Marketing, especially social media marketing is an essential part of growing and scaling an online business in 2021. Today, I’m sharing my content creation insider secrets from the 15 years of being behind the scenes of social media profiles of some of the hottest online marketing businesses.
Lack of plan
One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make when it comes to social media is a lack of a plan. Oftentimes I’ll see people who will be super consistent, but they don’t have a plan in place to actually take a social media follower and turn them into a paying client.
I have been behind the scenes of hundreds of launches and have seen the user behavior of millions of social media profiles. Over the past year, I have written over 100 social media snapshots in the past year and I’ve had some really interesting revelations.
Content Creation Insider Secrets
Many people do not create content assets and therefore, there is no portfolio of content that they can drive clients to. That’s a huge mistake! Too often people get sucked into the social media marathon and never ever escape it again. They enter the cycle of, “OMG, I didn’t post today!!” and just post for the sake of posting.
End result:
- it doesn’t feel really authentic.
- It isn’t aligned with their brand.
- It probably doesn’t have their voice attached to it.
- It’s certainly not strategic in terms of ushering a client through a journey.
This happens, because of a lack of a bigger marketing plan. I’m a huge believer in having your marketing calendar mapped out at least six months in advance and understanding what those 10,000-foot things are that you want to accomplish.
Do you have a list building initiative that’s coming up? // Do you have a program that you’re launching?
It’s really important to understand what it is you have coming down the pipeline and then working backward from there to create that content in those content assets.
Content creation beyond Social Media
Your content should go beyond your social media. You should have at least one or two of the following, where people can subscribe to it and you should create assets for those platforms on a regular basis:
- a blog
- a podcast
- a YouTube channel
Pinterest, YouTube, podcasts, blogs are all their own search engine ecosystems. So, when you create content there, it is important to understand that it lasts for weeks, months, and years.
I have a YouTube video that is over two years old and has a ridiculous number of hits that is still driving traffic into my funnel on a regular basis. Is it my favorite video? Absolutely not! Do I wish I could take it down? I could, but does it still pay me dividends? 100%, and ultimately that’s what I want for you.
I want you to create content that is going to continue to pay you assets over time. When you switch from this hamster wheel of social media to creating content assets, it’s incredibly important to implement it well.
Implementing Content the right way
People often skip one really important step when switching from their social media posting rat race to blogging, podcasting, and YouTubing. That step is implementation! It is super important to implement the blog post, the YouTube video, or podcast episode the right way.
Making sure the podcast has all the essential elements that it needs. If you’re going to take this route, you cannot skip over these things because you will not fully see the benefit of all of those things over time. It’s truly important to implement everything to the fullest extent of your ability.
With YouTube, for example, make sure that you’re adding a comment and pinning it. Make sure you’re adding captions, end screens, and info cards. Truly optimize the video.
The same goes for your blog. Use a Yoast SEO to make sure that your copy is keyword rich. Make sure that you have a meta description, an image alt tag on that image.
Make sure all of those little, tiny details are in place so that you can get those assets to continue to pay you dividends over time. When you skip that step, you don’t get those dividends that are going to pay you for days, weeks, months, even years.
Take those extra steps when you go through all the effort of creating these content assets.
Facebook has changed a lot in recent years, and I think it’s really important to understand that if you’re an entrepreneur who’s in business for yourself, your personal Facebook profile isn’t for you anymore. Your personal Facebook profile is your personal billboard and it’s very important to keep engagement up on that profile. That can range from posting a funny meme or asking people in an engagement post to comment in some way, shape, or form. Of course, you also want to celebrate all of those big milestones. People love that on social media. Be sure to post about birthdays, anniversaries, anything that you’re celebrating because that will drive engagement up on your profile.
In between those posts, you can layer in value-driven content. That is a really cool and cohesive way to grow your personal brand and billboard online.
Don’t forget to map out a content calendar
If you’re truly going to grow and scale an online business, you need a content calendar, and that plan needs to be in place 90 days if not six months in advance. You don’t need to have every day planned out for the next six months, but it’s important to have a high-level understanding of that 30,000, 10,000 and 5,000 foot view of the types of content you will be putting out on your profiles. That way when you get into the day-to-day nuances of social media, it becomes easy to figure out what it is that you’re going to post about.
When you have this content calendar planned out, it also allows you to take your prospective clients and members of your community on a journey with you.
You can map out all the different steps along the way of the objections, problems, fears, motivations, and highs & lows that they’re going to experience and share stories along the way. It becomes a strategic and ‘sneaky’ way to take somebody as a community member and turn them into a buyer slowly over time.
Social Media Thin Slice
Maybe you’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Blink”, where he talks about an art dealer, who knew something was wrong with a painting. It was based on his three to five-second snap judgment of this particular painting. Snap judgments or thin slices are things that our brain automatically makes based on our past lived experiences.
Social media is essentially snapshots of your life and your experiences that you share with your community. Pull out your Instagram profile or your Facebook profile and look at it.
What are the different snap judgments that people might be making based on the things you are posting?
- Are you being too self-aggrandizing?
- Are you being too snarky or sharp?
- Are you being a know-it-all?
All of these things might not necessarily be positive as I just pointed out, but perhaps you might have a new puppy or you posted something you did with one of your kids. So, these snap judgments and thin slices are not always negative. But when you run it through the lens of your business are you portraying the right persona that you want to come across as a professional in your business?
Here’s an example. I had a client, she is fantastic, but she was constantly posting about her chickens. I’m all for having chickens. However, every third post on her profile was a post about her chicken coop, her chickens, or her dogs. That was not in alignment with her business goals. It’s really important to make sure that the thin slice people are making is in alignment with the experience you want people to have when they meet you.
Remember, in a thin slice, you don’t really have much control over it because it’s based on someone’s past lived experiences. Thin slicing in social media happens, because we are only sharing snippets of our lives with people. Make sure you select and curate the right set of images, copy, words, and experiences so that you’re conveying the right message when it comes to your community.
Social Media Marketing Snapshots
As previously mentioned, I have written over a hundred social media snapshots over the past year and would encourage you to check out my social media offer. For only $47 you get a custom two-to-three-page report and people have gone ‘crazy bananas’ over them! I personally write every single one of these snapshots. In this report
- I give you insights into your thin slice
- I give you insights about what you could change, adjust or modify when it comes to your social media
- What you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong
- Where you need to make adjustments
- How you can make things better
- How you can cohesively tie everything together to make a better client journey
Since I only open enrollment to the social media marketing snapshots a few times a year, I highly recommend you get one, now. They are only $47 and you get so much insight! Get yours today!
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Are you wondering if your social media marketing is even working? Are you posting and hearing crickets? For a limited time, I am offering customized Social Media and Marketing Snapshots for $47. These are a 2 – 3 page action plan designed specifically for your business. Grab yours today ===>>> www.socialmediasnapshot.com
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