This week in our content series, I’m stepping into the process of creating content for your business. Hopefully, by now, you know why and how often you should create content.
But before I dive in, I want to share a little story with you about writing content—just in case someone told you, you couldn’t write. Back in the day, I used to want to be an attorney. So, I went to college and earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. At the time, everyone told me I’d never make it through law school if I didn’t at least minor in English. (Apparently, there’s a lot of writing in law school.) So, I minored in English.
Throughout my college career – despite being Editor-In-Chief of the college’s poetry magazine and writing for the school newspaper – my professors repeatedly told me that I was a terrible writer. Some said it more politely than others, but it was a familiar message. The only genre where I excelled was poetry – I even won awards! – and I think it’s because, with poetry, I could make my own rules.
So now, how did I get here—with me WRITING to teach people how to CREATE marketing content? Well, when social media hit the scene, the writing rules changed. Back when I started, there weren’t rules! First, I had to learn how to take the length of an article or blog post and reduce it to a 140-character Tweet. Then, just like poetry, I made my own rules again.
The moral of that story is this: You have something in you worth sharing. You know things others don’t. So don’t be afraid to use YOUR words YOUR way. If you think you can’t write, you can’t, and you won’t. If you think you can, you can, and you will. (That said, a good editor is handy too.)
Okay! Are your sleeves rolled up? Let’s do this. There IS a simple way to create content. There are two simple ways I’m going to teach you. Neither is wrong; it’s just a matter of finding the correct method for you and your business.
Method 1: Blog Breakdown
On a sheet of paper, write a list of five broad topics you know you can discuss. As an example, five topics for me could be:
- Digital Strategies
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Content Writing
- Traditional Marketing
Next, break those topics down into subtopics. For example, I can divide my first item, Digital Strategies, into these parts:
- Current Marketing Analysis
- Survey
- Competitor Analysis
- Website Analysis
- Digital Action Plan
Now, if I include an overview of my topic from my first list – Digital Strategies – and then write about my five subtopics, I can produce six blog posts. In addition, I write one blog post a week, so I know exactly what I’m writing about for the next six weeks! And each topic is contained enough to be easily consumed by my readers.
Once I have my blog post written, I can pull content from it to post on the rest of my social media. Here are the ways I repurpose one blog post:
- For Instagram: Pull blog quotes out for InstaStories.
- For Facebook (or similar platforms): Pull a paragraph at a time for social media posts—add a question or short sentence of context.
- For Twitter: Pull out individual lines for tweets.
- For Email: Send the blog post in an email campaign or weekly newsletter.
- For LinkedIn: Share the blog as an article on LinkedIn.
- For Instagram: Do a reel of the main point of your blog.
One blog post has so many uses! I suggest your blog posts be 500 to 600 words and segmented to contain paragraphs, information segments, and bulleted descriptions. It’s easier to write this way, but Google also looks for these things for ranking.
If blogs aren’t your thing, that’s okay. We can apply the same technique to social media writing.
Method 2: Weekly Themes
Similar to the Blog Breakdown Method, this method focuses on social media writing. We begin by doing the same brainstorming for five broad topics.
This time, let’s pick a different example and say your industry is health and wellness. Let’s also say one of the items on your list is mindfulness. This can be your theme for one week’s social media content. Here’s how you can break it down:
- Monday: A quote about mindfulness.
- Tuesday: A tip on how to be more mindful.
- Wednesday: A video of the top three ways to move from moodiness to mindfulness.
- Thursday: A mindful exercise.
- Friday: A call to action for people to schedule a clarity call with you to learn how to incorporate mindfulness into their daily lives.
One theme, five social media posts! If this is the best method for you and your business, I encourage you to signup for my weekly content planner here. But, no matter which way you choose, publishing digital marketing content is vital to the health of your business. And yes, you can plan and write it yourself.
That said, if this is a task you don’t want to add to your plate, or if you need help building a content plan that’s right for you, schedule a clarity call with me. I’d love to help you brainstorm.
Next week: Who are we writing for?
