35 Exciting Post Ideas For Your Small Businesses

Coming up with post ideas for your blog and social media accounts can be tough.

Week after week, you need to come up with something fresh and exciting, however, it seems like everything has been done.

I’ve been there; staring at a blank Word page, or hovering over the Tweet button and wondering what to say.

That is why I have come up with a list of ideas that you can look at for inspiration during these stressful periods, so that you will never be unsure of what to write.

This monster post is divided into 2 main sections:

1. 13 Ideas for your social media posts, and
2. 22 ideas for your blog posts

These ideas are sure to generate the traffic that you have been hoping for, in addition to increasing the likes, comments, shares, and clicks that your content receives.

So if you would love to give the finger to the rut that you are perpetually stuck in, read on for some fantastic post ideas that will reinvigorate the way you communicate with your audience.

Enjoy!!

SOCIAL MEDIA

1. Pose a problem and ask your followers for a response
One thing that you should know is that everyone has an opinion, and when you give them a chance they will spell it out for you. Use this to your advantage by posing a question on social media, and asking your fans/followers to leave a response.

By generating conversation you get to draw your audience into your topic, and you might inadvertently solve a problem that one of your fans/followers has been struggling with. This is how you gain a strong following.

Some questions you can ask include:
– What do you think about (insert topic)?
– What advice would you give to a small business owner facing (insert topic)?
– Which product or service best meets your (insert topic) needs?

2. Fan challenge
Fan challenges are a fun way of getting your fans, followers, and audience to work towards a particular goal. While chances are that your challenge will not go viral like the ice bucket challenge, you can manage to create a huge spike in your daily visitors.
But Davina, how is this possible?

Since you asked so nicely, here are some interesting ideas for you:
– If you are a fitness blog, challenge your fans to drop a certain amount of weight in a defined time period. Then post daily videos or blog posts that revolve around the best exercises to lose weight fast.
– If you are a social media marketing blog, challenge your followers to gain 500 Facebook fans within the week. Then go ahead and give tips that your readers can implement in order to successfully complete the challenge.

Catch my drift?

3. Hold a contest/promotion/special offers
Every single person I know loves a good contest, and I am yet to meet someone who is able to resist a good offer. With that in mind, holding a contest, promotion or special offer for your fans and followers is a great way to gain shares, and most importantly build your email list.

A great idea is for you to negotiate a discount on an important product/tool in your niche, and then offer this discount exclusively to your followers and fans via a social media contest/promotion.

If you are wary about holding a contest or promotion, take advantage of contest apps such as Heyo, Woobox, TabSite, and ShortStack which run your contest for you and grab emails as well.

While you can easily run contests on your Facebook fan page, G+ does not allow you to run contests and promotion.

Internet marketing blogger Matthew Woodward has a page full of discounts and promotions for his subscribers.

4. Run a poll

Polls are a great way of generating conversation around a particular subject, and they also allow you to gain valuable input from your audience. Contrary to Q&A, polls help you control the range of answers that you can receive, which is great when presenting data.

It is easy to create polls on G+ (there’s an option below the ‘Share what’s new’ box), and Facebook uses an app to help you customize your polls.

Some poll ideas include:
– What is your biggest challenge as a small business owner?
– What marketing strategy works best for you when it comes to (insert topic)?
– What products/services would you like us to offer?

Additionally, when you get the results of your poll you can compile it into a separate post, or you can create a report which your audience can download. What is the cost of this report? Only an email address, of course 🙂

5. Share an inspirational message
The news today is full of tragedy after tragedy, and hate message after hate message. Stand out as a beacon of hope and light by posting inspirational images and quotes that will uplift your audience.

You can also use humor as a way of putting a smile on someone’s face, and this will also show the more human side to your brand. Inspirational and humorous posts are also easily shareable, and who doesn’t like shares?

6. Fan generated content
It is always great to give back to the fans and followers who have been loyally reading, liking, and sharing your social media posts. While you might not have the resources and generous spirit that Oprah has when it comes to treating her fans, you can let your fans know that they are important to you by promoting their content.

– If you are on Facebook allow your fans to share a link to their website on your page, so that they can have the opportunity to exhibit their business, and network with potential customers and business partners
– If you are on Twitter ask your followers to add your twitter handle to the end of their photos and posts, and then share all the photos and posts that come through
– If you are on Pinterest create a fan board where your followers can share their content

Come on; show your fans a little bit of love!!

7. Try your hand at cross-promotion
While succeeding with help from no-damn-body seems like a great headline for your soon to be published rags to riches novel, we all need help sometimes. When it comes to social media posts, your biggest help can come from small business owners, bloggers, experts, and entrepreneurs in your niche.

Team up with someone in your niche, and ask them to join hands as you cross-promote each other. If you are on Twitter you can share each other’s content, if you are on Facebook you can tag each other on your posts, and best of all you can ask your fans to like or follow each other’s pages.

Cross-promotion works best when you are working with someone that offers a complimentary product or service. In this way you can open up a whole new market for yourself.

8. Seasonal post
Seeing that we are in June, there is no big upcoming holiday (not in my country at least). However, when the holiday season is upon you, be sure to immerse yourself in the spirit of the season by sharing holiday related quotes, greetings, and pictures.

This personal touch is a great way of appearing relatable to your fans.

7. Blog post back-story
One common mistake that business owners make is posting a link to their blog posts without any further context regarding what the posts contain. Ask yourself if you would just click this weird looking link: http://t.co/cr1OWpdJLS

What if it looked like this:

Always ensure that you add a back-story to the link that you are posting, so that your fans can know what to expect. Additionally, before you publish your post be sure to fill in a meta description, as this automatically provides a summary of your post so that you do not need to create a long back-story.

The summary in the above G+ picture comes from my Meta description, and so does the summary in the Twitter picture below:

10. How to Tutorials 
How-to tutorials are exceptionally popular. Just go on YouTube and watch as you get bombarded with tutorials on everything from learning how to longboard (popular), to creating a blog (very popular), and even to applying makeup (out of this world popular).

By giving your fans a link to a helpful tutorial on an area that concerns them, you can build a solid fan base. There is no shortage to the number of interesting tutorials you can create for your audience.

11. Ask fans to send photos of them using your brand
One great way of getting your sometimes-fans to turn into loyal fans, is by asking loyal fans to send in a photo/video of them using a product that you offer.

Just go to Dan Brown’s or Guiliana Rancic’s Facebook page, and see how some of their social media posts showcase their fans enjoying their books in different parts of the world.

Did someone say FREE marketing?

12. A personal post

While it is always important to present your brand in a professional capacity, you do have the leeway to post a personal story, photo, and struggle on your social media account.

This makes your business more personable, and gives your audience the ability to relate to you and your brand. A small personal touch will definitely pave the way for trust and strong relationships with your fan base.

13. News 
This point is so perfectly simple, yet many business owners neglect to post news updates on social media. You can post items including company news, local/national news, and industry news, as well as teasers for upcoming news- way to keep people intrigued!!

There is no complex strategy to this; when you see an interesting news item or study that is relevant to your business, let your fans know about it.Here is a recent post of mine where I gave news on the

Here is a recent post of mine where I gave news on the Google algorithm change affecting websites that were not mobile responsive. Don’t be swayed by that rambling description, it really is an interesting post!

BLOG POSTS

14. Answer frequently asked questions
Every business in every industry has a set of FAQs. Rather than answering the same questions repeatedly, create a blog post that addresses these common questions, and which gives detailed answers.

The blog topics that you can create from FAQs are extremely helpful, and will help you establish yourself as an expert in your field. Once you have a number of these blog posts under your belt, you should consider adding a FAQ page to your site.

This page will have the common questions that are asked, as well as internal links to your answers. You can thank me later!

15. Instructional posts 

Instructional posts are loved by Google; just type the words how to on Google and see what comes up:

– How to tie a tie
– How to make money
– How to lose weight fast
– How to make French toast
– How to kiss (really??)

And on, and on, and on…

By creating an instructional blog post you have the chance to inform and coach your audience on subjects that will be helpful to them. You can share your expertise on a number of subjects in your niche, and you can also educate your audience on how to efficiently use any products/services that you might be offering.

E.g. If you are in the business of technology you can give tutorials on how to update software and install plug-ins. Alternatively, if you are in the business of gardening, you can create a step by step guide on how to pot plants and how to grow a vegetable garden.

16. Ask your followers
We all love our fans and followers, after all, they are the people who read our content, share it, and put it into practice. It is therefore your responsibility to create content that satisfies their needs and wants. So how do you know what your followers want to read?

Simple; ask them!!

Ask your followers what content they would love to read, what struggles they are experiencing within your niche, and what advise they would benefit the most from.

Then go ahead and use the information you collect from your fans/followers to start creating content that will speak directly to them. You can use Twitter and Facebook to make a call out to your interactive followers, you can make posts on G+ communities to engage your audience, and you can also use LinkedIn and subreddit groups to talk to those in your niche.

Keep your question simple, and try and keep the answers focused.

17. Announce company news
When you have news about your business/brand that you want to share, you can use your blog to spread the word. By posting any company announcements via your blog, you allow it to be easily shared on social media.

You can share details on everything from store openings, sales/promotions, new products and services, new hires, company events, community outreach, and even an award. However, you need to be careful to limit your promotional content, as no one likes too much self-promotion.

18. Review a new product
Product reviews are a great way to keep your audience up to date on anything that is happening in your field. By reviewing the latest products in your niche and providing your audience with the pros and cons, you will cement yourself as an expert who people turn towards for advice.

There is no shortage to the products you can review; after all, companies are constantly releasing the latest version of the same old product to the marketplace. If you are in the tech world, I surely do envy you.

When reviewing a product, you can also tie it into the services that you provide. For example, if you are an electrician reviewing a smoke detector, you can mention the fact that you offer smoke detector installation services to those who choose to buy the product.

19. Compare products
Similar to product reviews, product comparisons allow you to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of similar products so that your customers can have help making their buying decision.

Blog posts that involve product comparisons are great for establishing trust between you and your customers.

A while ago I created a post comparing two social media platforms; Google+ and Facebook, so that my audience could make a determination on which platform would be best suited for their marketing campaign.

20. Hold a Q&A session 
Let me clarify something; holding a Q&A session on your blog is different from answering FAQs. When it comes to a Q&A session, you can sit down with a happy customer, influencer in your industry, and even a new employee.

Ask them questions that will give your audience an insight into your business, your brand, your industry, and your services. Then take the questions and answers and create a Q&A blog post that your audience can learn from.

E.g. If you have just hired a new manager, ask them about their background and the plans they intend to implement in your company, and this can give your audience a sense of where your business is headed, and what that means for them

21. Create a blog piece about an employee
Businesses are not about products and services, they are about people.

Unfortunately, the drive to generate money sometimes clouds our heads, and we forget this very important point.

In order to show the more human side of your business, give your customers a chance to get to know the faces behind your brand.

One great way of doing this is to write a blog piece around your employees. Interview them, ask them why they love working with your company, ask them about their aspirations, highlight their achievements, and even ask them for some funny stories to lighten up the piece.

Not only will you get to strengthen the bond that you share with your customers, you will get to create a strong connection with your employees as well. Think of it from their viewpoint, if your boss showed you and your skills off to the customers, wouldn’t you work twice as hard because of that single acknowledgment?

If you wouldn’t, I’m not sure what to do with you!

22. Teach customers
Regardless of whether your business is in the most exciting or uninteresting industry out there, there is always the chance to educate your audience. Think about it, whenever you are looking to learn something isn’t the internet the first place you go to source information from?

As a small business owner you can choose to create educational posts that fall within your niche. Some ideas include:

– Small business law firms can write posts revolving around the different types of legal entities for your business (very sexy topic)
– Bedding companies can write posts talking about the latest latex and memory foam innovations for mattresses
– Online bicycle shops can create buying guides for their potential customers, with information on the best bike components available
– Business blogs can teach their audience the basics of marketing, starting with informing them about the place of SEO and PPC in business

As you can see, the teaching opportunities are endless. Educational blog posts are beneficial to your readers, and what is better than that?

23. Create lists 
People absolutely love lists. Just go to Google or Bing (for those of you who live on the wild side), and look at how many posts have the following headlines:

– Top 10, 20, 50, 100..
– Best of/Worst of..
– Biggest/Smallest..
– Funniest..
– Greatest..

These headlines lack boundaries; they can be found in every topic and in every industry you can think of.

You can create lists that compile information on different subjects, including lists of top products, website pages, resources, tools, tips, and even internal links.

By creating a list you give your readers a quick and reliable guide to a particular subject, and they will be very grateful for that.

 

24. Take a multimedia approach
If there is one piece of content marketing advice that I can give to you, it is to take full advantage of videos when the opportunity arises. Unfortunately, I am yet to create my own video, but stay tuned because that day shall surely come.

One person I admire is Matthew Woodward, as he provides a video version of nearly all of his instructional posts. This not only caters to his audience that does not like reading, it also brings him traffic from sources such as YouTube.

Because videos are time and effort intensive, it does not make sense for you to create a video for one blog post and never use it again. By repurposing a video you have made, you get to exploit the content in as many ways as you can possibly think of.

Multimedia blog posts can also include still images, audio, and animation.

25. Beginner’s Guides
If you are reading this I can assume that you are an expert in your field, or someone aspiring to be an expert in your field. Either way, it lies on your shoulders to guide the people that show interest in your niche.

Beginner’s guides are similar to instructional/how-to’s, as they provide detailed advice on topics that your audience is interested in.

If you run a sports center, you can write a beginners guide to playing basketball. If you are a finance expert, you can provide a beginners guide to investing. There are so many topics you can choose from, and whether you are an expert in SEO or video gaming, there is a beginner’s guide for you to write about.

26. Checklist
As we mentioned above everyone loves a list, and a checklist gives your audience a clear and concise guide to completing a particular task. There are checklists for buying a house, travelling, doing your taxes, raising a baby (a bit suspect), going camping, and starting a business.

When you create a checklist be sure to meet the following requirements:

27. Giveaways
Even the strongest person I know cannot turn away from a freebie. Creating a post centered on a giveaway is a great way to attract cheapskates potential customers, and in return you can get their email address (never stop building your email list!).

You can giveaway anything from a cheat sheet and e-book, to graphics and product samples. The giveaway should be related to your niche, so if you are a chef you can create a recipe cheat sheet that will excite your audience and cause them to visit your site again.

28. Debate 
A healthy debate is always a good thing, due to the fact that you get to learn a lot from people with differing opinions and thought processes from yours. There are debates in every industry at all times:-

– SEO vs PPC
– Apple vs Android
– Low-Cal vs High-Cal diet loss programs
– Beyonce vs Rihanna
– Stephen Curry vs Lebron James vs Me (highly contentious)

While you might be someone who enjoys being non-controversial, wading into a debate and giving your personal take on the topic is a great way of getting yourself noticed. Be sure to watch out for popular debates in your industry, and then put in your two-cents in the hope of making a ripple or even a big-ass wave.

And unless you are the type of person who lives off pissing people off, I would advise you to be respectful of the other side so that you can present your brand in the best possible way.

29. Case Studies
A case study is a great way of presenting in-depth analysis on a subject in your field.You can write a case study regarding the impact that a certain product/service has had on an industry over a certain period of time, so as to inform your customers.

You can write a case study regarding the impact that a certain product/service has had on an industry over a certain period of time, so as to inform your customers.

You can also create case studies around your business, such as how implementing a particular marketing strategy affected your sales for a period of a year.

Here is an interesting content delivery network case study for you to sink your teeth into.

30. Expert roundup 
Here is a great blog post idea: contact different experts/influencers in your industry, and ask them for their take on a particular topic e.g. best marketing tools for a small business.

Then go ahead and arrange all the answers into a blog post, so that you readers can have insight into what strategies the experts are using. While this will take some time to compile, the results will be fantastic.

When the expert roundup has been published, remember to ask the experts you interviewed to share the post. This way, your content can be brought in front of the thousands of followers and fans that your experts have.

This week I read an interesting expert roundup, where top bloggers gave the worst blogging advice they ever received.

31. Event Roundup
Trade events are a great way for a business to showcase their products and services, and to network with other businesses within the industry. What most people do not know is that trade events also make a good source for blog content.

Because trade events are not open to the public, you can publish a post that provides a roundup of all the action that is taking place. And trust me; people are very interested in events that they are restricted from attending.

You can round-up events such as car shows, pet shows, gadget shows, travel shows, home shows, fashion shows, and gardening expos.

32. Charity Awareness
I personally believe that charity is an important part of business, and that all businesses should focus on enriching the community that they are a part of. Many businesses mistake charity awareness with ‘look at me; I am helping these struggling individuals with a big check.’

Charity awareness is simply supporting a worthy cause (this is a subjective choice), and doing all you can to contribute towards the cause. One way that you can raise awareness for the charity is through blog posts that detail the work that the charity does, and how people can support the cause.

In this way you can shine a light on a local cause, and it does not hurt that customers enjoy buying from businesses that support charities.

33. Infographics 

Infographics are a perfect medium through which you can present complex information in a simple manner. Instead of creating a post that is purely a wall of text, you can choose to integrate an infographic so that a previously boring post looks attractive and more enticing to read.

I personally enjoy using piktochart, venngage, and infogr.am to create Infographics.

34. Pick of the week
You have probably seen a pick of the week post on one website or another. These posts are simply a roundup of news and resources, for that week. For example, I have seen bloggers creating a pick of the week of the most interesting posts they read that week.

This gives your audience a source of what is happening in your niche. Plus, when you link to other sites during pick of the week, those sites can link back to yours and provide a new source of traffic.

35. Series 
Series posts are a great way of drawing your readers in, and forcing them to return for new information on a subject that you have made them interested in. It’s not very difficult; pick an attention-grabbing theme and break it down into a series of posts.

By the end of your series, your email subscription should have risen because people are coming back to your site to read your new content.

Final Verdict

Whoa…We have come to the end of a long, albeit exciting post. The ideas listed here are some that I have tried, and others that I intend to try as soon as I get the chance.

These particular ideas are not difficult to implement, ensuring that you can exploit them regardless of the stage you are at with your business.

There are no more excuses for posting content that is not being received by your audience. If it is not working, use the tips above to switch up your mode of delivery so that you can succeed.

Once you start implementing these ideas, tell me how it goes for you. And if you need any help in doing so, shoot me an email and I’ll help you out as best as I can.

My hope is that your creative juices are now flowing, and content strategies are starting to form.

Remember to drop a comment before you leave to tell me what you think, and share this information with your friends because you are a good and thoughtful person 🙂 Also remember to subscribe to the newsletter so that you can receive updates sent directly to your inbox like a BOSS.

Until then, I bid you Adieu!!