In this article I am not going to tell you how to make your content look or the execution of creation. We discuss that in another article and in one of our trainings!
High level I would advise a cohesive look with recognizable brand colors and aesthetic. I would also make sure it’s digestible to someone new coming to your page so they can easily navigate all your content and decide if they find value and relate to you.
This training will be the strategy behind figuring out what content to create, how much of each type of content, how to batch create so you have a life and how to make it convert.
Let’s start first with building a solid foundation, your business PILLARS.
The first step to a solid Content Strategy is establishing your content Pillars. You typically want to have around 3 or 4 Pillars.
Now in my opinion there are a few layers to Content Pillars. You have high level Pillars for someone just starting out with content creation and then you can get more granular with more experience and data.
What we are covering is a hybrid I created that is high level and for a beginner.
So when creating your Pillars the entire goal is to ensure that any piece of content you create hits at least 1 of your Pillars, this helps you stay targeted and on brand.
Let’s talk about how to define your Pillars. Think about your companies main objectives, do you have a mantra or mission statement.
Here are some company mission statement examples:
- Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
- Nike: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete.
- Google: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Once you understand your mission, you can zone in on what you want to evoke in your audience, what you want to provide them.
Here are some high level Pillar examples:
- Educate, Entertain, Engage & Inspire
These should get your mind going in the right direction of what yours may be. These can fit most business models and maybe even yours.
Now think of your brands mission and what your goals with your content may look like, then ensure anything you put out achieves one of those Pillar goals.
Now that we have our foundation, we can take it a step further and create our CADENCE.
This step is primarily focused on Instagram Strategy but can be molded to a high level content planning schedule as well.
Let’s start with establishing what a Cadence is?
Cadence is the pattern of the content – meaning it includes the number of marketing posts,emails,blogs,case studies,texts,calls etc. and the spacing between them.
When we think of a cadence we view it in the lense of a Sales Funnel.
The sales funnel refers to the buying process that companies lead customers through when purchasing products.
A sales funnel is a step-by-step process that allows you to bring your potential customer one step closer to your offer and a buying decision through a series of marketing actions.
When you typically think Sales Funnel you don’t immediately think your instagram tile feed. You probably think of paid ad funnels, email campaigns etc.
We have figured out a way to make this apply to your Instagram feed to drive conversion. This is the step most people miss and then end up frustrated that they are not getting any sales from instagram.
So your Cadence will be catered to what is most relevant to your brands needs & YOUR buyers journey.
First you need to decide how many days a week you can commit to posting honestly. Let’s say for example you decide you can commit to 6x a week.
Now comes the step of creating the Posting Cadence which will be how you distribute the content from your Pillars. This way we avoid just randomly posting and hoping for the best. Instead we think strategically to create that buyer journey each time and end with conversion!
There are 3 main steps you want to make sure you hit in your cadence to create a basic Sales Funnel effect.
Provide VALUE first, then CONNECT & then SELL
So if we need 6 post a week our cadence can look something like this:
3 post of VALUE : 2 post that CONNECT : 1 post that SELLS
This way you are not just pushing buy buy buy….
You are providing them value more than anything & that creates brand trust. Then you connect on a personal level & that creates relationship… THEN you can SELL.
So let’s check in, so far :
- We have our PILLARS: Educate, Engage, Inspire
- We have our CADENCE: 3 Value, 2 Connecting, 1 Selling
Now it’s time to create our CONTENT BUCKETS.
Content buckets, often known as content categories, are topics that discuss various aspects within one’s business. While each content bucket is meant to be specific to a certain topic, they should all connect to an overarching brand message.
So I start with just a natural flow with what I already naturally post & think about. Then some market research on what my audience needs and likes, as well as what industry leaders are posting. From there I hash it out with that list.
I get it all out in a bulleted list. Then I remove anything that doesn’t fit into my established PILLARS or CADENCE.
So essentially if it doesn’t entertain, engage or inspire its gotta go.
So here is a list of my Content Buckets after checking if they fit my Pillars & I have written next to the Content Bucket which Pillar they satisfy.
This is what I am left with:
- Quotes (Inspire)
- Q & A reel, post or IGTV (Educational)
- Most common mistakes (Educational)
- Books & reviews (Educational)
- Mini trainings about services (Educational)
- Detailed trainings (Educational)
- Business of the week spotlight (Engage& Inspire)
- Behind the scenes (Engage)
- Info on services, what’s included(Educational)
- Service showcase (Inspire)
- Personal posts (Engage & Inspire)
- Pitch posts (Educational)
- Reels (Entertain)
Now remember our cadence was :
3 Value post – 2 Connecting post – 1 Selling post
So now after confirming each Content Bucket Satisfies my Pillars, I need to add next to each Content Bucket … Whether its a post of Value, Connection or Selling to easily visualize which part of the Cadence that content would satisfy.
Example Below:
- Quotes (Inspire) (Connecting)
- Q & A reel, post or IGTV (Educational)(Value)
- Most common mistakes (Educational)(Value)
- Books & reviews (Educational)(Value)
- Mini trainings(Educational)(Value)
- Detailed trainings (Educational)(Value)
- Business of the week spotlight (Engage & Inspire)(Connecting)
- Behind the scenes (Engage)(Connecting)
- Info on services, what’s included(Educational)(Selling)
- Service showcase (Inspire)(Selling)
- Personal posts (Engage & Inspire)(Connecting)
- Pitch posts (Educational)(Selling)
- Reels (Entertain)(Connecting)
Now let’s put it ALL together!
WE KNOW WERE SHOOTING FOR 6 MONTHS OF CONTENT
So now it’s just math & creativity
So with our weekly cadence of 3:2:1 x 6 months = 72:48:24
- 72 Pieces of content that provide VALUE
- 48 Pieces of content that CONNECT
- 24 Pieces of content that SELL/PROMOTE
So all that is left to do is find out how many pieces of content you want of each bucket to fulfill your cadence of…
72: Value post 48: Connecting post 24: Selling post
This is going to be like putting together a puzzle, the main thing to remember is be realistic.
If you can’t commit to posting 12 Q&A’s then don’t, pick up more from another Content Bucket that is also in the “Connecting” category, until you have your allotted 48 connection post. So on and so forth until you have hashed out all your buckets and fulfilled the cadence of
72 Value Post – 48 Connecting Post – 24 Selling Post
Here is my example below:
- Q & A (Value) (12)
- Quotes (Connecting) (12)
- Most common mistakes (Value) (12)
- Books & reviews (Value) (6)
- Mini trainings (Value) (12)
- Detailed trainings (Value) (6)
- Business of the week spotlight (Connecting) (12)
- Behind the scenes (Connecting) (12)
- Info on services, what’s included (Selling) (6)
- Service showcase (Selling) (12)
- Personal posts (Connecting)(6)
- Pitch posts (Selling)(6)
- Reels (Connecting) (1-2 a week)
This =72 Value Post – 48 Connecting Post – 24 Selling Post
CONGRATULATIONS we now have our 6 months of content, that satisfies our pillars and goals & creates a funnel effect that drives conversion!
It’s time to create!
So Make a new simplified list of just the content bucket & how many post you need from that bucket & youre ready to go!
- Quotes – 12
- Q & A reel, post or IGTV – 12
- Most common mistakes – 12
- Books & reviews – 6
- Mini trainings – 12
- Detailed trainings – 6
- Business of the week spotlight – 12
- Behind the scenes – 12
- Info on services, what’s included- 6
- Service showcase -12
- Personal posts – 6
- Pitch posts – 6
- Reels (free additions, goal: 1-2 a week)
Make sure to vary the content in Posts, Igtv’s, Lives, Reels, Carousels, Stories etc.
If you only like to plan out your content Monthly that is OK!
Just apply the same strategy and change the math for just 30 days instead of 6 months!
I know this was a lot but once you do it once it gets so much easier and you only have to strategize content 2x a year!