This month we are talking about how to handle the summer slump. It’s summer and you would much rather be at the pool or beach than figure out what to post on your business’s social media accounts. Not knowing what to post is a common issue, but we are here to save you time and stress. 

 

Content Calendar 

 

Content Calendars are your best friend. We recommend using a two-week rotation of six different posting ideas. You can only use a quote or testimonial every two weeks. You don’t want your content to look boring or repetitive. We have a template content calendar that we refill every couple of months. If you would like this template, send us an email. We would love to share it with you. 

 

Look at Your Competition 

 

We do not recommend that you frequently look at your competition, but it is okay to occasionally do so. You don’t want to get in your head about if their content is better or more successful, so do not overdo it. When you take your occasional peek at their content, look for ideas and inspiration that you could make your own. What kind of content is successful for them? Don’t copy all of their ideas, but pull a few ideas that you could use for your business. You can even look at companies in your industry that are located in areas far away. This way you are gaining inspiration without stealing ideas from your local competition. 

 

Ask Those Around You 

 

Talk to your vendors, co-workers, and clients to find out what they want to see from you. People will be honest if you just ask them. They have ideas and thoughts about what you are doing that they will tell you. What are they interested in seeing? 

 

Testimonials

 

We are always surprised at how many businesses do not use testimonials. Testimonials are public information that can help to promote your business. If you are getting good feedback you should share that with potential clients. You can take reviews from Google and LinkedIn, make them pretty in Canva, and post them on social media platforms. 

 

Behind the Scenes 

Behind-the-scenes posts do not have to be elaborate. Simply take photos of you doing what you do. If you are a speaker, post pictures of you speaking. If you’re a dentist, post a video of you setting up equipment. You would be surprised to see how interested people are in what you do every day. Share the parts of your job that you are most into. It could be a picture of your pet, you arriving to work, or a picture of your third cup of coffee that day. 

 

User-Generated Content

 

When you get tagged in a post or mentioned in a story, it is perfect content for your page. People often share photos and videos of the companies they love. Use this to your benefit in the form of posts, stories, and videos. 

 

What You’re Working on 

 

Do you have a new product or project for your business? This will make the perfect post. Get a picture or video of a team member working on it, or just post about the new project. 

 

Throwbacks 

Content that works one time will almost always work again. When you repeat content make sure that it is in season. You shouldn’t be posting a Christmas post in July just because it worked in December. You can recycle contests, graphics, links, and videos that have worked in the past. We recommend you only repeat one or two posts every six months. 

 

Highlight Others 

 

Highlighting a team member, friendly vendor, or local business can make a great post. Reach out to the person or business you are highlighting to make sure it is okay. Most people love shoutouts, and it gives you something interesting to post. 

 

Contests and Giveaways

 

Gift Cards, Gift baskets, and cool products make for great giveaways. You can even team with other businesses to create a bigger and better giveaway. The giveaway can be posted on both your account and theirs. 

 

Unusual Holidays 

 

The National Day of calendar is a great resource for when you are out of posting ideas. It separates holidays by day, month, and year. It has multiple holidays for every day of the year. Many of these holidays can in some way be tied to your business with a little bit of creative thinking. Some holidays will directly relate to your business. 

 

Questions 

Ask your audience questions through polls, this or that, and fill in the blank posts. This is a good way to get good engagement on your posts and stories. You can also answer frequently asked questions about your business. We recommend answering questions in the form of a video. How-to videos get great engagement. 

 

Unique Resources 

 

You should be using resources you don’t normally use if you want to generate better content. Don’t use google for every idea you post. Answer the Public is one great resource you can use. You type in a keyword and it will give you questions people are asking about that topic. BlogHub is another great resource. It has blogs on every topic with subcategories underneath. It will help you get ideas of topics you had never thought of. Pinterest, Youtube, and Twitter are also great search engines that will produce different results than google or other common search engines. 

 

Promote Yourself 

It is okay to promote your business on social media. 80 percent of the time you should be posting to educate, inform, and entertain. The other 20 percent of the time you can tell your audience what you do and advertise for yourself. Everyone understands that you are a business, and you have bills to pay. Ask for the sale. 

 

Fix The Summer Slump

 

Summer slumps can cause you to struggle with finding content. We hope we have given you ideas and resources to help with this issue. Check-in next week to learn how to prepare for summer vacation when you are running a business’s social media pages.