Keep reading if you often find yourself opening Linkedin/Facebook/instagram with the intention of writing a business post, but just drawing a blank…
Let’s face it, it’s hard to think about what to say to your social media followers that’s going to get them engaged, and interested in buying from you.
Or rather, it’s the regularity of it which is really tricky to master. You might have a cracking idea every so often, but the churning out of regular quality content is tough.
I’ve had those same struggles in the past, going weeks without posting because of getting in a rut.
Last year I managed to average posting three times a week, and since the start of 2023 I’ve posted pretty much every single weekday.
Here are five of the methods I’ve used to achieve that.
1. Check your calendar for events
Yeah, so most of the ‘national day of apples’ and stuff you see in calendars are absolute nonsense that people don’t really pay much attention to.
But some of them are interesting, and even the nonsense ones can be great idea generators.
Take 8th March for example: International Women’s Day. But it’s also National Proofreading Day, so you’re quids in if you’re a female owned copywriting business. Mark that date in your calendar at the start of the year, and put some time aside the week before to write a blog or make a social media video about it, so you’re not scrabbling around for an idea on the day.
It’s all about preparation (as you’ll see in tip 5).
2. Look at what people are talking about in your industry
This isn’t going to be a tip which works every single day, but when it does it is REALLY powerful.
Keep an eye on the news and relevant hashtags in your industry, and every so often a news article relating to your work will be published.
Share the article to your feed, but make sure to comment on it as well! You’ve got to make sure you add to the conversation and don’t just recycle current news.
For bonus points, tag in other people you know in your industry who you think will comment on your post.
With any luck, you’ll start to generate a new conversation in the comments, which social media sites LOVE as a way of marking the engagement. You’ll be seen as an expert in your industry, at the forefront of conversations, and it’ll increase your credibility.
Who knows, maybe the author of the original of the original article will even approach you for a comment.
3. What problems do people come to you with?
This one is all about knowing your customers, and establishing your expertise with them. Let me give you an example.
You’re a personal trainer, and you’ve found that one of the main reasons people book sessions with you is because they don’t understand how to use all of the equipment at their gym.
In that situation, you should be making videos about different exercises you can do on the equipment.
Some people perceive this as giving away their knowledge for free – but you’re not giving it all away. You’re giving people a taste of your expertise, and showing them that they can trust you to solve their problems.
4. Has anyone left you a kind Google / trip advisor review recently?
Case studies and testimonials are fantastic ways to get people to buy from you, as seeing that you’ve helped other people makes your target audience trust that you could do the same for them.
So if someone has left you some really kind words somewhere, online or offline, make sure you share it on all your channels. Just because someone follows you on Facebook, doesn’t mean they’ve checked out your google reviews recently.
And to really make that review stand out on image-centric sites like instagram, you can turn your review into a graphic which pops using platforms such as Canva.
5. Make your own social media content planner
I touched on this with the first tip, but so much about posting regularly to social media is about preparation. It’s all very well planning to make a post at 2pm, but if you wait until 2pm to even think about what you’re going to post, you’ve already lost.
I’ve made my own content planner. It’s nothing special, just an excel spreadsheet calendar with enough space in the box on each day to write down an idea for a post.
You don’t need fully plan out what you’re going to say at this point, often a ‘headline’ in a box is enough to jog my memory on the day, e.g. ‘Wedding blog about soundtrack matching service’.
When you start out, add any time specific posts to that date. So if you know you’re exhibiting at an event on the 12th June, write in that box now that you’re going to post a picture from the event when you’re there.
The final step is to highlight any posts which require a bit more production in advance, like a video post or a blog. That way you can put time aside the week before to make it.
As part of the free 30 minute consultation I offer to business owners, I come up with four social media video ideas that would work great for you. This gives you a month of video content to engage your social media followers. Get in touch to book that in.
