What is a social media post idea?
A social media post idea is a prompt or starting point for a future post. It can be a timely event, a recurring topic, an article from an RSS feed, or an idea your team defines for a specific brand or audience.
In Loomly, Post Ideas help keep potential topics attached to the calendar where a team plans content. An idea is not the same as a draft, a scheduled post, or a published post. It is material to consider, adapt, or turn into a post when it fits the calendar and the channels you manage.
Where Loomly Post Ideas come from
Loomly provides several sources of post inspiration. Each source serves a different purpose, so it is useful to distinguish between ideas created by your team and ideas that come from a feed or Loomly's built-in suggestions.
- Custom Post Ideas: ideas you define for your brand, audience, campaigns, or recurring content themes.
- RSS feeds: entries from blogs and other media outlets you select for the calendar.
- Loomly Ideas: events, holidays, and celebrations associated with specific dates.
- Loomly Inspiration: recurring, broad ideas based on social media best practices.
These sources are prompts, not finished content. Review the topic, context, and any linked source material before using an idea in a post.
Where to find Post Ideas in Loomly
Open the relevant calendar first. You can access and manage Post Ideas in three current product locations:
- Post Ideas View: the dedicated place to review and create ideas. In the current Loomly AI navigation, this area is labeled Ideas Board.
- Calendar Settings > Post Ideas: where you can create and edit Custom Post Ideas and connect RSS feeds for that calendar.
- Post Builder: where available ideas can be used while creating a post.
Older instructions that refer to a dashboard row or a lightbulb menu above the calendar do not match the current product flow. Start from Post Ideas View or Calendar Settings, then use Post Builder when you are ready to develop a post.
How to create a Custom Post Idea
Create Custom Post Ideas from Post Ideas View or from the Post Ideas tab in Calendar Settings. Use custom ideas for subjects that should recur in a particular calendar, such as product education, a regular series, an upcoming event, or a question your audience asks.
Custom Post Ideas remain associated with the calendar where you create them. You can return to Calendar Settings > Post Ideas to edit them when the calendar's themes, campaign details, or audience needs change.
How to use RSS feeds for post ideas
RSS feeds let a calendar receive entries from blogs and other websites. Connect a feed from the Post Ideas tab in Calendar Settings, then choose how Loomly should handle incoming entries:
- RSS Post Ideas: creates Post Ideas from RSS entries.
- Assistive (Draft Posts): creates draft posts from new RSS entries.
Assistive Draft Posts have a limit of up to 90 imported posts in a rolling 30-day period. If a feed has more than 90 entries in that period, additional entries are not imported until the calendar is below the limit.
Turn an idea into a post
When you are ready to work on an idea, create a post from the calendar. You can select New Post from the dashboard or a calendar toolbar, or select Add Post when it appears on a day in Calendar View. Loomly then opens Post Builder for the selected calendar.
Use Post Builder to write and tailor the post for the connected social media accounts. A post idea can guide the subject, but the final caption, media, date, time, and channel-specific content still need to be set for the post you create.
Post Ideas, draft posts, and scheduled posts
- Post Idea: a prompt or source of inspiration for a possible post.
- Draft post: a post created in Loomly that has not been scheduled or published.
- Scheduled post: a post with a future publishing time.
- Published post: a post that has already been sent or published through its connected channel.
Keeping these stages separate makes it easier to decide what belongs in an idea bank, what needs content work, and what is ready for a publishing schedule.
How to keep Post Ideas useful
Review Custom Post Ideas and RSS feeds in the calendar they support. Remove sources that are no longer relevant, update recurring ideas when a campaign changes, and use the dedicated Post Ideas area to keep potential topics separate from completed posts.
For step-by-step product guidance, see Loomly's Post Ideas and RSS feeds Help Center guide and the Post Builder guide.
