide value in exchange for an email address
This is a great idea for SaaS companies — share your new features on social media, especially if they’re major updates.
This can let potential customers know if you’ve released something they’re looking for while also keeping existing users informed so they can try out new features.
Here’s a great example of what this could look like from newsletter platform Flodesk.
Source: Flodesk
Why use this idea:
- Appeal to potential customers by sharing features they might be looking for
- Let existing customers know about new features they can try
Sharing industry news on social media shows you’re on top of the latest information, making you a go-to source for your followers. These types of posts help build trust with your followers, showing that you care about keeping them in the loop.
Plus, exciting news can encourage more conversations and interactions, which will boost your engagement rate (and your reach!).
Here’s a great example of how you can do this from Parentaly. The parenting brand has compiled a number of articles surrounding recent news regarding parental leave and shared them all within a single LinkedIn article to keep their audience in the know.
Source: Parentaly
Why use this idea:
- Show your audience that your finger is always on the pulse of your industry
- Be a valuable source of knowledge and information for your audience
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