Every business owner knows it's important to stay active on social media. But when it comes to Facebook or Instagram, being active includes sharing Stories. And since we know it's hard to brainstorm and put out content all the time, we want to guide and help you.
Check out these 23 ideas for story posts, so you never run out of original content:
23 Ideas to fill up a content calendar with stories
Inspirational quote
Quotes are one of the most common types of content to share on a story. They do really well on social media, as they motivate and encourage people to be the best version of themselves. And you know what inspired people would do? Share your quote content!
The best part is, the internet is full of amazing quotes you can use on social media. All you got to do is conduct short research and make an appealing visual image with what you have found.
Testimonials
Another content type that never gets old for stories is positive testimonials. Sharing good reviews and client recommendations makes a brand look trustworthy and reliable. Of course, your job is to make sure the feedback is relevant and authentic.
Fun fact
People love fun facts! Social media users tend to react and engage with content that educates and shows them something new. Especially if that fact is interesting, odd, or bizarre.
Tips & tricks
Social media is full of life-hack content, and there is a reason for it. People enjoy it when things are easier than usual. Therefore, tips and tricks are considered evergreen content that stimulates users to interact, like, share and comment. Which is exactly what you need!
Poll
This or that? It's no secret polls often attract a lot of attention from users because it's effortless. Choosing an answer takes no more than a second. Afterwards, the audience can see instant results and compare their opinion with one of the masses.
Poll stories on Facebook and Instagram are great ways to keep your fans and followers occupied and interested in your brand. Especially when you address important industry matters and client needs.
Promotion
If you have any exclusive offers or ongoing promotions, sharing them on Facebook and Instagram stories is a must! That way, the proposals get additional exposure and more people will see your promos. The more people you show the offer to, the bigger the chance of them making a worth-it purchase.
Contests and giveaways
Providing incentives to get client engagement is a trick as old as social media. Some of the best ways to utilize content and encourage people to react, comment, send messages, and share, are through online contests or giveaways. The brand can even gain new followers if you boost the post/story.
Event promotion
If your business hosts webinars, seminars, workshops or you have a speaker representative at a talk or conference, stories are a great way to keep your followers up to date.
Promoting events through Facebook and Instagram stories is super effective. That's because it provides additional exposure to people who might be interested in the event. Another good tip is to add a link for registration or broadcast link, so it is easier for the audience to attend or watch.
Ask a question (and answer)
The "Ask a question" story feature is a brilliant tool to get followers to engage with a brand's content. What's even better is the opportunity to start a conversation. You can reply to each answer provided and directly address and acknowledge the views and opinions of your fans.
Video preview
Do you shoot and upload videos for your brand online? If so, sharing a short clip from an upcoming video it's an amazing content idea for growing social media accounts. For the preview, choose a part that discloses enough information to get the users intrigued.
When sharing video snippets be careful not to overshare too much. As well as be cautious not to give too many clues or answers away. After all, the point of sharing video previews on a story is to redirect the audience to the full video source.
Industry articles
Another way to use stories for customer engagement is to share industry news and articles your audience is interested in. Always tag the source! Not only in hopes they will re-share your story with their viewers, but also because that's a way to avoid severe copyright issues.
To encourage clicks and make the story user-friendly, add a link button that leads to the official source. Facebook allows adding buttons to stories, even to businesses with a small following. As for Instagram, in order to get a swipe button option on stories, you either have to run an ad or have 10k followers on the account.
A day in the life of...
Looking for an out-of-the-box or uncommon content idea for social media stories? Try with stories covering "a day in the life of". Present how a staff member or fictional buyer persona gets along with their day. If you get high story engagement and your audience loves this type of content, make it a series!
Behind the scenes
It's no marketing secret that people adore "how it's made" and BTS content. So if you have an opportunity to show how products are made or how your team packs an order, cease it! This is a top-notch content idea that will definitely wow your followers and boosts your numbers.
Infographics
When it comes to visuals and graphic elements, infographics hold the crown. Especially when the covered topic addresses an issue or problem your clients face. What's even better, due to their standard sizing and portrait format, infographics fit really well on stories.
Meme or relatable comics
If your target audience is Millennials and Gen Z, then throwing some quality humour in will not hurt your brand. After all, business is a serious thing but clients need to know you are also relatable.
With the right comic content, you can make people laugh and sympathize with your staff, product, or/and service. That is an opportunity to boost engagement to the roof and vastly increase sales. Do not cover sensitive topics and avoid addressing controversial theories. Make sure you are being respectable and not offending anyone with your meme story.
Special day/holiday story
Any special day or holiday is a viable reason to post on your company stories. For example, cheer your followers up by wishing them happy holidays with themed stories for Christmas, Halloween, Easter, New Year, and so on.
But who says you need to sick to world-known holidays only? Truth is, almost every day is an international day of <something>. Here are a few sites where you can browse through special days for inspiration:
Last but not least, remember to look for special days that are connected with your industry. Otherwise, your company profile will look like a spam account.
Statistics
Statistics can be very entertaining content for stories if presented in the right way. Step one, make sure you are not sharing too much textual content. Step two, choose one or two components to focus on. Step three, concentrate on the graphic concept and present the statistical information in a visually appealing and easy to comprehend way.
Highlight news and updates
Facebook and Instagram stories are the ideal means to make industry and company announcements. Every time you have news to share or new updates on your system, software, products, etc, share it on a story so your audience can stay up to date with your business situation.
Tagged stories of clients
This is a super common method to keep a social media account active at all times. Basically, every time someone tags your business on Facebook or Instagram story - re-share it on your story! Address each shared story individually. Add personal thank you notes to appreciate the feedback and the time your clients spared to give you a shoutout!
"Thank you" story
Every business has milestones. So if there is something more exciting than hitting a milestone or corporate goal, it is sharing success with your fans and supporters. Thanking your customers and followers for making it will present the biz as people-oriented, reliable, and trustworthy.
Blog posts
Another great means to engage followers and lead them to a corporate website is to feature quality blog posts. As long as you present interesting topics people would want to read, you will get tons of organic traffic from social media stories.
In Facebook, you can add a link to the bottom of a story. That makes sharing blog posts on stories even easier because users don't have to go look for the article manually. They simply need to click the button and the link will take them to the right target page.
As for Instagram stories, the link feature is only available to brands with a big following (minimum of 10K people). What you can do, though, is place a "link in bio" caption in the story and add a featured link to the blog post you want the audience to read.
Live broadcast / Webinars
Whether you decide to start a Live Story on Facebook or Instagram or broadcast a full webinar there, chances are people would be curious about what you have to say. If the theme or topic is interesting, they would stay around to watch your live stream.
Another big reason to do it is the push social media platforms give to broadcasting accounts. The top followers get a notification when their favourite brand or person goes live.
However, if you do not feel confident enough to go live and represent a company, then record a video, edit it accordingly and upload it to a video platform like Youtube. Then include small snippet clips from the video to promote it and refer clients to the other platform to watch it.
New post announcement
Create a story every time you upload a new post? Yes! Since we all know newsfeed algorithms do not always play in our favour, it's necessary to promote content in all ways possible. Social media stories are one of those ways.
The best thing is, there is no need to make a separate design for the "new post" story. Simply go to the post you want to showcase, click the Share button and choose Instagram Story or Facebook Story. It will generate a story with a built-in link to the post, so when users click on it, the platform will take them to the post instantly.
We hope this article was helpful!
Skribu Digital is always available if you need further help with your company's social media presence. Our social media services include creating a content calendar and posting plan, design of posts and stories, copywriting and upload of content across social media accounts.
Get in touch for more information.
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