“I sit down at the computer and think of things to post on social media.”

This is the problem. It’s the challenge that faces many companies as they try to explore new ideas to post about on social media. They have “social media time” set aside, and while this is good to schedule and maintain, it also allows people to miss some of the best opportunities available in social media.

It’s what happens in the day to day affairs of a business, the things that come to us when we least expect it, that really makes for strong social media posts. Businesses all too often try to come up with their social media posts while they’re at their computer and fully in “social media mode”. This is a mistake.

Social media is a reflection of life. In business, it’s often what happens at the business every day that makes for the most interesting social media posts because it is during these times that the reflections of real life actually occur. Examples:

• The happy customer who is really excited about their purchase
• The employee who’s going to be playing with their band this weekend at a local bar
• A great coffee mug that an employee brought in
• An interesting quote from someone at the store
• A random thought that pops up in your head that is both relevant to your business and interesting enough to share

These all seem simple. They seem like they’re mundane aspects of life. They are. That’s a good thing. Find the little things that happen every day and make them interesting through creativity while in “social media mode”.

If you walked around the store or simply chatted with people throughout the day, both customers and employees, you’ll be shocked to find what kind of interesting things are happening at your business at that very moment. Take notes. It could be as simple as pulling out your smartphone and hitting the voice-recorder to get the ideas in a safe place for when it comes time to “do” social media. It could be recording a video at that very moment or shooting a picture of the scene. There are lots of choices available to us through the various technologies at our fingertips. Often, it’s just a matter of staying in “social media mode” at all times.

The best social media posts are natural. If you keep your eyes open for the opportunities, there will be nothing blocking you when it comes time to make the post itself.

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“Opportunities” image courtesy of Shutterstock.