Social Media Archives | Gold Design & Comms

Content Plan – what’s the deal?

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about why you should be blogging as a business. This time I’m going to look at more general social media topic i.e. content planning.

I know I don’t have to explain the importance of social media to anyone, or what it is for that matter. What I want to cover this week however is how to kick start it all and ensure you don’t give up.

I believe one of the hardest part of managing your brand’s social media is coming up with regular and original content for every single social media channel including blog topics, Facebook posts, tweets, ‘grams etc.

So, the solution is quite simple. Plan. Plan for your content or write a content plan. See where I’m going with this?

I recommend writing a top level overview for three months at a time and then do a more detailed content plan every month. The latter should include the topics of your blog posts, images or links you want to share or the names of people who have agreed to work with you. The more top level plan is an overview of what you plan to share, when and where. For example, perhaps you have a guest blogger every other week or plan on filming a tutorial once a month.

Content planning means you don’t need to panic search for content on a weekly or even daily basis which often leads to sharing content that is either not relevant, inappropriate, unoriginal.

It might look like a lot of work but it really is worth it in the long run.

For example – if you are a graphic designer like me – a very basic content plan could look like this:

Q1 2018:

Monday: No original content. Spend time going through any comments left on your social media profiles from the weekend and respond where appropriate. + Share any interesting and relevant existing content i.e. a blog post, an event or a meme.
Tuesdays: #TutorialTuesday. Share a tutorial on Facebook and Twitter.
Wednesdays: Guest blog to be shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Thursdays: Every other week own blog to be shared on Facebook and Linked In. The weeks in between examples of recent work to be shared on Facebook and Instagram.
Fridays: #FabulousFridays: Share a page, group or profile of a female entrepreneur.

Jan 2018:

Tuesdays:
- week 1: Adobe Illustrator tutorial (add appropriate link)
- week 2: Adobe Photoshop tutorial (add appropriate link)
- week 3: Adobe InDesign tutorial (add appropriate link)
- week 4: Write a tutorial style blog about how to install and activate WordPress plug-ins
Wednesdays:
- Guest blogger week 1: Founder of recruitment agency about flexible working
- Guest blogger week 2: VA about how to stay organised
- Guest blogger week 3: Influencer – how she made it
- Guest blogger week 4: Lawyer about website privacy policy
Thursdays:
- Topic week 1: The importance of blogging
- Topic week 2: How to chose imagery for your online content
- Topic week 3: Work-life balancing
- Topic week 4: Content planning (see what I did there?!)
Fridays #FabulousFriday:
- Week 1: Jane Smith from Smiths & Co
- Week 2: Jo Johnson from Jo’s company
- Week 3: Babs from Busy Bees
- Week 4: Millie Mac (influencer)

We offer bespoke content plans as a service at Gold Design & Comms. Get in touch if you want to discuss this.

Cheers,
Bx

What the blog?!

Eeeeek!!!! Can’t believe I’m actually writing (and more importantly publishing) a blog.

So firstly, welcome! I’m Babs, founder of Gold Design & Comms and I will be writing most of the content on this blog. Not sure if I can call myself a blogger just yet but hey, we all have to start somewhere…

Another time, in a different post, I’ll tell you all about my journey and how I went from being a PR manager to a freelance graphic designer (and web designer, PR & social media consultant). But today I wanted to take the opportunity to explain why I decided to blog. I’m not a keen writer or never had the desire to become an author. I also never had a diary when I was little… So why blog?

Over the last six months or so I’ve been studying to become a graphic designer. As part of the course, I also learned about web design and everything that comes with that, like SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) for example. Also, prior to that, I was a PR consultant for 12 years and throughout my career I’ve learned a lot about social media including the importance of blogging.

I’m not claiming to be an expert but thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far. Moreover, the social media landscape is constantly changing and staying updated is no mean feat. So if you’re keen, I’ll take you along on my learning journey and share top tips, tutorials, funny stories, interesting articles etc on a regular basis.

Why blog?

Engagement

While there’s lots of ways to talk to your customers directly (phone, email, social media and so on), blogging is a really useful one. Depending on the size of your company, speaking to every single customer might not always be realistic. With blogs however, you can encourage your customers to interact with you. They can leave comments and in turn you can reply back to those comments.

This direct communication between company and client also gives your company a more personable image. Moreover, you can use less corporate language in blogs. Friendly language and approach means customers will come back for more.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation can probably be a whole other blog. To be honest, there’s whole books about it. And courses. And dedicated agencies etc. The point is, you want your company to be found on Google (other search engines are available) and ideally in the top results. One of the best ways to be found on Google is keywords. While you may fill your website with appropiate keywords, most webpages are static i.e. they don’t regularly get updated. Especially none-commercial ones. As more websites, pages and key words appear – combined with the ever changing Google algorithms – your company’s website goes further down the result pages. Well, blogging is a great way around that. You can regularly update your blog with relevant posts and keywords, keeping your website and its content fresh and at the top of the search results.

Sharing

Whatever your industry, whatever your role, sharing knowledge is a great way to help you and your brand build credibility and trust. It will make you stand out from your competition and encourage engagement. But this time, not only with your customers, with your peers as well.

You don’t have to be a professional copywriter to blog. First of all blogs can be short and you could just share articles you find interesting, or a bit more information about any new products or services. I’ll write another post with top tips on how to blog but for now, just know that sharing any relevant information (videos, images, etc) is beneficial.
Your content is also shareable. Any post you write can in turn be shared by a reader on their social media platforms or their own blog. Meaning you audience has just massively grown. More blog visits means more website visitors and you all know where that leads 🙂
And lastly, a new blog post is a reason for you to share it on your social media platforms as well. There’s no point sharing your website over and over again but if there’s new content for people to read or view, you have a great opportunity to shout about it.

So, there we go. Just a few of the reasons why you should consider writing a blog too.

Love,
Babs xxx