As social media managers and strategists, we've all been there. Staring at "Write something..." on your Facebook Page's update box, as if it's taunting you while you rack your brain for ideas. The only answer to Twitter's query of "What's happening?" seems to be a terse "Nothing." You don't need to feel haunted by that blinking cursor any more. backed by research and behavioral science, these 21 ideas for social media content are guaranteed to not only alleviate writer's block, but will also help you increase engagement and sharing.

1. 21 ideas for social media content
when you have no clue what to post
UNBLOCKED
JESSICA HALL CONSULTING
Social Media, Content & Brand Strategy
WINTER 2016

2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona
Office of Tourism, her insights span many
audiences and industries.
She has close to a decade of experience helping
brands with social media and content marketing
strategy development.
Jessica Hall bring a distinct blend of brand strategy
experience, social media expertise and mass
communication theory to developing online
communities and content that create brand
loyalists, inspire action, support other
communication initiatives and garner key insights.
Having worked on market research initiatives,
brand-positioning blueprints, advertising
campaigns and social media plans with brands like
Nike, HERSHEY’s, PetSmart, Cox Media, the
University of Arizona, Pulte Homes, Suzuki, the
A Phoenix-based social media, content & brand strategist

3. By blending your audience’s needs and what
motivates people to share, social media content
can be designed to incite engagement and sharing
to increase results — even when you’re
experiencing a creative block of what to post.
Knowing that we should post something just for
the sake of filling a void, we can strategically
create ad hoc content for our social channels by
leveraging research.
THE RIGHT STEPPS
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SOCIAL CURRENCY
Shareable content holds social currency; one way or another, it makes the user look good to
others.
TRIGGERS
Triggers are the hooks that keep an idea top-of-mind and tip-of-tongue. Memorable content
will help your message spread.
EMOTION
Messaging with an emotional appeal is more likely to be shared. Playing to your audience’s
emotions will help increase awareness.
PUBLIC
The more public something is, the more likely people will imitate it. We’ll continue to generate
interest as more people become aware of it.
PRACTICAL VALUE
Audiences are looking for content that is genuinely useful to them. You can provide them with
unique insight and knowledge.
STORIES
Good stories get passed along. Content with a strong narrative will help you reach a wider
audience.
Social scientist and professor at the Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania Berger’s
research and findings have identified that people
share content that falls under six categories: social
currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value
and stories.
Using his STEPPS philosophy, you can increase the
likelihood of generating greater awareness and
engagement through sharing.
Using data to drive decisions when creating content
BERGER’S SIX STEPPS
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4. CAPTION THIS
Give your fans and followers a chance to
shine. Fashion the limelight on them by
posting a photo and encouraging them
to respond with a witty or creative
caption.
Did you get a gut-busting caption from a
fan or follower? Share it with everyone a
few days after the caption contest,
highlighting the user’s great work.
When using anyone’s name, image or
likeness, it’s recommended that you get
his or her permission to share it before
doing so.
DAYS OF THE YEAR
There are thousands of odd holidays that
can be showcased in conjunction with
your company or industry. For example, a
candy store could highlight the fact that
February 5 is Chocolate Fondue Day.
It’s important to double check that the
date represented is the most widely
accepted date for the holiday — in some
cases, you may find that certain holidays’
dates are misrepresented on various
online calendars.
When sharing the content, offer an
exclusive discount or offer on the
holiday.
BEND THEIR EAR
Questions are obviously an excellent way
to connect and engage with your
audience, but open-ended questions can
take a lot of time – which users may not
have or be willing to commit – to answer.
Instead, use a fill-in-the-blank prompt to
make responding more convenient and
faster, especially when character limits
are involved. Aligning the prompt with
your fans and followers’ interests will
increase the likelihood that you’ll get
numerous responses.
These answers can even be repurposed to
create additional content. In doing this,
you’re afforded a great opportunity to
thank fans and followers for responding,
encouraging them to continue to engage
and others to follow suit in the future.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Simplifying things further, you can also
ask followers to choose from a
predetermined set of options. Whether it’s
set up a multiple choice question or a poll
with only two options, the community can
easily respond.
With the latter, you can use engagement
as your voting mechanism, such as asking
them to retweet the post if they prefer one
option or favorite the tweet to indicate
that they prefer the second choice.
4 content ideas that leverage social currency to boost engagement and sharing
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SOCIAL CURRENCY
What better way to make a user look good than to give them a platform to connect with others by
contributing their opinions, giving them a chance to show their personality or providing the opportunity
to share interesting content?
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5. HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Global organizations or those that
promote inclusion and diversity (e.g.,
universities, non-profits, etc.) can also
share content related toworldwide
holidays. You can find a complete list of
these celebrations and observances
here.
If you’re sharing a variety of
holiday-themed posts, be sure to
monitor for those that may elicit a
negative response from some.
TRENDING TOPICS
Social media is rife with interesting
stories that capture the attention of
thousands of people, if not millions. You
can search for a news story or event
that’s trending on Facebook, a hashtag
that’s garnering attention on Twitter or a
popular topic on Reddit (just visit Reddit’s
Trending Subreddit page) to create
relevant and on-brand content.
News-jacking — the act of aligning your
own content with a popular story or topic
— can be a powerful tool for brands.
However, it’s important that it isn’t seen
as overly opportunistic or salacious.
Before sharing, have a coworker assess
the content for decorum and respect,
especially during holidays or in relation to
news stories that are sensitive.
NEWSWORTHY INSIGHTS
Interesting things happen inside the four
walls of organizations or across our
industry more often than we realize.
Share this enlightening news with your
fans and followers by offering a unique
perspective.
For example, when infrared cameras were
employed to detect leaks by the
plumbing industry, one such company
offered their audience an explanation of
how it works.
Whether you’re joining the conversation or starting it, interesting news and trending topics can be
leveraged to engage your audience.
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TRIGGERS3 ways to trigger interaction on social networks
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AN INSTANT ILLUSTRATION
Oreo captured the nation’s attention
during an opportune moment in the
2013 Super Bowl.

6. NOTABLE AND QUOTABLE
Inspiration quotes can elicit strong
emotional responses, leading fans and
followers to share them with their
friends and family.
POSITIVELY PLAYABLE
Music can convey emotion — from
excitement to focus — in such a
succinct manner. Whether it’s in relation
to a big event or an exciting campaign, a
playlist can be created and shared with
fans and followers.
PRIME AND PIQUE
With an air of mystery, you can
encourage your audience to click
through to get the full story by playing to
their curiosity. If you’re planning a
campaign, you can also create content
to incite interest before it launches.
SHOW EMOTION
Your product or service doesn’t need to
be front and center every time. Instead,
you can use photos to convey the
feelings associated with your brand.
Starbucks does a wonderful job of using
content that has nothing to do with their
business, such as sharing photos of good
friends and warm scenes.
IN NEED
Sometimes your fans and followers will
share more about their lives than you
ever imagined they would. In working at
the University of Arizona, the social
media channels were used to bring
attention to fans who were raising funds
for important needs, like expensive
medical treatments, dealing with a
natural disaster or raising funds to tell a
significant story.
If it seems appropriate, you too can share
this information, highlighting that this
isn’t just a marketing channel—it’s a
community first and foremost.
Work with the person or group to ensure
that you
have everything you need to help them.
More importantly, if you come across this
information through someone else, ask
the person or group directly if they’re
okay with your organization highlighting
their cause.
It may be excitement, sadness or joy — when content makes us feel something, we feel compelled to
share it with others, to offer them the same experience. You can encourage emotional responses — and
sharing — by using these content frameworks.
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EMOTION5 strategies to encourage emotional responses
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A MOUTH-WATERING MODEL
Beaucoup Bakery in Vancouver not
only makes its audience feel hungry,
but also inspires warmth.

7. FAN/FOLLOWER OF THE MONTH
Acknowledge the people who support
your company each day by highlighting a
fan each month. If you have more than
10,000 fans and followers, you may even
want to consider doing this on a weekly
basis.
Those who are selected are likely to
share this information, putting your
brand in front of their friends and family.
Other fans are likely to want to be
recognized for their continued support.
Before sharing the user’s full name
and/or photo, be sure to get their
permission to do so.
FAN AND FOLLOWER PHOTOS
Whether you’ve encouraged the use of a
brand-related hashtag that you can
search or users have been sharing
content with your company on its social
channels, you can use user-generated
content to highlight the use of your
products or services while also
encouraging others to post their own
photos.
Ask the user if it’s okay for you to share
their photo before doing so. It’s their
content, and it could come back to bite
you if you don’t get their approval before
sharing it. It’s also recommended that
you give them credit for the image,
attributing the photo to them.
Content can also be used to encourage specific action, as people will often follow suit if they see others
are doing something. You can publicize your audiences’ activities to encourage others to partake.
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PUBLIC2 tactics to publicize and promote user actions
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A SWEET SAMPLE
Those connected to the University of Arizona
were prompted to send in photos around
Valentine’s Day. Fans adored seeing their love
for their significant other and university on
display for all to see on the UA’s Facebook
Page. They would often tag each other or
share their photo from the Page with their
friends and family.

8. TUTORIALS
Whether it’s product-specific or related,
yet general knowledge, you can share
useful information with your fans and
followers through the use of
how-tovideos, photo tutorials and
written instructions.
This content can also live on your
website — either in its original format or
in a format that fits the needs of your
website visitors or the requirements of
the channel — to increase its reach and
usefulness.
ANTICIPATE THEIR NEEDS
Address your customer’s worries, issues
and questions — whether they’re directly
related to your offering or not — and
they’ll not only share that content, but
they’ll return for more. Zulily, an online
retailer, developed a back-to-school
checklist, and Tide often shares tips on
how to organize a closet.
ANSWER FAQS
It’s likely that your social media team,
customer service representatives and
salespeople get asked some of the same
questions over and over. Address those
common queries via social media to
provide useful, usable insights to your
fans and followers.
If this content doesn’t already live on
your website, it's recommended that you
add it to an FAQ section as it’s created
for social media.
FLASH SALE
Not only can you encourage sales with a
flash sale, but you can also encourage
your audience to follow your updates
more closely and frequently, as they’ll
want to watch out for the next one. If you
use Snapchat, it’s tailor-made for a
limited-time coupon.
From great deals to educational content, your audience is likely to share information that they deem as
truly useful.
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PRACTICAL VALUE4 methods to provide unique insight and beneficial knowledge
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A WHOLE HUB
Adobe offers marketing leaders a host
of useful information on its own
branded repository.

9. A DAY IN THE LIFE
Storytelling can be used to give your
audience a behind-the-scenes peek into
your business. Giving fans and followers a
recap of a typical day of your
organization’s CEO, engineer, customer
service representative and many other
professionals will show them all that goes
into making or providing their favorite
product or service.
SHARE A STORY
Heartwarming, humorous and
interesting things are bound to happen.
Setting up a vehicle (e.g., company
intranet, specific email address, etc.) for
employees to submit these stories to can
allow you to capture these moments and
share them on your social media
channels.
For companies that have a lot of
customer interaction, it may be a
worthwhile effort to categorize and track
these stories. Once several dozen have
been collected, an eBook could be
created to draw a wider audience’s
attention to all the great stories your
brand has to tell.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Highlighting important events as they
unfold — such as a keynote address at a
popular conference or a grand opening
— can be an impactful storytelling tool.
Fans and followers will feel included and
in-the-know.
If there’s only one social media manager
at your company, it’s best to recruit at
least one additional person to help out
during the event. Also, if a speech is
planned, it can be helpful to get a
transcript of it beforehand to ensure that
quotes are accurate.
There are likely dozens of stories in the making throughout your organization each day. Highlighting
these accounts can inspire sharing and generate more awareness of your company.
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AN INSIGHTFUL INSTANCE
Chipotle’s new computer-animated short
film, The Scarecrow, does an impactful
job of relaying the message that they not
only use natural ingredients from
sustainable sources, but also that this an
issue that the viewer should care about
through storytelling.
STORIES3 types of stories to share with your audience
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10. All of these ideas are perfect for when you’re in a pinch — they’ll help you engage your audience,
increase awareness and some may even lead to a sale.
However, the best fix for a creative block when posting to social media is to come up with a
solid strategy that hinges upon the intersections of your business’ goals, the audience’s
inclinations and your brand’s key messages.
If you’re interested in going through this process, I’m happy to help — and at an affordable rate.
Learn more at http://www.jessicahallconsulting.com/social-media-strategy.
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PLAN NOWDevelop a strategy first, content creation comes later