Create Facebook content by theming your days

We talk a lot about the value of having a plan when you’re creating content. Today I thought I’d talk a bit about how having themes for every day of the week for your Facebook page (or any of your social networks) can help you come up with content quickly.

What do you want people to know about?

First come up with some messages that you want to share with your audience: 

• Do you want people to know that using your product will save them time?
• Do you want people to know that you cook amazing meals that are healthy? 
• Do you want people to know that you’re an expert in renovating kitchens? 
• Do you want people to know that hiring a realtor is better than trying to sell their house on their own?

Create a list of broad categories of things you want people to know about you – just 2 or 3. This is going to help make sure that what you’re sharing is helping you achieve your goals.

Assign a certain kind of content to each day of the week.

For example:

Sundays you can share an article from someone else. There are all kinds of people writing incredible content that back up what you want people to know – that healthy food made from scratch is good for you, that exercising every day is important, that selling your home independently won’t always save you money. Spend a bit of time right now finding four articles that talk about something you believe in that would be of interest to your audience.

Mondays you can share a tip. Spend some time writing down four tips that would help your audience i.e., cooking tips, marketing tips, productivity tips, etc. 

Tuesdays you’re going to feature something from your website.  Go and browse around your website - what are some interesting things you want people to know about? Is there a page that tells me why I should buy something? Is there a testimonials page? Is there a free tool I could download? Find four interesting things and save the URLs for those pages and explain why people should be interested in having a look.

Wednesday ask a question from your community. Maybe it’s something about their favourite products or tools, or maybe it’s something about how they overcome certain challenges. Jot down four.

Thursday we’re going to play with Throwback Thursday (#TBT). Do you have old photos in the archives? Pull up four and quickly tell the story about a great event, about your first year in business, or about how much technology has changed since you opened.

Friday share an article from your website. You probably have all kinds of great content on your blog. Go find it and share it again – it’s still relevant. Pick four now.

Saturday we’ll go with something lighter because people like light on the weekend. Are there any jokes or comics you could share? I’m a fan of going to Pinterest and typing in key words to find stuff like that to share. Find four of these.

Do you see what I did there? If you find four of each of those things, you have a month of Facebook content already written and ready to schedule. It will take an hour or two most likely, but once completed you will have great content ready for the entire month!

Leave me a comment and tell me what your daily categories would be and if you think this would work well for you and your content creation! 

Is what I’m doing online worth the time I’m investing?

Creating a successful online presence requires a lot of work and a lot of content. It can be overwhelming and figuring out if what you’re doing is actually working can be really hard. 

In my experience, people's unrealistic expectations are the main cause of discouragement when it comes to their social media use. People get upset that more people aren’t opening their newsletters, that more people aren’t commenting on their Facebook updates or that more people aren’t viewing their blog posts. But here’s the thing... success doesn’t need to come in thousands of page views or dozens of comments, and it definitely isn’t instantaneous.

The slow build of consistency

Social media and online marketing rarely result in immediate sales and even more rarely does a post go viral. You need to think of social media as an opportunity to prove your expertise and your credibility, and building those things take time. 

We have a really valuable client who followed our content and read our weekly newsletters for two years before signing on with us. That may not be the ideal or the norm, but it shows that consistently sharing content and providing value kept us top of mind until they were ready to work with us.  

Think of the content that you're putting online as a way to build your reputation, make it easier to find you online, as well as giving your audience opportunities to work with you through clear calls to action and demonstrations of what you do and how you can help them. 

Quality over quantity

I know “quality over quantity” is one of those things that you hear constantly and is everywhere nowadays, but it’s true. You can have a small email list and only a few hundred likes on Facebook, but if those people are people who really want to know what it is that you’re doing and selling, they can convert just as well as someone who has tens of thousands of disinterested people on their lists.

Did you know that the average open rate for marketing emails is only 15-25%?

Are you wondering if you’re getting a decent amount of traffic on your web site? Like this article says, the key isn’t so much what your number is, but how well you’re doing by benchmarking against yourself.  Are your numbers steadily increasing? Are they decreasing? What seems to work well? Do more of that. 

Have a plan

Knowing why you're doing what you're doing and how to do it well is key to success in online marketing. It's why we are always 'harping' about having a plan and why we try to offer you all kinds of ways to learn how to use the tools well to increase your opportunity for success.

Want to learn more about blogging? Join us next week on Thursday, April 2nd at 1 p.m. EST for a free webinar all about blogging. During this free webinar, we will give you valuable tips to get you started right, so that the time you spend online IS well worth it. Reserve your spot by clicking HERE.

Why do people share so much personal information online?

The other day I asked a colleague, in the shared working space I use, what she would like to know more about and it started a conversation about what people share online and why they feel compelled to, or comfortable, sharing it. This is a topic that I really enjoy talking about, so today I’m going to delve in a bit further as to why I think some people over share and why I think it’s important for you to think through what you’re sharing online.

Private discussions have found their way online

In years past, people sat around in their living rooms and backyards having heated discussions about all sorts of things, often voicing controversial opinions. While these conversations still happen, they‘ve also moved online. The problem with this is that instead of having a small private conversation amongst a few friends that conversation is now accessible to the public, potentially forever.

Do you believe that every opinion that you have should be available to the general public? I know I certainly don’t.

I believe people are sharing their opinions thinking that they’re only talking the way they always have and not taking into account or understanding Google’s reach. Google doesn’t forget things, including the comment you left on a blog post way back in 2007 (I found a few of those when working on this post ;) ). 

This means that making a conscious decision about what information and which opinions you share online is very important. While you may very well be willing to share your opinions online, the key is to make a conscious decision and realize that a permanent record of that opinion can be accessed by anyone.

Why does it matter if we say controversial things online?

The things that we say impact the way people view us. This is key. How do you want to be perceived by the people who can find you online? 

You need to think about who might end up looking you up. Potential employers, potential employees, and potential clients are all likely candidates to do a bit of searching online to get to know you better.  What will they find?

When you Google yourself, would you be happy for a future employer/partner/employee to find everything that you find?

How well are we adapting?

While some people are very careful about what they post online, many don’t take into consideration that what they say online can impact how people view them. For example, many people would never say anything they believe to sound racist, but do they realize that complaining about work online could impact future employment? Do they realize that constant negative commentary could affect someone’s opinion of their overall attitude and how they would fit on a team? Taking that a step further, do they realize what they say about other people (including their children) can have a lasting impact on other people’s reputations?

Here’s an interesting infographic on some of the things people share online: http://www.bitrebels.com/social/how-we-might-share-too-much-online-infographic/

More and more, we want and need to be online personally and professionally. Understanding how to do that responsibly is a step many people haven’t yet taken. Take some time to figure out what you want people to think about you (this is your personal brand) and whether or not your actions convey the same message.

What do you think about what people share online? Do people share more than they should?

Learn to blog in 5 weeks with our new online course!

There are so many great reasons to have a blog: 

• To showcase your expertise.
• To give people a reason to come to your website (your home base on the web).
• To help with search engine optimization (SEO) so that you'll come up in search.

The problem, of course, isn't that people don't know the value of having a blog, it's that they don't know how to start a blog, they don't know what to talk about, they don't know how to optimize their content, or they don't feel they can handle the maintenance of a blog. These are all really valid concerns, but we don't want to let them stop you.

Simple Start - Blogging

One of our goals at Wellman Wilson is to create tools to help you feel comfortable with online marketing. We started with a course that helps with Facebook and Twitter, last Fall we introduced a course on newsletters and now we're thrilled to be starting a course on blogging!

The goal of our blogging course is to walk you through the steps of setting up a blog from the very beginning. Does this mean that if you already have a blog this course isn't for you? Definitely not, it may just mean that some of the very first lessons have some refresher material for you - which never hurts!

What you'll learn

Week 1 - Foundations

Choosing to blog - why? how?
Identifying audience, goals
Crafting key messages

Week 2 - Content Basics

Creating a theme (subject) for your blog
Picking blog topics
Telling stories

Week 3 - Enhancing Content

Mixing up content - types of blog posts/media
Creating content
Using images to enhance blog posts

Week 4 - Planning

Setting up a plan
Using a content/editorial calendar
Establishing a regular publishing schedule

Week 5 - Optimize for Success

Optimizing your content for sharing
Learning the basics of SEO (search engine optimization)
Measuring success

How does it work?

The lessons are emailed based and will be delivered to your inbox over 5 weeks. Each week you'll cover a series of topics and be given homework and assignments to move you forward through the lessons.

You will be added to a closed Facebook Group where you will get the support of other people also taking the course and where you can ask questions that we will answer. 

You can also take advantage of our PLUS program which will give you access to one of us for three 30-minute calls.

How much does it cost?

As with our other programs we like to offer a great rate the first time a course is offered. If you enrol when the blogging course launches April 9th the cost is only $49 (it will be $99 when it runs again)!

For more information, including how to register visit: http://www.wellmanwilson.com/blogging

We look forward to seeing you in the course!

Don’t assume people understand

Are you introducing a new program? Running an event that’s going to be amazing? Offering all kinds of incredibly valuable products and services that nobody is buying?

Sometimes we need to take a step back from what we’re doing to make sure that we really and obviously explained to people what’s in it for them to buy or take part in something.

Figure out the key value points

First, think about what the main value is of what you’re offering. What will people get or what problem will it solve?

Try to come up with three to five things. It could be that they’ll learn something, it could be that they’ll feel better, it could be that they’ll meet like-minded people. Having these values in writing will help you get better at selling. 

Share that information in detail somewhere

Now you want to really explain the value. This is where a blog is really useful. If you don’t have that, a product page or a post on Facebook or on other social media networks will work.  Write out in about 500 words (this is more of a blog post guideline) what the value is. Break it up in much the way this post is done with sub-headings that jump out (download our free infographic on the key parts of a great blog post).

Value one – two to three sentence description explaining how that will translate for them.

Value two – what is going to change for them as a result of taking part or buying your product.

Value three – what tangible learning point or thing will they get out of buying? 

Use plain language 

Sometimes one of our biggest weaknesses is not realizing that other people don’t understand the way we speak. As much as possible, break things down as simply as possible. Try not to think of this as “dumbing down” your content, but instead think of it as making it easy to read quickly and simple to understand. 

How plain and simple your content is also depends on who you’re talking to. If you’re offering an advanced class in something you’re going to speak in a language that makes it clear that this isn’t for beginners, but take the time to think that through. You want to ensure that people don’t feel overwhelmed when they’re exactly who you’re hoping to have take part in something.

End with a call to action

One of my biggest weaknesses in business in the past has been to tell people all about the things that I do, but fail to make it clear and easy for them to actually start working with me. I think that’s something a lot of people feel uncomfortable with and worry feels pushy. 

Here’s the thing though – people often don’t think to take the action you’re hoping that they’ll take. You need to make it as easy and straightforward as possible for them to do the thing you want them to do.  

State the call to action – Download this free infographic now,  sign up for the class now <insert a link for them to sign up>, buy this amazing widget here <insert a link for them to buy>. 

By clearly explaining the value of what you’re offering and making buying or taking whatever action you want them to take as simple as possible you are far more likely to convert your readers to customers.  

Leave a comment and let me know if you have anything to add or experience with making this work!