Visibility without the overwhelm: Sustainable content for small businesses
I’ve talked about this on the blog before and it’s the whole reason I started my newsletter but social media is overwhelming - or at least it can be. The truth is, it actually doesn’t have to be so this week I’m going to be sharing how to stay visible online without getting overwhelmed by it all.
What does sustainable content creation mean for small businesses?
When I say sustainable in this context I mean making things as easy as possible to therefore make it simple and straightforward for you without giving you too much opportunity to just make excuses, get overwhelmed and run away to hide! I think a lot of people over complicate content creation and it makes it too scary and too much. Hopefully, by the time you get to the end of this blog post, you’ll know how to keep it simple, you’ll have an idea of what to post and when to post it and what that content will actually look like without you having to spend full days on end taking videos and photos, editing and creating.
What are content pillars and where do I start?
I think the best process for content creation is to set up your content pillars, you can have as many or as few of these as you like but again, don’t over complicate it. If you have too many it’s overwhelming but if you have too few they’ll be vague and unhelpful - I tend to find that 4 is a good number. To create your content pillars, think about your business, what do you offer, who do you offer it for, what do those people need to know from you. If you’re a photographer for example, people need to see your work so you’ll need to include your portfolio as a content pillar, you might want to provide education on relevant elements of your niche, e.g. if you’re a wedding photographer, share some tips for planning or helping the day run smoothly. You’ll also want to think about your target audience and how to connect with them, this may be that you specialise in outdoor weddings so nature is an important element for you and then finally you may want to bring in an element of personal branding and think about what makes you stand out, this could be that you’re a dedicated yogi. If this was you, your content pillars would be portfolio, education, nature and yoga. Once you’ve got the pillars set up, it’s literally as simple as rotating through them when you plan your content. If you plan to post twice a week and you have four pillars, that means two posts about each thing each month.
How can I actually create my content without spending hours on it?
As you’ve already got the focus in place via your content pillars, it’s then time to think about a more specific topic for each of your posts. You can use tools like ChatGPT to help you with suggestions or a lot of social media schedulers also have a built in function to suggest ideas. I find that it’s quicker for me to create my content if I have a detailed plan in place so in my plan I’ll include what the post is about, whether it’s going to be a video, single photo or carousel post and some bullet points of what it should cover. I then go through the plan in order and create whatever is needed for that post. I personally like to batch create, especially with video content so although you’re spending a bigger chunk of time creating content, you only have to do it once. If you’re creating graphics, use Canva, they have thousands of templates where you can really easily make it your own using your branding colours and fonts and slotting in your own photos. You can also buy generic templates online from places like Etsy or custom templates are something a lot of small businesses offer. The key is finding what works for you and not overthinking it. Not every post you put out has to be perfect, people actually like to see a bit more personality and less perfection sometimes as it helps them relate to you - although be careful with this, I’m not talking spelling mistakes here! If one of your content pillars is about your personality, you may have photos on your phone that you’ve already taken that you can use. Also don’t forget you and reuse and repurpose content - read more about that here.
How do I create a content strategy that aligns with my business goals?
To create your content strategy in alignment with your goals, you first need to know what those are. Read this post on setting goals that will actually work. Once you know what your goals are, it’s time to think about how to achieve them. If you were a wedding photographer like in my previous example and one of your goals is to film a wedding at a certain venue, you’ll want to include content that appeals to that type of people who are getting married at that venue. If it was a DIY dry hire venue for example, you want some of your education posts to focus on dry hire and you could include things like “the top three things all brides forget at their dry hire venue” or “the best wedding DIY I’ve ever seen as a wedding photographer.” You’ll also want to be sharing portfolio images that align with that venue, e.g. if you’re hoping to film in a castle, sharing only barn weddings is probably not going to align you with your goals. Remember though, sharing relevant content is only half of the game. You’ll also need to think about your engagement strategy and how you make sure that your dream clients are seeing that incredible content you’re putting out.
What types of content provide the best return on investment for small businesses?
This will vary slightly depending on your business type and goals but generally on Instagram, putting your energy into reels will help you to become more visible to new people. Putting energy into stories (if you have a good community built up) will bring you sales and static posts and carousels will continue to engage your current audience. Like I say, this is really generic and will vary a lot depending on so many factors! There are also other content types to consider including blogs, email marketing and other social platforms such as TikTok or Facebook. Again it will depend on your business and a whole host of factors but Facebook is really good for building a local community and appealing to a local audience while TikTok is great if you have an online or product based business where you want to be seen by people from all over the place.
My Final Thoughts…
I know that content creation can be so overwhelming but it really doesn’t need to be. Try not to overthink it (easier said than done, I know.) Get your content pillars set up to make planning easy and then once you’ve got your plan, keep things simple, use templates, reuse and repurpose what you already have and don’t focus too much on perfection! Think about your goals and build a content strategy that aligns with those and also be mindful of your engagement strategy and the types of content you’re using to achieve your goals. Oh, and if you want to make things even easier with weekly tips, trends and inspo straight to your inbox, sign up to my newsletter here.
