Content Creation. Do those words make you cringe, run for the coffee pot, and stress sweat a little? It’s easy to get caught up and overwhelmed by the seemingly constant changes to Instagram (let alone all the other platforms on the internet). Yet, at the end of the day, you know that content is the key to growing your brand and business.

Are you sick of playing the guessing game when it comes to social media? Not posting because you aren’t sure what to say? Or with the pressure and stress that comes with coming up with content day to day? Do you want to learn how to create more content in less time? If you want to

• stop struggling with creativity and content creation.
• overcome the overwhelm that surrounds Instagram
• and actually create content that converts

Keep reading.

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 COVID changed the landscape of online business, content creation, and marketing. The world of social media went into hyperdrive, and the people who had it figured out reaped the benefits. However, it was and still is a learning curve for most of us. In fact, 94% of marketers changed their content marketing strategy in response to the pandemic…

The best way for Creative Entrepreneurs to share their stories, services, and products is by utilizing content marketing. If you look at the big guns in your field, the people you admire, take courses from and fan girl over (or even look outside your nook for inspiration!). Chances are, they are pros at content marketing. So what’s the big secret? The key to creating content that converts and not spending all of your time doing it?

There isn’t a one size fits all answer (that’s life!). Staying consistent, persistent, and practicing is a big piece of it. Having a content strategy is the other.

A content strategy gives you a simple framework to work from: To create aligned, high-quality content without creating unnecessary work for yourself. It takes the guesswork and stress out of “what should I post today” and gives you the space to get creative with your content.

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Let’s review some quick lingo:

Content Marketing = Marketing your business on the internet by creating content about it.

Content Strategy = The Framework you work from to determine the kind of content you want to create

Content Creation = Doing the thing, writing the blog, posting that damn reel to Instagram.

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The 4P’s

There are four kinds of content I teach my one-on-one clients how to create, with the goal of nurturing their audience, promoting their products and services, and creating content that they actually enjoy making. The 4P’s are Pillar, Passion, People, and Promote.

Pillar Content

Pillar content is the pillars of what your audience needs to understand and be interested in, to self-select, and convert to working with you.

Pillar content should be created on all your platforms, but ideally created as a piece of long-form content (think a blog, youtube video, or podcast) and then recycled into bite-sized pieces across other platforms. Pillar content is…

*Educational

*Value-based

Passion Content

Passion content s humanizing. It helps people get to know you and make personal connections with you. It’s a glimpse into your life and the person behind the business. This content is lifestyle-based and aims to inspire, relate, and connect with your audience.

• 79% of content marketers use content marketing to generate high-quality leads
• 73% of the top marketers use content to nurture their audience

*pro tip, this is a great place to get creative, have fun, and utilize video content.

People Content

People (or portfolio) content is all about proving you do the thing that you say you do. How can you show your clients you not only talk the talk but you can walk the walk? This kind of content is about building authority in your niche by sharing results, testimonials, stories, and examples of your work. Some ideas

• Sharing a client story or testimonial
• Sharing a personal story your audience can relate to
• Sharing a visual of you working with other people
• Re-sharing client content
• Collaborative and community related posting

Promo Content

This one is pretty straightforward; it’s all about promoting whatever you are doing at that time. It’s building the value in whatever it is you are selling and giving people the information on how to become your client/customer/reader.

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Content Bins

The simplest way I can describe content bins is what you want to talk about and be known for on the internet. Many (okay, maybe all) of my clients tend to overthink this early (but it becomes second nature after a while). Is your mind spinning with a million different ideas? Try narrowing it down to 4 things. Brain dump, list it out, and often I find we can group many of your ideas into four more general themes. For example, mine is:

1. Intentional Branding
2. Work from home-life balance
3. Purposeful Planning
4. Scaling Sustainably

There is a lot of wiggle room, overlap, and space to spread out within those; they are things I can talk about with no preparation and are tied into the values and ethos of the Cedar June Brand.

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Some questions to reflect on when it comes to planning your Content Strategy

1. What did I need to learn before becoming an authority on this subject?
2. What do I get asked about?
3. What lights me up?
4. What scares me?
5. What inspires me?
6. Most Importantly… What am I promoting? What is the goal? What do I want people to do?

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Now it’s time to play BINGO.

But first, the answer to that last question. What are you promoting? Stop making content to make content; start making content with a goal.

Now, can you come up with a theme based on that goal? Time to spill some tea…

Connecting the dots

Here’s a real-life example. My content strategy this month aims to sign people up for the workshop I am hosting. The workshop Is what I am promoting. The workshop is about content. So the theme for my content this month – is content. It’s aligned, intentional, and straightforward.

A favorite exercise from the 1:1 Vault

DIY it:

Step 1. Fill in your content bins,

In each place where the line intersects, create an idea for a piece of content; for example, if your lines intersect to Passion and content bin 2, you would come up with an idea for a bit of passion content for your second content bin.

Once you are done, you have entire months worth of content ideas aligned with what you are promoting.

Want an even deeper dive? For a live demo of how to brainstorm a month’s worth of content, join the July Cedar June Masterclass “The Content Drop-In,” now open for registration.