12 Inspiring Examples of Social Media Content Done Right

As a content marketer, you know it’s important to create quality content, but do you have a clear distribution strategy? As social media is the fastest and most cost-effective content amplification tool, you can’t afford to ignore it. Without a social media plan, your content is going to have a shorter lifespan. But how should you use social channels to promote your brand? For inspiration, we’ve selected six great examples of social media content from brands that are getting it right. Free Actionable Bonus: Free Actionable Bonus: Want to create better content for social media? Get the complete guide to building a social media strategy and creating content for social, plus 6 awesome examples to inspire your next post. How is Content Marketing on Social Media Different? Although there’s some overlap between content marketing and social media marketing, they each have different goals and priorities. Brands use social media for various reasons: to drive web traffic by posting links back to original content to build brand awareness by posting unique content to build customer relationships by interacting with users Unlike other content marketing channels, social media is a more informal setting. Users are more likely to interact with your company, so it’s great for getting direct feedback from customers and increasing brand loyalty. In contrast, content marketing on other channels enables brands to achieve other marketing goals. For example, to build their authority with long blog posts, to generate leads with white papers, or to drive sales with email marketing. Jason Miller, senior content marketing manager at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, summed it up nicely when he said: â€Å"Social media channels are the tentacles from which your content extends its reach while opening up a direct line of communication with your customers and prospects.† Do you want to up your social media game? Here are six examples of brands doing a great job of social media content marketing: Grammarly: Having Fun to Grab Attention Although Grammarly is spelling and grammar checker, they don’t take themselves too seriously. As well as using blog posts to explain grammar rules, they’re great at using social media to make grammar fun. They often join in the Monday Motivation and Wednesday Wisdom hashtags on Twitter by posting funny and inspirational quotes. Their images overlaid with fun text are a simple but effective way to attract views and promote shares. Tip: Try pairing interesting one-liners or quotes with carefully chosen stock images to show the fun side of your brand. Use bold colors to make posts stand out on the page. Shelter Pet Project: Creating a Unique Voice Searching for families to adopt their cats and dogs, the pet rescue center uses personification and storytelling to make people fall in love with their animals. Their Facebook page is filled with pictures of animals and their stories to build empathy and inspire people to adopt. Using the â€Å"voice† of the animals in their social media posts, they instantly create more powerful messages that their audience will remember. Tip: Whatever you’re selling, there’s an opportunity to create a character or unique voice for your brand. What will your target audience relate to? Think of ways to tell your own product story to build empathy. Cooksmarts: Building Trust with Reviews While many brands display their reviews and case studies on their website, Cooksmarts uses social media. Their Twitter feed is full of genuine customers who have benefited from their meal plan service. By using customer photos and quotes, they add credibility to their business and turn customers into brand ambassadors. Their â€Å"Kitchen Hero† hashtag is a great example of planting positive consumer experiences into tweets. Tip: Ask customers how they’ve benefited from your products or services. Then ask for permission to use their quotes in future social media posts. Cisco: Attracting New Talent with Authenticity For some industries, social media doesn’t seem like the obvious choice for brand promotion. But even technology companies can benefit from its reach. The technology company Cisco even uses Snapchat to reach out to young professionals. To build awareness, Cisco recruited 20 employees from around the world and asked each one to create a Snapchat story about what it’s like to work at the company. By featuring stories from actual employees and using the â€Å"We Are Cisco† hashtag, it managed to connect with future talent across social media. Tip: Use employee-generated content to build authenticity and consumer trust. Worldwide Breast Cancer: Spreading a Message with Fun Imagery Even serious topics can be entertaining. The charity organization Worldwide Breast Cancer created Facebook and Twitter pages to fundraise and spread awareness of breast cancer and its symptoms. The â€Å"Know Your Lemons† hashtag uses fun images to highlight and explain a serious issue. The charity also uses trending news stories to fuel their social media campaign, referencing the infamous â€Å"covfefe† tweet in one Facebook post to highlight their message5. Tip: Use topical news stories in your social media posts to make your brand look more fun and up-to-date. Charmin: Using Humor to Build a Following Even when you sell products like toilet paper, you can still benefit from the power of social media. Charmin uses humor to spread the word about their brand, incorporating holidays and trending news stories into their brand’s messages. Here, they use National Spouses Day to promote their brand with gentle humor. They also use the â€Å"Tweet from the Seat† hashtag to increase brand awareness and engagement by encouraging user-generated content. Tip: You don’t need a glamorous product to run a hashtag campaign. Choose a hashtag that will resonate with your target audience, such as an inside joke. Starbucks: Get in the Holiday Spirit For Christmas 2016, Starbucks released its signature red coffee cups and started a competition on Instagram called â€Å"Red Cup Art.† It asked users to create the best festive art using their cups and share pictures of the results on Instagram using the hashtag #redcupart. The winner would win a years’ worth of free coffee. Tip: Ask your customers for photos using your products and offer a prize for the funniest or most creative entry. Rolex: Drive Engagement with Vivid Imagery Rolex creates beautiful product images and videos for Facebook that reinforce its classic image. The photos are always sleek and minimalist, and the care Rolex takes to create quality content ties in with the brand’s appeal to customers who value its sophisticated image. Tip: Think about how you can use images on Facebook to reinforce your brand’s image. Nike: Social Media as a Support Tool Nike’s Twitter account @NikeSupport is a great example of a company using social media to improve its customer service. Nike always uses friendly and light-hearted language to show they’re an approachable brand, and they always try to respond quickly and politely to customer questions. Tip: Set up a separate Twitter account that is focused on customer service. Mejuri: Highlight Your Customers The jewelry brand created a Pinterest board called â€Å"Styled By You† to encourage customers to send in photos of themselves wearing its jewelry. The user-generated content provided the brand with lots of quality images of their products in the real world. Tip: Create a private Pinterest board with a theme around your brand or your products that is only accessible to your team. Then repin the best user-generated pins to your public board. Barkbox: Using Videos to Connect with Customers The subscription service that delivers dog treats and toys to customers uses Instagram and YouTube to appeal directly to its target audience. They post visual content that their dog-loving customers can relate to and easily share. Tip: Create a series of YouTube videos around a theme that your target audience can really relate to. TOMS: Supporting a Cause Each year, the shoe company raises awareness for children’s health and education using social media. The company offered to donate a pair of shoes to a child in need for everyone who posted a barefoot Instagram photo with the hashtag #withoutshoes. In 2017, the campaign resulted in 27,435 children in 10 countries receiving new shoes. Tip: To gain respect and increase customer loyalty, communicate your company values. You don’t have to go as far as TOMS, but you can find a good cause to align your brand with. Final Thoughts On social media, it’s less about selling products and more about providing entertainment and inspiration. Even if you’re selling â€Å"boring† products, by using humor and generating positive emotions, you can extend the reach of your brand online. These examples prove that you don’t need a large marketing budget to amplify your content and promote your brand’s message. Often, the simplest social media campaigns are the most effective. You just need to find passion in what you do, be creative, and have some fun. If you love the content, the chances are your audience will love it too. Do you need unique content for your business? Constant Content connects you with thousands of professional writers able to create articles, ebooks, product descriptions and other assets to tell your brand story, drive SEO and win sales.