Grab a pen and paper and some refreshment and find out more below to say good bye to those days of overwhelm.
Start with a plan - blooming' obvious right?! In fact, we often plan out business goals for the year but planning content is sometimes left to a more ad hoc series of posts. So before diving in, take some time to think about the following:
What do you want your content to do for you? Do you want to entertain, educate, inspire....and so on? Why are you posting content?
How do you want fans to travel around your content? For example, do you want them to go from your social media to your online shop or from your blog to your email subscriber list? Map it out on paper.
Do you know what you audience already loves most? Have a look at your insights and analytics to understand what content your fans already like best. Not down all the successes and flops of the last few months.
What are your overall business goals for the year? Do you need to increase sales, expand your audience or perhaps grow your business into a new area? Note these down too to keep your content planning on track.
Less is more - don't ever feel that you need to be everywhere, every day.
Tempting as it is to be railroaded into a bonkers posting schedule by enthusiastic marketing experts online - you need to remember quality over quantity always! Here are a few reminders:
Choose to post content in just a few key places you know your audience either prefer or hang out e.g. Instagram and a blog or Facebook and YouTube videos.
Plan your content carefully so that it 'lands' well each time rather than rushing out content out of fear or panic that gets lost and stays unloved
Be consistent in what you share. This is so much more important the just frequency alone.
Create key themes for the year. This is a great time of year to plot out key overarching themes that you want to focus on for the coming 12 months. This could be a video series, new blog posts, tutorials, new launches or seasons to observe. Plot them out across the year in a planner (check out the Member Hub for ideas).
Build a diary - breaking these key themes down, start to plan out your diary ahead of time. Thinking about what your key goals are for the month and focussing your content around that e.g. a blog post, some fun Instagram and a video to back it up.
Don't forget to recycle! You don't have to think up brand new content all the time. You can reshape in a new light or to a different platform. For example, if you have written a lovely long blog tutorial about something, you can refer to this same blog with different images and key messages on Facebook, Instagram and in your subscriber emails. This creates long lasting content that can be found for months.
Bank up ideas and images - we all know that there are quiet and busy times in the year so when you can (like now!), find a way to bank up amazing images, ideas or opportunities in one place for use later. This might even be snow images taken today for use next Christmas! Knowing you have a place packed full of images means the panic never rises again.
Never start the week without a plan. Some of you will plan out 6 months in advance and some of you will simply stare at the week ahead. Carve out time each week - just 30 minutes will do if you've done the background work listed above - and think about what you will post, why and when. You might even schedule it out using Facebook Business Suite, Tweetdeck or Hootsuite etc. This way you can start each week feeling calm and ahead.
Analyse everything. I would also plan out another 30 minutes each week to have a little look at hat worked best. If you were hoping for more followers - did you get a few more? If you were hoping for people to visit your website more - did they go from social toy our website? If you're hoping to attract a new audience - who liked your posts this week. Did you notice there was a better time to share information? It's simple but it keeps you on track.
Remember the Member Hub! All of you have access to the Member Hub (Member's Area!) and it's got a range of planners and checklists you can print off and use.
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