How to Get Content for Social Media

Staring at a blank social media calendar might be one of the most stressful parts of a marketer's job. That constant pressure to feed the algorithm can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. This guide gives you a repeatable system for finding and creating high-quality content, so you never run out of ideas again.

Start With an Abundance Mindset About Your Content

First, before we can talk about where you get great material, we have to shift your mindset. You already have all the things you will ever need to say for the rest of your business from whatever is true about you when you say, “My name is NAME from company COMPANY and we…” The things that follow those words will continue to grow over time, but one of the quickest ways to relieve overwhelm about content and where to get ideas is to come from a sense of abundance about what’s possible to say about your business.

You can see everything as a conversation or a piece of content, whether it’s a customer question, your own story and journey about why you created the product, or what makes you different from your competitors. Get yourself some sticky notes or a notebook, open notes on your phone, and let’s get into how we collect content from things you probably overlooked or didn't know were there for the taking just around the bend…

The Easiest Content Source: Repurpose Everything You Create

The smartest and most efficient marketers aren't creating brand new content every single day. They operate on a 'create once, distribute forever' model, and you can too. Repurposing is your secret weapon for filling up a content calendar without burning out. It’s about working smarter, not harder, by getting the maximum value out of every piece of content you produce.

Deconstruct Your Long-Form Content

Think about a single piece of long-form content, like a blog post, a podcast episode, or a YouTube video. It's not just one piece of content, it's a goldmine of dozens of smaller social media posts waiting to be extracted.

Here’s how to break down just one 1,000-word blog post:

• Pull out Quotes: Find three to five compelling quotes or one-liners from the article. Turn each one into a simple, bold text graphic for Instagram or LinkedIn.
• Isolate Key Stats: Did you include any interesting data or statistics? Design a simple infographic or an Instagram Carousel post that visualizes those numbers. Each slide can highlight a different data point.
• Create a Video Summary: Record a 60-second video of yourself talking through the main ideas of the blog post. This is perfect for Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. You already have the script - it's the blog post itself.
• Build a Thread: Take each major section or heading from the blog post and expand it into a detailed thread for X (formerly Twitter) or Threads. You can go deeper on each point than you could in the original article.
• Craft a Story Series: Use the poll, quiz, or question stickers on Instagram Stories to engage your audience around the topic of the blog post. Tease the main points and drive them to the full article with a link sticker.

Remix Your Top-Performing Posts

Don't just post something once and forget about it. Your analytics hold valuable data about what resonates with your audience. Dig into your best-performing content from the last six months and give it new life:

• Turn a Top Photo into a Reel: Do you have a photo that got a ton of engagement? Create a Reel that tells the story behind the photo. Why was that moment special? What happened right before or after the picture was taken?
• Update and Redesign a Listicle: Was a "Top 5 Tips" post a huge hit a year ago? Revisit it, make sure the tips are still relevant, add a new bonus tip, and create fresh graphics for it.
• Convert a Carousel to Video: If an educational carousel performed well, turn each slide into a scene in a short video. You can use simple text animations and add a voiceover to walk people through it.

Your Best Content Creators are Your Customers

User-generated content (UGC) is one of the most powerful marketing assets you can have. When a customer posts about your product or service, it’s an authentic, trustworthy endorsement that you could never replicate on your own. It provides powerful social proof and gives you a steady stream of content without you having to lift a camera.

How to Encourage and Collect UGC

You can't just wait for people to post about you, you must actively encourage it and make it easy for them. The good news is, if you have customers loving what they get from your brand, this won't be as hard as you think – they already want to share what’s good. Here’s a simple framework:

• Create and Promote a Branded Hashtag: Choose a unique, simple, and memorable hashtag for your brand (e.g., #AcmeWorkouts, #JaneDoeDesigns). Put this hashtag everywhere: in your Instagram bio, on thank-you cards, on your packaging, in your email newsletter footer.
• Run Contests and Giveaways: This is a classic for a reason. Ask followers to share a photo using your product with your branded hashtag for a chance to win. The prize doesn't have to be expensive - it could be a gift card, a free product, or even just a feature on your page.
• Incentivize with Features: Make it known that you feature your favorite customer photos every week. Create a weekly series like "Fan Photo Friday" or "Customer Spotlight Tuesday." People love the recognition, and it trains your audience to tag you.
• Directly Ask Happy Customers: When a customer emails you with positive feedback or leaves a glowing review, respond and thank them! Then, politely ask if they'd be willing to share a photo or video of them using the product. Many will be happy to help.

Always remember to ask for permission before re-sharing someone's content on your official brand channels. Even if they use your hashtag, a quick DM saying, "We love this photo! Do you mind if we share it on our feed and tag you?" goes a long way. Always give clear credit to the original creator in your caption.

Become a Trusted Resource by Sharing More than Yourself

Not everything you post has to be about you. In fact, it shouldn't be. Curating and sharing valuable content from other creators, brands, and publications in your industry positions you as a trusted hub of information, not just a seller. Sprinkling curated content in between your original posts is an easy way to deliver value and build community without having to create from scratch.

The Right Way to Curate Content

Curation is more than just hitting the reshare button. To do it effectively, you have to add your own perspective. Here's a simple process for finding and sharing content:

1. Find Great Sources: Look for content from trusted industry blogs, news sites, podcasts, and even complementary (not competing) brands whose audience overlaps with yours. Follow influential thought leaders and creators in your niche.
2. Add Your Commentary: Never just share a link. Tell your audience why you're sharing it. What did you find interesting about the article? Do you agree or disagree with the author's opinion? How does this information apply to your specific audience?
3. Start a Conversation: The best curated posts ask questions. End your caption with something like, "What do you all think about this approach?" or "Has anyone tried this before?" to spark discussion.
4. Give Proper Credit: Make sure to tag the original creator or publication prominently in both the image/video and the caption. It shows respect and can help expand your reach if they decide to engage with your post.

A good rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule: about 80% of your content should be original (created by you or UGC), and up to 20% can be curated from other sources. This keeps your feed focused on your brand while still providing diverse value.

Creating a Never-Ending Idea Machine

The best content strategies aren't based on random inspiration, they're based on systems. When you have a framework for generating ideas, you can quickly brainstorm what to create and have source material for your whole business at the ready when you need to create content.

Use Content Pillars

Content pillars are 3-5 broad topics or themes that your brand will consistently talk about. They are the foundation of your content strategy and ensure everything you post is relevant to your brand and your audience. For example, if you run a local coffee shop, your pillars might be:

• Coffee Education: How-to videos on brewing methods, infographics showing the difference between roasts, posts about the origin of your beans.
• Behind-the-Scenes: Meet-the-barista profiles, day-in-the-life content, a video of the team trying out new recipes.
• Community Spotlight: Highlighting local artists whose work is on your walls, promoting an upcoming farmers' market down the street, featuring regulars.

Every single post should fit into one of these pillars. This approach not only makes brainstorming easier but also builds a clear and consistent brand identity.

Listen to What People Are Asking

Your customers, followers, and competitors are giving you content ideas every single day - you just have to learn where to look.

• Scan Your Comments and DMs: What questions do people ask over and over again? Each question is a potential post. If someone asks, “What time do you open on Sundays?” don’t just answer them - create an eye-catching graphic with your store hours and schedule it to show up regularly in your posts.
• Read Competitor Comments: Go to your competitors' Instagram or Facebook pages. What questions are their customers asking that they aren't answering? That's a huge opportunity for you to step in and provide value.
• Use Free Online Tools: Websites like AnswerThePublic let you type in a keyword (like "cold brew") and generate hundreds of common questions people search for online ("is cold brew stronger than espresso?"). Each question is a topic you can answer in the form of a post, a reel, or a TikTok video.

Final Thoughts

Filling your content calendar doesn't require reinventing the wheel every single day. The solution lies in systematically repurposing your existing assets, celebrating your community's content, curating helpful info, and creating the right structures to stay organized so your business is the star of a show people want to watch.

Once you are overflowing with ideas with this mind shift and the abundance it creates, the real work lies in making sense of it with a great calendar that feels good to open and use. At Postbase, we built our whole system around exactly how media creators today really organize and publish a modern brand, with short-form video for TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts as well as the classics like LinkedIn and everything in between. To do modern work, we all need simple, modern tools… which didn’t exist until right now.

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