Author: Rallio

Before the new year rolls in, social media marketers are always trying to come up with new and creative ways to advertise their brands on social media. After all, this is the time of the year when everyone’s making New Year’s resolutions, and small businesses are no exception. As we get ready to ring in 2023, consider the following social media content ideas while putting together your content calendar for the new year — and set yourself and your business up for 12 months of social media success.

1. Behind-the-Scenes Content

• Go behind the scenes to show what it’s like to be a small-business owner. People want to know more about your life and how you run your business. Share challenges that you’ve faced, how you overcame them, and what the future holds for you in 2023.
• Show your office or retail space. Do you have an open-concept loft or a home office with pets roaming around? A studio space where people take classes? A retail shop where employees work hard to get everything just right before opening up for the day? Be sure to take a lot of photos and videos that showcase your space.
• Share what it’s like to work at your company through pictures and stories. It’s so important for companies to show their employees’ passion and dedication, especially when they’re all working toward the same goal.

2. Share a Project

• Share a project that your company has completed. A great way to start the new year is by looking back at all the projects you’ve finished in the last 12 months. You can share these on your social media channels to show how far you’ve come, and it may even inspire others who are stuck on something or feel like they aren’t making progress.
• Share a project that’s in progress. If you’re working on something in the new year, share a sneak peek! Whether it’s an upcoming event, a grand opening, or a seasonal product launch — sharing more about what’s happening will get your followers excited for what’s next.
• Share a project that’s special to you. What’s a project that’s near and dear to your heart? Show photos and caption them with your thoughts on what makes this project so special.

3. Feature a Team Member

• Highlight a team member’s accomplishments! Show the team member in action, either by taking photos of them doing what they do best or showcasing their skills through video. This will show your audience that you have great people working for you and that they are capable of producing results.
• If possible, include other members of the company in these posts as well so your fans can see how everyone works together as one unit to achieve success.

4. Introduce Your Community

• It’s all about the people. So why not show them off a little? Introducing your community to your social media audience is an excellent way to get people interested in your business.
• This can mean anything from sharing pictures of your employees, celebrating milestones for customers, or even just sharing information about what it’s like to work at your business.

Related: Holiday Content Ideas to Brighten Your Social Media Pages

5. Create a Special Offer

• One popular way to create a special offer is to make it exclusive only to your followers. Offer something that no one else can get, like a discount or a special deal.
• You can also offer something valuable that isn’t available anywhere else. If you’re selling T-shirts, maybe you can give away some limited-edition shirts if people share your post with friends and tag them in the post.

6. Post a Roundup of Good News

Posting about good news is a great way to show your followers that you’re an organization with heart. It’s also a great opportunity to highlight some of your employees’ work and what they’re doing for their communities.

7. Create an Infographic on a Timely Topic

Visual content is more likely to be shared on social media than text-based posts, so infographics are a great way to get your message across in an easy-to-digest format. Infographics can be especially useful if you’re trying to educate your audience or simply provide them with interesting facts about a relevant industry or topic.

8. Post a Listicle With Tips Based on What People Search on Google

People love lists — they make it easy to digest tips and information quickly and efficiently! Try coming up with tips related to your business, such as “10 ways to save money at home” for a money expert or “5 ways to get your kids to eat vegetables” for a nutrition coach.

9. Generate Guest Posts

If you have an industry expert willing to write a guest post for your blog, ask them! It’s an easy way to keep people coming back to see what they have written about, while also promoting their work.

10. Create How-To Content

People love learning how to do things, especially when it comes to social media. Create a simple how-to guide or video for your audience with step-by-step instructions on how to use your product or service.

These ideas can help you get your company in front of more people.

As we begin a new year, don’t be afraid to experiment with new styles or formats on social media. The more comfortable you become with trying new things, the better positioned you’ll be for success in 2023. The tips above should help you generate a healthy amount of social media content every week. And ultimately, these ideas will help you get more engagement on your social channels, grow your audience, and build your business.

Learn more: 120 Killer Social Media Content Ideas Your Audience Will Love [Infographic]

It’s that time of year when everyone is looking for inspiration for their social media posts. You’ve no doubt seen a lot of them already, with people sharing pictures of their Christmas trees, wishing one another happy holidays, and sharing their best Rudolph jokes. Unfortunately, people may start to grow weary of seeing the same kind os posts in their feeds. The good news is that there are plenty of fresh ideas you can use to brighten up your social media pages this season! Check out some of our favorite holiday content ideas below.

1. Holiday Quotes and Visuals

For a holiday-themed post, you can use quotes to inspire your audience. You can do this by using a quote that is directly related to the holiday or one that is relevant to your brand and/or audience.

If you are posting on Instagram, make sure the quote is visually pleasing and easy for people to read. Share it to your Story to help increase exposure.

2. Giveaways and Contests

Giveaways and contests are a great way to get people to engage with your brand by getting them excited about the chance to win something. They’re also a good way to incentivize people to purchase your products — even if they don’t win a prize. Simply offer a small discount to anyone who enters the giveaway to encourage more sales, while also promoting engagement with your social media pages.

Related: Quick Guide to Holiday Marketing on Social Media

3. Holiday-Themed Posts

Holiday-themed posts are a great way to engage your audience. Think about what type of holiday-themed content you would like to create; this can be something as simple as sharing a photo from your holiday party, or it could be more complex, like a video or a podcast episode focused on the holidays. As long as it’s authentic and locally focused, it’s likely to resonate with your audience.

4. Holiday-Related Articles, Blog Posts & Press Releases

Holiday-related articles, blog posts, and press releases are a great way to build trust with your audience, promote your brand, and boost SEO. Try writing a few how-to, inspirational, or holiday-themed posts (much like this one) to get your audience in the holiday spirit.

5. Holiday Tips and Tricks

What are some of your holiday hacks for avoiding the crowds, scouting out great deals, enjoying local light displays, or hanging Christmas lights? Create a post or a video with some of your favorite tips and tricks. Invite engagement by asking your audience to share theirs in the comments section.

6. Holiday E-Books

Holiday e-books that you give away as a free download can help to grow your email list for use in later marketing campaigns. Include a link to download the e-book in the post, as well as an excerpt from one or two chapters of what’s inside. You can also give away a free chapter of a longer book if it makes sense for your business.

7. Behind-the-Scenes Content

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the offices of your favorite brands? Customers love peeking behind the curtain, so give them a look at what it’s like to work for your company. Showcase employee culture with photos and videos showcasing office events or employee testimonials. Let customers see where everyone works together to get things done. Use this content to show off what makes your company a great place to work.

Make the holidays meaningful for your customers with these holiday content ideas.

Holiday content is a great way to make the holidays meaningful for your customers. Whether you’re a retailer, a service provider or in another industry, holiday content can help you build brand awareness and attract new customers. By adding some seasonal flair to your marketing strategy, you can boost sales and conversions while keeping your social media pages fresh and exciting.

With these holiday content ideas in mind, you’re ready to start brainstorming your own holiday posts! We hope this list has given you some inspiration for what to post on social media throughout the holiday season.

Social media is a great way for businesses to connect with their customers and build relationships, but it can also be a huge time-suck if you don’t know what you are doing.

In this post, we will show you how to run an easy social media audit that will help you identify opportunities for improvement in your social media presence.

How to Run Your Social Media Audit

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach potential customers and increase brand awareness. However, it can be difficult to determine whether social media efforts are actually paying off. To help businesses better track their performance, we’ve put together a free template that makes it easy to conduct a basic social media audit. Simply fill in the blanks and you’ll know exactly where your money is being spent.

The template includes sections such as:

• Audience demographics
• Content strategy
• Engagement metrics
• Keywords
• Performance tracking

What Exactly Is a Social Media Audit?

A social media audit helps you assess how well you are doing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, and other channels. It consists of several different steps that you follow to evaluate the effectiveness of each channel. You’ll find out what works best for your audience, where there are gaps in coverage, and whether the channels are being used effectively.

Audit Sheets

The first step is to collect data about your current performance on each channel. This includes information such as impressions, engagements, reach, and demographic data.

Next, you’ll want to review your brand presence across each channel. This involves looking at the type of posts they’re sharing, the types of images they’re posting, and how many people are following them on each channel.

Finally, you’ll analyze the overall health of the channels. In particular, you’ll look at the number of likes, comments, shares, and retweets. You’ll also check to see if the channels are optimized for mobile devices.

You’ll use this information to make recommendations for improvement. For example, you might suggest that your client post more videos, add more images, and increase their follower count.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we conduct audits, please contact us here. We’d love to chat with you about our process.

Related: Spring Clean Your Social Media in 4 Easy Steps

Perform a Social Media Audit in 7 Simple Steps

Social media marketing is a great tool for businesses looking to improve their digital presence. However, it takes some work to make sure you are getting the most out of your efforts. Below, we show you how to perform a basic social media audit in seven simple steps.

Step 1: Set Up Your Spreadsheet

The first step is to set up a spreadsheet that tracks your social media activity. This could include things like follower count, likes/dislikes, comments, and shares.

To do this, launch a spreadsheet using Excel or Google Sheets. Add columns for each type of social network you use, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on. Then, start adding rows where you will detail what happened on each day.

If you want to keep track of your performance over time, you can add another row every month. Once you have added your columns, you can start entering information into the cells.

Step 2: Assess Your Branding

If you’ve been running your social media campaigns without much thought, it’s probably time to sit down and think about how you can improve your overall online image. This includes your personal brand, your professional brand, and your offline brand.

Look over your profiles to identify opportunities for improvement. For example, review your LinkedIn profile and make sure it reflects who you really are. Take a look at your Facebook and Instagram profiles to make sure they still align with your brand. Scroll through previous posts; if there are any that no longer fit into your current marketing strategy, consider deleting or archiving them.

Take a look at your settings, too, and make sure that you’re following the guidelines of each network. Complete your bio and profile in full with your contact information, website, phone number, and other important details.

Finally, make sure that you’re keeping your profiles updated. Be sure to add relevant images and videos to your posts. If you haven’t added any new photos or videos to your profiles in quite some time, now is definitely the time to start adding some new material.

Step 3: Identify Your Top-Performing Social Media Content

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to connect with potential customers. But it takes time and effort to build up a following, especially if you are just starting out. One way to keep growing your audience is by finding out what works and what doesn’t work on social media.

With over 2 billion active monthly users, Facebook alone offers a wealth of insight into how people interact online. By looking at your top posts, you can find out what content performs best. In addition, you can look at similar posts and compare them to determine what content performs better. You can even use analytics tools to create custom reports and keep track of your progress over time.

Step 4: Evaluate Each Channel’s Performance

The most important question to ask yourself is “What am I trying to achieve?” If you’re looking to increase brand awareness, then Facebook is probably the best place to start. If you want to generate B2B leads, LinkedIn might be a good fit. You’ll also want to consider how much budget you have to spend on social media marketing.

If you don’t know where to begin, here are some questions to help you figure out where your audience spends their time online and where you can improve your efforts:

1. What platforms do my customers use?
2. How many people follow me?
3. Which networks send the most traffic to my site?
4. Where do my customers prefer to communicate with me?
5. Do my customers like to talk about products or brands?

Step 5: Understand Your Audience on Each Platform

Demographics help you understand where your audience is coming from and what they care about. You can use this information to build better marketing strategies, campaigns, and even advertising. It will also help you make decisions about where to spend your money. Follow these tips:

• Find out which types of audiences you’re attracting and where they come from. This lets you decide whether you want to focus on one platform over another.
• Make sure you know where to post your content on each platform. You don’t want to miss out on potential traffic.
• Keep track of how many people are talking about you online. This gives you insight into how much exposure you’ve received and how successful your efforts have been.

Step 6: Refresh Your Social Media Content on All Platforms

If you’re not posting consistently on the social media platforms where you have a presence, it will be difficult to engage and grow your audience. Keep in mind, you don’t always need to post something every day, but try to post at least a few times per week. Don’t worry too much about posting “perfectly.” Just make sure your content is relevant and engaging.

You should also take advantage of all the different features that each network has to offer. For example, Instagram and Facebook allow you to post Stories and go live in order to engage with your audience in different ways.

The key is consistency. One of the easiest ways to stay consistent is by creating a content calendar and using a platform like Rallio to schedule your content in advance. This way, you can simply focus on engaging with your audience and responding to their comments, questions, and reviews — all from one dashboard that you can access on our mobile app.

Step 7: Update Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Regularly

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great tools for businesses to connect with customers and prospects. But it takes constant effort to keep things running smoothly.

Also, each platform updates its algorithm from time to time, so what worked yesterday won’t necessarily work today. Staying on top of the trends ensures you never fall off the radar on social media.

While you don’t need to assess your performance every day, take stock of your current performance on each platform at least monthly. Which ones are delivering the most value? Think about how you can capitalize on your success from month to month and continue getting the most from each platform. Annually, look at the trends throughout the year so you can start each new year with the knowledge and tools you need to find continued success.

Ready to Conduct Your Social Media Audit?

Social media audits help you identify areas that need improvement, find out what people like about your brand, and uncover ways to increase engagement. You can use this information to measure success, evaluate campaigns, and make strategic decisions.

For more help getting the most out of your social media marketing strategy and improving your results, contact us at Rallio.

At the end of the day, social media marketing is all about getting more people to engage with your content — and that means it needs to be exciting enough for them to want to react to your posts and share them. The best way to do this is by creating engaging, interactive social media content. In this post, we go over 10 popular types of interactive social media content that get great engagement rates.

What Is Interactive Social Media Content?

Social media content is anything that people can share on social media. It can include text, images, links, video and audio. The content you create and publish on your own social media channels could also be shared on other people’s channels.

We can think of content types as falling into two broad categories: static and interactive. Static content refers to all of the assets in your digital portfolio that rarely change, such as your social media profile photos, bio, ebooks, or a pre-recorded webinar pinned at the top of your page. Interactive content is usually more complex and dynamic than static posts. It requires users to interact with the content — for instance, by playing games, taking a quiz, reacting to the post, entering contests, or signing up for newsletters/mailings/updates/alerts. The more they engage, the more they retain the information you are presenting.

Both types of content have their place in your social media marketing strategy. However, by definition, interactive content tends to win the war when it comes to getting an audience’s attention. In one Demand Gen survey, 91% said they prefer interactive and visual content over static material.

Your best bet is to get your static assets set up, revisit them from time to time to update them, and primarily focus on interactive content. Whether you want to introduce new products, increase your following, boost clicks to your website, generate more leads, or engage with your local community, interactive content can help you get there. Read on for 10 types of interactive content that will help you chip away at your goals.

1. User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is a great way to get your followers involved. A UGC campaign can be as simple as asking users to submit their favorite photos or videos, which you can then share on social media. You can also add a fun prize element to encourage participation. For example, if you want people to submit photos of their pets, offer the winner a year’s supply of dog food from your favorite brand.

Another option is running a contest where users are tasked with creating the best content for your brand or product. Winners could receive prizes such as gift cards, trips, or other items related to your business, such as branded T-shirts or other swag.

2. GIFs

GIFs are a great way to show emotion or convey a message in a fun and engaging way. They’re also popular on social media, which means that people are more likely to engage with them than other types of content. The best part about GIFs is that they’re easy and quick to create using a service like Giphy, making them an excellent option when you need something simple but effective.

3. Reviews

In the world of social media, reviews are one of the best ways to interact with your audience and let them know that you care about their opinions. However, it’s easy to simply ask for a review without following up after people leave them.

Responding to all of your reviews, both positive and negative, is one of the easiest ways to interact directly with your customers. If someone leaves a positive review, you can use it as an opportunity to thank your customer and share their feedback on social media through a graphically designed image. With negative reviews, you can respond to customer comments professionally and work to resolve problems. In many cases, following up with disgruntled customers helps to diffuse situations and even encourage repeat shopping in the future — even among casual observers who see these reviews online and your thoughtful follow-up.

4. Videos

Videos are an excellent way to engage your audience. You can use them in many ways, including:

• Introducing a new product or service. Shoot a quick video explaining your new offerings and why consumers should be excited about them.
• Explaining a complex concept. How-to videos, tutorials and explainers can help to break down complex concepts in a way that people can easily understand. These videos may start off as interactive content and later become static or evergreen content.
• Sharing a story. Tell the story behind your brand, your products, your family business, or anything else that humanizes your business.
• Promoting an event. Before, during and after an event, you can share the excitement about any events you are attending or a part of.

5. Q&As

Q&As are a great way to get people involved in your content. You can ask questions about anything you want and the answers will vary depending on who responds.

When creating a Q&A, think about what audiences would find useful or interesting. For example, if you’re selling a product or service, you could ask questions about how people use it and what they like most about it. If you’re in an industry where there are competitors providing similar products or services, asking questions that compare and contrast their offerings is another option for generating interest among potential customers.

You can also go live on different platforms to answer FAQ from your customers. Your audience will get notified that you’re going live and may be more likely to tune in than they would be if you just posted a video.

Related: 15 Social Media Content Ideas for Small Businesses

6. Challenges and Contests

Challenges and contests are a great way to get people to engage with your brand. You can use them to get people involved with your business and drive traffic to your website or social media channels.

With challenges, you can ask people to share photos of themselves using one of your products in a creative way. For example, you could create an online cooking contest where participants submit their best recipes on Facebook using one of your products as the main ingredient.

Contests are another great way to increase engagement around specific topics that relate to your business or product line. For example, if you sell shoes online, then consider hosting an Instagram contest where users post pictures or Stories showing different ways they wear a certain style of shoe from your store. You can then pick a random winner to receive a pair of shoes, and all participants could receive a discount code for a future purchase.

7. TikTok Duets

TikTok Duets allow you to post another content creator’s video side-by-side in a split screen as you react to their video. You can adjust your settings on TikTok to allow other creators to Duet your videos, too.

Duets are a fun way to give a nod to another creator’s content. They are also easy to create — someone else has already done the work to create the video, and all you need to do is react to it with your words and facial expressions. In fact, some creators build their entire accounts around Duets! Think of a chef who reacts to someone making a recipe, for example.

As a brand, be mindful of how you react to another creator’s content using Duets. Keep it kind and professional to avoid offending anyone, and you can easily start building your TikTok audience in this way.

8. “Behind the Scenes” Content

Behind-the-scenes content is a fantastic way to show your brand’s personality and can be a great way to differentiate yourself from other brands. You can showcase how you make your products, show your employees having fun, or highlight your team, your customers, and your community. You could even capture video footage of people working in their offices, throwing parties, or just simply enjoying life.

This type of content is also useful for building trust with your audience because it gives them a glimpse into what goes on behind closed doors at your company. This can lead viewers to feel like they’re in on some sort of secret or exclusive club — one that they want to stay a part of!

9. Polls and Twitter Threads

Polls are a great way to get people involved in your content. You can use them for everything from collecting data about how people feel about something, to just getting opinions on topics that are important to you and your brand.

For example, if you’re a restaurant owner with an online presence, asking fans what types of pizza they’d like to see on the menu might provide valuable information while also increasing engagement. On the other hand, if you run a clothing store and want feedback on which styles should be featured more prominently in the store’s window displays, you can ask followers “This or that?” questions. This will get them engaged without overwhelming them with options.

10. Blog Posts and Podcasts

The best content for social media is not always the most eye-catching. In fact, sometimes it’s the more bland stuff that gets the job done. Blog posts and podcasts are a great way to share your expertise and build authority in your niche. It’s also a great way to get people to subscribe to your channel if you have one. You can use these two types of content on virtually any platform: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more.

Interactive Social Media Content Wins the Engagement Game

When it comes to social media marketing and content, there are a lot of options out there. In fact, you could spend hours creating and curating different types of content that will help your business grow. But in the end, all these different types of interactive social media content have one thing in common: they get engagement.

The more engagement you get on your posts and other pieces of social media content, the more followers you’re going to gain. As you’ve seen in this blog post, there are many types of interactive social media content that can help drive more engagement from your audience and make them want to keep coming back for more.