With so many different social media marketing channels open to you these days it can be very hard to know what you should be posting and when.
In this blog I will give you some simple ideas to help you with content creation that is both useful and valued by your customer.
I'll also address ways to beat overwhelm by focusing on quality of content over the volume you produce.
Volume of Content
It can be very easy to feel like you should be producing and posting content all day long on social media and your website. Everywhere you look people are going live, and setting up on new platforms like TikTok.
If you are the sort of person who can produce lots of content every day and find the time to engage with your audience as well, then that is fine. I am guessing you won't be reading this blog post in any case.
For the rest of you who are juggling you actual job & living your life, and don't want to spend every waking hour producing content, here is my advice.
Keep it quality
Everyone gets such a lot of content directed at them every day, that they may well be grateful if their favourite brands and company owners stop bombarding them with stuff.
Some of my favourite content only comes out once a week, and it's generally short. But it is good.
A technique that many content creators use that you may find useful is called pillar content.
Create a set number of valuable pieces for your customers every month and then use those pieces to regularly send out smaller sections to your customers on all the channels you are available on.
For example, you could record a podcast (which is now easier than ever) on a topic that you know your customers will be very interested in. You could use the recording of the podcast to send a video to Youtube.
You could use soundbites for Twitter, and quotes for Instagram and Facebook posts.
So by creating one piece of content you actually have enough to send out interesting snippets for days.
Feeling Frozen
When I speak to clients they often say they have stopped posting because of overwhelm. This can be helped with some simple marketing planning.
By taking some time each month to think about what you want to say to your customers, and how you want to say it, and then deciding when you are going to say it, you can head off a great deal of indecision.
It is always harder to think about posting on the fly than by being focused and measured about what you want to achieve.
How do I ensure my customers will be glad to receive my content?
My top advice here would be to use Google to check what questions people are are typically researching. I was asked about how to do this by a small business with a yoga offering for children so taking that as the example if you type in 'yoga and kids' below some of the search results you will see a box like this
I would pick questions that you can see people are asking, and use those to produce content for your customers. People are always pleased to read useful items or see videos about information they want to receive.
Also, you should not underestimate the fact that people want to hear from you, not someone else, but the person they choose to spend their money with.
You have a trusted position with them & a good opportunity to help with these sorts of questions as an expert in this area.
Thank you very much for reading
Shona
Would you like more help with your marketing? My new book is out now
If you would like a book of 100 Marketing Tips written just for small business owners then do have a look here. I wrote this book to be easy to read cover to cover or to be kept as a reference to dip in and out of!
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About Me Shona Chambers Marketing is a Marketing Agency based in SE London. Specialising in helping Small Business Owners and Freelancers with their Marketing.