Social Media: How I Create My Content, Pillars and Day Themes
Let’s talk about social media business for a second. A lot goes into the planning and organizing of content for social media - more than people might think.
Take for example when you first start. You might think posting whatever comes to mind will be fine, so you start a lifestyle vlog, but you end up with low views. So then, you decide to do unboxings, or “What’s in my bag” videos. Now you have a variety of content, but still low views.
What you need to start with is a plan: a business plan to be exact, but not any old boring type. Since business classes first came into being, any online social media business has changed the outlook of what that looks like. Now we’re talking about content pillars, theming, batching (to save time, energy and increase productivity), and organizing yourself so minimum input equals maximum output. (That’s probably a staple in any business).
First, when we talk about social media content, we’re talking about any posts, blogs, vlogs (video blog), pictures, videos (long or short-form), or podcasts that you post to the internet, where people can watch your content freely, or with a paid membership.
CONTENT PILLARS:
These are basically just main themes that you base your online content around. For example, if you are into arts and crafts, maybe your main pillars are scrapbooking, hand lettering and memory keeping. Most newbies start out big and then learn to narrow their focus (or their content pillars) later on, but the best thing you can do is to start small and then eventually grow bigger.
With a more narrow focus, you will see larger growth sooner. The problem with this is you may see a loss in followers if you decide you no longer like what you’re doing and decide to change. This may happen, but I still think the most important factor to growth is staying true to who you are and what you’re interested in.
I once had makeup on my main planning channel. I did “What’s in my bag” videos, unboxing, hand lettering, brush pen reviews, budgeting videos, goal videos, sticker and journal videos, planning videos…you name it. I still had growth, but probably at a much slower rate than I would have if I had separated my channels sooner.
I think that content should be derived naturally. By that, I mean you should do what you enjoy and do what comes naturally to you. If you’re an exceptional artist, you should bring that online; show how you complete an art piece. If you’re good at creating something, show how you do it. Pictures are amazing, but video is better.
An example of unnatural content would be setting up and getting prepared to do a “natural” morning routine. Obviously no one has their camera filming all night to watch you magically wake up beautiful and refreshed the next morning, but I’ve seen some pretty bad videos where the time on the YouTubers watch doesn’t match their clock on the wall or the sun direction. That’s a straight forward example. Another one is where you’re producing content but you absolutely hate what you’re doing or you can’t stand filming it while you’re doing the task. In these cases, your dislike of what your doing is going to come through your videos and your viewers are going to be asking some questions or just leaving your channel all together.
DAY THEMES:
Day themes are certain main tasks that I allocate myself for the day. I’ve talked about this a lot in past blogs. I’ve let myself naturally derive what works best for me when choosing what tasks to do. If you’ve watched any of my plan with me videos, sometimes my task list looks a mile long and I have so many things I want to get done. On those days, my day theme will be A1 ( Taken from Franklin’s productivity system of the productivity pyramid). These are the most important tasks for me that will get the needle moving forward on my goals that I’ve chosen for that week or month. My most important tasks will be labeled A1, A2, A3, and so forth. The next important things will be B1, B2, B3, etc.
At the beginning of my social media career, I had a weekly setup that just didn’t sit right with me. I would never get things done, or I would find myself lacking motivation for certain tasks.
Over time, I’ve learned what time of the day I’m the most focused. (Sometimes this is hard, because:
My hormones and body are always changing so I have to figure out what’s working now
I’ve got small kids at home that demand my attention 24/7
Sometimes I’m tired and that always affects my mood and my focus
Generally, I feel good and can focus better:
in the morning
before eating
after the mid afternoon slump
8pm-10pm before bed
I also used to really hate Mondays because it generally meant you had to go back to school and work. Then, in turn I started hating Sundays because it meant that Monday was coming and Sunday was always a prep day.
I used to think the most important task had to be done Monday (to get it out of the way early on), but I hated Mondays and started procrastinating those tasks. So, I decided to turn Monday into an easier journaling day. I still do other important things like post Monday videos and post my blog on Monday, but the main thing is my journaling. One of the bigger journaling tasks is writing weekly in journals for my kids. I call them five year journals, because by the time I’m done, they will encompass five years for each of my kids.
Tuesday I write my blogs. (I’ve actually been starting to procrastinate this task every week lately) which tells me I might have to change things up. Despite enjoying the process of writing, and thinking up new ideas, I literally dread when it comes time to write a blog. I have no idea why.
Wednesdays are for sticker and planner charm creation (I have an Etsy shop called Sandy'sStickerShop) and I sell my goods on my website as well. The last Wednesday of the month is reserved for filming and editing my monthly planner setup video.
Thursday’s I film and edit my weekly planning videos, and Friday I film my Planner Perfect planning videos. I also use Thursday and Friday as catch up days for anything I’ve missed or put off throughout the week. These days are a bit quieter for me (mostly on purpose) because I find my productivity dims closer to the weekend!
If you’re starting out with a online business (specifically social media), I hope this helps with some questions you may have. You may reach out to me by email if you have anything you would like to discuss!
Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time!
Sandra
