Facebook…An interactive-online book of faces, cat videos, and random breakfast photos that can also help your magazine grow in readership and impact.

Several studies suggest that when using Facebook for business, you should post every hour or a minimum of five times a day, with quality content every time. Sound overwhelming? Don’t panic yet.

If you find yourself at a loss for posts, and food photos don’t fit your magazine, I’d like to present five ideas to help you get started.

1. Featured article.
The great thing about featuring an article from your magazine is that the text is already written. Simply grab a quote and fancy image and you’re post is good to go. If your magazine is digital, you can also include a link to the full article like this example from Relevant Magazine.

Or you might want to feature a quote from an article that will appear in the next issue. Be sure to include a link to subscribe to your magazine. Your readers will be hungry for more!

2. Inspiring quote.
People will share posts they feel represent them and what they believe. One of the best ways to connect with your readers is to share quotes from the Bible or other inspiring people. Dabira magazine shares a quote every day. I love #Dabiramagazinequoteoftheday. They always pair their text with a nice photo. (Don’t have photoshop? Give Canva a try.)

3. Testimony.
People connect with people, not organizations. As painful as that may sound, it’s true. The good news is you’re a person! And there are people working on your magazine and other people reading your magazine. Each one has a unique story, with aspects to which others can relate, and these stories can strengthen your community of readers. So use your pool of Facebook friends and ask if you can share their testimony.

Christianity Today has a section in their print and digital magazine reserved only for testimonies.

4. New magazine issue.
You’re excited, your team is excited. Let your readers be excited. When you post the latest print/digital cover, others also get a chance to see what they’ve been missing, and what they could be a part of.

While it’s good to upload the JPG of the cover, you can also share a photo of your magazine on a desk in the office, in your hand, in a stack, in a church, or anywhere else you think your readers would appreciate.

5. Subscribers
Try to showcase your readers whenever you can. Timazi magazine did a great job when they shined the spotlight on some of their young readers who just received the latest issue.

Quick Tip: Remember, not every post has to start with you. Thanks to Facebook and social media sites, it’s easier than ever to interact with your readers and let them create content. You can be a content-curator, keeping a watchful eye over the content you share. And if your subscribers are tech-savvy, why not ask them to upload a photo of your magazine and create a #hashtag?

Other ideas:
Your mission statement. (Try posting it as a status once, and later as a beautiful image.)
A “meet the writer” short story.
“Right now at the office” image of a work-in-progress.
Current prayer request.
Lyrics from an old hymn and what they mean to you. (Remember, people connect with other people.)
Local event that the magazine is involved with.
Statistics. For example: if your magazine has an article about suicide, create a graphic on the number of suicides that happen yearly.

With the rise of social media, the line between business and customer is blurring. People understand now more than ever that behind the logo of an executive corporation, there are people. And these people have stories. The most successful Facebook pages are the ones that make it seem like real human-people work there, and not a faceless corporation.