As a beauty professional you carry many titles: hair stylist, eyelash technician, eyebrow artist, waxing specialist, makeup artist, or masseuse. Moreover you also carry titles such as: salon owner, bookkeeper, accounts payable, therapist, salon manager, and more recently social media manager.

But what is a social media manager? What does a social media manager do? Post stunning pictures with clever captions? HA, I wish that’s all they did but you and I both know social media is a full-time job and just like beauty professionals, social media managers also carry many titles. Social media strategist, social media analysis, content creator, videographer, graphic designer, and probably 500 other titles I’m forgetting LinkedIn has given social media marketers. One of the primary responsibilities and tasks a social media manager has is coming up with original and exciting content ideas, but that can be difficult, which is why I’m revealing the 10 places social media managers go when they are looking for fresh content ideas.

1. Answer the Public

   A search listening tool for market, customer, and content research. Answer The Public is a goldmine of consumer insight you can use to create fresh, scroll-stopping content, products and services. The best feature? Answer The Public listens into autocomplete data from search engines like Google then quickly cranks out every useful phrase and question people are asking around your keyword. Not only do I use Answer The Public for fresh social media posts, but I also use it to come up with fresh blog post ideas, email headlines, Pinterest Pin titles, and so much more.

2. Facebook Groups

   Just like Answer The Public, Facebook Groups are a remarkable place to research what your ideal customers are talking about with their online community. If you aren’t in any Facebook Groups currently ask your friends and family about the Facebook Groups they are in, I guarantee most will give you their top 5 Facebook Groups.

3. Pinterest

   Pinterest is where people go to get inspired. Pinterest Trends is where you can go to add in all that “fluff” content in your content calendar.

4. Your Analytics (aka your top performing posts)

   You need to know your numbers. In EVERY aspect of your business. Period. Your social media insights are the KEY to creating constant goldmine content that resonates with your audience.

   How do I know what content is resonating with my audience? Check your analytics.

   How do I get more shares? Check your top posts that have received the most shares.

   How do I get more saves? Check your top posts that have received the most saves.

   How do I get more comments? Check your top posts that have received the most comments.

   How do I get more website clicks? Check your top posts that have received the most website taps.

   If you are looking at your analytics and are finding that none of your content is getting saved, shared, or leading people to your website I hate to break it to you but it’s not Instagram’s algorithm, it’s your content, and it might be time for us to sit down and do a social media audit.

   On the other hand, you might see the numbers but you don’t understand how to read and interpret your social media analytics and THAT’S okay. That’s why someone like me exists. I don’t expect you to instantly know how to read your insights just like I wouldn’t expect myself to understand hair color formulas, which is why I created an analytic tracker that breaks down every single insight you should be tracking on each social media platform.

5. old blog posts

   Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose your content. Before you consider finding any new content ideas look through your old blog posts. Blogs will not only help you with your social media content creation, but they will also bring more traffic to your website. PLUS, you’ll be able to create content for all your social media platforms. Let’s take this blog for instance.

   Content I can and will create with this one blog post:

   • Multiple Instagram Reels

   • Instagram graphics

   • Instagram carousel Posts

   • Multiple Pinterest Pins

   • A few Facebook Posts

   • A few Tweets

   • And even a few TikTok’s

   See what I mean? One blog post can turn into practically 100 pieces of content.

6. Client or customer feedback

   Not sure what type of content your clients crave to see from you? Why not just go to the source?! 

   I have heard my hair queen Kimber Chapman tell stylists time and time again to keep a note in their phones with every single question their clients ask them in a day. It doesn’t matter how random the question is, just write it down. Revisit the note when you sit down to start working on your content calendar.

   Who knows, maybe “What did you have for breakfast this morning?” Will turns into “5 Foods For Better Hair Growth” or “8 Seasonal Foods to Incorporate into Your Diet for Glowing Skin this Month”.

7. What to tweet

   What to Tweet is a resource I just recently discovered in the last few months and am OBSESSED. What to Tweet is where you can get personalized Tweet inspirations with Tweet Hunter. If you are someone who is wanting to start being more active on all social media platforms What to Tweet is a remarkable resource to get started with Twitter, but again it can inspire other social media post ideas for other platforms!

8. Buzz sumo

   Buzz Sumo is another resource I just recently discovered, cloud-based platform that helps you discover the best engagement, content and outreach opportunities across social and search. You can discover new keywords, trending stories, customer questions and content success, all while monitoring what’s most important to your brand.

9. IG explore Page

   Just like Pinterest, Instagram’s explore page is a wonderful place to find new ideas. Your explore page will include posts the algorithm believes you will like, similar to TikTok’s for you page.

10. Content row

    Content row is a writing editor for optimizing your content for engagement. I use Content Row to help me edit blog posts, analyze a headline (whether that’s for a blog post or a caption). Content Row is a resource I always recommend to clients when they want to improve their captions as well.