A newsletter subscriber asked for my advice about how to figure out what to post on social media.
Her work is connected to social media, mental wellness, and collaborations with Chicago-based organizations who do amazing things, but she wasn’t sure how to translate that into compelling social content.
I suggested she follow a simple four-step framework.
She found it helpful so I thought I’d share it with you here.
1. Pick 3–5 topics to post about.
For example, social media, mental wellness, and Chicago organizations who do amazing things.
2. For each topic, choose a goal for your posts that relates to transformation.
Use this format:
My posts about [Topic] will help [Target Audience] accomplish [Transformation].
For example:
My posts about social media will help female entrepreneurs in Chicago get more customers.
My posts about mental wellness will help female entrepreneurs in Chicago be less stressed.
My posts about organizations who do amazing things will help Chicago community organizers put on more successful events.
Be as specific as possible in these sentences.
The more specific, the easier it will be to come up with good content.
(This is why the stuff I share in This Is How I Do It is so specific.)
3. For each goal sentence, jot down 10 ways to accomplish it.
For example:
How Female Entrepreneurs In Chicago Can Use Social Media To Get More Customers…
- Engage with local journalists to build relationships that could lead to press coverage.
- Use Twitter search to find people talking about your niche and engage with them.
- Do a cross promotion with other local female entrepreneurs.
4. For those concepts, consider the best way to translate each into a social media post.
For example, the cross promotion tip might be a tweet or Instagram post in which you ask which local entrepreneurs are open to collaborations.
That could lead to lots of engagement and connections happening in the comments of the post.
The big thing with this framework is to go step by step.
Start with the value you want to provide and end with how you translate those concepts into social posts.
Figuring out “what to post on social” is actually the last step of the process, not the first one.
Bonus Tip
Generic social media posts are boring, specific ones are interesting and valuable.
For example, “Connect with influencers” is boring advice.
“These are the most influential Chicago female entrepreneurs on Instagram” is interesting.
Discover the social media secrets of the world’s most successful creators.