5 Content Ideas for Small Businesses
The easiest way to create content for any business is to start with “content categories”. Content categories are big picture topics that you can divide different parts of your business into. Once you have these big picture content categories it’s much easier to brainstorm subcategories, topics, and ideas under each one. Here are 5 content categories that I recommend for small businesses:
Our story, mission, passion
Our product, services, events
Our owner, staff, customers
Our space, vibe, atmosphere
Our reviews, commonly asked questions, or recent change[s]
As you can see, each of these content categories pertain to most businesses, but your business might have more or different categories depending on what you sell. I’m going to outline what these could look like with some examples so you can get a better idea of how to implement this for your business.
Our Story, mission, passion
Example:
On the right, @zeitlosstudios posted a picture of them along with a caption outlining how and why they started their business.
Other ideas for different businesses:
1. Boutique: post a picture of your storefront and talk about the first time you decided to open up a business.
2. Artist: post a flat lay of your art supplies and tell the story of when you started making art.
3. Realtor: post a photo of yourself and talk about the events that lead to you taking up your profession.
All of these ideas are in the same vein ➝ telling the story behind how or why you do what you do. Breaking up that story into multiple parts or taking on one small topic at a time, such as your passion for your business or the reason you do what you do, is a great way to make this content relatable, interesting, and give it longevity.
As small business owners, you have the opportunity to connect with people on a personal level. You either live in the same community or have such a deep passion for the product that you took on the challenge of creating your own business. This automatically grabs attention and makes your story compelling to your audience. Most people are afraid to talk about themselves but I assure you people ARE interested! I like to “introduce myself” every three months to re-connect with my followers and stay present on my business’s feed.
Photo Credit: M.Schleif Photography
Our product, services, events
Example:
On the right, @scoopndoughcandyco posted a picture of their ice cream with a caption outlining a few details for an upcoming event plus details of the flavors pictured.
Other ideas:
1. Post a picture of one of your product offerings and describe it in detail or share what you love about it.
2. Post a flat lay of your marketing materials and remind people about one of your services.
3. Post a photo of yourself celebrating and write about an upcoming event you don’t want people to miss.
Talking about your product, service or events can be tricky as a business on social media. You want to balance sharing info about your business without sounding overly ad’sy. BUT it’s important to remember that people followed you TO HEAR about your products, services, and events.
The best way to do this without coming across as a billboard is to add your personal opinion and “human” language behind what you’re saying. People would rather hear “I’m obsessed with our newest flavor! #chocolatelovers” than “We have a new chocolate flavor, you should try it”. One comes across as fun and enjoyable, the other comes across as bland and demanding.
Our owner, staff, customers
Example:
On the right, @luna.fargo posted a picture of one of their chefs with a caption outlining who they are, the value they bring, and some Q&As.
Other ideas:
1. Post a picture of one of your customers picking up a product and detail who they are or what they bought.
2. Post a photo of your staff holiday picture and share why you love your team and how valuable they are to the company.
3. Post a photo of yourself [as the owner] and share fun facts about you and your business people may not know.
People love seeing other people on social media. [Surprisingly, it has the word “social” in it for a reason]. Sharing the important people that are a part of your business is not only a great way to celebrate them and show your gratitude but also a great way to engage your audience.
Plus posts with people in them almost always outperform posts without people!
Our space, vibe, atmosphere
Example:
On the right, @berniesfargo posted a picture of their storefront along with some “fun facts” about their business.
Other ideas:
1. Share a photo of your favorite corner in the office with a caption about your office/business culture.
2. Post a picture of something that represents your business, like disco balls, and talk about how you love to keep things fun
3. Post a photo of fun locally made decorative piece in your store/location and talk about how this piece represents your brand.
One of the most underrated types of posts are those that detail the “essence” of a business through images of their location or images of tangible things that represent them. Younger generations are much more likely to patronize a new business if they feel like they already "know what they’re getting themselves into”.
Photo Credit: M.Schleif Photography
Our reviews, commonly asked questions, or recent change[s]
Example:
On the right, I posted a graphic of a person asking a question along with a caption that answers that question.
Other ideas:
1. Share a graphic of a review someone left for you on Facebook or Google.
2. Post a photo of staff along with the answer to a commonly asked question that they would know the answer to.
3. Post a photo of something relevant to some recent changes you have made, whether it’s new decor or an update in your services.
I OFTEN use questions that I get asked as the basis for posts I put out. When someone asks a question - usually many other people have that same question! This also makes it easy to come up with content, since they’re doing all the work for you. It’s also important to keep in mind reviews or updates. Basically, anything “new” that pops up is great to put out on your feed.
So now that you have a general idea of how content categories work and examples of how to use them.. put it into practice! I recommend “copy-ing” some of the ideas I listed above with your own imagery and business information! Hopefully, this gave you an idea of how to start planning out content for your own business - and some new ideas to put into place.
Erica Kale
Owner of Kale Social Co