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Top 16 Social Media Marketing Ideas You Need to Evolve
The secret to making your brand shine on social media is understanding what your audience cares about and needs. Once you have cracked that code, creating content should feel like a friendly conversation. Make them laugh, share helpful tips, and show off your brand's unique personality.
With that said, let’s get into the specifics of some of the best social media marketing ideas that can promote your business.
1. Publish social media posts regularly as part of a content series
Posting content regularly can help you establish a steady line of connection with your audience. And when you do it as part of a well-designed content series, it’ll become more like that show you can’t miss out on because you need to know what happens next. Here are a couple of reasons why a content series is your ticket to social media stardom:
- Social media engagement: It's not just about likes and comments; it's about building a loyal audience. A content series hooks your audience and keeps them coming back for more.
- Brand recognition: Imagine your content series becoming so popular that people associate those amazing posts with your brand. That's the sweet spot! A well-crafted series creates a unique identity for your brand. It's your signature style, your voice, and your story.
Related Read: The 5 types of social media content that work best
You, too, can create a content series that makes your audience seek you out and anticipate your future posts.
Need inspiration?
For Mondays, focus on creating motivational posts that inspire. For example, you can post an inspiring caption with eye-catching visuals and hashtags like #mondaymotivation.
Just how fitness influencer @coachlittlejoe did it (as you can see in the image below). He shared his fitness story and discussed how helping others motivates him. This honest and relatable message clearly resonated with audiences, earning his post over 8,500 likes. Also, notice how subtly he promotes his services in the end.
💡 Pro Tip: To stay relevant on social media, post 3–5 times a week. Also, be sure to plan ahead and schedule your social media posts. Using something like Sprinklr’s social media scheduler and publisher tool can make your life a whole lot easier with its smart scheduling feature that allows you to auto-schedule your posts so they’re published at the best, AI-recommended times for greater reach and engagement.
2. Leverage trends that relate to your audience
It helps to ride the social media trend waves. Keep an eye out for all the current trending hashtags and fun events, such as National Boyfriend Day. These are like giant spotlights under which your brand can shine.
Here's how it works: If you run a restaurant, jumping on trends like #thirstythursday or #foodgasm means that, when people search for those hashtags, your mouthwatering posts pop up.
Orlando's Chicken Fire restaurant nailed this strategy with its #foodgasm reel. The video showed a perfectly crispy piece of chicken tender getting dipped in a tangy sauce and then pulled apart to reveal its juicy interior. This kind of shareable content practically screams, "Like and forward me!" The result? Eat Chicken Fire raked in over 102K likes on that reel alone.
💡 Pro Tip: Every industry has its own trending topics. So, don't be afraid to get creative. A quick Google search or even poking around on your favorite social media platform can reveal trends aligned with your business goals. If you want to go a step further in keeping up with current trends, you can make use of Sprinklr’s AI-powered social media management tool. With it, you can:
- Stay in the loop of what's trending across the globe as it happens and analyze those trends based on brand, country, topic and severity
- Perform topic-based listening to tune into thousands of online conversations in real time and find actionable insights about your brand, industry, customers and more
- Uncover customer sentiment (positive, negative or neutral) to better understand how your audience feels
DISCOVER WHAT’S TRENDING RIGHT NOW
3. Spice up your social bio and create your brand tag
Think of your bio as your virtual first impression. It tells people what you’re all about and where to find you, and it’s an opportunity to entice them to join the conversation.
Pourri's Instagram bio is a great example of how to make a splash. Their signature humor shines through, immediately grabbing attention and showcasing their brand's personality.
They also have attached a Linktree page, a handy and classic tool that lets them share multiple links from a single screen. This makes it easy for followers to find everything, from product pages to where they can buy Poo-Pourri in nearby stores.
In addition to this, you can also create your own branded hashtags. This helps you build a community with your fans. Think of it as a virtual hangout spot where everyone who loves your brand can share their experiences and stories.
A great example of this is Nike's legendary #justdoit hashtag. It's become a rallying cry for athletes and fitness enthusiasts worldwide. People share their workout wins and motivational quotes, all under that one hashtag.
It's a fantastic way to build a sense of belonging and see how others are crushing their goals. And if you’re wondering how you can ace it here, check out our dedicated guide on how to use hashtags.
4. Plan a social media contest
Giveaways are a seriously fun way to get people buzzing about your brand on social media. You can keep it super simple with a "like and comment to win" approach or go all out and ask folks to share your posts or tag their friends. The options are pretty much endless.
But the important thing is to make sure your giveaway matches your social media goals. For instance, if you want the world to know about your brand, build the giveaway around that. It could be a simple survey-style giveaway to gauge preferences or you could get creative like Domino's did on National Pizza Day.
To win a year of free pizza, people had to like their post, tag a friend, and share their favorite order. This generated over 10,000 comments, brought insights into customer preferences, and boosted engagement on their Instagram page.
Remember to check the rules for giveaways on your favorite social media platform before you launch. You don't want to run into any snags later.
💡 Pro Tip: Partner with complementary brands to double the prize and expand your reach. Don't just ask for likes and shares. Think photography contests or caption prompts, where your customers tag their friends and engage with your brands.
Explore Further: 7 Effective Social Media Contest Ideas for 2024
5. Team up with influencers
An influencer marketing strategy involves partnering with social media influencers with a large following whose brand values align with your business interests. When these influencers mention your brand or product, it's like getting a shoutout from a trusted friend, driving audience interest. With 63% of consumers trusting influencer messaging more than brand messaging, this strategy should not be ignored.
And get this — it's not just about getting noticed. Influencer marketing can actually improve your ROI. Studies reveal that the ROI on every dollar invested in influencer marketing is $5.78! Talk about bang for your buck.
Look at the Barbie movie's influencer marketing strategy, for instance.
Long before the movie's release, Barbie started making waves on social media with a global social media campaign featuring diverse influencers, including celebrities like Dua Lipa, Patrick Starrr and Issa Rae. The campaign encouraged everyone to post pictures of themselves with a unique "This Barbie is" template.
The trend exploded on a global scale, and the movie's hashtags (#BarbieTheMovie and #BarbieMovie) generated immense buzz, with over 1.5 million posts on Instagram alone.
💡 Pro Tip: Forget juggling spreadsheets and endless tabs! With Sprinklr’s influencer marketing platform, all those important metrics are at your fingertips. It's like having a personal campaign tracker in your pocket. Led by advanced AI, the platform helps you identify the right influencers for your campaign based on factors like interests, industry and even the kind of content they create. What’s more, it also lets you track influencer campaigns across all channels in real time.
Related Read: Influencer Marketing Strategies to Improve Engagement
6. Host an AMA
Want to get real with your audience? An AMA (ask me anything) session is the perfect way. It's a chance to have an open, honest chat about all the topics that pique your audience's curiosity — your expertise, your journey and even those fun behind-the-scenes tidbits.
Ray Dalio, a famous investor and writer, held an AMA session on X and invited his followers to pose questions to him, as you can see here:
This open conversation allowed him to share his knowledge, answer questions directly and connect with his audience genuinely. His AMA got 1.6 million views, proving how popular and impactful such social media events can be.
AMAs help you build trust with your audience by showing them the real you. Plus, they're a low-key way to establish yourself as a thought leader and share industry knowledge without being pushy. And the best part? You get to learn what makes your audience tick.
💡 Pro Tip: You could partner with a domain-facing influencer to co-host your AMA session. This way, you will reach a wider audience. Later, you can turn the responses you receive into content collateral to continue the conversation.
Read More: 9 Tips to Promote Events on Social Media Successfully
7. Upload user-generated content
Imagine seeing an end-user on social media excited about a product they bought. You would find such testimonials way more trustworthy than traditional ads, right? That's the power of user-generated content (UGC). It basically gets your customers involved in creating and sharing content about your brand.
Apple does this well. They encourage their community to share photos clicked on Apple devices using the hashtag #ShotOniPhone and then feature the best ones on social media.
It's not only about highlighting the features of their camera but also about portraying real people enjoying positive experiences with their products. This fosters trust, which is essential for attracting new customers.
Dive Deeper: How to build brand authenticity with user-generated content and employee advocacy
8. Cross-promote your socials
Inform your viewers that you're on other platforms. Occasionally, drop direct lines like "Hey, we're also on TikTok!" or "Psst… We're also on Instagram!"
Alternatively, like Starbucks, you can promote your other accounts more creatively. They posted a video on X featuring their new game, which is similar to Flappy Bird but with a coffee cup and the use of AR. The video included a link to the game on their Instagram page — a clever marketing move. The game was so engaging that anyone who watched the video would want to play.
Learn More: How to Cross-Promote on Social Media
9. Try a social media takeover
Want to reinvent your social media page? Try social media takeover. This is where you hand over control of your account to someone else for a set period (usually a day).
Imagine an influencer or popular account acquiring the keys to your social kingdom. This would be a great way for your brand to reach the influencer's followers and introduce a fresh perspective to your channels.
Take Barnes & Noble, for example. They invited young adult author Stephanie Garber to take over their Instagram Stories for a day to promote her new book "A Curse for True Love."
Stephanie shared behind-the-scenes peeks into her life, book signing opportunities and even chatted with fans. This not only got Stephanie's fans excited about her new book but also equipped Barnes & Noble with engaging content that their book-loving followers enjoyed. Oh, and it’s important to highlight that the takeover gathered over 33,000 likes and 423 comments.
10. Start asking questions
If you want to boost your social media engagement, turn the table and get your audience talking by asking them questions. It's a unique way to open a conversation and show your followers that you genuinely care about their opinions.
Burger King engaged their followers with a fun interactive post. They shared a picture of their menu items, each labeled with a unique letter and number combination.
They then asked their followers, "What's your go-to meal?" And the brand encouraged its audience to answer by combining the corresponding codes.
The response? An explosion of comments, as fans eagerly shared their favorite combinations. This gave Burger King valuable insights into their customers' preferences and also significantly boosted engagement on their X page.
💡 Pro Tip: Don't ignore the answers to your social media posts. Respond quickly and thoughtfully. The more engaged you seem, the more likely folks are to keep the conversation going, and that's how you build a loyal community around your brand. If you want to make your social media interactions easier, you can use a tool like Sprinklr Social to respond to comments across multiple social media platforms from a single place.
11. Leverage memes
Memes are essentially the language of the internet now. If you want to engage with a younger audience, you ought to be considering them seriously.
Reports suggest that 30% of individuals aged between 13 and 35 share memes daily, while 55% send them weekly. If you’re in that age bracket, you would believe this fact readily. So, why not harness the influence of meme-sharing for your marketing initiatives?
Memes can make your brand feel much more relatable. A good meme can make people laugh and get them to like and share it. Basically, it's free advertising!
Look at what McDonald's did:
But don't force it. If your brand is super-serious when it comes to its values, jumping on the meme bandwagon may not be ideal. Though, a funny meme could be a great fit if your brand has a playful vibe.
💡 Pro Tip: Stay meme-savvy. Identify memes that are currently gaining traction and aligning with your branding. Repurpose the same memes with a personal twist to promote your brand. Replace the characters with scenarios related to your industry or change the captions to reflect a common customer problem.
12. Post quality content over quantity
Sharing a lot of social media posts isn't always the best strategy. Who wants to be overwhelmed by a constant stream of uninspiring content? It's better to focus on creating a few high-quality posts people want to see.
The same-old posts can irritate your audience. Worse, they may even get you flagged by social media algorithms.
So, what's the fix? Slow down and put effort into crafting fewer but better posts. Focus on consistent quality rather than high-volume output — that's the key.
💡 Pro Tip: Don’t let your focus on quality make you lose sight of your posting rhythm. In these scenarios, Sprinklr’s social media calendar platform can be a game-changer. With it, you can:
- Streamline your content planning across 6+ social channels with a single, unified calendar view of all your social posts, campaigns and events
- Collaborate with your global teams easily by switching between time zones and sharing your calendar with teammates
- Analyze engagement metrics and your posts’ performance across multiple channels in real time
CREATE YOUR FREE CALENDAR NOW
13. Turn your Instagram feed into a shop
Have you ever scrolled through Instagram, seen a fantastic outfit, and wondered where to buy it? Product tagging solves this issue by adding little tags directly to your photos. When people tap those tags, they'll see the product's details and price. And with another tap, they're on your website and ready to check out!
It's like creating a mini-store right within Instagram feeds. See how brands like Adidas use it:
Their posts are full of product tags, making it super easy for shoppers to find what they love and snag it with a few taps.
💡 Pro Tip: Use long-tail keywords to tag your products. Instead of "dress," say "halter neck midi fit-and-flare solid pink dress for summer." This optimizes your content and increases the likelihood of your product appearing whenever related keywords are used.
Learn More: Social Commerce: What It Is and How to Use It
14. Go live
Okay, so you want to make your social media feel less like a billboard and more like a hangout? Going live is the way to do it. It lets you have real-time conversations with your followers, making your brand more approachable.
You can use it for many purposes. For example, you can answer customers' questions in real-time or give mini-tours of your production units to show how your commodities are made. It adds transparency to your customer interactions.
Plus, it's straightforward. Facebook, Instagram, and all the other big platforms let you go live with just a few clicks.
15. Invite an expert to chat
Invite an expert in your industry to chat on Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter. It's a great way to mix things up and tap into their followership. For example, in an Instagram post, Shopify collaborated with Tiffany Jones, the co-founder and COO of Lyrically Correct Game. They invited her to share her top tips for enhancing the online presence of brands owned by African Americans.
Not only this — at the end of the caption, they also invited their users to chime in with their advice. It wasn't just about sharing the co-founder's domain knowledge. The post also created a space where Shopify's followers could learn from each other and grow their businesses together.
Related Read: 10 Methods for Building Social Media Presence in 2024
16. Post testimonials
People trust people. When someone shares how much they love your products or services, it's free advertising from a real, satisfied customer.
So, when people see your satisfied customers raving about your product, they're most likely to try it. Hence, don't be shy about asking for those testimonials!
Once you have collected a few testimonials, turn them into eye-catching images for your feed. Just like how Sprinklr did it:
Link those images back to a page with all your testimonials and watch those new customers roll in.
Get more social media marketing ideas using Sprinklr
Social media is where you connect with potential customers and build meaningful relationships. But to see results, make your social media page a place where people feel excited to interact with your brand. Share things they care about, stay on top of trends, and apply our tips.
Need a hand juggling all the pieces of your social media marketing? Sprinklr Social has got your back.
With Sprinklr Social, you can:
- Manage 30+ digital channels in one platform and say goodbye to endless tab-switching
- Save time with AI intelligence that helps you generate new social media marketing content ideas.
- Tap into integrated social listening capabilities to uncover actionable audience insights and generate ideas that relate to your audience's needs.
Keen to see all this and more for yourself?
Frequently Asked Questions
There's no one-size-fits-all answer. Your choice of idea depends on your target audience and the kind of content you create. Research what your ideal customers looking for and engage them with right social media marketing ideas.
Consistency is more important than posting a ton of content. Aim to find fresh social media marketing ideas every 3 months for each platform. And experiment to see what works best for your audience.
Very important! Studies show that 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. You can start with short, shareable videos that fit the vibe of each platform. Think fun Reels for Instagram and quick tips on TikTok.
