27 Social media post ideas to inspire your brand [+ examples]

Never running out of social media content ideas is easier said than done.

Modern social media marketers manage multiple profiles and are constantly tasked with keeping their feeds active and strategic. Not to mention, your audience expects relevant, fresh content—and delivering it consistently is non-negotiable for success.

The struggle of content fatigue can lead brands to recycle posts, resulting in decreased engagement and performance. To maintain audience interest and performance, it’s worth keeping some strong ideas in your back pocket.

If you’re looking for quick inspiration, watch the video below for nine ideas. We also share tips for brainstorming social media ideas year-round.

If you’re already in a content rut, below are our 27 social media ideas for brands to keep your feeds fresh. No matter your niche or industry, these ideas are fair game.

1. Ask your audience questions

Interactive questions, user-generated content, behind-the-scenes glimpses and educational tutorials represent the most effective social media post ideas that drive authentic engagement and meaningful connections with your audience.

Questions can range from simple conversation starters about weekend plans to specific inquiries about your customers’ favorite product picks.

A tried-and-tested Instagram post idea is using question stickers in Stories. You can also ask questions directly in your post or video captions, just like Cirkul does in this TikTok post.

Source: TikTok

2. Use AI for social media idea generation

Marketers can’t escape the boom of AI. Whether you’re looking for fresh ideas or need to overcome writer’s block, AI tools deliver significant help for content generation.

That’s not to say you should totally hand over the keys to your social media presence to AI. Instead, think about how you can generate fresh content ideas faster with a bit of assistance.

For example, tools like Sprout Social can take basic concepts and keywords and refine them into a social media caption that’s more likely to earn interactions. This approach not only saves time but also sparks creativity in situations where you’re burnt out or otherwise strapped for ideas.

Note that Sprout’s AI Assist feature provides multiple options for posts to help marketers pick ideas that make the most sense based on your target audience and brand voice. This is key as using AI for social media posts requires human input to be effective.

Getting the most out of these types of tools means refining suggestions and prompts, not sticking with the first suggestion that pops up. Remember: AI is a tool for ideation and efficiency but not a replacement for original ideas. Coupled with features like scheduling and optimal post timing, Sprout’s AI tools can transform your content creation workflow to meet the demands of modern social media.

3. Plan engaging social media posts for every day of the week

Anything you can do to avoid the trap of posting social content as random is a plus. Consistency counts on social media and planning weekly posts can help.

Start a series for each weekday to create an opportunity to interact with your fans and followers on a regular basis. By publishing thematic content regularly, you can build a sense of loyalty and community among your community.

Popular weekly themed posts include:

• #MotivationMonday: Inspirational quotes, success stories or goal-setting content
• #TransformationTuesday: Before-and-after showcases, customer journeys or product evolution
• #WednesdayWisdom: Industry insights, tips or educational content
• #ThrowbackThursday: Company history, nostalgic content or milestone celebrations
• #FeatureFriday: Product spotlights, team highlights or customer showcases

A regular schedule shows your community what to expect and even offers something to look forward to. Plus, it gives your team a template to follow, so it’s relatively quick and easy to produce.

4. Collaborate with influencers and content creators

Working with influencers via sponsored or collaborative content can result in creative post ideas. Content creators can find unique ways to present your brand that you haven’t tried yourself. Many brands on TikTok primarily promote or cross-post influencer content and UGC to fill their feeds.

Brands like Crumbl do this with their round-up of weekly reviews from creators.

Source: TikTok

But how do you find the right influencers for your brand? Authenticity is the second most important quality consumers look for in influencers, according to The 2024 Influencer Marketing Report, so focus on influencers who share a similar audience with your brand.

Also, if you find any videos that mention your brand from influencers, ask permission to re-share the content on your brand’s profile. It’s a quick and easy way to show your audience who else enjoys your brand.

5. Launch a social media contest or giveaway

People can’t resist the power of free stuff. Social media contests are one of the most impactful social media activities when it comes to potential engagement from followers. They also represent a way to share company milestones and celebrate your followers.

You can run effective contests regardless of follower count. Here’s what you need:

1. Something to give away. Ideally, the prize for your contest should somehow be related to your brand (think: free products or a membership). Big-ticket, unrelated items tend to attract freebie-seekers that won’t translate into long-term followers.
2. Terms and conditions. To cover yourself legally, terms and conditions are a must for your contest. This template from Shortstack can clue you in on exactly what you need. Additionally, these points will make your contest seem legitimate and not like a potential scam.
3. A point of contact. On your terms and conditions page, make sure to leave an email address where people can get in touch with questions or concerns.
4. A way to enter. Whether it’s through user-generated content or a branded hashtag, asking followers to post about your brand is the best way to encourage entries. After all, the purpose of a giveaway is brand awareness, not just to give away free stuff.

Track contest entries effortlessly using hashtag monitoring. Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox automatically collects all posts with your branded hashtag, while our Tagging feature helps you organize entries by campaign for easy winner selection. Start your free trial to streamline your next contest.

You don’t need to run contests week after week to reap the rewards. Contests can spike your follower count and engagement, but they’re also a great social media idea for campaigns like product launches.

6. Celebrate a social media holiday

Holiday-themed posts are popular among brands and consumers alike but consider that you don’t have to wait until a traditional holiday to make them.

Leverage the countless hashtag holidays including #NationalTriviaDay, #GalentinesDay or #NationalCatDay. These playful holidays generate creative social media content ideas that entertain and engage your audience.

Source: Instagram

Hashtag holidays can fill the gaps in your content calendar and inspire new ideas, granted you pick ones that are relevant to your business.

7. Invest in UGC: share, pin, retweet and regram

An ongoing theme of creating social content should be to work smarter, not harder.

Rather than constantly racking your brain over creating new posts, consider how you can apply the 80/20 principle by promoting your brand’s user-generated content instead.

Sourcing customer photos and videos through submissions and hashtags is a prime way to fill your content calendar with less legwork. Instagram Stories also have built-in features where customers can submit UGC, as highlighted by Rare Beauty:

Source: Instagram

Not to mention that UGC is more likely to earn engagement and interactions than branded content by default. Beyond that, UGC can create a sense of community among your followers who also want the opportunity to be showcased by your brand. As always, just make sure to get permission prior to reposting UGC.

8. Develop how-tos and tutorials

More and more consumers prefer social media to video when it comes to breaking down step-by-step instructions.

Educating consumers via how-to and tutorial-style content is a great way to engage your audience, build awareness and rank in social search.

See how Poppi’s mouth-watering recipes on Instagram are broken down into actionable steps. Each video is short, entertaining and to the point while remaining comprehensive.

Source: Instagram

When brainstorming tutorial topics, keep it to ideas you can explain in about a minute. Bonus points if your TikTok or Instagram caption can also explain all of the necessary steps!

9. Create short-form video

Having a defined video content strategy is a must-do for modern brands.

Short-form videos consistently rank as the most engaging type of in-feed content across major social platforms. These bite-sized videos capture attention quickly and encourage higher interaction rates than traditional long-form content.

With stats like that, brands should seriously consider creative social media ideas that incorporate video.

Short-form video clips are the bread and butter of TikTok and Instagram Reels, but they’re also perfect for X and Facebook. You can even try out YouTube Shorts. These bite-sized clips usually require minimal editing, can be shot quickly and are prime for sharing.

Here’s a good example from Senita’s Instagram feed which primarily features fit checks and showcases of their athleisure via Instagram Reels.

Brainstorm short, creative clips to keep your followers entertained.

10. Take advantage of trending topics and memes

The most impactful social media ideas emerge from real-time conversations and emerging cultural moments.

Trending topics on X, Instagram, Facebook or TikTok represent a way for brands to capitalize on topical content. While you have a limited window of opportunity for such content to be relevant, topical posts can score huge numbers.

Joining the conversation is important, but avoid political or potentially sensitive topics. There’s nothing worse than dealing with a public relations nightmare because you tried to be clever.

If you want to keep it on the lighter side, you might stick to tapping into your customers’ sense of humor with memes.

While marketing with memes isn’t for everyone, social media itself is a breeding ground for humorous images and satire. As evidenced by brands like Purple there’s certainly a time and place for memes.

Source: TikTok

Keep in mind that memes do have a shelf life. If your audience isn’t privy to humor, memes can come off as cringe-worthy and out of touch. That said, many brands with younger audiences and a heavy social presence could benefit from some lighthearted content.

11. Use social listening to discover trending content ideas

Jumping on trends is one thing. Setting them is another. Instead of waiting for topics to appear on a trending list, you can get ahead of the conversation.

Social listening tools give you a direct line to what your audience is talking about in real time. You’ll uncover unfiltered opinions, emerging narratives and unmet needs straight from the source.

Sprout Social’s Listening tool transforms billions of social conversations into actionable content opportunities:

• Trend Identification: Spot emerging topics before they hit mainstream trending lists
• Sentiment Analysis: Understand emotional context around industry conversations
• Competitive Intelligence: Monitor what resonates with your competitors’ audiences
• Content Gap Analysis: Discover unaddressed questions your audience asks
• Influencer Discovery: Find voices driving conversations in your space

This isn’t just about tracking mentions. It’s about understanding the context, sentiment and key themes driving conversations in your industry. Use these insights to generate post ideas that are not just timely, but deeply relevant to your audience.

12. Repurpose your content

Think about the planning and time it takes to create any piece of content.

Squeezing as much as you can out of your existing posts should be a priority.

For every blog post you write or video you shoot, you should consider additional ideas for promoting it on social media beyond its original format. Consider how you can pull a quote from your content and repurpose it into a share-friendly image via Canva.

You can also make your video content work smarter by repurposing your short-form videos across Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts when appropriate. Alternatively, consider how you can repurpose long-form content into short-form “trailers” on these platforms, too.

Repurposing your content not only breathes new life into old or less popular posts but also keeps your followers from getting bored of the same message shared over and over.

13. Partner with another brand

Co-marketing is a win-win situation. Two brands team up on a campaign or piece of content such as a webinar, ebook or even a special promotion and each company gets exposure to the other’s audience.

Look for brands to partner with that aren’t competitors but have a similar target audience. This collab from Reese’s Book Club and e.l.f. cosmetics is a great example.

Social media is the ideal platform for co-marketing campaign ideas because it’s so easy to sync up your efforts.

14. Share industry news and updates

Positioning yourself as a leader in your industry is a smart move and likewise builds confidence among your customers. This is especially important for B2B brands where updates related to legislation or tech trends could have a big impact on your target audience.

Text-only updates with a link in the comments are fair game for these sorts of updates. In fact, this approach is a smart move since platforms like X, LinkedIn and Facebook traditionally don’t get as much read to posts with external links versus posts that keep users on-platform.

15. Conduct a social media takeover

Sometimes refreshing your social feeds means letting someone else take over.

Takeovers put the reins of your social accounts in someone else’s hands, usually for 24 hours.

Source: TikTok

Handing off your social presence to an influencer or celebrity with a massive, active audience is a prime way to get your brand in front of some new faces and inject a new voice into your account if you’re running short on social media post ideas. You can also let someone else in your company take over your account to give your feed some flavor.

Consider business partners and industry relationships that could be good candidates for a takeover. The purpose of a social media takeover is to get exposure, so ideally choose someone whose audience demographic is relevant to your own.

16. Give live video updates

Live video is the third most engaging type of in-feed social content, partly because consumers are looking for authentic, less-produced experiences with brands.

Whether you’re vlogging from your car or conducting a Q&A session, responding to people in real-time establishes a more personal connection with your followers. Live videos on TikTok are also quite popular among shoppers.

Source: TikTok

Note that many followers might not be able to join live, so giving them the option to go back on their own time is a great way to keep them engaged.

17. Poll your audience

If social media has taught us anything, it’s that people love to share their opinions.

Social media features such as X or Instagram polls are a one-click way to get a pulse on your followers. Polls don’t need to be a formal affair, nor do they need to be sales-related. Social media represents a conversation, so be willing to listen to your follower’s feedback.

18. Support a cause in your community

Demonstrate your brand values by posting your support for a cause. This can be a one-time or recurring donation to relevant organizations and your brand can encourage followers to donate. Or, similar to HeyOrca, showcase employee volunteer and fundraising opportunities to local nonprofits.

Source: LinkedIn

Showing support online is a great way to help build your brand authenticity, so don’t shy away from the causes that are important to your business.

19. Run a social-exclusive promotion

Although brands shouldn’t push their followers too hard with offers and deals, social media features such as Facebook carousel ads can help you score a financial ROI from your social presence.

You can also promote a sale or social-exclusive ad code like Beachwaver did during Black Friday on TikTok.

The beauty of running ads within social media is that they’re easy to track.

For example, Facebook’s ad platform provides an enormous amount of information in terms of who’s seeing your ads, who’s clicking and how much your clicks are worth. Meanwhile, running exclusive coupon codes on TikTok or Instagram can help you understand what percentage of your followers are willing to spend.

20. Share a company milestone

Brands should be willing to celebrate their success and victories with followers.

Featured in a major publication? Reach a sales goal? Stoked about a new hire? Upgraded to a new office?

Let your followers know. Sharing these moments with your audience shows your human side while signaling your brand’s growth.

Source: TikTok

This is a great B2B social media post idea because you don’t have to rely on aesthetically pleasing product visuals like on Instagram or TikTok. Consider posting these content ideas on LinkedIn instead.

Again, effective social media ideas aren’t just about your product or service. Telling your brand’s story and showing what you’re worth based on your accomplishments can truly cement your company’s status in the eyes of your audience.

21. Celebrate your team with employee spotlights

Employee spotlights are a way to boost your team’s morale while also creating engaging social content. Chances are you’ve seen your fair share of “meet the team” social media posts in the wild, especially on platforms like LinkedIn.

Source: LinkedIn

These types of posts can span quick shout-outs, Q&As or even mini-interviews with team members. Sharing your employees’ stories and achievements personalizes your brand and also serves as a way to increase employee engagement. If you want more social media post ideas involving your employees, check out this employee spotlight template.

22. Highlight customer testimonials

With so much noise on social media, building up your brand’s credibility is crucial. Customer success stories and testimonials on social media can demonstrate the value of your product without feeling totally self-promotional. Quotes, testimonial videos and even written reviews are all fair game. Take a look at this customer review that Invisalign posted to their own TikTok account.

If you aren’t already, start asking for reviews from customers. Many brands have a dedicated branded hashtag or place on-site for customers to submit their success stories. Make an effort to get permission from customers prior to posting their testimonials to social, regardless.

23. Share impactful case studies

If you want to show off your brand’s expertise and positive results on social media, case studies can do the trick. By sharing your customers’ or clients’ positive experiences, you can make your social proof truly social.

B2B brands achieve exceptional engagement with case studies on LinkedIn. If you plan on sharing case studies there, consider repurposing them as a visual or infographic for increased reach and engagement rather than just dropping a link.

24. Respond to your followers

Social media is conversational, so brands should always be willing to talk back to their followers.

But this is especially important when it comes to providing customer service.

Your customers’ time is valuable and taking the time to respond shows your brand cares. Speaking of time, it’s important to respond to customer service concerns in a timely manner.

We’re in an era where social customer service is essential, so you can’t afford to go silent on your followers. Pay attention to notifications and @mentions of your brand accordingly.

25. Conduct an interview

Serving as an alternative to a traditional Q&A session, social media has made it arguably easier than ever to conduct interviews.

Whether through TikTok, LinkedIn or Facebook Live, interviewing a relevant influencer or professional in your industry serves as the perfect combination of education and entertainment. You can ask your followers to submit questions or you can ask questions that would be interesting to your audience.

Source: LinkedIn

Social interviews are oftentimes informal and off-the-cuff, coming off as authentic to your audience. As an added bonus, you can repurpose your social interviews into podcasts, blog posts and YouTube videos.

26. Share behind-the-scenes content

Sharing behind-the-scenes content allows you to give a glimpse into your company culture and connect with your customers on a more personal level.

Source: TikTok

This type of content is engaging and easy to snap on your smartphone. From office tours to sneak peeks of what goes into making your products, there are countless social media content ideas that can incorporate BTS content.

While these post ideas can be used by any brand, for a look at ideas tailored to a specific audience and how it can differ, check out our list of social media post ideas for the UK.

27. How to choose the right post ideas for your brand

A list of ideas is a starting point. A winning strategy comes from making deliberate choices. Don’t just throw content at the wall to see what sticks.

First, align every post with your business objectives. Are you trying to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic or generate leads? Your goal dictates your content.

Next, consider your audience. What platforms do they use? What content formats do they prefer? According to The Sprout Social Index™, 86% of users plan to maintain or increase their time spent on social platforms in 2025.

Finally, stay true to your brand voice. An employee spotlight shows your human side, but only if it’s authentic. A social media takeover works when the guest’s voice complements your own.

28. Measuring your social media post performance

Coming up with great ideas is half the battle. The other half is proving they work. You need to move beyond vanity metrics and connect your content to real business impact.

Track key performance indicators (KPIs) for each post type. For engagement-focused content like polls and questions, monitor comment volume and share rates. For conversion-focused posts like social-exclusive promotions, track click-through rates and sales.

A comprehensive social media management platform like Sprout Social centralizes this data. With our analytics tools, you can compare the performance of different content types, identify your top-performing posts and create presentation-ready reports that demonstrate the ROI of your efforts. This data-driven approach transforms your content strategy from guesswork into a predictable engine for growth.

Which social media post idea are you going to try next?

Give these social media ideas a shot if you’re tired of posting the same old content. You don’t have to adhere to a single type of content, especially with many options.

Transform these 27 ideas into a consistent content engine that drives real business results. Sprout Social’s publishing, analytics and AI-powered features turn content creation from overwhelming to effortless. Start your free 30-day trial and watch your engagement soar.

Frequently asked questions about social media post idea

What is the 30-30-30 rule for social media?

The 30/30/30 rule allocates 30% of content to brand promotion, 30% to curated content from other sources and 30% to real-time engagement, with 10% for responsive messaging.

What is the 5-3-2 rule for social media?

The 5-3-2 rule is a content mix guideline. For every ten posts, five should be curated content from other sources, three should be original, non-promotional content from your brand and two should be personal, fun posts that humanize your brand.

How often should I post different types of content?

Your posting frequency depends on the platform, your audience’s expectations and your team’s resources. Use social media analytics to determine the optimal posting times and frequency for your specific audience. Start with a consistent schedule and adjust based on performance data.

Which social media post ideas work best for small businesses?

For small businesses, focus on high-impact, low-effort ideas. User-generated content, behind-the-scenes posts and asking questions are excellent starting points. These ideas build community and authenticity without requiring a large budget or production team.

How do I measure which post types perform best?

You measure performance by tracking metrics tied to your goals. Use a social media analytics tool to monitor engagement rates, reach, click-through rates and conversions for each post. This data reveals which content types are most effective at driving results for your brand.