7 Reasons to Use Quotes in Your Social Media Content Strategy [Updated 2021]

Is using quotes in your social media content strategy a worthwhile effort?

Are you curious if social media quote visuals as a type of content are effective for a solopreneur business like yours?

I’m talking about those image-worthy, informational, often inspirational, and sometimes humorous snippets that you see all of the time on social media.

There are entire websites, social media accounts, and apps dedicated to delivering quotes to their fans. Think of the Power of Positivity or BrainyQuotes.  In fact, there are even products that provide “done-for-you” social media quote images.

What do they know that you don’t? That quotes work!

Social Media Platforms are the Perfect Place for Quotes

Since social platforms are about being sociable, your fans desire content that is inspirational, informative, educational, positive, hopeful, entertaining, or humorous.

Let’s face it: there’s a ton of negativity making its way around social media.  People desire content that makes them feel better. They spend time on social media to engage with others. So, quotes contribute to the discussion in a positive, productive way.

After all, social media is your opportunity to connect with your audience. Your content is meant to foster good relationships that increase your trustworthiness and perceived value. How can you expect someone to buy from you when they don’t know or trust you?

82% of US consumers claim that they will continue to buy a brand they trust, even if another brand suddenly becomes hot and trendy. (Marketing Charts)

Quotes tend to be popular, so they are a good standby if you’re looking for social media content that engages. Especially since there are all kinds of quotes to use in your social media strategy!

In addition to inspirational-type quotes, there are also quotes that focus on:

• industry trends
• leaders
• education/Information
• statistics
• humor
• insights
• blog snippets
• customer testimonials
• and more!

So, why do people enjoy consuming quotes?

Let’s discuss why quotes in your social media content strategy are powerful and persuasive.

Prefer video?

1) Quotes are Brief and Easily Consumed

There is an epic amount of content for your audience to consume. Who has the time or the attention span?

While longer content can help with SEO, it can also overwhelm. Your audience will appreciate (and possibly prefer) a brief version of your content.

Social media posts that link to articles suggest that there’s more reading involved! As a result, people may be less likely to click. Quotes, on the other hand, are like Cliff’s Notes. Sure, it’d be nice to know the whole story. Yet, often the highlights are enough.

Whereas blogs and videos are more like reading an entire book, quotes emphasize the most critical points in short form.

Quotes require little commitment. Your audience must only decide whether to 1) pause and read or 2) move on.

With so little commitment required, quote posts are easily consumable. Therefore, they are more likely consumed! And, that means more awareness and visibility for your business.

KEY TAKEAWAY

➽ Present your content in short form by using quotes to get more of your content seen and consumed.

PRO TIPS

✅  Create brief quotes from your longer content, such as blog posts, case studies, white papers, presentations, and lead magnets.

✅  Don’t feel as if you have to include a website URL with every quote. Not every post needs to drive traffic.

2) Quotes Arouse an Emotional Response

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, quotes are a fashionable type of social media content. That’s why there are entire social media accounts dedicated to posting inspirational, positive, humorous, and informative images. 😉

Quotes resonate with people for numerous reasons, one of which is that often the messages make them feel something. Remember how I talked about creating social media content that is emotional, entertaining, or educational? Sure enough, quotes fit into those categories!

Quotes express sentiments, increase awareness, and often generate an emotional response, which adds to their appeal. Different types of quotes elicit different responses. However, inspirational quotes are one of the most impactful, emotional content types and worth discussing in more detail.

Using Inspirational Quotes in Your Social Media Content Strategy

Research shows that, in a general sense, inspiration:

• is a catalyst for creativity;
• facilitates progress toward goals;
• increases well-being;
• propels a person from apathy to possibility;
• allows people to transcend limitations to awaken new possibilities; and,
• transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities.

According to Fast Company, inspirational quotes have a few qualities that make them popular and compelling. These types of quotes:

• demonstrate a coaching factor that makes them attractive;
• offer effective, pleasing language and metaphors that are memorable, convincing, and powerful; and,
• appeal to our aspirational nature and our desire to change to follow in the footsteps of leaders.

No matter what science or psychology say about inspiration, I think it comes down to one simple fact: quotes trigger emotions. When you make people feel happy, positive, and good they associate you with positive emotion. And that’s good for fostering feelings of trust and connection.

Also, when your content is both visually and emotionally appealing, you’ll see an increase in engagement. Over time, you’ll attract more followers while forming a connection with your audience.

I recommend that you add your own viewpoint when posting inspirational words from someone else.

This extra effort displays insight into your personality, style, and beliefs. Using this tactic, you can build connections with your audience and express your brand—even though you’re sharing someone else’s ideas.

KEY TAKEAWAY

➽ Incorporate inspiring, positive quotes into your social media strategy as long as the content is relevant to your brand and audience.

PRO TIPS

✅  Add your own take if you’re using quotes from other people.

✅  Quote yourself! 😉

✅  Choose quotes that work with your mission, core values, and messaging to stay relevant and build your brand.

3) Quotes Support Influencer Outreach

When it comes to business, it’s so much about WHO you know!

Influencer outreach is a key component in marketing plans nowadays. According to Kissmetrics, influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to attract customers and clients.

6 in 10 consumers say they have bought a new product in the last six months because of an influencer! (Marketing Charts)

Even if you don’t intend on using influencer marketing in your promotional strategy, it pays to make connections with those experts in your field. Interacting and aligning yourself with industry influencers benefits your business in many ways. You might receive:

1. Exposure to their audience
2. Traffic to your site
3. Increased social media visibility
4. A mention in their content
5. Inclusion in their online conversations
6. Social proof

To make an impression and catch the attention of industry influencers, highlight their expertise and knowledge in quote format. This will improve your chances of truly connecting with them.

Here’s an example from yours truly. I quoted marketing influencer Sam Hurley in a blog post about the benefits of Twitter for small business. He found the content and used my blog/social media quote image to share my post!

Find pertinent quotes from influencers and industry leaders, and add them to your content.  Don’t forget to let the authors know, but not in a spammy way.

Side note: Sam Hurley was a pro at interacting with others online. Unfortunately, it seems he’s taking a break from social media. (We miss you, Sam!) But you can still see his content on Twitter and LinkedIn to see how it’s done!

KEY TAKEAWAY

➽ Reach and support key influencers and industry leaders by quoting them on social media with an accompanying image.

PRO TIPS

✅  Choose the top 20-50 influencers in your niche and create image quotes for them. Schedule them in social media.

✅  If you do recycle your social media content, don’t overdo it with tagging people. You don’t want to annoy them with 25 tags of the same post. To get around this, simply tag them one time manually.

✅  Instead of quoting influencers on social media only, start with your blog. Include an accompanying image with the quote on your blog so that others can easily share your quote. You can then repurpose your blog content on social media. This supports your influential friends in multiple ways.

✅  I’m a big believer in RECIPROCATION. Reciprocation is a fancy word for mutual giving and receiving. Don’t expect others to support you in your endeavors if you don’t support them!

4) Quotes Make Easy Visuals

It’s pretty much standard operating procedure to use visuals in your social media content. People process visual information faster, and they respond to it more frequently on social media.

Text-only posts still receive some love, but posts with visuals do much better. Posts with visuals:

• are more easily noticed in the news feed;
• excite the senses; and,
• increase engagement.

Plus, algorithms seem to favor visual content and give it a higher priority, especially video.

And, that’s another reason to incorporate quotes into your social media content strategy: they make for enticing yet easy-to-create visuals!

You don’t need a degree in visual design to copy and paste text on a background. Don’t get too wrapped up in making complex designs. This isn’t an infographic we’re talking about here!

There are tons of free options, such as:

• Canva
• Stencil
• Snappa
• Pablo by Buffer

People love quotes and visual content. You need a content strategy that attracts and keeps fan. Quotes are engaging content and make visual content easy, so it’s a win all around!

KEY TAKEAWAY

➽ Quotes are crowd-pleasing content that can be easily turned visuals that boost your visibility and share-worthiness on social media.

PRO TIPS

✅  Use free online visual apps to quickly and easily create quote images.

✅  Create a video with 3-5 quotes that fit into a common theme.

✅  Batch your design work and use templates to make visual content creation go faster. This will increase your marketing productivity!

5) Quotes Make Branding Simple

While we’re on the topic of visuals, we might as well discuss branding.

There are plenty of apps to help you curate content. But, posting too much social media content with images that aren’t promoting your brand isn’t as helpful. You’re using social media to build relationships and connections for YOUR business. That means interacting on social platforms as yourself (aka your brand).

To communicate your brand’s personality, you need content that clearly indicates the post originates from you, not some other business.

And, that’s another reason quotes are awesome! You can easily brand them. It doesn’t matter if the quote is about shoes, marketing, motivation, or cats! You can add your own flavor through:

• What you say with the post (ie. insight, humor, perspective, etc.)
• A visual (aka graphic or video)
• Your logo and/or URL
• Your brand colors

Using quotes in your overall content strategy expresses what your brand is about in small snippets. Over time, your audience gets to know you better and form feelings of trust.  And, trust is essential in influencing purchase decisions!

As Social Media Today contributor A.D. Hutchinson said, “The best way to use quote posts is to ensure each one is aligned to your actual brand purpose and mission.”

KEY TAKEAWAY

➽ Quotes are easily branded through visual and textual content, which improves brand awareness and builds connections with your audience.

PRO TIPS

✅  Whenever you create a visual to accompany your social media post, always include your logo or business URL.

✅  If you need to build your social media following, then consider adding your platform username (i.e. @MeghanMonaghan1) to your quote image.  I’ve seen people effectively grow their social media communities through branding their images with their username.

✅  Including your personal take or any tidbit really improves the value of your quote posts. Don’t skip this step!

6) Quotes are Informational and Educational

Your audience is also on social media to learn. People browse through social media to learn and discover information about certain topics of interest. And, quotes are perfect bite-sized tidbits to catch attention and convey information.

In the process, you highlight your expertise and knowledge. This is a double win! You deliver value to your audience while subtly boosting your authority—without looking egotistical or overly promotional.

Keep the content brief and impactful.  Share quotes about statistics, data, report results, and other valuable information.

Try designing one engaging and thought-provoking quote as a visual. Then explain more about that quote within the post itself. Or, you can include a few quote images that users can swipe or click through.

No matter where you’re using quotes, don’t forget to include hashtags. Hashtags will get your content in front of more people who are interested in your topic. Even people who don’t follow you will find your social media content when you use hashtags.

The Accumulated Value of Informational, Educational Quote Posts

Informational, educational quote posts help others and can increase your visibility online too since social media content helps your SEO juice. In particular, Twitter benefits your business from a search engine aspect since your tweets and bio appear in Google. LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook content also often appear in web searches.

By posting informative content related to your niche, the hashtags and keywords you use actually boost your business through:

• increased followers;
• SEO; and,
• more visibility and authority in your niche.

Back to your audience…developing a strategy related to informative quotes is well worth it. Over time, the accumulation of your content forms an opinion in your readers’ eyes of a brand that is helpful and knowledgeable. Soon your readers will become fans and trust you for the value you provide.

Additionally, you’ll attract a more targeted fan base through this type of content, which helps to build your community.

What About Including a Pitch with the Informational Quotes?

To me, pitching your products and services with your educational quotes seems more about focusing on your business needs rather than about delivering value to your audience.

That doesn’t mean you can’t include a call to action. But, be aware how you’re coming across to your audience. Social media is meant for social interactions. Direct sales pitches don’t work as well on social.

Ultimately, though, it’s your decision!

KEY TAKEAWAY

➽ Educational or informative quote posts enlighten your audience while appealing to their desire to learn and your goal to grow your following and your brand.

PRO TIPS

✅  Research hashtags before using them by using a tool like Hashtagify.me, RiteTag, or Keyhole (more in-depth, takes longer to load). Choosing the right hashtag makes all the difference!

✅  Platforms are always developing new ways to post content. Get creative and use their features to draw more attention to your educational content. For instance, at the time of this re-write, “stories” are super trendy on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

7) Quotes Boost Influence and Authority

Finally, quoting experts in your niche and including your brand in the mix of quotable sources increases the perception that you’re an authority.

From a psychological perspective, quotes contribute nicely to several of Robert Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion. If you haven’t checked those out, you need to!

Trust and credibility are important aspects that influence buying decisions. So, looking like an authority helps your business. And quotes on social media help to position you as an authority.

Individuals who are authoritative, credible and knowledgeable experts in their fields are more influential and persuasive than those who are not. Part of the reason for this is that authority and credibility are some of the core building blocks of trust. When we trust people we are more likely to follow them. (World of Work)

Consistently sharing the insightful and relevant words of others transfers a bit of their awesomeness to you. When you quote an expert, you align with their brand and values to some degree. After all, you wouldn’t quote someone who you don’t respect, dislike, or disagree with.

Plus, when you quote niche-related statistics, facts, and information, you highlight your own expertise and knowledge. And quote images are the perfect way to share these bite-sized morsels of goodness!

Over time, the accumulation of your quote content from other sources and your own expertise boosts your leverage and position in the market. Others will start to see you as:

• Knowledgeable
• Wise
• Legitimate
• Trustworthy
• Relevant
• Experienced

Of course, WHO and WHAT you’re quoting matters. Carefully choose to quote the people who align with your brand and messaging. After all, these quotes and social posts represent you and your brand.

KEY TAKEAWAY

➽ Quotes from people that align with your values, niche, and branding can boost others’ perception of your relevance and expertise.

PRO TIPS

✅  Research brands and people before you quote them to make sure their character and beliefs align with yours.

✅  Don’t forget to include yourself in the mix! That’s right, quote yourself or include your thoughts with quotes from another brand. This positions you among the influencers as equally quote-worthy and therefore as qualified to share an expert thought. (Gotta love psychology and marketing!)

How Do Quotes in Your Social Media Content Strategy Help Your Business?

Quote posts are effective and persuasive because people are drawn to brief but meaningful, relevant, insightful, and engaging content. Plus, there’s so much you can do with them!

Don’t forget that social media was not created for marketers to promote but as a way to connect with others. And quotes help do that.

One of the easiest ways to build trust with your audience online—where there is no in-person, face-to-face interaction—is via the content you post. When you include quotes as part of an overall social media content strategy, you repeatedly communicate different aspects and layers of your brand, such as:

• what you believe;
• who you follow;
• your attitude, personality and style;
• the company you keep;
• what you read; and,
• the things that drive and motivate you.

So, think about using quotes! They are an effective, non-promotional strategy to connect with others and generate interest in your business through social media.

Affiliate Disclaimer: Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through one of them. Any affiliate link that I include on my site is for a product or service that I have used (or use) and have found to be helpful and a good value. As such, I’ve become an affiliate because I believe in the product and service.

UPDATED JUNE 1, 2021 | PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 7, 2017