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Tag: content
Write Social Media Captions that Add Value
Mastering the Art of Captions
A value-packed caption can be as impactful as a photo that tells a story. Captions aren’t just a nice-to-have anymore—unless you’re a celebrity or influencer like Kim Kardashian. The right caption can transform a good post into a great one and make a great post blow up! If you’re still stuck in the past, thinking captions don’t matter, here’s the reality check: Captions Matter!
A great caption speaks directly to your audience. It’s easy to read, easy to understand, and it grabs attention while adding value. Does that sound like a lot for just a few words? Maybe, but leaving the caption blank and hoping for the best won’t cut it. Social media marketing isn’t a walk in the park anymore. The prettiest picture doesn’t automatically win, even on Instagram. Social Media Marketing is a full-contact sport, so gear up and get writing! Crafting the perfect caption can add value for your followers and turn them into clients, making all the effort worthwhile.
So, how do you write great captions for your posts? Check out some of the tips below.
The Structure of Captions That Add Value
There are many different ways to structure your caption, and the best structure for your niche and the kind of content you are delivering can vary. However, here are some overarching tips on the best structure to utilize for captions.
Valuable Captions Have the Important Words First
Having the most important words first seems obvious. But many of us lose sight of this. We forget how short attention spans are (8 seconds) and that we are scrolling social media feeds at breakneck speeds. If you have any chance of capturing your audience’s attention, you better do it fast. Include your keywords of the caption in the first couple of lines. Just like with any writing, I recommend the Say What You Are Going to Say, Say It, and Say That You Said It Strategy. Don’t be afraid to be bold, funny, or a bit controversial in your first statement. Make sure it captures the attention of your audience and is brand-appropriate. It is your hook, and if you don’t hook them in the first few words, they are out!
Crafting the Body of Your Valuable Caption
The body of your caption is where you deliver on the promise you made in the first few lines. This is the “say it” part. You’ve hooked your audience with a teaser; now it’s time to provide valuable information. This can be answers to questions, helpful tools and tricks, a compelling story, or a Q&A session. In most cases you want to make sure your caption connects directly to the image or video you’re using.
After this you will quickly recap what you said, for the said that you said it portion of the caption and then its time for your call to action.
Include Calls to Action (CTAs) and questions in the final paragraph. CTAs and questions are important for encouraging engagement. They prompt your audience to interact with you, turning passive viewers into active participants. Be creative with your questions and CTAs, but remember—simple, easy-to-answer prompts often generate the most engagement.
Hashtags and @Mentions: Keep Them at the End
Hashtags and @mentions are important for reaching a wider audience, but they shouldn’t clutter your main message. Place them at the end of your caption to keep your main content clear and readable. Write a valuable, engaging caption first, then add relevant hashtags and mentions to boost your post’s visibility.
Give Your Captions Room to Breath
A big text block can be intimidating, and your audience is less likely to engage with something that feels overwhelming. Break up your captions with emojis, paragraph breaks, and lists to create space and make them more inviting. Aim for one to three-sentence paragraphs to be the perfect length.
Use Visual Elements
Emojis can add personality and break up text, making it more engaging. Use them to highlight key points or add a touch of fun to your message.
Paragraph Breaks and Lists
Utilize paragraph breaks to keep your text manageable. Lists are also a great way to present information clearly and concisely.
Keep It Simple
Short paragraphs make your content more digestible and engaging. Remember, the easier it is to read, the more likely your audience will interact with your post.
General Tips for Creating Captions that Add ValueAlways Know What You Want the Post to Accomplish
Every social media post should have a clear purpose, goal, or reason for being there. When creating captions, keep that purpose in mind. What action do you want your audience to take after reading your caption? Determine the desired response and put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Ask yourself these questions while crafting your caption:
- Does my audience care about this post topic?
- If I saw this in my feed, how would I react?
- Am I encouraging conversation or just preaching?
- Is this interesting, thought-provoking, solving a problem, inspiring or entertaining?
- What impact will this have on my brand?
Write a caption to make you react how you want your audience to react. Create content your audience cares about, encourage engagement, and spark conversation. Ensure it’s exciting or thought-provoking and positively impacts your brand.
Remember, it’s okay to experiment with different strategies until you find what resonates with your audience.
Always Encourage Engagement
Let’s get back to basics: social media is all about being social. It’s about having conversations, not just broadcasting at people. You want to engage your followers and get them involved in a dialogue. Encourage your audience to respond by asking open-ended questions in your captions. These types of questions drive better engagement, so get creative. Another effective strategy is to include a call to action in your caption.
Tell a Story in Your Caption
Your caption is the perfect place to tell a story. Stories are naturally engaging and have been a fundamental part of human communication since the days of cave paintings. They help build a connection between you and your audience, bringing emotion and personality into your social media presence.
Share stories and anecdotes of success, positive experiences, and how you’ve created success in your business. Don’t shy away from sharing struggles, moments when failure seemed imminent, and days when you felt down and out. These stories of struggle can be even more powerful than success stories because they show you’re human and can encourage and inspire those who are currently facing challenges.
By weaving stories into your captions, you highlight your personality and build deeper, more authentic relationships with your audience.
Add Value to Your Caption By Being the Best Version of Yourself
If you’ve built your brand on a solid foundation, it should already reflect what YOU do best, not what others do. Your brand should showcase what you want your business to be known for and mirror your personality. So, don’t hesitate to be yourself in your captions. Being a real ass human is engaging because there’s no one else out there like you.
Branding is all about differentiation, so use what makes you unique. It’s fine to be quirky, funny, unique, or even weird. These qualities help you stand out and engage people. You’ll build a loyal audience that supports your brand because they appreciate what only you can offer.
Keep the Value Simple
Ensure your value is easy to see and digestible for your audience. This can vary by industry but aim to keep it straightforward and accessible. Avoid overstimulating your readers or talking down to them. Instead, offer bite-sized, valuable content that resonates and engages effectively.
Final Check: Does Your Caption Add Value?
You’ve written your captions, proofread them, ensured they make sense, and confirmed they align with your brand and the story you’re telling with your photo or video. Great! You’re ready to schedule them, right?
Hold on a second!
Before you post anything on social media, ask yourself these two crucial questions:
- Does this post have value?
- Is it valuable, or will it resonate with my audience
Confirming Value: A Crucial Step
If the answer to both questions is yes, you’re good to go. Consider these questions during social media planning, especially when crafting your captions. Reflect on how your post will serve your audience. Ask yourself and your team:
- How will this serve my audience?
- What value will my intended audience take away from this caption?
- Is it teaching them a lesson they want to learn?
- Is it answering a question they’ve asked?
- Is it expanding on a story they’re interested in?
When Your Caption Doesn’t Add Value
If the answer to either question is no—if the post doesn’t add value, or it doesn’t add value for your intended audience—it shouldn’t make it onto your calendar. This final check ensures you always deliver content that benefits your audience, ultimately boosting engagement.
Tips to Level Up Your Caption Game
If you’ve mastered creating valuable captions and consistently adding value to your audience, it’s time to take your skills to the next level! As you explore advanced techniques, remember that the fundamentals still apply. Here are a few favorite ways to level up your caption writing skills:
Pay Close Attention to Your Brand Voice
One advanced move is to ensure your brand voice is consistent across all your captions and posts. Start writing all your social media content in a way that aligns with your brand language. Here’s how:
- Define Your Brand Voice: Clearly outline what your brand sounds like. Is it friendly, professional, quirky, or authoritative? Make sure this tone is reflected in every piece of content you create.
- Consistency Across Platforms: Your brand voice should be present in all communications, not just your posts. This includes profiles, comments, responses to comments, affiliate posts, and advertising. Consistency builds a unified and believable brand.
- Create a Brand Book: Develop a formal style and brand book. This guide should include your brand’s tone, language style, and key phrases. Ensure everyone involved in your social media, from posts to customer responses, follows this guide.
- Implement an Approval Process: Have a system in place for approving all posts, updates, and responses to ensure they align with your brand voice. This helps maintain consistency and quality.
By paying close attention to your brand voice and ensuring it’s consistent across all platforms, you create a stronger, more unified brand that resonates with your audience. These advanced techniques will help you refine your caption game and make your social media presence even more impactful.
Try the Mini Blog Format Caption
Deliver more value with a mini-blog format caption. This caption type includes titles and sections covering a specific topic and providing key takeaways. While longer posts can be tricky and may not attract as many readers, those who invest the time are often your most loyal supporters. Some people may even save your post to revisit later. Use the mini-blog format to introduce broader topics or themes and engage your audience deeper. Pro Tip: Highlight key points from your longer caption by creating a story update featuring the text.
Begin Utilizing CTAs to Drive Followers to Your Website
Social media platforms can be unpredictable. Instagram could disappear tomorrow, Facebook might demand hefty ad spending for visibility, and Twitter could implode. Using these platforms to build a real audience is crucial—one you can reach even if social media goes belly up. If Instagram vanished tomorrow, how many followers could you still connect with? Use CTAs to drive your social media followers to your website, where you can capture their contact information. Make them engaged followers on and off social media to secure your long-term stability.
Focus on 3-5 Themes
Identify what works on your social media and what’s missing. Focusing on delivering valuable posts with strong captions will give you insight into what resonates with your audience. Use this information to determine your brand’s 3-5 best themes and build your content calendar around these themes. Narrowing your focus allows you to hone your expertise in these areas, making content creation more manageable and effective. This clarity helps your audience understand who you are and why you matter.
Tools to Help You Write Valuable Captions
Grammarly Is My Jam
Want to be a better writer? Eliminate unnecessary words and be more concise. Grammarly Premium is worth its weight in gold as it catches a considerable percentage of grammar and spelling errors and advanced mistakes. The premium version includes critical grammar and spelling checks, conciseness checks, readability checks, vocabulary enhancement checks, genre-specific writing checks, tone checks, and plagiarism checks. A free version is also an excellent tool for catching all the critical spelling and grammar errors.
The Hemingway App
The Hemingway App says it will make your writing “bold and clear.” It works by analyzing text and highlighting places where your content is sloppy or indulgent! It helps you eliminate superfluous and ornamental words and phrases. I like this one because it helps you clearly engage with your captions.
Cliché Finder
If you are anything like me, you may tend to lean towards cliches as a safe space. But when you consider the fact that cliches are cliches because they have virtually lost all their meaning, you realize they are not going to help you create real, impactful captions. This is where a tool like a cliche finder is so useful, you enter some text into the app, and hit the submit button. Cliches in your writing appear in red.
Understanding the Value of Creating Valuable Captions
Providing value in captions is the first step in getting your audience to want to get to know more. You have a few words to capture them and highlight the value you have to offer right from the first contact. Make the most of every caption and try the tips and tricks provided and see how they work for your business. We took a fairly deep dive into how to write valuable captions, but we could probably go even deeper on captions. We hope that you can build your social media presence with a solid foundation with the tips we provided. Captions are a crucial part of content creation and social media management. They should be a part of your content calendar planning and can help you tell your story on social media. Customized content and captions are also vital aspects of what we do differently here at JRH Graphics. And even though we covered a lot here, a deeper dive is certainly possible, so please let us know what you would like to hear more on, have us explore more deeply, or explain differently! Please take a second to leave notes in the comments below.
9 Ways to Get Out of Your Social Media Rut
Revised June 2024
Stuck in a Social Media Rut?
You might be in a social media rut if any of these sound familiar:
- Your content feels uninspired.
- Your posts lack engagement and feel flat.
- Every post feels like a chore.
- You feel disconnected from what you’re posting.
Don’t worry; we’re here to help! Revitalize your spirit and social media presence with these 9 Ways to Get Out of Your Social Media Rut. These tips will help you reframe, refocus, and re-energize your posts without wasting time and effort.
Save yourself the hassle and try these 9 Ways first!
9 Ways to Get Out of Your Social Media Rut: 3 Inspirational Strategies
Plan a Day of Inspiration
The top recommendation for getting out of your social media rut is to plan a day of inspiration for yourself. Forget about social media and the stress it’s causing. Don’t post anything! Dedicate this day to activities that make you happy. Engage in things you love, whether related to your business or not.
The idea is to spend a day genuinely focused on what you enjoy without considering social media. This break will help you re-center your energy and efforts on what truly matters. Content creation should come from the heart and reflect your passion for your business. Focusing on what you love will reignite your creativity, and meaningful content will naturally surface.
A Day of Inspiration for Jonathan at Success on .Social
A day of inspiration for Jonathan at Success on .Social can take many forms. I plan a day behind my camera when I’m stuck in a content creation rut. On this day, my focus is solely on what my camera sees, not on what I want it to capture. The key difference between a content creation day (where I control what the camera sees) and an inspiration day (where the camera leads) is this shift in perspective.
I don’t plan where I’ll go; I simply walk and see where I end up. With no schedule or specific purpose, I let the camera guide me. This spontaneous walking clears my head. I’m not thinking about creating social media posts or how I will use a photo to tell my story—I’m just taking pictures.
Get Unstuck by Looking at Leaders and Brands That Inspire You
Do you follow leaders, influencers, or brands because their content inspires you? Have you ever followed a brand hoping to create content as strong as theirs? Looking at the content of others that inspire you is a great way to reignite your creativity. Sometimes, all it takes is one great post to pull you out of your rut.
When using others’ content as inspiration, ask yourself:
- How would this post work with my brand?
- What creative elements would I use to make this my own?
- How could I adapt this focus for my brand?
By asking these questions, you can analyze the content’s objectives that inspire you and create something uniquely your own.
Get Out of Your Social Media Rut by Getting Inspired by Your Competition
What is your competition posting? Do they have a new product, concept, or campaign? Sometimes, a little friendly rivalry can spark inspiration. There’s no harm in observing what your competitors are doing and using it as a source of inspiration. However, it’s crucial not to compare yourself directly to your competition or copy their content. Instead, view their efforts as a springboard for your creativity. Your goal is to be inspired to create unique and engaging content for your brand.
Get Out of Your Social Media Rut: 4 Content-Based Strategies
Did the 3 inspirational strategies not catapult you out of your social media rut? Sometimes, it’s not just inspiration that’s missing; sometimes, you need to mix up your content and engagement strategies. If you think this might be the case, try these four strategies to help get you back on track.
Invest in the Relationships You Have
You have a relationship with every follower. Invest in those relationships by engaging directly. Respond to all comments, acknowledge likes, and answer your followers’ questions. Basic engagement strategies encourage your followers to keep interacting with your posts.
Every time an audience member asks a question, it’s an opportunity. How can you resolve their problem in a post or a series of posts? The more questions you can answer, the more content you can create. More importantly, you become a valuable resource for them. Investing in relationships is not just a strategy to get you out of your social media rut; it’s also a great way to build a loyal following.
Reframe Your Role
This strategy is closely related to investing in the relationships you have with your customers. Position yourself as a resource and an expert in your niche. Reframing your role on social media can dramatically impact what you can post. Let’s compare the content from Jonathan Howard, Everyday Guy with 2 Puggles, and Jonathan Howard, Owner of Success on .Social.
Jonathan Howard, Everyday Dog Owner
- Posts about my dogs
- Content about my house
- Talking about my photos
- Discussing what I ate
- Day-to-day activities
- Talking about my family
- Where I am going
Jonathan Howard, Owner of Success on .Social
- All the things the dog owner can post about
- Content creation
- Social media strategies
- Storytelling and Building Your Story Bank
- Developing Your Signature Style
- Basic business strategies
- Small business success tips
By reframing your role, you can expand your content possibilities and establish yourself as a trusted expert in your field.
Get Unstuck by Reposting or Repurposing Existing Content
This type of content creation became popular with the rise of short-form videos. Experts often suggest finding your top-performing piece and recreating it as a reel. Previously, many of us relied on photo + caption style posts. Over the years, we’ve touched on many topics but often don’t revisit them because we think, “I’ve already done that!” However, this mindset can hold you back. If the content is still relevant, you can repost it or change the format and repurpose it.
One key to being recognized as a leader in your niche is consistently repeating your message.
Transforming photo posts into video posts forces you to rethink how to deliver the content effectively in a new format. By doing this, you create a new and relevant post. Each format—whether a live video, a recorded video, a short-form video, or a YouTube tutorial—requires a different approach. This strategy can lead to a wealth of content simply by reframing what you’ve already created.
Have Your Blog Help You Out of the Rut
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Your blog is a powerful social media tool! It’s one of my favorite strategies to expand your reach on social media because it maximizes each piece of content. Your blog is also a great source of material to post on social media. Pair your words, a quote, or an action item with a relevant picture, and voilà—you have a piece of content to post.
What’s even better is that you can include a call-to-action (CTA) that links back to your blog. A CTA that directs readers to your blog adds authority to your post and drives traffic to your platform.
Get Out of Your Rut with These Two “Lone Wolf” Strategies
Let Users Create Content for You
Social proof is a powerful social media strategy that enlists your product or service users to tell your story without brand bias. User-generated content (UGC) is a form of social proof created by your followers. While encouraging UGC by reposting it in your feed or stories is beneficial, it’s not the most effective content creation strategy alone, as it relies on your audience to create content.
UGC helps you understand how your followers use your product or service daily. Once you know this, you can build content encouraging others to share similarly. It also allows you to create content that serves the needs of those using your products.
Challenge Yourself with a Challenge
Social media challenges are plentiful, but finding the right one can push you out of your comfort zone and revitalize your content creation. Join a challenge that is within reach but still challenging enough to keep you engaged. Avoid too easy or difficult challenges, as you’re more likely to quit. Look for challenges that require daily content creation and have a structure with built-in accountability.
Unexpected Benefits
Every challenge I’ve participated in has led to unexpected discoveries and a renewed focus on content creation. Challenges are designed to teach you something new, prompting you to review your current practices and see how the new lessons fit into your business.
Eve Voyevoda — Business & Brand Creator — Visibility Gym
“I wasn’t in a rut, but I wanted to stretch myself. I knew I needed to explore different ways to include video in my content strategy. I’ve always been afraid of video, and when the opportunity to participate in this challenge arose, I was looking for every reason not to do it. So, I signed up before I could talk myself out of it and couldn’t have been happier. Not only did I improve my video presentations, but I also ended the experience with a ton of fresh content ideas. While this was one of the best challenges I’ve ever participated in, the lessons and content inspiration are benefits that come with every challenge if you make the most of the opportunity.”
Free Yourself from the Rut & Create Engaging Content with Ease!
Utilize these 9 strategies to get out of your social media rut, whether you use them together or pinpoint your problem and use just one. Each strategy helps you get out of your head, stop comparing yourself to others, and create content that feels authentic to you and your brand. Remember, you are doing your best at any moment, but there is always room for growth and learning.
Even if you aren’t currently in a social media rut, these strategies can be used proactively to keep challenging yourself. Create better content that engages your customers and fosters deeper, more meaningful relationships with your followers.
Content Creation Made Easier: Using What You Have
Updated June 2024
Content Creation is a Full-Time Job + Overtime
Content creation can be hard. It can be time consuming. Content creation can be a downright pain in the butt. If you have ever been in charge of creating content for a business, non-profit, or even for your personal blog you know that at times it feels like content creation is your full-time job. And it is making you work overtime.
Seriously, we feel your pain!
We have adapted a couple tricks to make your life easier. In Content Creation Made Easier we will discuss strategies that will make your content creation easier. The first one which we discuss here is what I called Breaking Down Your Blog. I believe that adopting the strategies outlined in these blog posts will revolutionaize your content creation strategy, and make you a happier content creator.
Before The Creation Even Starts
Prior to revealing our first hack, there is something that should be done before the content creation even begins. You must find a content scheduler that allows you to post as far as 6 months in advance and auto publishes to the platforms that you utilize. Yes, 6 months in advance. Although, I would prefer 12, but six will suffice. It should also be a tool that you like to use, not one that you dread. Simply because if its a drag you aren’t going to want to do it and you won’t get the most out of these content hacks.
Breaking Down Your Blog
Create Blog and Affiliated Social Media Posts Simultaneously
Do you have a business blog? Are you creating regular posts for it? Is this content also being shared on your social media?
If you don’t have a business blog, you should consider starting one, and you can read why (insert link). If you aren’t using your blog as the basis for your social media posts, you might be missing out. Your blog and social media should be closely related, feeding into each other and serving as powerful tools to answer your audience’s questions and establish yourself as a leader in your niche.
Two to Twenty Birds with One Stone
Creating your blog posts and the affiliated social media posts simultaneously is an efficient way to maximize your content creation efforts. If you write a well-structured blog post, it will naturally include sections that discuss specific topics. These topics often have sub-sections explaining certain ideas. If an idea is important enough to have its own sub-section, it likely deserves its own social media post too.
For example, if your blog post has three main topics and each topic has three sub-sections, you’ve already got 10 social media posts. Here’s how: you’ll write a post about the overall topic of the blog and why it’s important, which is one post. Then, you’ll create nine more posts based on each topic and sub-section. So, 1 overall post + 9 topic/sub-section posts = 10 social media posts.
Why The Scheduling Tool is Important
I don’t recommend bombarding your audience with 10 posts on the same topic over two weeks. It’s essential to vary your content. What I do recommend is creating the content and then scheduling the posts. Typically, I write one blog post a week and post about two concepts from my blogs each week. The first post is about the new blog, and the second post is a subsection from a previous blog, ideally related to the week’s new blog topic, but this isn’t always possible.
In an ideal scenario, you revisit blog topics on your social media with a fresh perspective (a new subsection post) every 5-6 weeks. When you publish the blog, you also add the posts to your scheduling tool for future dates. This approach allows you to “set it and forget it” (though you will still need to engage with the posts). You’ll adjust the posts for the best fit, but this method provides you with pre-set content weeks in advance.
An Exercise in Abundance
A few years ago, I asked members of my Facebook group to break down one of my previous blog posts into potential social media posts. The blog post we used is listed below along with the results. From this blog, we came up with the following social media post topics:
- Creating connections
- Selling the emotions (2 posts)
- Being heard in a crowded marketplace
- How your brand story creates uniqueness (example post)
- Why story is the most powerful and flexible tool (longer form post)
- Reviewing key aspects of a brand story
- Sharing TED Talks and EchoStory resources
- Tapping into emotions (example post)
- Connecting with your audience
- “First this, then that” storytelling examples (2 posts)
- Exploring the “Why” (Why you do what you do)
- Why your audience should care
From this single blog, we identified approximately 14 social media posts. While this is above my average, it was a content-heavy blog covering many essential storytelling topics. Creating social media posts simultaneously with the blog keeps the content fresh in your mind. You’ll only need to do hashtag research once, the photos used in your blog are readily available, and other potential slow-downs are minimized.
The Most Amazing Thing
If you keep this up for just five weeks, with an average of 10 posts per blog, you’ll have almost one post per week ready for your social media for nearly an entire year! Imagine that—one less post to create every week for a year, and you’re only five weeks into this strategy. Isn’t that amazing? I promise, this hack can be a social media game-changer. For the past three months, I’ve been doing this, and I no longer feel the constant anxiety of needing to create content for my profiles. I always have something ready in the pipeline if needed.
But What If I Don’t Blog and Have No Plans to Start One?
I’m not here to argue (though I do encourage considering a blog)! You can use this hack for other content, such as breaking down your monthly newsletter to customers or creating five posts over five weeks based on an excellent article you found, like “The 5 Best to Do .” Content creation is challenging, but this hack is about working smarter, not harder.
Pro-Tip
Ready to go pro? Video content engages audiences at much higher rates than other forms of content. Whenever possible, create video content. When breaking down content into posts, identify which ones might be better as videos. Record these videos while the topic is fresh (wear season-neutral clothing) and use them when needed. Getting one video from each piece of content will help establish you as a leader in your niche.
Now Your Blog is Working As Hard As You
Your blog is now carrying some of the content creation load. Even if you handle all the content creation for your blog, you’re streamlining the work. Creating content in advance alleviates the “oh my god I need something to post” panic we’re all too familiar with. You can adapt this strategy to suit your needs, but I believe it can transform how you approach and manage content creation for your business.
Using A Content Calendar: Tips for Planning Social Media
Updated June 2024
Using A Content Calendar Prevents These Types of Moments
Close your eyes and imagine.
It is Monday morning; you are already running late for a meeting. The barista at Starbucks can’t seem to spell Bob correctly. He certainly has no idea how to make your Triple Grande Iced Vanilla Latte with Skim Milk and Extra Whip. Today is going to be a long day.
After you finally get your coffee, you run out of the cafe like your pants are on fire.
You are halfway to your full-time job when your phone starts ringing, It’s Becky from Designing the Times, and your heart sinks into your stomach.
Suddenly you remember you had promised to feature her watches on your social media page. How is this launch party already happening this afternoon!
Answering the phone frantically, you promise Becky you would have the post completed. You will make sure it gets posted as soon as you get into the office.
When you arrive at the office, of course, you forget to post, and at lunch, you get a call from the lovely Becky, who is a bit less pleasant. It is almost 4 p.m. when you remember to post about the collaboration launch party, and you accidentally used the wrong creative that had the launch party happening in 2 weeks!
Becky needs to cancel at the last minute, and luckily she didn’t notice the wrong date on your late post. You both agree that Monday in two weeks is the best for the new time.
Hyperbole Much?
The above example is hyperbole. However, we have all had those moments when we forget to post something on our social media because it wasn’t on the top of our minds. Or that bad week where you miss posting on Instagram 3 days in a row. Certainly, not mistakes that will mean the eventual and fiery demise of your business. But flubs like these are preventable when you utilize a content calendar and the three levels of planning listed below. Added benefits of using this method are continuity in posting, ability to ensure varied content, and what I refer to as having a flexible structure to create your posts within.
Levels of Content Calendar Planning
When I talk to clients about content calendar planning, I break it down into three levels:
- Yearly Level Planning: Focus on holidays and annual events.
- Monthly Level Planning: Cover mid-level promotions and story arcs.
- Weekly Level Planning: Detail the specifics of individual posts.
At the start of the year, dedicate an hour to yearly planning. Each month, spend another hour planning your monthly content. Then, set aside about an hour each week (perhaps on Sundays) to create your weekly content. I recommend leaving roughly 20% of your posts loosely scheduled to accommodate timely content and user-generated content.
Using Your Content Calendar to Plan Your Yearly Content
During your yearly planning, identify key holidays and promotion periods for your business. Determine if sales and events will align with the same fiscal weeks as the previous year. This planning ensures you don’t miss any important holidays or events and that your social media plans align with your business goals. Break down your business goals on the yearly calendar to help track your progress.
Overview of Your Year
To begin planning your year:
- Add Major Holidays: Start by marking significant holidays on your calendar.
- Review Past Marketing Efforts: Decide which promotions, sales, giveaways, and events will recur in the upcoming year.
- Plan Major Events: Add all major events to your content calendar.
- Repeat Successful Campaigns: If you had successful social media campaigns, plan to repeat them and add them to your calendar.
- Note Non-Recurring Events: For example, if you celebrated your business’s 10th anniversary in March 2024 with various events, you won’t be repeating this in 2025. Plan how to fill this gap with new promotions and sales.
The Importance of Yearly Content Calendar Planning
Yearly planning is crucial for both social media and overall business strategy. It provides a clear view of major events and promotions for the year, helping you align social media activities with business goals. For example, if your goal is to have one major promotion supported by in-store marketing and social media each month, you can identify any gaps in your promotion schedule. This allows you to plan evenly distributed promotions throughout the year, avoiding last-minute scrambles to fill gaps.
Pro-Tip: Add your business goals and objectives to this calendar to ensure your content planning helps you achieve these goals.
Monthly Content Calendar Planning
The next step is your monthly content planning. At this level, you’ll define themes, story arcs, and details for the monthly promotions you scheduled during your yearly planning. Use the same calendar from your yearly planning to add this monthly information.
Month-to-Month Plans
In this stage, you’ll flesh out your month-to-month plans. Start by identifying the major events and promotions for the month, and plan your posts around these first. These yearly events provide structure for each month.
Once you’ve scheduled posts for these significant events, outline your themes and story arcs for the month. For example, in February, you might choose “love” as the theme, with story arcs like #foreverlove and #bestfriends. These arcs support the monthly theme and contribute to your promotions, with the specifics of each post to be defined in your weekly planning.
Weekly Level Content Calendar Planning
After completing your yearly and monthly content calendar planning, it’s time to move on to weekly-level planning. At this stage, you’ll create the actual content for your posts, ensuring that each post contributes to an engaging story. This part of the planning process is detail-oriented. If multiple people are involved, make sure to allocate sufficient time to avoid scrambling to create, approve, or post content.
The Details and Post Creation
During weekly planning, focus on the details and specifics of your posts. Utilize the holidays, promotions, themes, and story arcs defined in the previous planning stages. This is where you bring your storytelling to life, creating posts that align with your brand story and themes.
Consider the following as you create and plan your content:
- Storytelling: Ensure your posts tell a coherent story that ties back to your brand.
- Value: Provide educational, entertaining, and inspirational content, with just enough promotional posts.
- Variety: Maintain a balance in your content types to keep your audience engaged.
Fill in some of the open 20% of posts during this stage, leaving room for spontaneous content. If you plan to post six days a week, make sure you have content ready for all six days. Once this planning level is complete, you can load your content into your scheduling and posting tool.
Things to Review Before Posting Content
Before scheduling your content, review the following:
- Consistency: Ensure each post contributes to the story it supports and is brand-appropriate.
- Visual Appeal: Check how your posts look together, especially on platforms like Instagram. Use tools like Later’s Instagram Grid Preview to ensure a cohesive grid.
- Story Arcs: Verify that your story arcs have a beginning, middle, and end.
- Details: Make sure holiday-specific or promotional posts include all necessary details.
- Brand Story: Confirm that your posts support your overall brand story.
The Planning is Complete
With your planning complete, you are ready to tell compelling stories, provide valuable content, and promote your brand on social media. These planning steps ensure your social media efforts are focused and goal-oriented, moving away from random acts of posting to a strategic approach. Your story will be clearer, and even with potentially fewer promotional posts, they will be more impactful. This planning, combined with the “9 Essential Posts for Businesses on Social Media,” will help you maximize the effectiveness of your social media campaigns.
Content Creation Strategies for Success on Social
Updated June 2024
Content Creation Strategies for A Successful Social Media Existence
We all know that content is king. Without content, we can’t conquer the other two essential aspects of a successful social media campaign: consistency and engagement. Given the crucial role of content, it’s vital to employ multiple content creation strategies to stay ahead on social media. These strategies can simplify content creation, produce more reusable content, enhance engagement, and free up more time for you to focus on running your business.
Clarifying Content Creation
To clarify, content generally refers to anything you post on your social media profiles, website, or newsletter. However, I don’t support the practice of collecting and publishing other people’s content on your business pages. Sharing other people’s content does not tell your unique brand story; it highlights someone else’s. When I mention content, I mean the content you create to tell your story on your social media profiles. This includes posts for stories, short-form video content, photo content, custom GIFs, and blogs
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.
Utilizing User-Generated Content
This content creation strategy is doubly valuable because it not only eliminates the need for you to create content but also surprises and delights your customers. Additionally, sharing user-generated content serves as social proof, aka “hey look your peers like me and you should too!”
Here’s how it typically works: a customer purchases something from you, loves it, and creates a post showcasing the item while raving about its features or benefits. They tag you in their post, and to make them feel special while showing others how great your product is, you share their content on your social media profiles (with proper permission, of course). We explore the concept of user-generated content in more detail in this blog post.
Why it works:
- Efficiency: The user has already created the content.
- Authenticity: Highlights real-life use of your product.
- Social Proof: Demonstrates that others enjoy your product.
Challenges:
- Strategy: You need a plan to encourage user-generated content.
- Monitoring: You must keep an eye out for content to share.
Breaking Down Your Blog
How many pieces of engaging content do you think you can pull from a single blog post? You might be surprised by how much you can create from a well-written blog. I once worked with a group of content creators, and we managed to break down a single blog post into 100 pieces of unique and informative social media content. By spacing this content out over a few weeks, you can have a significant portion of your educational posts prepared well in advance. I discuss this strategy in detail in this blog post. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.
Why it works:
- Efficiency: You already have the content, knowledge, and often photos for the posts.
Challenges:
- Initial Effort: You need to write a comprehensive blog.
- Variety: Relying solely on this tactic can make your content feel repetitive over time.
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.
Using Hashtags Effectively on Social Media
Using Hashtags Effectively on Social Media
There are numerous benefits to using hashtags effectively in your social media posts. Hashtags assist in discovery. They allow your ideal clients to find you when you utilize the right hashtags. They can help you stay in touch with existing customers. You can boost a marketing campaign with a well-planned strategy around hashtags. Utilize hashtags to actively research what your competition is doing on social media as well as track current trends using hashtags. The all-mighty hashtag also helps ensure that your content shows up with similar content, which increases discovery. However, this only applies if you have a strategy and are using the right hashtags. So we will be reviewing why it is essential to use hashtags and on what platforms. The general rules when using hashtags. What types of hashtags you should use. We will also review how you research hashtags and how to put your hashtag strategy into play.
Why Use Hashtags?
Remember when you used to go to the library. Before computers, you would go to a large wooden stack of drawers somewhere in the middle of the floor. When you opened the drawers, you would find thousands of cards. These cards cataloged the contents of the library and made things more manageable. #Hashtags are the card catalogs of social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. They help organize all the posts that are uploaded daily into neatly organized buckets of things that are alike. Hashtags help you quickly find something you are looking for, and they help you get noticed! Hashtags are little organizational powerhouses when appropriately utilized.
Additionally, hashtags can also help you build your brand, build brand loyalty, and increase engagement. Since all of these things are key for businesses, we think it makes sense for you to have a comprehensive hashtag strategy.
Additional Notes on Hashtags
A couple quick notes on hashtags, first use hashtags that will help your audience find your content on Twitter and Instagram. Hashtags are not functional on Facebook except for the inside of groups if the group uses hashtags as a way to organize topics. When posting an update from Instagram to Facebook, make sure you clear any hashtags and check all of your @tags. Secondly, research hashtags before using them and make sure your content belongs in the hashtag, and the hashtag is active on the platform you plan to use it on. Thirdly, the best way to research a hashtag is on the platform you wish to use it on, sure some of the apps are okay, but the most up to date and accurate info is within the platform.
Rules to Make Your Hashtag Strategy More Effective
If you want to have an effective hashtag strategy, there are some general rules to follow. These rules include some vital do’s and don’t like the following: Do research all the hashtags you plan on using and Don’t use hashtags that have millions of posts associated with them. Check out the full list below.
Do These Things As Part of An Effective Hashtag Strategy
- Create Content Specific Hashtag lists for yourself.
- Have a brand-specific hashtag or hashtags.
- Utilize community based hashtags. Community-based hashtags are ones that indicate a specific service, location, industry or event
- Research the hashtags you competition is using
- Review hashtags that influencers in your niche are using
- Utilize hashtags that are specific to your niche
- Use at least one hashtag in every Instagram and Twitter post
- Research hashtags before you use them
- Include hashtags in your content after a few line breaks or in the first comment
Don’t Do These Things As Part of Your Effective Hashtag Strategy
- Use the same hashtags for every post
- Utilize hashtags that have millions of posts
- Create a Facebook post and leave Instagram only hashtags in it
- Use hashtags that have been banned on Instagram
- Create a post complete with hashtags without researching the hashtags used
- Utilize hashtags that don’t apply to your content.
- Make your post look “spammy” by overfilling it with hashtags
An Effective Hashtag Strategy and What Hashtags to Use
Everyone wants to know what hashtags they should use on their social media posts, and what I have realized is they want a one size fits all answer. Unfortunately, that answer doesn’t exist. Why does it not exist? Because your content is different from everyone else’s content, and because your audience is different from everyone else’s audience. So nobody can tell you to use these 15 hashtags, and you will be successful. No app can promise you that if you put in your best hashtag, it will give you the best 20 to grow your business, it does not work like that. Instead you must research your niche and figure out the number and quantity that works best for your specific profile.
Researching Hashtags
The first step in researching your hashtags is to define your niche and create your customer avatar. Knowing your avatar creates a specific target for your content, therefore, making your research more accessible.
Going Down
Researching hashtags requires you to go down a bit of a social media rabbit hole so make sure to set a time limit, bring a pad and paper, and drop a trail of breadcrumbs so you can find your way out! Now, go onto Instagram with a singular mission of finding niche-specific hashtags. The more specific, the better as more conversation (engagement) is happening around super niche hashtags. Go to Instagram and search a fairly general hashtag in your field, look at the top posts and pick one you are attracted to and seem to match your brand aesthetic.
Scroll down and see what other hashtags were used in the post, select one that is more specific than your original, and see what you discover on that page. After a few rounds of this, you should be arriving at some niche-specific tags and going, man, I didn’t even know somebody did (fill in the niche-specific blank). Make sure you are writing the more specific hashtags down or adding them to a custom list of tags by the theme which it goes. Whenever your timer goes off immediately remove yourself from the situation so that you don’t lose your entire day. Repeat for each one of the types of posts or themes you post.
What you Are Looking for When Researching
You are looking for what are often called “community hashtags” They are hashtags that target a specific service like #weddingphotographer or a product like #freshlybakedbrownies or an industry like #gasgrillassemblers. Community hashtags also can focus a particular event #memorialday5K or a particular location #NYCwinebars or even a day of the week #wateringwednesday. These are all much more specific than hashtags like #photographer #brownies. Your ideal hashtags probably sit below this level; for example, I could search #dogs, and while hunting underdogs, I discover the hashtag #puggles and quickly discover #pugglesofNY. While reviewing those tags, I find two super specific tags #pugglestruggle and #everydayimpugglin.
Next Steps
After researching and looking for unique niche tags you will want to double back and take a look at posts from your comphetition, industry leaders and influencers withing your area and see what hashtags they are using. Is your competition killing it on a hashtag, but they have no competition there? Is an influencer identifying an upcoming trend in a hashtag? Also, pay attention to how many hashtags, where they place them, or any other differences that could indicate a change of preference of your audience. I do not recommend doing this first because it may limit your focus, and you may not find the most exciting tags.
Putting Your Hashtag Strategy to Work
How to Start if Never Had A Strategy
If you have never had a hashtag strategy and don’t have lists of hashtags you use for specific posts, you are pretty much starting from scratch. The first thing you will want to do is to create hashtag lists for each theme. Keep these in a document you can access from any location. I also recommend creating hashtag lists for specific holidays, events, and other significant occurrences. Put those particular hashtags on your content calendar. Your next step is to begin utilizing these hashtags and seeing what works.
For each post, use a core list of hashtags specific for that content. If there are a couple of additional tags for a post you want to use add them on to that post, not into your core list. Test some posts with the hashtags in the caption after some breaks. Test others with the hashtags in the first comment. Finally, test some posts with five hashtags, some with fifteen, and some with thirty. What works best? Measure the success of each post based on the actual numbers. Not your gut feeling. Revisit each core list every few months and trim the dead weight and add new niche hashtags.
If You Had A Hashtag Strategy Before
If you had a hashtag strategy before and you broke your hashtags into content specific lists, I would recommend testing your lists against one another and see how they do. In some cases, you may need to combine the best performing hashtags from your old and new lists. If that is the case, just select the best-performing ones from each and create that third list and use that going forward. If the original list outperforms your old collection on every post for every category. Then you have a #winning hashtag strategy, and you go with your new list.
In Conclusion
To sum up all the key points here:
- Hashtags are essential tools you should utilize on your posts
- There are some best practices for hashtags like research before you use
- You should always look to use niche hashtags and hashtags with less than 1 million posts
- Build your own unique content specific hashtag lists to use with your posts
- Regularly measure what is working and refresh as needed.
Keep these tips in mind, and you won’t hate hashtags ever again!
Tips for Launching A Podcast in 2020
Ready to Launch Your Podcast in 2020?
Are you not convinced video is the only way to engage followers on social media? Are you seeking alternative ways to increase engagement and position yourself as a resource for your audience? It sounds like you might be looking to launch a podcast in 2020! Podcasting is a great way to create content and build an audience, and we are providing you tips for starting your podcast right here in this post! Why? Because podcasting allows you to make personal connections and become an authority within your niche.
Additionally, podcasts are easy for your audience to digest on their own time with no screen necessary. If you have been a content creator, remember most of that content is easy to convert into podcast episodes. So, are you ready to launch?
Podcasting Here I Come!
So, you think podcasting is the way for you to go? We figured we should give you some tips and tools. So we did some research and compiled what we found into this blog post below. And after that, we looked at this blog post and found it to be useful but a bit boring. So we reached out to the hilarious Catherine Feeney, who just launched her podcast, and of course, her corresponding blog the Fashun Chronicles and asked if she would want to discuss her podcasting journey with us. When she agreed, we knew this blog post would be much more entertaining.
Tips for Launching A Podcast
As we share our tips for launching a podcast, we will go over some of the research we found on the topic. Additionally, we will add our comments and additional suggestions for launching a podcast throughout the post. There are 5 primary stages to launching your own podcast.
- Planning the Concept- defining the objective, determining the audience, why the audience should listen and naming the podcast
- Planning the Structure and Episodes- what is the format, how many episodes, are you creating in seasons, how long is an episode, etc
- Recording & Editing Your Podcast- script or no script, necessary equipment, software needs, music resources
- Publishing Your Podcast- Episode 1 Season 1 is in the bag!
We will walk you through each of these steps and hopefully help you understand what you should be doing during each one, and before you know it, you will be starring in a Number 1 Rated Podcast with gobs of listeners!
Tips for Launching Your Podcast: Concept
As you prepare to start your podcast for 2020, you need to begin planning the specifics of the podcast you will be producing. While others may not agree, I view this as the most critical step, as you are building a solid foundation for your future work. I also equate this step to the process of building your brand. During this crucial timeframe, you will be defining your “why” for your podcast. In this step, you will decide on your main podcast topic set the goals of your podcast, determine who your audience is, and examine why your audience would listen to your podcast.
In many cases, you are utilizing your podcast as an extension of your business. Many will be using it as a way to provide an existing business audience with value via the podcast. If this is the case, you may have an audience and objective in mind that supports the niche of your business. Be sure that your business niche translates to your podcast. In some cases, it may be necessary to narrow your niche down further for your podcast to attract the right listeners or expand up to have enough content to discuss on your podcast.
Defining to Target
Defining what you want to accomplish with your podcast, determining your podcast audience, and knowing how to connect with your target audience as important parts of the planning stage. Develop a listener persona to highlight the characteristics of a person that would listen to your podcast. Think about how you would engage this listener persona as you build out the concept for your podcast. Make sure that you are giving them a compelling reason to listen to your podcast. What value are they hoping to recieve? Are you delivering them the value they are hoping for?
What’s In A Name?
I was thinking of naming my podcast, “My Podcast!,” Then realized that didn’t provide any information about what I would be talking about. It also didn’t tell the audience why they should listen. It also failed to highlight the niche that I had chosen to discuss on my podcast. So, I scrapped that name, and I am looking at some of the basics for naming a podcast.
- People need to be able to find your content! If you opt for a creative name consider including a subtitle with an accurate description of the material and value you provide
- Don’t be too descriptive, if I called my podcast The Social Media, Branding, Brand Story and Storytelling for Small Businesses Podcast I would spend half of my podcast trying to get the entire title out of my mouth. Strike a balance between creative and descriptive.
- Those who know podcasting also recommend not naming your podcast after yourself, which ruined my dream of being known as Just Jonathan from the Jonathan Show. You know, like Ellen, Oprah, Cher, Prince, Madonna. They have a built-in audience and name recognition, and I do not!
Tips from Catherine: Content & Positioning
Before Launching Fashun Chronicles
Before launching her Fashun Chronicles podcast, Catherine Feeney says she put pen to paper to make sure that her topic was one she could discuss at length. In her blogging journey, she had dabbled in other areas but always returned to fashion. Fashion is one of the passions that she can talk about for “literally days.” She also spent some time thinking about what purpose she would be serving. Since she enjoys helping others and hopes it does not come off as bossy, she began to develop the Hotline concept for the podcast. She would be able to help others with real FAShun emergencies! Memories of listening to the Delilah radio show may have subconsciously inspired this hotline concept. (Long-time listener, First-time caller)!
Where You Fit In
Catherine first decided to leap into podcasting after her friends mentioned it this past year over drinks at New York Fashion Week. Her blog didn’t quite seem to fit her anymore. Maybe talking about fashion, and not writing about it in her blog would feel better. Despite the unknowns of podcasting, she felt re-energized when she thought about a podcast full of fashion. So over drinks at NYFW, a podcast was born. Incidentally, she also wanted the podcast to have a casual feel, much like if she were talking to friends over drinks in a bar at NYFW! We certainly think she hit the nail on the head when it comes to authenticity!
Catherine also noted that not everyone relates to everything, so while there are a lot of fashion bloggers and podcasters out there, she can bring her unique personality to the game. She likes to focus on storytelling (a woman after my own heart) and wants to remain true to herself throughout this journey. Getting people to jump on the journey with her if they wish to is vital to her. Catherine also wants followers to see all the parts of the adventure from start to finish.
“Always be true to yourself on your journey and do what feels right to you.”
Tips for Launching Your Podcast: Content
You have laid the groundwork for your podcast. You have a solid foundation, so it is time to start working on actually planning the content of your podcast. As well as begin looking at the structure that you would like to utilize for your podcast. A lot of podcasters tend to focus on the length of the podcast. Many experts say the right length is 28 minutes but no longer than an hour. However, I support what the team at The Podcast Host said, “only two things should impact the length of your podcast,
- Your content
- Your audience
If you have 50 minutes of valuable, relevant content, why chop it down to 20? Or likewise, if you’ve said everything you have to say in 10 minutes, why pad it out to 30? In extreme cases, say you do an interview, and it’s a fantastic conversation from start to finish but runs for 2 hours. You can always chop it in half and create two episodes.
More Than Just Timing
There is much more than just the length involved in the content of your podcast planning portion of your podcast launch. You also need to decide on the format of the podcast. Will you have a cohost? Are you doing the show by yourself? The format of the show will play a significant role in what the final product will look like, and each form has its benefits and challenges. In the solo show, you have complete control, you build authority quicker, but it is also harder to feel comfortable as many people will feel like they are talking to themselves. In a show with a co-host, it is generally easier to get started, and if you have great chemistry, it could be fantastic. But what happens when you hit it big, or your co-host stops showing up. Is there more benefit in going it alone for you, or is the co-host key.
Multiple Variations
When it comes to the format of the content, there are many different variations of the themes. However, I am partial to dividing a podcast into segments. The segments would allow you to create mini podcasts within the larger podcast that address specific aspects within the themes that you have decided to cover as part of your podcast. Here is an example of how this could work.
- Episode 1: Teaser, Opening of Podcast, Welcome, Content Teaser, Break, Theme 1 Discussion, Break, Theme 1 Discussion Continued, Break, Theme 2 Interview, Closing, Call to Action, and Outro
- Then for E2: Teaser, Opening of Podcast, Welcome, Content Teaser, Break, Theme 2 Discussion, Break, Theme 2 Discussion Continued, Break, Theme 3 Q&A, Closing, Call to Action, and Outro
- Finally, E3: Teaser, Opening of Podcast, Welcome, Content Teaser, Break, Theme 3 Interview, Break, Theme 3 Interview Continued, Break, Theme 1 Discussion, Closing, Call to Action, and Outro
This segment format allows you to touch on each of your three significant themes two times in the first three episodes. You also created one short mini-podcast and one longer (2 segments) mini-podcast that you can use elsewhere in your content creation strategy. Using this format and approach for your podcast is similar to the Breaking Down Your Blog Content Creation hack we discussed in this blog post!
Episodes and Seasons
As you review the themes and structure of your podcast, you may also want to consider your episode release schedule. Will you be releasing a new podcast every month, every week, two per week? How many episodes make up your season of podcasts? Will the overarching theme change with each season?
Planning for this will allow you to have a better idea of how many segments you will need. Plan for how many guests you may need to set up interviews to fill those slots. Plus, it is a great way to estimate the amount of content you will need to create. Before you finalize the schedule and promise your listeners something, review your schedule, and ensures it is doable. Remember, it is better to under-promise and over-deliver than over-promise and under-deliver.
On The Air: The Launch Part of Launching Your Podcast!
You have completed the planning. The part you have been waiting for is finally here. It is time to record your first podcast for thousands of listeners. Or just your mom, but she is one fan that matters! But wait, what is it that you need to record the podcast? So lets first review the equipment required and then discuss the logistics of the actual recording, including some tips for connecting to your audience.
Your Equipment Needs and Wants
I am not an expert on this topic, so I am relying on what the professionals at thepodcasthost.com and others are saying. However, all you must have to start your podcast is a computer that has a mic and can get on the internet. The rest is a bonus. To improve the overall sound of your podcast, the folks at thepodcasthost.com recommend purchasing a simple podcasting mic like the Samson Q2U mic. I linked to the podcaster kit, which includes a stand and wind guard for $44.00/tax. If you are going to be conducting interviews on your podcast, you may want to look into purchasing a couple of lav mics for those you are interviewing. The folks at thepodcasthost.com recommend the Rode Smartlav+ lav microphone, which sells at Amazon for $55.00. Keep it simple, and keep in inexpensive when you start.
More Stuff
If you are looking for more information on recording equipment, I am attaching a few excellent guides from thepodcasthost.com.
Recording and Editing Software Needs
If you are going to launch your podcast in 2020, you are going to need to have some software to help you record and edit your podcast. Two of the most popular podcast recording and editing tools are Audacity and Adobe Audition. Audacity is free software, and Audition is part of Adobe Creative Cloud, so it is a paid service. Both allow you to create a template for your podcasts. These templates make it easy to create slots for things like the introduction, slots for advertisement, the closing, etc. along with the music and all the settings that go with it saved for all of your podcasting episodes. There is also the ability to edit the audio track, music, and all the components of the podcast so that they have clean, crisp sound. Sound editing etc. is a very technical function that I am not even going to try to explain. If you want to know how to edit audio and what settings will work, you can check out resources on thepodcasthost.com or podcastinsights.com or even check out this tutorial on Adobe for your essential podcast editing tips.
The Actual Show
You have a plan. You have a mic. The recording and editing software is ready to be fired up. You have a guest for the inaugural interview. So, you sit down, power up the microphone, and immediately after the intro, you draw a blank. You are frozen for more than a few seconds because you have no idea what to say! Don’t worry. This is part of the process. The amount of scripting for a podcast varies for each person. However, every source I have seen recommends that each host scripts some content and creates some notes for them to utilize during their podcast.
Scripting keeps you on track and minimize the editing and cutting up of the content by creating a bullet point based script that highlights key points and topics. Do not write out an entire script as that will not translate to a good podcast. A good podcast is more conversational. Utilize your segmented show concept along with your template for your podcast to provide the direction needed for the script.
Connecting with Your Audience
It is essential to know who you are talking to, as we said before, in defining your target section. You need to set your audience. Because without knowing your audience, you will not be able to connect to your audience. When you are recording your podcast, you are talking directly to your audience.
You should know who they are, where they are listening to you, what they are doing, what they are wearing, and what lipstick they have on! Seriously, who is your avatar? Many people find it easier to envision that one person and give them a name. Using the specific characteristics, you can talk directly to them as if they are real people because they are real people.Tips
From Catherine: The Technical Stuff
The Content
Catherine believes that focusing on putting out high-quality content is the most important goal. She isn’t focusing on the numbers. Instead, her focus is on putting out content and engaging her real followers with her podcast. She would rather have four real followers than 400 fake ones. Focus on your brand and engaging your followers. She doesn’t want to waste time on the fake stuff. “I want to focus on the things I love, like the fashion, and the stories behind an outfit,: she say passionatly. Catherine clearly loves her content and her podcast. She feels like her podcast plays to her strengths better than her blog did. Additionally, she is noticing her Instagram posts and stories are also getting better engagement now that she has the podcast.
She does not script her content for Fashun Chronicles because she wants it to be more casual. However, Catherine does utilize bullet points to keep herself on track. She usually writes down her show notes the day before or the morning of recording her podcast and utilizes them as an outline for the show. The host openly admits to going off on tangents ar times, but she uses the notes and the bullet points to reign herself back in.
As a final note regarding content she reminds people that they should enjoy doing their podcast. If it feels like work then maybe they should find another outlet.
How Long?
Catherine and the experts agree the length doesn’t matter. You will find your audience that has a need or want for your podcast at whatever length as long as you are serving up some fun and exciting content. She believes there is an audience for podcasts from 10 minutes to an hour. She found that her sweet spot is around the 20-25 minute range as a solo podcaster talking about fashion in the day to day sense. With two podcasts a week, and it is what feels comfortable, so she suggests figuring out what feels right to you.
For the Tech for Your Podcast, Google Has Your Back
The host of Fashun Chronicles openly admits she doesn’t know how to reboot her phone, so the technical aspects of Podcasting were where she focused most of her research. Catherine was amazed at how many resources were available online, and she admits to still utilizing Google to figure out how to do certain things.
She eventually found some articles that resonated with her and helped her find her way, from what mic hse needed to what hosting platform was best for her (she finds Libsyn very easy to use but difficult to pronounce)! She even learned to use Audacity by herself online, and if she has issues with it now, she asks the Google machine, and it helps her through the process.
Tips for Launching Your Podcast: Cover Art
Up to this point I have pretty much told you to not spend an extra dime. After all, you could spend a fortune getting someone to produce, edit and promote your podcast for you. Another small fortune paying for the rights to the best music. Plus calculate your hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours you work on the podcast. Yup, this sh!t can get expensive! You don’t even have an audience yet, so be saavy on what you spend money on! However, i do recommend investing in your cover art. Get a great photographer or designer (depending on the look you are going for) and invest here. The perfect cover art will reveal a little bit about the host, explain what the podcast is about, and intrigue people enough to get them to want to listen.
Additionally, the cover art will be with you for at least a season, so it needs to inform, entice, and convert for multiple episodes and it has to do this in places like iTunes where you are competing with images from top artists, podcasters and more. So spend a little money here and make it work for you. Utilize the images you create in promotions, on social media, in your press releases, to book guests, wherever you can.
Editing Your Podcast
No matter how perfect you are scripting, how amazing your guests are, and how much you nailed it, you will still have some editing to do. Editing is a technical aspect of the podcast. I would not be the right resource to advise you on how to edit a podcast. I can say that both the software solutions I mentrioned for recording also allow you do do the type of editing that you will need to put your podcast together. If you need more assistance with this, I recommend looking into tutorials on how to use the software you chose on youtube.com or via some of the podcasting resources available. The other option is to pay to have somebody edit your podcast for you, but as a beginner, unless this is a well-established business, I would not recommend that route.
Music for Your Podcast
You can’t just select any song to use 15 seconds of as your intro music, as much as you want to that is going to be expensive, as you would need to pay the artist! There are sites available where you can buy licenses to utilize certain music and others that have vast libraries of music that you can utilize once you pay your monthly membership. There are a few things you should look for regarding music.
- you are looking for music with creative common licenses
- I recommend using well know and established resources
- be aware of the type of license you purchase.
Publishing Your Podcast and Putting it Out There
You have just about done it, you have almost launched your podcast. Now, you need to put it out there for people to discover, listen to, and fall in love with! Yes, even if it is just your mom to start! So, let’s get that podcast out to the people! First, you will need a podcast or a media host. Then you will either add your podcasts to your website (or create a website) and then finally submit your podcast to directories.
Podcast or Media Host
You have dozens of podcast hosts to choose from, which is incredible and daunting at the same time! Luckily, there are tons of lists out there about some of the best podcast hosting sites. Recently, Jon Street of Resonaterecordings.com listed the top five podcast hosting sites with lots of useful details on each. You can check out that article here! The top 5 he reviewed thoroughly are:
In my research and discussions with people, both Buzzsprout and Libsyn have come up as the leaders. Buzzsproat for the features and ease of use. Libsyn because of longevity and ease of use for the newcomers. Libsyn also makes it easy to submit to directories. Review and choose the one that fits your needs and budget, and as you grow, if you need to change, you will be able to do that as well.
A Home for the Newly Launched Podcast
Once you have a media host that will host your audio podcast files, you will also set up a website to display and deliver your podcasts. You get a page with most hosting services that you can utilize for this purpose. Many people also create an independently hosted page or add the podcast to their existing site. If you choose to add it to your current website, there are podcast tools that you can add to make it easy for listeners to grab your podcast!
Submitting Your Podcast to Directories
The directories are how you get discovered, build up your subscribers, and continue to deliver killer content! The number one and most crucial directory ATM is Apple Podcasts. If you only get yourself listed in one directory, this is it. Over 60% of podcast downloads come via iTunes. To get your podcast listed, you need to sign on to iTunesconnect.apple.com using your Apple ID and then click the new feed option to add your podcast. As our guest Catherine Feeney pointed out, Libsyn helped make this part of the job easy.
Some other significant directories:
- Stitcher
- Google Podcasts
- Spotify
- TuneIn
- Blubrry
- PodBean
- Radio Public
Next Steps
Take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back, and revel in the fact that you have a podcast. The next step is promotion. But we aren’t going to go into that here, if you want to learn about specific ways to promote your podcast outside of the general promotional tactics I provide for social media, check out some of the resources on thepodcasthost.com and podcastinsights.com. And Congrats on Launching, we hope that our tips for launching a podcast were useful! And don’t forget to let us know what podcast so we can subscribe!
A Special Shout Out
We want to give a special shout out to Catherine Feeney of the Fashun Chronicles who added some great insight, fun energy and at least a few laughs to this blog post. Her insight on blogging, podcasts and social media was greatly appreciated as she added a great deal of value adn a frame of reference to this post. I wish I could have shared more of the hour conversation I had with this hilarious lady, but we just had so much to cover! And you should always leave them asking for more!
And if you want to hear more from Catherine, hop on over to her podcast and get to know more about this fashionable and funny lady!! Click the banner below to listen on iTunes!
All photos by Arielle Lewis Studios, Washington DC
Video Talk: Incorporating Video Content Into Your Social Media Strategy
Why Video Content?
For years people have been saying the next big trend on social media is video. More video content. Get in ahead of the curve and start producing video content now! What was the next trend has already arrived. It is time to start engaging our followers with video content or be left behind.
We created our June Video Content Challenge to help all of us jump-start our video content game. It’s also a great way we can help each other as we take a 30 day (or more) adventure through the land of video. We even created our first social media video in quite some time to talk about it!JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjI1NjAlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIzMTUlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGLWlBdzl5OV80Wm8lMjIlMjBmcmFtZWJvcmRlciUzRCUyMjAlMjIlMjBhbGxvdyUzRCUyMmFjY2VsZXJvbWV0ZXIlM0IlMjBhdXRvcGxheSUzQiUyMGVuY3J5cHRlZC1tZWRpYSUzQiUyMGd5cm9zY29wZSUzQiUyMHBpY3R1cmUtaW4tcGljdHVyZSUyMiUyMGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==
The Numbers Say It All
85% of US Internet users watch video content on their device monthly.
Videos are the consumers favorite type of content to see from a brand they follow.
Videos engage people for a longer amount of time, meaning they stay on your post/site longer.
Video is 95% more captivating than other types of content.
54% of consumers want to see more video content on social media.
With numbers like this, it is hard to deny the need for businesses, bloggers, influencers and more to start engaging followers using video. So how do you even start? Buy an expensive camera? Hire a video production team? Maybe, the first step should be deciding on a content-based strategy. One that allows you to plan out what value video could add to some of the content you are already posting.
If you are a JRH Graphics client, I would recommend that your first step is to review the 9 Essential Posts for Businesses on Social Media and look to see what types of posts we are already doing could be enhanced by adding a video component. If you want a free copy of the 9 Essential Posts, just click here and provide your email!
Let’s Start Creating Video Content
First, its time to jump right into making videos. We all need to move past the excuses (I don’t like the way I look on video, I don’t like the way I sound on video, I don’t know what to say about my business on video). You can choose to make excuses or you can choose to grow your business! Videos are simply a tool you now must use to grow your business.
Secondly, start videotaping everything you do! Meetings, presentations, group discussions, if you think you may potentially discuss a topic that would make great content on social media then ask the other parties if its okay to tape the meeting with the camera focused on you. You can later edit it down and use it for important sound bytes or video clips as needed. How many times have you regretted not capturing something on video? Taping everything will prevent that regret.
9 Ways to Create Brand Appropriate Video Content
1. Go Live
You represent your brand and your business every day in Live interactions with customers, over the phone and on social media. You absolutely should know your business and brand well enough to “go live” once a week. It’s an opportunity to interact with your users in some way on a topic that matters to both parties. Provide value to your customers with these live videos by helping them solve a problem or answering a question. When you are feeling good about your ability to go live, look at other opportunities like going live at an event, using the event hashtag to cross promote your business by providing added value to the discussion.
Live videos are great for announcements about your business, behind the scenes looks at your company and mini product tutorials. Whenever possible try to go live regularly, at the same time each week and promote/provide the topic discussed in advance. This will get your viewers in the habit of looking for your live videos at a specific time. The best part about Live videos is it is okay for them to be a bit rough around the edges, so this is truly a great place to start!
2. Create Video Content That Answers Questions Your Followers Have
Do your fans and followers ask you questions about your products or services? Are you answering the same question numerous times? It is time to create videos that answer these questions. You are automatically filling a need. Your followers need answers to help them understand your product and brand. And you are investing in the success and training of those using your product/service.
If you don’t think your followers have questions, ask them! I recommend going onto Instagram stories and using the questions feature. Ask them about challenges they face daily. How do they use your product and service? What do they wish your service provided? I bet you will be able to create at least 5 videos that answer a question for your customers just from a single Instagram survey.
3. Tutorials or Product/Service Informational Videos
Do you have a product or service that you regularly need to provide one on one training for? Or maybe a service you offer solves a variety of problems for the person using it but many people don’t recognize the hidden benefits. Doesn’t that smell like a great opportunity to create some video content that is useful for your followers and has the potential to streamline your business?
The key to these types of videos is to make sure they are not too long and technical and they aren’t dry and boring. Enfuse your videos with energy and some excitement. Quirky is a great way to create interest. You want your videos to engage followers as well as provide useful information.
Say you have a service that has 5 hidden benefits other than the intended use. It is better to create 5 or 6 separate, quick paced and fun videos for sharing on social media, even if you also create a separate video that includes all 5 benefits so you that to provide as a teaching tool to those using the service.
4. Create Some Behind the Scenes Videos
Everybody loves to get a special peek to see what is behind the curtain. In my personal experience, this is the best performing type of video content. We are all a bit curious about what brands are like behind the polished facade. The key with this type of video is to allow some personality to show thru and to be a bit more casual than in other videos. However, it is important that you remember you are representing your brand and you should do so according to your standards. Some great uses of Behind the Scenes Video content include product launches, special events, highlighting a collaboration with another company, or even a day off with the boss! Just make sure the video is short, entertaining, and adds some value (like actually showing some behind the scenes stuff)!
5. Customer Service and Customer Feature Videos
Do you have regular customers that come in weekly? A customer who uses your venue or service in a unique way? Why not take a 60-second video to feature them (with their permission of course)? One of the things that make your brand unique is the customers/clients you attract and this is a great thing to feature in a video.
Tell the story of your customers. Show how you solve their problems. Highlight all these happy customers that love your business. Stories sell and the stories of your happy customers on video has an incredible power to help you build your brand. You can even ask customers to submit videos with their customer testimonials to be shared.
6. User-Generated Video Content
User-generated content is like when your best friend brings you dinner and wine because they knew you had an awful day. It is a gift from above and like winning the jackpot for several reasons 1) free content for you 2) expanded audience of the original poster 3) User-generated content connects to more people than brand generated content 4) free marketing.
Specific Rules for User Generated Content
So if you are lucky enough that a user creates a piece of video content that features your service or product this is a mega win. Watch the content closely and review the other content featured by this user before you blindly post. If the content aligns with your brand, messaging, and quality is up to standards and you wish to share it you must first ask permission from the user who created it. Also, ask if there is anyone you should give credit to when you post, and any hashtags that should be used. Do not use user-generated content and videos for promoted posts or advertisements. If you do they can legally ask for a portion of each sale that was generated from the use of the content they created.
They Created Content for You for Free- Thank Them A Lot
When you post the user-generated content make sure to thank and tag the creator in the caption and make sure you tag them in the photo/video as well. Be super nice to them and more user-generated content will follow. From them and others who saw that you shared the content and were super nice too!
7. Create Employee Focused Video Content
Do you have an employee recognition program? Or is one of your team members getting a well-deserved promotion? This is a great opportunity to create some employee focused video content that can highlight the unique culture of your business. As well as show off the accomplishments of your stellar employee. It’s a humble brag with a video component.
You could also create a day in the life series and create video content around what the day in the life of one of your brand consultants is. Follow the employee as they complete the unique tasks throughout there very interesting day.
Your employee is your greatest asset and has the potential to be an amazing storyteller and brand ambassador. Prep them well for the video but don’t overcoach them. Make sure they are aware of the expectations and the brand standards that must be represented but allow them some free reign in the creation of the video content. The business gets the final say in what is posted to the business account but you want the content to be a real team effort. If you picked the right employee to feature, have confidence that they will shine.
As a side note- don’t plan to film these features on a normal day. To keep them exciting for your followers make sure to tape them on a busy day in the life kinda day.
8. Brand Takeovers
Uh oh, who just took over your Instagram page! Don’t call the IT Specialist in just yet! Remember, you handed over Instagram to Brand B Coffee because you have worked together many times and have a similar clientele that doesn’t always shop at both locations. But your baked goods and Brand B’s coffee are a perfect match! This also means that you have control of their Instagram for the day. Well, how fun is this! Hmmmm, now what is it that you are supposed to post again?
Remember, this is a huge opportunity for each brand to introduce themselves to the other brands loyal followers and while the story and videos should remain somewhat unscripted you should have each reviewed an outline of what will be reviewed. Make sure you plan to touch on the features and benefits of each others brand and share your mutual admiration for what each does. It is important that you both talk about what your brand differentiators are, how you will be working together, and why your followers should take the time to visit both Baked Goods + Brand B Coffee.
9. Create Some Quirky, Unique or Unusual Video Content
Don’t forget that engagement is the name of the game and sometimes it takes a bit of outside the box thinking to come up with the perfect idea that will engage and become viral. It’s okay to think outside the box and create content that is outside of the box as long as it ties back to your business and brand in some way. The danger of creating videos that are too quirky is that they will remember the video but they will have no idea what the video was actually promoting or what company had paid for the ad. Great job creative, bad job branding and marketing.
Are you ready for Video Now?
We hope that the different types of videos we discussed in this post help you understand how you can create more video content within the structure of your content calendar simply by adding some video to the stories you are already telling because you are following your 9 Essential Posts for Every Business Worksheet. Start by going live and work your way into creating other video content. Video content in stories such as on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook can be a little rough around the edges, that is expected. However, video content in your feed should be more polished and professional.
Keep in mind with all your video content that it should be short, concise and beneficial to the person watching. Break the videos down into easily digestible segments to increase retention. Plan your videos in advance and make sure to follow an outline so you present a well-organized idea.
Now get out and start making some videos, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.
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