5 Tips For Creating A Plan For Your Blog Posts And Social Media Content
You’ve probably seen countless experts on Instagram, blog posts, checklist and resources telling you the hundreds of things you SHOULD be doing on your blog and on your social media to successfully market your business. Why? Because it’s a FREE way to market your business! That’s why it’s vital and a no brainer to create a strategic plan for your blog and social media -- it really doesn’t cost you a penny.
However, just looking at those lists of all the things you should or have to be doing for social media can be enough to make your head spin! We’ve heard from countless people that they feel so overwhelmed with a plan for their blog and social media that they don’t even know where to start.
Plus, when you’re a small business owner, it can sometimes feel like your marketing task list is longer than your actual business task list. This can often be overwhelming to new business owners or soloprenuers who just want to actually do what they were made to do, not necessarily spend hours and hours marketing what they do.
It’s true that there are ways you can really kill it online and on social media to reach your ideal client, sell and serve to more people, and make more money. However, it doesn’t have to be a scary endeavor that you start on all cylinders right away.
Our BIGGEST and most successful tip we’ve seen in our own company and companies that we coach are to have a plan! Seriously, being intentional, thoughtful and keeping your calendar in mind when strategizing your social content and blogging can make a real difference for your brand or business.
When you have a blog and social media plan, you can …
Feel less overwhelmed by planning ahead and taking it step-by-step.
Be more thoughtful about the topic and timing of each blog or social media post instead of flying by the seat of your pants.
Have peace of mind because you know what's coming up in your calendar.
Work with other brands on your posts so that it works seamlessly with your timing and your message.
Utilize your valuable time more efficiently by working smarter, not harder.
When we coach our customers who are launching businesses for the first time on how to leverage digital marketing (using a blog and social media to reach new potential clients or customers), we have a couple of tips that make starting out way less overwhelming and way more doable!
5 Tips For Planning Your Blog and Social Media
1. Know Your Ideal Client
The biggest step in getting started is just writing out a list of things you could be posting about. One of the ways you can make this easier on yourself is to know your ideal client. When you know exactly who you are marketing to, you can create content that will speak directly to them, spend less time shouting to the masses. When you know your ideal client, you can start to narrow down the kind of content or posts that you’d actually post about.
For us at GoLive, our ideal client is a creative girlboss launching her online business for the first time. We ask ourselves, what would this business babe who is looking to launch quickly want to see on our blog and social media? We love to share helpful tips and inspiration about starting a business, getting work done, pretty design, and how to work efficiently. Plus, we make sure to share our work by showcasing our portfolio of designs.
For someone who is a fitness instructor, maybe their ideal client is a modern girl on the go. What would she want help with? We could imagine they would want some motivation to keep working out, healthy recipes, recommendations for workout gear, and tips for remaining active while they are traveling.
Is this making sense? First identify your ideal client and then create a list of things that you could imagine that person really wanting to see in their feed! Need help identifying your dream client? We’ve got a workshop for that! Check out our Define Your Dream Client Mini Workshop that will help you nail down how attract the people you actually want to work with.
2. Create Helpful Content For Free
So now that you know your ideal client, and you know what they would want to see as they scroll their feed, think of how you can give out free tips, resources and content that they will actually find helpful and valuable.
Here’s the catch -- give it out FOR FREE! You can easily create a free download, give out a tip in a quick Instagram caption, or write a blog post like this one where you give out “5 ways to improve…” without your ideal client or customer having to spend a single penny.
Of course, you don’t have to give EVERYTHING out for free. You can save some sage secrets for a paid product or service. The main point is, don’t be afraid to be helpful online to gain the trust of those following you.
When your ideal client sees these things on your blog and social media profiles, they will feel like you’re helping them with something. This leads to them trusting you as a resource and as an expert, and then they think of you when they need your product or service. This also keeps them coming back to your profile, website or blog because they know they can access good, quality information there.
3. Pick Your Platforms With Purpose
We’ll be the first to say that you don’t have to be active on seven different social media platforms to be successful! Narrow down the platforms that you’ll be active on depending on where your ideal clients are hanging out.
At GoLive, we focus more time and energy on the platforms that we know work for our company, customers and clients. So, for example, our ideal clients are hanging out on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. So we don’t need to waste time creating content or being active on Twitter, Linkedin, Snapchat, etc. This helps simplify and narrow down our efforts.
If picking multiple platforms still sounds overwhelming as you’re just starting out, just pick ONE! Then, after you’ve hit a groove with the first platform, adding a second and then a third won’t be such a large undertaking.
4. Get Your Calendar Out And Plan Ahead
As a small business owner or soloprenuer, you’re busy most days we’re guessing! Plus, if you’re still in side-hustle mode working alongside your full-time gig, being strategic with your time is even more important.
Rather than flying by the seat of your pants each time your brainstorm, craft, write and post about something, we plan out our content in bulk. Here’s why this helps: when you’re not switching from task-to-task so often, you can actually be more efficient with your time.
At GoLive, our marketing team plans out all our major content themes about 3 months in advance, and we batch it out in steps. This is called batch working and is a HIGHLY effective strategy for getting ahead.
Print out a calendar (or check out our post and free download on How To Use a Content Calendar), and start by just writing out one post idea per week for the next 3 months. Already, you’ve got 12 good ideas to get you started that you can now work ahead to get all the prep done so you aren’t working week-to-week.
5. Reuse And Recycle Your Content
What does it mean to recycle content? It’s when you write one piece of content (like a list, or a great tip, or a formula, or an inspirational message), and then use it in multiple ways. This way, just one piece of writing is getting used in many different ways, and you’re essentially getting more bang for your buck when it comes to your time spent on the writing.
For example, our team might create a blog post article (like this one!) and then from there, we’ll create a Pinterest graphic, a free PDF resource, an email series, or a several social media posts with the same content. It might be worded slightly differently, or might just include some parts of the content.
Most often than not, people are busy and don’t pay close attention, so they miss certain posts. So, if you are using one piece of content in multiple ways, many people won’t notice, or maybe they missed it the first time. Plus, you can also repost the same exact thing weeks or months later. Reposting and reusing content every few months can also minimize content creation burn out.
The Wrap Up
Making a plan to start using your blog and social media as a serious marketing tool for your brand or business does not have to be overwhelming! Our biggest tip -- JUST START! Schedule 1 hour right now in your calendar to start brainstorming and you’re already a step ahead.
Want more tips and tricks your social media and blog? Check out our other helpful posts below:
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