Level up your content

It’s been weeks since I last rolled out a mini-series on the Girl Who Wont Settle page and as promised, here’s the collated and extended version (really) of the whole series. It took me a while to finish this piece since I wanted it to be as complete and valuable to those looking to level their content but I later on realized that, trends will change and well, this is just the surface of the whole content process. We can dive into strategies later but for now, it’s important that we talk about the “basics” so let’s get on it!

Content will always be queen

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, content makes the world go round. Everything we consume is considered content. Whether it be the kind of informative, motivational, inspirational, or in the form of writing, music, video – yup, that’s definitely content, alright. So if you’re building a brand or just wanting to stay relevant, you have to (and I stress ‘you have to’) put out content. You know what Gary Vee say’s, you gotta stay relevant or die.

Okay, cool. I get you.. but can I share content instead?

Two words – yes, no. Okay, so it depends. Sure, you can share content. I do it too but in order to really level up your brand, business, or relevance in this world (we’re going with this), you have to create your own too.

When you create your own content, you are actually building your brand. And building your brand is so powerful today. This helps you land and create more opportunities. And while we have common experiences, it’s different when you tell it as your own story. Sure, it may take a little more work than reposting from others but it has its returns.

Fine, I’m in! So where do I begin?

If day one of your content creation process goes like this.. yeah… that’s not gonna work. Coming up with content is so much more than lighting candles and chanting words until you get ideas. Actually, it’s far from that. 🙋🏻‍♀️

Creating content requires a process, from the brainstorming to the creating of the copy to the publishing and sharing to the measuring and evaluating (you know, for those who need to measure their post relevance) and it might be a lot of work, but you could get used to it until such time it doesn’t seem like work OR you could work smarter. I prefer the second.

Here’s are a few tips and tools you can do when YOU ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR CONTENT IDEAS:

✨ Ask your audience – run a poll on Instagram or Twitter and ask them what topics would they be interested in reading/watching
✨Use Google Trends – key in some words related to your niche and see what’s trending, do a reaction to articles or talk about the same topics
✨Answer the Public – find the exact questions people have been asking about and answer them
✨Word maps – jot down all your ideas (cause I’m sure you still have even just a few of them), decide whether they’re worth talking about and then create it into content

You can also read more on a post I wrote on coming up w/ content ideas if that isn’t enough.

So I’ve created content but it’s not really working for me..

Same.. this was/is me, sometimes. (Still, shoutout to our supportive moms 😅) But if you wanna create content people (other that our moms) will love, you have to do some things differently, YOU HAVE TO:

✨ Decide on what you wanna talk about and stick with it for now. Basically, find your niche. But I say “for now” because you can talk about other things once you’ve established yourself. Perhaps people know me as the side-hustle girl so I will talk about side-hustles most of the time. Once I have your attention, I can also tell you about other things that interest me like maybe how I use building my personal brand to help me get my side-hustle clients. That’s where creating content and social media comes in. It’s all part of the game plan to build my personal brand. If you know your niche, it’s easier to build content. Plus, if you post consistently about the same subject matter, you will easily become a go-to place for your readers.. so, yeah, keep talking about that thing. [PS: People say you should only have one niche but I believe people are more than just “one niche”. Always keep it related though and please don’t try to talk to everyone, you’ll end up talking to no one.] Plus, if you post consistently about the same subject matter, you will easily become a go-to place for your readers.. so, yeah, keep talking about that thing. [PS: People say you should only have one niche but I believe people are more than just “one niche”. Always keep it related though and please don’t try to talk to everyone, you’ll end up talking to no one.]

✨ Use the 80/20 rule. Now that you’ve established yourself as a subject matter expert on that thing you love talking about, it’s time for you to show some human side too. This is important when you plan and create content. I suggest have a weekly or monthly schedule and plot the days when you’ll be posting your niche’s content AND personal content. Follow the 80/20 rule – 80% for niche and 20% for personal. This also works for brands and businesses, it’s good to show some human side to your brand because if you only post sales content, customers may feel like you’re always just pushing your product to them. Provide valuable content *that costs nothing* and share some stories on the people behind your brand, etc.

✨ Post consistently. I know we all struggle to post consistently. I have, like a lot of times. But this was the number one mistake I made a few years back with my first blog. Just to give you a background, when I first started my blog, I would post all the time. Sometimes, more than three times a month. But things got busy and I had no plan, no *idea bank*, no scheduled content and so, I hardly posted content. It was now, thrice a year. Until I reached the year that I didn’t post anything. I regret that I’ve built a following of more than 6,000 followers on that blog, but failed to keep it because I didn’t post consistently. I used to have really nice engagement too but it eventually just died down.. Now, despite, having a lot on my plate than before, I’ve come up with ways to post more consistently and it shows in the engagement. Show up every day, kid.

✨ Engage with your readers and find out what they like to know and what they already know to spark conversations. Not unless you’re a celebrity, people don’t really care about what kind of croissant you ate for breakfast or the fancy socks you’re wearing to this concert. Be relatable. Talk about things you know your readers would like to know. And the best way, really to do this, is to engage with them. Don’t be awkward and talk to them. You’ll also be surprised by the conversations!

✨ Always stay authentic. People can see right through those who aren’t.

#ContentCreationHack: Anyone else heard of repurposing content?

I forgot where I first heard it, but ever since I did, it has helped me create content so much easier than before. But what does that even mean?

Well, HubSpot says it’s: “..doing one of two things (or both): changing the format of the content, and/or changing the target audience for the content.” 💌

But when I explain it to clients and friends, I say this – say you have an idea. Let’s put a name to the idea and use my favorite topic – side hustles. I write about side hustles in a blog post and all goes well. But now I want to talk about side hustles on my Facebook page so I change the format of the blog post. There are plenty of ways to do this: I could turn the blog posit into pictures with information or create individual mini posts with accompanying snippets from the blog. What’s important is that I take old information and build on that – whether, creating a new one from it or repackaging but adding more value to it.

Going back, if I want to turn the same idea into a podcast, I can choose one side-hustle or idea (again from the blog post), and then deep dive on the topic in my podcast. This way, your idea is still related to your niche even without you looking far for content.

Have you ever just finished the a good piece of content BUT NOBODY JUST SEEMS TO SEE IT?

Yup, I’ve been there too. Even if I share it a lot, the reached sucked.. and the engagement was non existent. It got to a point that if I didn’t share it to groups, nobody would see it. But that’s because they don’t care enough.

So, how do you share your content? This one’s a lot to answer but I’ve summed it up (at least tried to) in FIVE main points:

✨ Share 2 – 4 times to relevant communities and groups. Don’t over do it.. If you’re sharing on Facebook, Google + and Twitter, these search engines and apps are programmed to think you are a robot THUS putting your content at a lower chance to be seen or reached. Don’t also share on groups that are NOT relevant. Not only will people get annoyed but really, it doesn’t matter. Share your posts only to people who will find your content useful. You don’t wanna give your content negative traction. 
✨ Have social sharing buttons ready. Whatever platform you’re using, have these buttons available and working! This should encourage people to share your content. You’ve don’t the attraction part right, it’s time for the engagement!
✨ Make use of hashtags! Seriously one of the most underrated things you can do to get your content out there.
✨ Provide your content when answering questions and/or when engaging in conversations. If you have content you know can really help answer people’s questions or provide useful info, join in conversations in forums such as Quora, Reddit, Twitter, and LinkedIn and link them to it. Of course, be genuine when approaching people since you don’t wanna come off as spammy.
✨ You can ask for it. Ever notice how YouTubers always end with a “Don’t forget to like and subscribe to my channel”? That’s it.

Sharing is caring! When your audience shares your content, you know they care.. and that for me, is one of way to measure how your content is faring (we have lots of metrics too, actually).

Look at you! You’re SO ready.

..ready for a quiz? I’M KIDDING! This post was actually inspired by a friend of mine WHO wanted to start putting out content but didn’t know where to begin. Choosing platforms can get tricky, but really, it’s the content creation part that can get challenging. But it doesn’t have to be. Keep these in mind and you’re good to go.

And while I excite over the content you will be putting out (YES, I’M LOOKING AT YOU), I leave you with this cheat sheet you can use next time you’re working on your content.Key is right click and save! 😉

Got any more content tips? I wanna know! Comment down below! Till then, I’m here.. always cheering for you!

Posted in blogging and Tagged blogging