Social media is a great way to connect with customers and market your business at the same time. Real and authentic communication seems to be what consumers are looking for, but how do you engage with them in a way that's productive?

A lot of florists find social media difficult simply because they don't know what to post. We get it—how much can you really say about one thing? The thing is, not everything has to be specifically about your business! There are so many different types of content that you can utilize to help you establish a genuine connection with your customers while increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and hopefully boosting sales. Here's some popular types of content that can help you make the most out of your social media pages. 

User-Generated Content 

User Generated Content (UGC) is content that others create and you repost. Note: ALWAYS give credit to the original creator when reposting. This type of content is very popular on Twitter since the retweet feature makes it very easy to post UGC. UGC shows your followers that you are engaged with the audience. Followers are more likely to interact with brands that interact with their content because, believe it or not, your followers want followers too! Despite their motivation for engaging with your brand, UGC tends to make consumers feel important and seen. To find User-Generated Content, you should consistently monitor your social media feeds to find content featuring your flowers and arrangements. Search through your tags, hashtags, etc. to make it easier for yourself! Once you find something you like, repost, and ta-da! You have a new social media post. The great thing about UGC is that it really doesn't require a lot of work. The post is already made, you just have to repost it! Customer Testimonials Testimonials are going to be your most valuable piece of content for ANY of your marketing tactics. Using them on social media is just another tool to gain trust and credibility with your customers. 54.7% of online shoppers will look at reviews before they purchase a product. Customers rely on information from other parties to make decisions, and a good review can influence purchasing decisions heavily. You can gain testimonials by encouraging reviews on your website or search engine listings, asking customers if you can record video testimonials, or adding QR codes to things like thank you pages or business cards. This is another type of content that doesn't take a lot of creative thinking, so it's perfect for those days you just can't think of something to post.

Polls 

Let's say you've exhausted the two resources above, and you're still not sure how to diversify your content. Ask your audience what they want to see! Choose some things you think would do well and then have your customers pick what is most interesting to them. Not only are you posting things that you're sure they will like, but posting a poll can lead to higher engagement. 

Video

There is one thing about social media that we will not be moving away from any time soon. The fact of the matter is, video content is all the rage right now. 80% of marketers who use video content say it directly helped them increase sales. On the user side, 55% of people say they watch videos online every day. Videos attract a lot of attention. More and more social media platforms are moving towards video as the most attractive form of content to post. With the rise of social media apps like Tik Tok, there is no limit to what you could achieve. Brands are using short-form video to get really outside of the box. You can be really creative with these because, most of the time, customers like seeing videos that are a little bit eccentric. Try to go with the flow by using trending content or sounds! Even if you think it doesn't make sense to your brand, it can help you build brand awareness, especially if you go viral! 

Ask Me Anything 

Ask Me Anything (AMA) is similar to polls in that you can engage more deeply with your audience and post information that they are interested in. Using AMA can help you increase trust with your followers and encourage active participation. This is also a good chance to encourage discussion amongst your followers and relate to them on a more personal level. The fun thing about AMA is that they don't have to be questions pertaining to your shop. Keep it fun and light! Use these posts as a way to try out different content formats like videos, live streams, blog posts, and more. Once again, you are letting your audience facilitate the type of content you are posting. This requires you to commit a little more time to your content, but it's very worth it in the end! 

In short, using your audience to create your content can be incredibly helpful. The end goal is to up your engagement, so why not engage your audience from the very beginning? These types of content can be sprinkled throughout your regularly scheduled programming to diversify it and give you time to come up with something if you're running out of options. Keeping up to date on the latest in social media is essential to marketing your business.