Stop Re-inventing the Wheel
Stop re-inventing the wheel with creating social content every month.
How? By creating a structure that makes sense for you!
When I first committed to posting consistently to social media, I was constantly overwhelmed with figuring out how to create interesting posts.
I eventually took on the task of re-inventing the wheel every single month.
After a couple months of banging my head against a wall, trying to figure out the best way to pump out 30 posts at a time, a spark of inspiration hit me.
You might refer to this as an AHA moment, :)
I realized that I was approaching this monthly task without a plan or a purpose. I was winging it and starting from scratch every month, and what I needed to do was create structure.
And content formats.
So, I put on my good ol’ TV Producer hat and went to work creating a structure with content formats in place.
If you look at my social media feeds over the past year, you’ll see very consistent themes of content from month-to-month. What I realized is that it’s not about creating new and compelling ways of delivering content - it’s about the value that’s included in those posts that matter most to my audience.
So, why monkey around with all the window dressing, and just focus on what’s most important.
And, by keeping the types of content posts consistent, it affords me the opportunity to focus all of my creative energy on the value proposition, which goes a really long way to enhancing the overall lesson in each post through storytelling.
Here is a sampling of my recurring social media and blog post formats:
Nuts and Bolts
These posts are meant to offer value through sharing my expertise through storytelling.
These pieces of content focus on providing insight and clarity on what makes for a successful branded lifestyle portrait session, including the best way to leverage these photos once my clients download the images to their computers. Also, these types of posts highlight important techniques and high-level conversation about idea generation and content creation.
This blog, for example, falls under the Nuts and Bolts category, :)
Testimonials
It’s always a humbling experience to read and hear what my clients have to say about me after we’ve worked together. I share these stories with my audience because they give them hope, because my clients were once in their shoes. Testimonials are an extremely relatable type of post and I encourage ALL of you to share them with your tribes!
BTS (Behind-The-Scenes)
As a way to break down the fourth wall and give my audience a peek into the magic show known as a branded lifestyle portrait session, I make sure that someone within arms distance of the session is snapping away with their smartphone cameras so that we have photographic proof that this photo shoot, in fact, happened!
these are process photos and they allow the viewer to imagine themselves in my client's position, which is an extremely effective way to inspire to get in front of my camera!
Quote Posts
Every now and again, I put up a quote post, which is simply an image with text placed onto it.
I usually get ideas for these 1-2 sentence statements from previous blog posts, conversations with clients, or just walking down the street and a thought smacked me right in the face.
I leverage this format to share a variety of ideas - from nuts and bolts information, to inspiring themes of positive psychology, to offering my audience a metaphorical kick in the ass. Regardless of the context, these posts are well-received by my audience, and I know this because I’ve had several people parrot back the quotes to me in person, which, you know, makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, :)
Promoting Specific Blog Articles
At least once a week, I highlight my article posting that day on all my social media channels.
I know a lot of the stuff I’m writing about would really be helpful if it was in front of the sets of eyes who need to read it most, so, I put a little extra promotion into those posts to make that happen. I take my time when figuring out the Wednesday blog posts (I also post blog articles on Monday and Friday, as well).
Media Appearances
If I appear on a podcast, conduct a workshop, participate in a panel or fireside chat, I make sure to write about it on both social media and my blog.
Although it’s wonderful to offer people the chance to read your thoughts through your other content posts, it’s just as, if not more, impactful when the words are directly coming out of your mouth.
If you have any appearances that you haven’t shared, you need to share them - this is content gold, folks!
The Wildcards
Usually, these posts revolve around the other content that I shoot, because although I am in the photography business, I am, first and foremost, an artist.
While my business is narrowed, focused and niched, I love to shoot all different types of things, and occasionally, I’ll share them with my audience to share other aspects of my life in order to create an added sense of rapport.
One important caveat - although these posts are not really related to my business, I make sure that whatever story I share, it's relatable in some shape or form to whomever is reading it.
I DO NOT post randomly - EVER.
I always shape and share content in a way that makes sense for my audience to want to read it.
Putting these formats together has truly been a game-changer for me. Now, when I sit down and read the random idea nuggets that I’ve written throughout the month on my phone, I now have a way to harness those raw ideas and refine it in a way that develops into a compelling and memorable piece of content.
Now, what would these content formats look like for you? Have you ever given a thought to creating such a structure to help you with your content creation?
Perhaps I can be of some assistance here, :)
I have a one on one program dedicated to helping you create endless amounts of social media that speaks directly to your audience.
It’s called the Idea Nugget Incubator - and you can read more about it here.
Questions? I got ya, :) Just set up a call with me and let me answer them for you.
PS - For those of you who aren’t in the know, I mail out these blogs 3x a week, and lemme tell you, they’re a real party, so, if you’d like to get in on this, sign up for it here and I’ll throw in a free gift for you, because I care, :)