Chelsea Royer from Juniper Tree Discusses Stress-free Ways to Effectively Feed the Ever-Hungry Social Media Content Monster
“Snack!” or “hungry!” are often words coming from my toddler as she shadows me around the house (usually five minutes after we just finished a meal). God help me if we ever run out of those magical fruit smoothie pouches! But less adorable and often more demanding than my toddler are my social media accounts. It seems every other minute I’m remembering that “oh yes. I need to make my Facebook/Instagram Post/Story/email newsletter for the day.” And with three businesses that each have their own platforms, this can feel nearly insurmountable.
If you have any online presence at all, you’ve likely felt the lurking presence of what I like to call, “the content monster” who is never satisfied, always lurking around the corner and growling, “hungry”! You’d happily feed it (maybe then it would go away), but unfortunately for you, you’re always running out of its favorite snack: engaging, personable, and quality content. On top of that, you’ve heard it sometimes bites.
So, what do you do?
Whether your brand is corporate or personal, the struggle is still the same – you need to find and create content that engages your followers and is relevant to your business. The good news? Once you have a few basic tools, content creation can be a very simple (and dare I say, efficient) task. Here are three ways you can feed the content monster without it controlling your life or biting off your hand:
Choose Your Topics
Eliminate the constant wonder of what to post by taking time to sit down and choose between 7 and 12 topics that you will rotate through on your social media feeds. These topics can be directly related to your business, as well as something fun or less direct that will help you engage your followers. For example: behind the scenes of your work, introducing yourself or your employees, sharing lifestyle tips or advice related to your business, photos of your dog, inspirational quotes, product or customer highlights or reviews, etc.
Batch Your Content
This can mean sitting down and writing out 1 or even 4 weeks worth of captions that are inspired by your chosen topics. It can mean planning out a photo shoot with a professional or using your own cell phone to collect the images you need. You can even take it one step further and use a scheduling app so that you don’t have to think about hashtags, choosing content, or writing your captions once it’s done! My favorite app is Planoly, but there are plenty of options to choose from.
Have Fun
Try not to take yourself too seriously! Are you or an employee doing something goofy at work? Take a photo and post it to your Instagram stories. Is there hot new inventory available in your store? Have someone model the item and make a quick Facebook post or do a live video to show it off. What matters most is that you are consistent and intentional.
If you are feeling in need of a little help (as most of us do!), you can also hire me for quarterly photo sessions and education to help you create and then make the most of your content! If you’d like to learn more, email or call my personal cell phone: Chelsea Royer, 360-500-2791 chelsea@junipertreephotography.com Website: www.junipertreephotography.com
