Make Your Content Work for You
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Co-presenting with Elise Miklich at Upstate Social 2019. Photo by @silverliningroc on Instagram.
As the year draws to a close, I figured it was a perfect time to talk about something we all want to get better at: making your content work for you. Creating content is a LOT of work, and folks outside the social media profession often underestimate how much time, knowledge, and creativity it takes to create quality content that your audience will enjoy.
Based on my and Elise Miklich’s presentation at Upstate Social 2019, I’m sharing some tips for making your content go further. We shared 10 tips for overwhelmed small business owners at Upstate Social, and today I’m sharing five of my favorites from that presentation.
1) Use a Content Calendar & Scheduling Tool
For the longest time, I thought content calendars were cumbersome and pointless. It seemed like more work to enter content ideas in the calendar, and then create content and schedule it.
At one point, I finally realized: I’d been using a content calendar all along. I use one regularly for I Heart ROC to keep us on track with interviews and social content. You may find that one style or another suits you better. I prefer to go week-by-week, because day-by-day is too granular for me. Figure out what works best for you and start planning! Content calendars are fantastic because they help you be proactive with your social media planning. Check out these tips and templates from Hootsuite for more.
Scheduling your social content is a lifesaver, too. By combining this with a content calendar, you’ll never again be like, “Oh shoot, I haven’t posted to our business Instagram in two weeks.”
If your budget is limited, there are many great free scheduling tools you can use. Facebook has a built-in scheduler; Tweetdeck is an awesome free tool for Twitter. For Instagram, I use Planoly and have a paid plan that allows me to auto-post to multiple business accounts. There are tons of other options on the market, too, so do your research and find one that suits you and your business! I’ve heard great things about Sprout Social (though it’s a bit more expensive); other options include Later, Buffer, Hootsuite, and Plann, just to name a few.
2) Utilize a Divisible Content Strategy
Wherever possible, slice, dice, and stretch your content. You can create many pieces of content from one great piece of content! If you write an amazing blog post, there’s so much you can do with it. You can create a graphic using a quote from the blog post and share it to Instagram, you can share a photo from the blog post, or you could craft multiple tweets with different tidbits from the blog post to share.
Similarly, a podcast can be repurposed in multiple ways. You can share quotes from it on various social networks, you can write a blog post recapping the podcast, or you can share an audio clip. Get creative! Split that content up into bite-sized chunks and share it widely!
3) Curate Content
So many people think social is all about original content, but curating content is both valid and valuable! It’s an efficient way to approach social media management, and it shows that you don’t just constantly promote your brand.
Follow relevant accounts and re-share their content, whether it’s articles about trends in your industry or educational videos that resonate with your audience. When you repost their content, be sure to give credit to the original poster. A recent piece in The Atlantic explained the trend of big brands stealing millennials’ jokes to sell products to them--and it’s not a good look. Don’t steal content; always be sure to credit properly. You can even ask, “Mind if we share this?” before reposting.
4) Encourage User-Generated Content
In this same vein, rather than endlessly creating new content, encourage your audience to create content about your products or services! While this may happen organically if people love your brand, in other instances, it may take a little more work and incentivizing.
In our presentation, Elise shared that for her business, Light Within Candle Co., she would build up relationships with influencers slowly and thoughtfully. She follows a process of identifying influencers, following and engaging with their content for a few months, then finally sending them free product with no ask. She doesn’t require them to post about it in exchange for the free candles. Rather, she tells them she loves their work, she hopes they enjoy the candles, and they can post if they like, but they’re not obligated to.
As a result of her no-pressure approach, Elise wound up with several beautiful posts by influencers and friends alike! These help her reach a larger audience, and she can repost them (with credit, of course), to showcase her beautiful candles.
5) Review Analytics & Adjust
This is a crucial step that’s often missed because we’re so busy! Carve out the time to actually review your analytics. Sit down at least once a month to review how things are going.
Look for trends. What types of posts perform well? What gets the best engagement? Which posts don’t do as well? Tweak your strategy accordingly! If you never review your analytics, it’s hard to get a sense for what your audience loves and what’s not important to them. In a future series of blog posts, I’ll dive a little deeper into analytics--where to go, what to track, and all that good stuff!
I hope these tips are helpful for you as you try to make the most out of the content you’ve worked so hard to create. What are your best tips for getting more out of your content? I’d love to hear them! Just tweet me at @servemethesky. For more content-related tips and other fun, check out my unboring email newsletter!
