Content Creation Strategies for Success on Social

Updated June 2024

Content Creation Strategies for A Successful Social Media Existence

Documentation Instead of Creation

Gary Vaynerchuk often gets credit for this approach, as he bases his social media strategy on documenting his life instead of creating content. He frequently records his day-to-day business activities and shares them as content. Gary discusses this content creation strategy on his blog. He isn't spending time specifically creating content; instead, he's going about his daily activities, and the content essentially creates itself. While you may not think your life and job are entertaining, everyone loves a behind-the-scenes look.

Why it works:

• Authenticity: It provides a genuine glimpse into your daily life.
• Huge time saver: You create great content for stories and informal posts without extra effort.
• Increased frequency: This approach allows you to show up more frequently on social media.

Challenges:

• Consistency: Remembering to set up a recording device or take photos can be tricky.
• Engagement: Not everyone has as exciting a life as Gary Vaynerchuk, but authenticity still resonates with audiences.

Live Video Content

Overcoming the fear of doing live videos was one of my biggest challenges. If I hadn't virtually met Eve Voyevoda a few years ago at an event organized by Melanie Richards, I might still be intimidated by this medium. However, once you conquer that hurdle, the value of live video is incredible. Live video is one of the best ways to present yourself authentically on social media, showcasing your unique quirks and laid-back vibe, which encourages others to connect with you. By creating content that highlights your personality and adds value to your audience, you can also save time!

Why it works:

• Connection: It's one of the best ways to create a genuine connection with your audience.
• Engagement: Enables live interaction.
• Efficiency: Saves time.

Challenges:

• Overcoming Fear: Getting comfortable with live video.
• Content Creation: Developing content that has both value and personality.

The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose Content Creation Strategy

You already have great content that holds significant value and has been posted in some form before. Here's how to maximize its potential:

REDUCE: Break down long-form content into multiple short-form pieces.

REUSE: Share content across different platforms by staggering the publication times.

RECYCLE: Repeat your key messages and posts since people need to hear them multiple times to remember.

REPURPOSE: Transform top-performing posts into new content formats for different platforms.

You can also work in the opposite direction. For example, I create weekly content for my BNI group presentations, which I then use as stand-alone social media posts. This weekly content builds up to a more comprehensive presentation I give approximately every ten weeks. This presentation also forms the basis of a blog post.

Often, I turn these presentations into monthly webinars, focusing on a critical aspect of the content. This tactic allows me to create focused social media posts around the webinar's key elements. Additionally, I can create videos from the most engaging social media posts and blog entries. The possibilities are endless with this strategy.

Why it works:

• Efficiency: You've already done the research and created the content.
• Expertise: You know the subject well.

Challenges:

• Variety: Ensuring you aren't overly repetitive.
• Creativity: Finding new and innovative ways to repurpose content.

Planning Versatile Content that Presents Next Steps

One successful but challenging content creation strategy involves testing content on your calendar with the potential to build more if it proves successful. Here's how I make it work: During a particular week, I select three different topics that I believe my audience might want a deeper look at and create a single social media post for each. Based on the reactions to those posts, I can gauge interest in a specific topic. If there is enough interest, I create additional content on that topic, measure its success, and, if warranted, dive even deeper. This strategy led to a post on social proof evolving into a blog post, which eventually became my first webinar.

Why it works:

• Incremental Creation: You create content incrementally, measuring the success of each topic.
• Engagement: You focus on topics that have already shown potential to engage your audience.

Challenges:

• Depth: Sometimes a deeper dive is needed.
• Metrics: Paying close attention to metrics and creating content quickly to keep your audience engaged.

The Take 3 Strategy for Short-Form Video

This content strategy helps you avoid spending excessive time creating short-form videos. It's easy to get lost in the pursuit of perfection, which is ultimately unattainable. Without setting limits, you could spend hours creating an 8-second video. To prevent this, I developed the Take 3 strategy, which allows you to record up to 3 takes for each of the 3 sections of your video, significantly reducing content creation time. We achieve this by incorporating a research and planning phase into our short-form video creation process, setting us up for efficient recording. I cover this in detail in my Signature Membership, which you can learn more about here.

Why it works:

• Efficiency: Prevents endless takes and saves time.
• Acceptance: Encourages posting imperfect videos.

Challenges:

• Discipline: Sticking to only three takes can be tough.
• Quality Concerns: Ensuring the video still represents your brand well.

Collaborative Content Creation

Many social media platforms, especially Instagram, are making collaboration easier, and it's something we should incorporate into our strategies. There are several ways to collaborate:

• Guest Posts: Feature content from industry experts or influencers on your profile and reciprocate by guest posting on theirs.
• Interviews: Conduct and share interviews with thought leaders or key figures in your industry, this can be done live and even multicast to multiple platforms. 
• Partnered Posts: Create a post together that is shared on both profiles, discussing a topic relevant to both audiences.

Collaborative posts are beneficial because they help you reach a new audience.

Why it works:

• Efficiency: Splitting the workload.
• Exposure: Getting in front of a new audience.

Challenges:

• Coordination: Aligning timelines and aesthetics.
• Effort: May require additional work.

Content is the Key to Success on Social

If content is the key to success on social media, then these strategies are your roadmap to mastering it. Experiment with them all, mix and match to see what resonates best with your style, story, and audience. If you want to learn more about these content creation strategies or how to build a plan that leads to social media success, reach out to Jonathan directly. You can also join us in the Signature Membership.