Being creative isn’t exactly an on/off switch, but in the world of social media marketing, it’s so useful. While we all know getting a good night’s sleep and trying to not get too stressed will help the creative process, here are a few tips to come up with inventive ideas for your social.
Seek advice
Rope in your team, colleagues, or social-savvy friend to think of some ideas for your social content. The more brains are involved, the merrier. I don’t mean sit down for a ‘brainstorming session’ in which you scroll Instagram and procrastinate – what I mean is ask their thoughts or advice casually. People see things from different angles and perspectives, so others will think of ideas you have probably never considered.
Think opposites?
I partly agree with the saying “observe the conventional method, then do the opposite”. Sometimes, that works, but sometimes, it would be a shambles in the world of social media. I prefer “observe the conventional method, consider the opposite, then re-engineer it until it’s a unique idea”. An example might be: taking a picture of a hotel corridor is a conventional idea. What’s the opposite? taking a picture of the corridor upside down. That alone might be odd, but then re-engineer it into a post saying “we do things a little differently at ‘x’ hotel. Can you guess where in our hotel this is?” – it’s an idea for a post which has either not been done before, or not much if so, is fun, and engages followers. Of course, this does not work for every brand, but it’s an example of the creative thinking process in action.
Environment
Somewhat referring back to the introduction, the environment in which you conduct your creative work is important. Don’t do them when you’re tired, angry, stressed, or just not in the mood! If you’re about to do social media posts, I recommend closing all non-essential tabs (definitely including email) and taking a glance at some inspirational accounts to get yourself in the mindset (just don’t copy their posts, but observe and re-engineer)! Doing posts inconsistently (in between tasks, in a rush, or when you’re stressed out) can mean your strategy is incoherent, inconsistent, and probably not as good. The environment, physically and mentally, can have a big impact on the creative process.
This post originally appeared on the Founders Media website and is reproduced with their permission.
