James Scherer — May 30, 2017 
Are you managing the social media strategy for a young business?
Are you wondering how to get the most out of Facebook?
Some people might tell you that you have to pay to play.
Before you dive into laying down cash, let’s try everything we can do get there organically. Some of the top businesses in the world find success with Facebook.
This article will give you 20 examples of what those businesses post on Facebook, giving you everything you need to achieve your social media goals.
1. What to Post on Facebook: Pets
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Everybody loves sharing and seeing pictures of pets – it’s the reason behind the success of YouTube, Tumblr and most subreddits.
- Tap into what people love by featuring pets within your Facebook posts.
2. What to Post on Facebook: Company News
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- The people who have Followed you on Facebook want to know who you are, as a real company.
- Keep those Fans up to date with what’s happening with new hires, new campaigns, new product developments, and everything else that’s newsworthy.
- If you’ve done a good job (in other areas, and on Facebook) creating a friendly, interesting company, people will be super interested in learning more about how you work and what you’re doing.
3. What to Post on Facebook: TGIF/Case of the Mondays/Hump Day
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- These posts tap into what people are already thinking about. When it’s Monday, people have a case of the Mondays. When it’s Thursday, some target markets might be “Thirsty.” Friday? Thank God It’s Friday.
- People love to Like, Comment and Share these kinds of posts – especially on Mondays and Fridays. These are the days when people are most on Facebook during the day (as nobody wants to work).
4. What to Post on Facebook: Influencers
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- If you can get an influencer to sponsor or speak well about your brand, you’d be amazed at the success you can find overnight.
- Don’t worry about trying to get Beyonce. It’s not going to happen. Instead, focus on smaller influencers (Instagram influencers, for instance) who are specifically attractive for your niche.
- Take a page from Red Bull’s example above, in which they picked out a mountain biker who is only well-known within their target niche.
5. What to Post on Facebook: Recipes
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Depending on your business, recipes can work really well to provide value to your Fans.
- Recipes, like the one above from REI, can also be made quickly and easily into a video (and people love those “quick recipe” videos). If you can do this, I highly recommend it
- All businesses can actually take advantage of this, so long as you’re creative. Your accounting company, for instance, could post “Our office manager Jill makes the most amazing potato salad. Here’s how she does it in preparation for the 4th of July this weekend!”
6. What to Post on Facebook: Themed Content
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- This is a newer Facebook posting strategy I’ve seen recently: publishing themed content for a month or so. It works to solidify a campaign or movement you’re looking to get rolling at your organization.
- Are you introducing a new line of children’s clothing? Double down on marketing it by rolling out a month of child-focused Facebook posts. Introducing a new referral capability within your marketing software? Post bite-size benefit articles over the course of a few weeks around its launch.
7. What to Post on Facebook: User-Generated Content
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- This is a no-brainer: If you share the content of other people on your higher-traffic business Page, those people (and their own social networks) will be stoked.
- Post user-generated content by identifying related posts (Instagram is great for this) from people within your target market and then asking them in a DM if you can post their content on your own site, @mentioning them (of course). Once you get the okay, create a post and see your engagement skyrocket!
8. What to Post on Facebook: Products
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- First off, don’t post product-focused content all the time. But who are we kidding, why else are you on social media except to drive business? If you have a new, awesome product, feature it! Show people how awesome it is.
- If you can make your products look appealing, there’s no reason you can’t post them to Facebook. My recommendation would be to do something similar to REI above (or an “unboxing” video) where you show your product in action.
9. What to Post on Facebook: Responses in the Comments
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Facebook posting isn’t just about the content you post, but how you respond to it. At least a quarter of the time you invest into Facebook should be devoted to responding to commenters – even going so far as to start the conversation yourself with a question in the comment section
- Red Bull uses memes and gifs to respond to commenters – this solidifies their brand tone.
10. What to Post on Facebook: High-Quality Images
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Again, this is a no-brainer, but one I see all the time (particularly among small businesses). Use high quality images that are the right size. You’ll get more engagement and people will respect you as a real, professional brand far more easily.
- If you need a bit of help with creating high-quality social media images, check out Canva.com and our 113 Visual Marketing Apps resource.
11. What to Post on Facebook: Polls
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- People love to give their opinions about everything. Asking them to vote gives them the ability to feel heard, as well as introduces a bit of competition between people of different opinions (increasing engagement).
- My one note here would be to avoid any truly controversial topics. No politics. No religion. Keep it light.
12. What to Post on Facebook: Facebook Live
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Your Fans love the impromptu, casual, real people feel of a Facebook Live video.
- Facebook rewards Facebook Live videos in its newsfeed algorithm, meaning more people will see your Facebook Live video than they will any other type of post you create.
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out Safeway’s Facebook page. They haven’t published anything except Facebook Live videos in months!
13. What to Post on Facebook: Video
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- First and foremost, video (including Live video, above) is rewarded by the Facebook posting algorithm. So you’ll win on that front even if you ignore everything else that’s awesome about video on Facebook.
- Doing video well puts your business in the realm of professional, serious businesses. Doing it poorly does not. As a result, I’d recommend only doing video if you’re up for the investment. That means audio equipment, a quality camera, and a bit of practice with being on video.
- But if you get it right, you can expect more engagement than any other type of Post, increase your brand reputation (and ability) and can more effectively market yourself and your product by creating video content that drives trust (by having you, personally, introduced to your audience) and makes your products look great.
14. What to Post on Facebook: Transparency Content
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Facebook is a social media network. You need to be social. And a huge part of that is about ensuring that your brand isn’t seen as a faceless corporation.
- Transparency content – posts which show your Fans more about who you are behind-the-scenes or how you run your business – works to show your Fans you’re real, trustworthy and personable.
15. What to Post on Facebook: Questions
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- When asked a question, people can’t help but want to answer it. That’s why questions are so excellent as blog article hooks (introductions).
- Social Media Examiner, likely the most-read resource for social media-related content, requires all contributors and writers to start their articles with two questions. It’s a template which works great for them, and they’ve been doing it for a while. Test this format out for yourself!
16. What to Post on Facebook: Holidays & Current Events
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Just like with the TGIF recommendation above, it’s imperative that you frame your Facebook posts around what people are thinking about. Current events and holidays are first and foremost with this strategy.
- And don’t be scared to get creative with these kinds of posts. It doesn’t have to be Christmas day for you to post holiday content. Consider National Puppy Day, National Chocolate Day or an event (like comic-con, a popular conference, etc) directly related to your business’ target market.
17. What to Post on Facebook: Quotes
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Your Facebook content should inspire and entertain, as well as educate and showcase your products. Quotes are a big part of that “inspirate and entertain” strategy. And people love to love them and share them with their own networks.
- Though the example above doesn’t really show it, I’d recommend you create image quotes, rather than keep the quote as text. Pinterest is a great place to go (just type [your industry] + “quotes” into the search bar) for inspiration.
18. What to Post on Facebook: How-To Guides
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Alongside entertainment and inspiration, you also need to provide value to your Facebook Fans. The best way to do this is to take a page from your blog, creating actionable, how-to guides which can be turned into a video or linked from Facebook.
- Like the recipe recommendation above, I really would try to make these how-to guides as simple as possible and turn them into visual content – either an infographic or video.
19. What to Post on Facebook: Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- Facebook is all about convincing your prospective and existing customers that you’re awesome. For many businesses, CSR is a huge part of that. Impress everyone with how selfless your organization is.
- My recommendation for this would be to turn Facebook Page control over to whoever is most involved in your CSR campaign. If you’ve sent a team to raise money, have them create a Facebook Live video from the event, street, or 3rd-world company.
20. What to Post on Facebook: Customer Support
Why to Post This on Facebook:
- This is a bit of a delicate one, as you’ll often be hit with negative feedback. But if you can handle customer support well (visibly) then people will be both impressed by your professionalism and, also, get their own questions answered.
- And, honestly, people are going to post on your Facebook Page about their problems or questions with your products anyway. So own it and crush it.
Wrapping it Up
Hopefully this article has given you a few ideas and examples you can use within your own Facebook marketing strategy.
A few to focus on right off the bat:
- High-quality images
- User-generated content (use Instagram
- Quotes (use Pinterest)
- Transparency, behind-the-scenes, CSR content
- Customer support
- Current events/TGIF content
And, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comment section below!
Digital & Social Articles on Business 2 Community(61)
