| There’s a lot of crazy mysticism around something that pretty much everyone running a business needs. We panic, turn it into rocket science, think we need to spend loads of cash on ‘how to’ guides and tie ourselves in knots every year. I’m talking about content planning. Every year, I guide my clients through really simple steps. If you don’t want to shell out on content planners and training every year, here’s my really simple to follow system: 1) Get a big, blank, A3 sketch pad (if you prefer, you can use excel or similar, though there’s something about actually using a pen and paper). 2) Mark the following on separate sheets for each month: six columns down (one for each week day and one for weekend – do seven if you want to create content every day of the week), and four columns across (one for each week). This is why we use A3… each blank block created needs to be big enough to write in. You need space to include more than one channel in each if need be – ie, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, plus blogs, PR, podcasts, articles etc. 3) Look ahead to all the pivotal points in your year – maybe you have events coming up, campaigns you want to run, business anniversaries? Mark ‘em all in your newly-created content calendar AND then think about how far in advance you need to be promoting them, and plot your promo content in as well. Give yourself plenty of time to build awareness! 4) What about those annual awareness days you want to support? Hit up Google, check when they are and plot all the relevant ones into your content plan as well. 5) Then we fill the other gaps. Make sure you include a mix of informative, educational, inspiring and entertaining pieces of content – as well as regular posts addressing the top three problems you solve for your clients. You’ll need the odd blatant sales post too! And give plenty of you! Some of those posts need to tell YOUR story – maybe tools you’ve learned, through overcoming your own adversity, that might help others? Or your top tips to do X, Y and Z? Remember, you don’t have to use every social channel available. Maybe, for starters, pick two or three and do them really well? You can also, of course, choose to create content on fewer days, though I’d aim for a minimum of three per week to keep your visibility high. Don’t be tempted to blast the same piece of content across all channels. Mix it up. Got it? If you’re really stuck, hit reply, tell me where you’re blocked and I’ll see if I can help. Get creative… and remember to enjoy it! Until next time, |
| #UnleashYourAwesome, Taz X |
