This blog is meant to help you navigate the weird and ever-changing world of content creation. I'm talking to you, a small business owner wearing too many hats. Follow along as I give you some tips and tools to help you create AMAZING content.
Creating The Perfect Content For Your Business
Are you ready to engage social media to help grow your business but are unsure of where to start? Here are a few tips to help you get started:
The 5 Ws
Before you can even start thinking about creating content you need to ask yourself the following 5 questions:
Who are you trying to reach? Who is your target audience
What are they interested in? Who are they really
Where are they located? Location, Location, Location
When are you trying to connect with them?
Why are you so special?
Understanding your audience and who you are trying to reach is essential to creating buzz for your business. Making sure you have the above 5 questions answered and at the forefront of your mind when creating content is how you are going to create content that gives you a return of your investment.
Pick Your Poison
What platform is perfect for you and how will it help you reach your ideal clients?
We’ve all seen the 'Facebook vs Instagram vs LinkedIn vs Tinder’ memes so we all know that each platform has a very specific brand and vibe. This lends itself perfectly to different products and services. When picking a social network to engage it's important to think about who you are trying to reach and what your ultimate goal is.
Facebook - Ideally for reaching a wide audience and especially for businesses that rely on local traffic
Instagram - This platform is the new portfolio for artists and an amazing space for businesses selling products.
Twitter - The media lives and breaths tweets and I'm all for it.
Youtube - This platform is on the rise and continues to grow. Perfect for film and video but honestly also a great community and wonderful for education. If you are producing video already this is a platform you need to check you.
SnapChat + TikTok etc. - Here for the hype all the way. The content trends coming out of these apps are so fun and it's due to their young user base. They are unjaded and creating fun and engaging content that is influencing so many brands to engage right back.
Lastly, use your existing network to help jumpstart your efforts. In the beginning, your existing connections will be the ones that will help you get your message out by sharing and interacting with your content. This means if you have a strong and engaged following on Facebook use that to your advantage by making sure to always share your content there as well.
3 Rules To Follow When Creating Content To The Point - What Do You Do (Mixture of high and low-quality images)Personality - People Connect To People (Who is behind the business)Aspirational - What Do You Offer That Is Aspirational (high-quality content that sells the highest level of your business. These are the posts that will sell your audience on your worth and ability to execute. It’s important that you take the time to see what your competitors are doing. This will give you an idea of what is working and what you can do to stand out. So when getting started to make a list of 10-20 business, both locally and nationally/internationally, that are doing what you are doing. This competitive edit is vital to make sure you position yourself properly and identify your niche. Equipment The quality of your content is very important but learning how to use the equipment and programs that professionals use can de extremely daunting. Unfortunately, nothing can make up for the work of a professional but in you invest in anything I would recommend a smartphone with a fantastic camera and some sort of external lighting to have on hand to help in low light situations. This will give you the flexibility to shoot anywhere because let's face it we always have our phones on hand. It will also make the process of shooting a little less complicated for beginners. If you happen to be a photographer or have some skills under your sleeve then pull that bad boy out because nothing substitutes a professional camera. Hashtags and Other Growth Hacks I don’t care about etiquette and what’s cool and what’s not. The idea is to reach as many people as you can so as long as you're not defrauding people with a fake following you do what you need to get your message out. This means to utilize all 30 hashtags, shamelessly tag larger accounts in your posts and use the old friending and unfriending people if you need to grow that following and ultimately sell more. I’m not going to write a guide of tricks because it's specific to the platform and there have been many amazing guides written before me. With that being said make sure to do your research and refer to your platform's guidelines to get the most up to date practices. Layout + Color Palette I fought this concept for so many years because I hated the idea of forcing my work to fit a limiting format but to be honest I wish I wouldn’t have. Pick a layout and run with it and if you want to switch it up but take the time to think about how your images will appear because that experience is key to growth. Posting on different platforms can also affect that experience so it's important if you are engaging different platforms that you take the time and think about how your brand will come across. For example, a new layout trend on Instragam is the gridded layouts that allow you to blow up work across your feed in a seamlessly. The downside is the experience for your following when they see these on their feeds is not ideal and then if you post them to Facebook the concept is lost completely. Making Content Creation Part of Your Work Flow Now that you have an idea of who you are and what you are trying to say it's time to start creating content. Look at your schedule and plan your content around your day to day life. This will make it easier to start and make the transition seamless. If you are a hairdresser set up a tripod and start making timelapse videos to share a behind the scenes look at what you do. If you are a real estate agent shoot virtual tours of your properties on your Facebook live. The possibilities are literally endless but its important you take the time to work this new task into your already existing schedule. Once you truly commit you will see the growth you have been wishing for.