The Ultimate Guide for Stress-Free Content Planning

by Maggie Nargi-Ackerbauer

In today’s hyper-connected world, crafting relevant content across various social media platforms is vital for effective brand awareness and communication. Each network offers unique opportunities to connect with your audience, from engaging videos and eye-catching graphics to informative text posts and personal stories. With so many options, it’s easy for content planning to become overwhelming!

If you’re unsure where to start, follow along as we explore strategies and ideas for four main types of social media content.

Video

When it comes to making videos, keep it simple! Although it can feel intimidating, smartphones have been optimized to eliminate the complexity of creating video posts. Video content is highly engaging and performs better than other types of content, as many algorithms prioritize it. When considering what type of video to create, keep in mind that the optimal video for each platform differs. For example, TikTok is best for short, attention-grabbing videos with trending audio posted once or twice a week. Facebook and Instagram are the places to go for longer, more in-depth videos. However, it’s essential to recognize the kind of content your target audience is looking for and how that factors into the optimal length of your videos.

Content Ideas:

• Demonstrate your product: Users enjoy seeing gadgets and products that make their lives easier.
• Explain the values and mission of your business: Sharing your brand’s mission can foster a sense of connection with your audience.
• Educate your customers: Clarify common misconceptions about something you offer or what competing brands offer.
• Share a happy customer’s review: Customers often love to be featured on social media (but always check before re-posting content!)
• A day-in-the-life: Have employees share their daily routine and what it’s like to work there.
• Trends: Participating in popular audios and fun formats can show the silly side of your business (these can also work in shorter lengths).

Image Posts

In addition to videos, image feed posts contain most of the important information about your business. On Instagram and Facebook, these are your weekly posts which you will see most often on your homepage. This type of post may be similar in content to your videos, but you will have to engage your audience differently since it’s not as fast-paced and eye-catching. Utilize visuals that are relevant to your business (such as images of people, food, or products) and on-brand graphics to grab your readers’ attention and then get them to stay.

Content Ideas

• Product or service promotions: Weekly food specials or holiday deals, for example.
• Team member introductions: Share fun facts about team members, along with their professional qualifications.
• Client Testimonials: Share a quote graphic from a satisfied customer’s review.
• Highlight local events: If relevant to your business offerings, these can complement your products or services or help drive customers to your shop.
• User-generated content: Repost photos that customers have tagged you in (Always ask permission, of course!)
• Showcase your product: Keep this simple. For more info, direct users to your website or a video to learn more.
• Blog posts or articles: Share relevant articles or create a post with a short snippet from a blog on your website.
• Infographics: These can be utilized if data and statistics are relevant to your business.

Text-Forward/Business Posts

Text-forward posts are most often seen on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook and are primarily used for business-oriented content. Companies generally use these platforms for information-heavy purposes. LinkedIn users favor professional updates and educational links more than other social media platforms, while X users are familiar with the quick-posting and thread format.

Content Ideas

• Professional updates: Recruiting posts, announcing new hires.
• Informational articles: Sharing a snippet of text along with the link to the article.
• Quick business announcements: Abrupt closings and other time-sensitive updates.

Stories

Stories are used predominantly on Instagram and Facebook (TikTok and Snapchat also use them) and tend to be a bit more personal than the other kinds of content. Consisting of photos and videos that only stay published for twenty-four hours, they are easy to use for daily posting and can make your audience feel like they’re experiencing the day right alongside you. Stories are also great for engagement as they allow users to set up polls, ask & answer questions, and respond quickly through the DMs with their viewers.

Content Ideas

• In-the-moment happenings: Grand openings, events.
• Share other pages’ content: Support other businesses, reshare posts you’re tagged in.
• Daily specials and sales: Drinks, foods, or product flash sales.
• Highlighting links: This is especially useful for Instagram as one of the two places they allow public links – the other being in the bio.
• A quick behind-the-scenes: Fun team moments and things that may not be enough for their own feed post.

Are you looking for more tips on social media strategy? We’d love to hear from you!