Isn’t it frustrating that whenever you search for examples of inspiring, high-performing social media content, you end up with a bunch of posts from “sexy” industries and brands?

Obviously millions of people watched NASA’s Instagram Reel of two supermassive black holes colliding and liked Gucci’s picture of Ryan Gosling wearing a custom pink suit to the Oscars.

But that’s not much help if you’re trying to promote spreadsheet software, road safety, or public infrastructure.

Don’t worry; you’re in the right place because we’re going to share 10 of our favorite social media content examples from less-than-engaging niches like:

  • Accounting and tax
  • B2B software
  • Patents and Trademarks
  • Local government
  • Regional sewerage

Exciting stuff, right?

Let’s get into it.

1. Transportation Security Administration

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is arguably the best example of a successful, highly engaging account in a stereotypically unexciting field.

Most of us only think about transport security when packing for a flight (or maybe when we’re already at the airport and realize we’ve got a bunch of liquids in our carry-on). There’s no reason for us to engage with transport security-themed content outside these times.

Yet the TSA has built a 1.4-million-strong Instagram following thanks to its long-term commitment to “travel tips and dad joke hits,” as its Insta bio explains.

Here’s one of many examples of what that looks like in practice:

Notably, the TSA isn’t using (mild) humor for the sake of it.

Those dad jokes help them communicate the rules around what you can and can’t bring on a flight.

This strategy also makes the agency feel more approachable. So if someone has a question about transport security, there’s a good chance they’ll reach out online — potentially saving a lot of time for frontline TSA employees.

2. VDOT Northern Virginia

Virginia’s Department of Transportation (VDOT) certainly does crucial work building, maintaining, and operating the state’s roads, bridges, and tunnels. And it’s always helpful to know about incidents likely to delay our journeys. But it’s fair to say none of that stuff makes for highly engaging, shareable content.

Yet VDOT Northern Virginia has built an audience of 67,000+ followers on X (formerly Twitter), largely thanks to the popularity of their “MeeMaw” persona.

Confused?

To clear things up, MeeMaw is the brainchild of Assistant District Administrator for Communication Ellen Kamilakis.

During the early days of the pandemic, Ellen decided to take a more autobiographical approach to the agency’s posting strategy. Rather than acting like a Zoomer intern, she described herself as an “old lady,” which allowed her to “nag” followers into positive behaviors, like drinking plenty of water and wrapping up warm on cold days.

This strategy helps VDOT Northern Virginia regularly generate hundreds of engagements through content that isn’t strictly transported-related:

Learn more about the agency’s unconventional approach in our article: How “MeeMaw” Helped VDOT Northern Virginia Create a Highly-Engaged Social Media Community.

3. Xero

Accounting inevitably gets a mention whenever there’s a conversation about the world’s most boring jobs.

For instance, a study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin discovered accounting is the second most common stereotypical occupation of people who are perceived to be boring:

Image source

Yikes.

So how can you create engaging content around a topic that most people perceive to be dull, dull, dull?

That’s the challenge facing the social media team at Xero, which sells accounting software for small businesses. Their approach is to humanize the subject matter by enlisting business-oriented influencers and thought leaders like Lisa Perese-Cullen:

Working with influencers helps Xero escape the unglamorous world of accounting and focus on the real entrepreneurs who rely on the company’s software.

There’s a key learning here: even if the product or service you sell or provide isn’t considered naturally “interesting,” we bet many people use it to do exciting stuff. And social media allows you to share those stories.

4. Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

No one denies that sewerage is important, but most of us would prefer it to remain out of sight and out of mind. This poses a major challenge for the social media team at Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD). How on earth are you meant to create engaging content about sewers?

Their answer: do it with humor.

The agency’s pinned post on X/Twitter is a kind of manifesto that explains the types of content they share:

That way, no one who visits their profile will be confused when they see posts about celebrity news and sports.

But whatever they share, they also find some way to link it back to sewers, like in this post about the Kate Middleton saga:

If NEORSD can find a way to make sewer maintenance funny and topical, there’s undoubtedly scope to create engaging content about any niche.

5. US Patent & Trademark Office

Every industry has something interesting going on that would appeal to the broader public.

The US Patent & Trademark Office does a fantastic job of sharing those juicy morsels through its Instagram account. For instance, this Instagram Reel discusses some of the more unexpected elements of life in the world of patents and trademarks:

Who knew there was such a thing as trademark applications for celebrity couples?

As a social media professional, it’s your job to find unique topics that will help your brand resonate with customers or end users—even if they don’t understand all the complexities of your industry.

6. Oracle

Oracle is one of those huge software companies that most of us have heard of without having any idea what they actually do, as demonstrated by Google’s “People also ask” results:

Image source

Sure, most of us don’t need to know what Oracle does—it’s a B2B tech company, so it’s not trying to sell to the average person on the street. But building a brand on social media is hard if no one understands why your company exists.

That’s why Oracle’s social media strategy centers on more public-facing elements of its business, such as its relationship with Formula 1 team Red Bull Racing:

Admittedly, most brands don’t have F1 sponsorship money.

But you can leverage the same approach (albeit on a much smaller scale) by supporting a local sports team or charity.

7. US Consumer Product Safety Commission

This article includes many examples of brands and agencies generating social media engagement by discussing topics that are only tangentially related (or even totally unrelated) to their actual niche.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission takes a different approach. It almost always posts about consumer safety, but its use of meme-style imagery and offbeat captions makes its content far more engaging than you’d imagine.

Just like this example about the importance of checking smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors:

If you can bring an unusual perspective to your niche or communicate important but uninteresting information in an unexpected way, you can expect a bunch more likes, shares, and comments.

8. Lysol

The average American spends 300 hours a year cleaning their home. In fact, it’s such a time-sucker that 26% of people have missed an event—like hanging out with family, going for drinks with friends, and even attending their child’s recital or sports game—because they needed to clean instead.

So, you’d imagine most of us avoid cleaning-related content like the plague, which is a big problem for cleaning product brands like Lysol.

Despite this, Lysol regularly generates thousands of views on its Instagram Reels by taking a creative approach to social media content.

For instance, it enlisted the help of pop star Christina Milian to sing her favorite karaoke songs at the brand’s “Airaoke” booth during 2023’s Music Midtown festival in Atlanta:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lysol US (@lysol)

We know what you’re thinking: what’s the connection between Christina Milian, karaoke, and Lysol?

According to Lysol, a single minute of singing produces 1,000 virus and bacteria-filled droplets, making this campaign a perfect fit for promoting its Air Sanitizer.

Sometimes, outside-the-box thinking is all it takes to make dull subjects engaging!

9. Internal Revenue Service

Like cleaning the house, taxes are one of those things that most of us don’t want to think about until we absolutely have to. They’re dull, stressful, and take a lot of time.

Yet the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has built a thriving Instagram community of 154,000+ followers. And it’s achieved all that without posting a bunch of memes.

The agency’s success shows the value of creating a clear theme for individual posts and aligning the copy and creative to communicate your desired message best.

For instance, rather than posting a simple (and unengaging) reminder to get your tax records in order, it shared this post inspired by the movie musical remake of Mean Girls:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Internal Revenue Service (@irsnews)

The imagery matches the theme perfectly and draws the eye without distracting from the core message, while the caption is packed with Mean Girls references — yet still contains all the essential information people need to know about filing their taxes.

There’s no point engaging your audience if they don’t take anything valuable from your content!

10. Adams County Government

Most people would agree that local government isn’t the most thrilling industry.

We’re glad they exist, but we don’t particularly want to learn about what happened at the latest council meeting. It’s just not very engaging.

Yet the Adams County Government in Colorado proves that your biggest weakness can sometimes be your greatest strength.

Rather than trying to glamorize their work, the Adams County team focuses on real, human success stories. Like the time they helped an unhoused former serviceman make a down payment on a car to help him save money through his delivery job:

In isolation, your audience might not be interested in reading about your products or services.

They’re far more likely to engage if you can demonstrate the results — especially if there’s a human interest angle.

Want to learn more strategies and tips for creating engaging social media content? Sign up for one of our upcoming social media conferences.

Featured image by Freepik.

 

 

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