Learning how to create content for social media comes with a lot of benefits. It can boost your brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, increase audience engagement, and foster good customer relations.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As of February 2025, there were over 5.24 billion social media users. Knowing how to create content for social media is essential if you want to tap into that vast stream of traffic.
Image via Statista
So, how do you turn a portion of this staggering number of users into potential customers? That’s what we're here to discuss.
If you’ve been relying on social media marketing but aren’t quite sure how to create content for social media that connects, this guide is for you.”
Table of Contents
What is Social Media Content?
Social media content is anything you share on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or LinkedIn. This content can be a photo, video, caption, link, or even a quick thought.
Learning how to create content for social media is not reserved for individuals or influencers alone— it’s just as valuable for businesses and everyday users.
Knowing how to create content for social media helps you connect with your audience, share ideas, and promote products or services.
In fact, good social media content grabs attention, builds trust, and keeps people engaged. It also helps businesses stand out and grow their online presence..
Some common types of social media content you’ll come across today include the following.
- Images: Eye-catching visuals like photos, infographics, or branded graphics are perfect for grabbing attention.
- Videos: Short clips or long-form videos boost engagement. People love watching product demos, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes clips.
- Text Posts: Simple updates, thoughts, or questions can start conversations and keep people engaged.
- Stories: This content disappears after 24 hours. However, they create urgency and keep audiences coming back for fresh updates.
- Live Streams: Going live allows for real-time connection. You can answer questions, show new products, or give exclusive previews.
- User-Generated Content: Sharing content from followers builds trust. It also encourages others to tag and mention your brand.
- Polls and Quizzes: Interactive posts get people to participate. They also help businesses learn more about their audience.
- Memes and GIFs: A bit of humor can go a long way in making your content relatable, shareable, and full of personality.
Want to know how to create content for social media that works? Read the next section.
13 Tips to Create Social Media Content that Works
Here are some of the best tips on how to create content for social media to engage your audience.
1. Keep Your Audience in Mind
The first thing that any expert will give you on how to create content for social media is to keep your audience in mind while creating content.
Social media content should be targeted at a specific audience that best matches your target customers. So, you need to first understand your target audience and then create content that will resonate with them.
Need an example of such social media content?
Let’s take the example of skincare brand Olay. The target customers, in this case, are primarily women with good disposable income to be able to afford premium skincare. If you look at the brand’s Instagram page, you will find that all of their content, from images to memes, is targeted at women.
Here’s a recent post that is informative and useful for women who care about their skin.
Image via Instagram
Pro Tip: Use social media analytics to get data on your existing audience preferences and then create content that they like more.
2. Create a Content Calendar
A content calendar is a simple way to plan and organize your social media content ahead of time. It helps keep things consistent, so you’re not scrambling for ideas every day. In fact, if you're learning how to create content for social media, building a content calendar is one of the smartest strategies you can use.
So, what does a social media content calendar consist of?
A regular social media content calendar shows what to post, when to post, and where to post. You can use content creation tools like Canva to generate content calendars. Additionally, you can grab free templates online to save time. Here’s an example you can use.
Image via Slidebazaar
Here are some quick tips to make the most of your social media content calendar:
- Plan content at least a month ahead for consistency.
- Mix up post types likevideos, images, and textto keep things fresh.
- Check analytics to see what’s working and adjust.
- Use scheduling tools like Buffer or Later to automate posts.
- Leave room for trending topics so your content stays relevant.
A content calendar keeps everything structured, saves time, and helps with engagement.
Pro Tip: When learning how to create content for social media through content calendars, focus on simple projects first. It’s a great way to build confidence and plan ahead.
3. Support a Cause
This is an evergreen tactic on how to create content for social media, that never fails and should be a part of your social media content strategy.
What does it entail?
Support a social cause that you feel deeply about and show your support on social media. People connect with brands that support social causes more than they would with any other brand.
Also, keep your target audience in mind when selecting your causes. For example, if your target audience is women, you may want to support women’s empowerment or any cause that they can relate to.
A great example is Dove. The beauty brand has mastered how to create content for social media by focusing on beauty and self-confidence. Most of its social media content creation is around shattering traditional beauty standards.
The brand’s latest campaign is against the use of retouching tools and filters that people use to make their pictures beautiful. As part of this, the brand urged its users to share their pictures without any filters and shared those on its Instagram page.
Here’s an example:
Image via Instagram
Pro Tip: The best way to stand out is to learn how to create content for social media that aligns with your values and builds real connections. Use a cause-based campaign to get free user-generated social media content that you can share from your accounts.
4. Trigger an Emotion
Do you want to learn how to create content for social media?
The simplest way is to create content that evokes an emotion in your audience.
There, we said it. The best way to create social media content that engages your audience is to use emotions to your advantage.
People love social media content that makes them laugh, cry, think, or feel something, anything. Moreover, they will connect to your brand more if you regularly create engaging content that touches them in some way.
But, how exactly do you create content that triggers an emotion?
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Use visuals that portray an emotion
- Tell a touching story
- Choose themes or topics that your audience can relate to
- Create humorous content to make them laugh
- Write intriguing titles
Still unsure of how to create content for social media that triggers emotions? Let’s look at this example from Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola posted this emotional, yet motivational, video in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic to give people hope. The content was well-timed as almost everyone was losing hope and people needed something like this to give them hope.
Image via YouTube
Now, this is a perfect example of how to create content for social media that makes an impact. This is something that people will remember. And, even if it's subconscious, they connect with brands that make them feel positive.
Pro Tip: Be aware of the latest happenings in the world to create current, relevant content that triggers an emotion in your audience.
5. Create Polls, Quizzes, and Contests
The goal of most social media content is to engage the audience. And, there’s nothing more engaging than a good old-fashioned contest, poll, or quiz.
Let’s discuss each one by one and understand what makes them so engaging.
Contests and giveaways work for the simple reason that these offer some free reward or a gift. All a user has to do is participate, for a chance to win that reward. This is a simple promotional tactic that has been there for ages and is still relevant.
Want to know the best part?
Social media contests can also help you grow your follower base and reach more people. All you have to do is ask participants to tag their friends and follow your account to participate.
Polls work on the concept of social validation. People like to take polls to see whether their opinion conforms with the general majority or differs. It’s just about curiosity to see whether they fit in or stand out.
You can use the polls sticker in Instagram Stories or the equivalent on other social media channels to create polls for your audience.
Quizzes, on the other hand, work because it tests participants’ knowledge on a subject. Multiple choice questions are easy enough to answer and the desire to prove themselves knowledgeable is what makes quizzes appeal to most users.
Overall, all three of these work well as social media content that engages most types of audiences. So, incorporate these in your social media strategy to create social media content that is fun and engaging.
Pro Tip: Make sure you keep the topics for quizzes and polls relevant to your brand or products.
6. Share User-Generated Content
User-generated content is free, authentic, and relatable, which makes it a must-have part of your social media content strategy. It is also one of the best content marketing tactics as it gets you good, authentic content without spending time on content creation.
You don’t always have to create content for social media yourself. In fact, it is actually a good practice to use UGC from time to time, as it makes your users feel special when you repost their content or mention them in your posts.
One of the best ways to get user-generated content is to ask your customers or followers to tag your brand when they share a post where they are using your products. You can then select some of these posts and repost them on your account, mentioning the user’s name.
Another great way to get UGC is to start a hashtag campaign and ask your followers to share relevant posts by using a specific hashtag. In the Dove example above, #RealBeauty and #DoveSelfEsteemProject are such campaign hashtags.
Image via Instagram
So, run UGC campaigns to get social content for free, while also keeping your followers engaged.
Pro Tip: Create a relevant and easy-to-remember hashtag for your UGC hashtag campaigns.
7. Collaborate with Influencers for Social Media Marketing
If you're wondering how to create content for social media that boosts brand awareness and engages your audience, influencer collaborations are a must.
Influencers aren’t just industry experts, they know how to create content for social media that their audience loves. Plus, they have a loyal following that trusts their recommendations.
So, if you collaborate with an influencer to create branded social media content for you, they can produce good results. First, it will help you reach their audience, in addition to yours. Second, you will get high-quality social media content that you can later repurpose and reuse.
Here’s an example of Trader Joe taking advantage of their large following on Instagram to promote their new brand of chocolate.
Image via Instagram
Create a successful influencer marketing strategy before you start an influencer campaign to improve your chances of success.
Pro Tip: Use an influencer post for your brand for your social media ads to save time designing it yourself, while still getting good results.
8. Maintain a Consistent Brand Voice
One of the best ways to master how to create content for social media is by maintaining a consistent brand image and voice.
Your social media content, across all platforms, represents your brand and should be in accordance with your company or brand values and image. So, find your brand voice and stick to it, across all your social platforms.
What exactly is a brand voice?
A brand voice is the personality and values of your brand/company infused in your content. It is made of small things like tone, choice of topics, colors used, and more.
Your brand’s tone could be formal/informal, serious/humorous, etc. Combine that with different brand elements like brand colors, font, etc. and you get a distinct brand voice or image.
Learning how to create content for social media means using these elements consistently in everything you post.
Pro Tip: Choose a tone that would resonate with your target audience and is apt for your industry, otherwise it could backfire.
9. Leverage Video Content
Another ingenious way of learning how to create content for social media is mastering video making. Video content is one of the most engaging types of content and currently dominates the social media landscape.
It has become increasingly popular as most social channels provide numerous options to post video content. From IGTV videos to stories, the options are numerous.
But, what kind of videos should you create?
Well, understanding how to create content for social media means knowing how to use video effectively. Whether it’s short clips, behind-the-scenes footage, or educational content, video helps brands connect and engage like never before.
Again, there are simply a lot of social media content options to choose from. Here are some popular types of videos that you can try:
- Tutorials
- How-to videos
- Funny or entertaining videos
- Customer testimonials
- Animation
- Social media challenges
- Videos showing products in use
- Unboxing and review videos
These are the most popular types of videos on social media today. Experiment with one or more of these and see what works for your audience. If you are not yet leveraging videos then it’s high time that you incorporate these into your social media marketing strategy.
Pro Tip: You can collaborate with influencers to create unboxing and review videos to reach and engage more people.
10. Use Humor
Using humor is another great way to engage your audience on social media and is essential for your social media strategy. People come to get entertained and consume some great social media content.
If you can make your audience smile, they would want to consume more of your content and will follow your brand on social media.
How can you create good humorous social media content?
Luckily for you, there are tons of options there. You can even look at your feeds for social media content inspiration.
Some most popular options include memes, comics, gifs, funny videos, jokes, etc.
Charmin, for example, is one brand that consistently uses humor in its social media content. The best part is that their brand of humor matches their business (a toilet paper manufacturer).
Here’s an example:
Image via X
Pro Tip: Avoid creating social media content that involves overly sensitive issues, like politics or religious humor. These topics can cause controversy and even damage your reputation.
11. Connect with Your Audience
This tip on how to create content for social media is not so much about content itself, but about connecting with your audience.
Social media is not just a marketing tool, but also a way for brands to connect with their customers in a real way. So, apart from your regular social media content, you should also use social media to connect with your audience.
How can you do that?
You can instruct your social media content manager to start a live video to show some behind-the-scenes content from your office or simply talk to your followers.
Another great social media content idea is to host a Q&A or get-to-know-you session with the brand’s owner or key executives. This also helps put a face to your brand/company and makes it easier for people to connect with it.
A great example of how to create content for social media with impact happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many brands took to social media to share messages of hope or simply to express their sadness over the global crisis. Messages like these show your audience that you are not just a faceless, emotionless business but a team of people who care.
This company went a step further and wrote a heartfelt letter to their customers/audience seeking advice and sharing their struggles amid the pandemic.
Image via Instagram
Pro Tip: Find different ways to connect with your audience on the right social media platforms and make sure that your message is genuine and on point.
12. Attend Social Media Events in Your Niche
Social media events are a great way to bring people together to exchange trends, tips, and experiences. Whether it’s an online conference, a live Q&A session, or an industry meetup, these events create opportunities for connection and learning.
If you want to learn how to create content for social media that stands out, attending these events can give you fresh content ideas. You get to see the social media content that’s trending, hear expert opinions, and connect with others in your field.
These events can inspire social media content in so many ways. You can turn-key takeaways into posts, create recap videos, or share event highlights. They also give you real-time engagement opportunities.
Live-tweeting, posting stories, or asking questions during a session can boost visibility. You can even network with speakers or attendees and collaborate on future content.
Apple leverages social media events to its advantage. Every year, the brand hosts high-profile events where it unveils new products. These events generate massive buzz and has wide range of influencers and industry leaders in attendance.
Image via Apple
Pro Tip: Events like this create a lasting buzz, and people are always looking forward to the next one. So, ensure you attend events that have a bigger impact on your brand’s visibility if you want to master how to create content for social media.
13. Post Product Pictures
When we talk about how to create content for social media, we can’t ignore posts with product images. After all, the end goal for all businesses is to generate more revenue, and social media is just another channel for that.
Given the visual nature of various social media platforms, it is very easy to showcase your products and make your feed a virtual product catalog. You can still incorporate a lot of the social media marketing tactics mentioned above while selling your products through social media.
Here’s a brilliant example of one such post. The post basically shows a product picture, but the caption is about Mother’s Day. Moreover, the caption also encourages people to tag a mom, thus boosting engagement rates as well.
Image via Instagram
That’s not just a well-rounded post, but also a brilliant Mother’s Day marketing idea.
Pro Tip: Use high-quality images for your social media content, preferably shot in a solid colored background to make your products pop.
FAQ
Q1. How do you create social media content?
A. Social media content should be precise, fun, engaging, and targeted at a specific audience. Here’s a quick review of our top tips on how to create content for social media:
- Keep Your Audience in Mind
- Jump on a Latest Social Media Trend
- Support a Cause
- Trigger an Emotion
- Create Polls, Quizzes, and Contests
- Share User-Generated Content
- Collaborate with Influencers
- Maintain a Consistent Brand Voice
- Leverage Video Content
- Use Humor
- Connect with Your Audience
- Share Inspirational Content
- Post Product Pictures
Q2. What type of content is best for social media?
A. In general, visual content works best for social media. Videos are especially gaining popularity on social media platforms. Humorous content like memes, gifs, etc. is also quite popular.
Q3. How do you create content for beginners?
A. When creating content for beginners, make sure that you explain each concept clearly and use a language that is easy to understand. Give lots of examples to make and explain your points.
Q4. Who is a social media content creator?
A. Anyone who creates and posts content for a specific audience on social media is a content creator. However, in marketing terms, the term “creator” is usually used for social media influencers.
Q5. What makes a content creator successful?
A. If a content creator can understand their audience and create content that resonates with them, then they are successful. Once you build enough influence, you can even collaborate with brands and earn money from it.
Q6. What are the types of content on social media?
A. Social media platforms provide numerous opportunities to post different types of content like posts, stories, IGTV videos, live videos, etc.
Q7. What are the different types of social media posts?
A. The three most common types of social media posts are image posts, video posts, and carousel posts.
Q8. What kind of content works on Instagram?
A. The short answer is visual content. It is a visual platform and high-quality visuals are what work best on Instagram. Instagram Stories, specifically, are gaining popularity and you should leverage them if you’re not already doing so.
Q9. What type of content is best for Facebook?
A. In general, videos perform better on Facebook than any other type of post. Videos have and will continue to dominate the platform in the near future.
Q10. How do you make good X content?
A. Post about the latest happenings in the word or recent topics in a precise manner and you should be good.
Conclusion
These are some of the best tips on how to create content for social media, for any business. Hopefully, these will help you create engaging and successful social media content.
While all the tips described above will boost your brand visibility online, content writing is really where it counts.. When you perfect how to write and present your content to your audience, your chances of success will be better.
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