Businesses often feel like they need to post something on their socials just to stay active, to “tick a box”.
But I fear that posting without a purpose can actually make your social media harder to manage.
And your business cops the aftermath.
Posting Without Purpose Creates More Work
Whilst consistency on social media does have merit, it is not as valuable as you think to just throw up whatever is in your camera roll.
That quick snap of the menu from last month’s team lunch might be a nice photo, but does it tell your audience anything about your business? Does it build trust? Answer a question? Showcase what you do?
If the answer is no, you are probably just adding another post to your feed without adding any real value.
Your business matters, so it only makes sense that your content reflects that same level of intention.
Every Piece of Content Should Have a Job to Do
You might think that the only purpose of social media is to drive sales.
Not everything you put online needs to have the intention of driving sales, in fact, it shouldn’t.
The exciting thing is that your content can have a range of impact.
There are plenty of ways to think about content strategy, but one of the easiest frameworks to get your head around comes from Dr Dave Chaffey and Danyl Bosomworth: the Content Marketing Matrix.
The matrix breaks down the different ways content can work for your business, but for this, we’re focusing on one thing in particular: purpose.
And when it comes to content, there are four key ways to approach it: entertain, inspire, educate and convince.
- Entertain: Emotional content, captures attention at the early awareness stage
- Inspire: Emotional content, builds brand connection and trust
- Educate: Rational content, offers knowledge for early-to-mid stage buyers
- Convince: Rational content with high intent, prompting purchase decisions
Once you start thinking about what job your content is doing, coming up with ideas becomes a whole lot simpler
Know Who You’re Talking To
Good social media starts with understanding what your audience wants to see, but if every post is telling people what to do, they’re going to switch off quickly.
What questions are they asking? What problems are they trying to solve? What do they care about? What would make them stop scrolling?
Of course, your products or services need to feature, people need to know why they should choose you over competitors.
Think about your own social media habits. You probably don’t follow a business because you want them trying to sell you something every time they pop up in your feed.
For example, a financial adviser might want to constantly talk about their services, but their audience might be much more interested in learning how to prepare for tax time, what they should be tracking throughout the year or common mistakes to avoid.
This type of content doesn’t just propel your business forward, it gives your audience a stake in the conversation and makes them feel like they’re part of it.
Content Pillars Give Your Social Media a Clear Direction
This is where content pillars can make your life significantly easier.
Rather than starting from a blank content calendar every Monday morning, create 5 key topics that your business consistently talks about.
For example, think of a financial advisor again:
1. Financial Education
2. Wealth & Investment
3. Life & Financial Goals
4. Client Stories & Results
5. The Adviser & Behind the Scenes
At Poppy Seed Media, this is one of the ways we approach content planning.
Instead of randomly filling a calendar, we consider the different things a business needs to communicate and make sure there is a healthy mix across its content.
It means you’re not constantly asking, “What should we post?”
Turn Your Ideas into Strategy
Now that we have all the ingredients for a fabulous content mix, we just need to put them all together to create a valuable social media strategy.
To develop a plan for our example financial advisor client, we can follow a simple formula, posting 3 times a week to start.
1. Monday: Educate
An educational tip for first home buyers, helping answer a common question or simplify a scheme they might commonly find confusing
2. Wednesday: Inspire
A client story or behind-the-scenes look at the adviser, showing the people and experiences behind the business and building trust in the process
3. Friday: Convince
A client case study showing how the adviser helped someone work towards their financial goals, giving potential clients a real example of the value of their financial expertise
We’ve used our Content Pillars to decide what we’re talking about and the Content Marketing Matrix to decide what job each piece of content is doing.
And just like that, we have a week’s worth of content with a purpose behind every post!
Make Every Post Count
Your content doesn’t need to change the world. It just needs to do something.
So next time you feel the pressure to “just post something” take a step back and ask yourself:
“What job is this post doing?”
Maybe it’s there to answer that pesky question a follower has had on their radar. Maybe it’s going to make someone laugh. Maybe it shows a fun behind the scenes side to your business. Maybe it separates you from your toughest competitor.
Maybe it shows them exact why they should choose YOU.
Take the time to work out your content pillars, then use the Content Marketing Matrix to give those pillars purpose.
It doesn’t have to be complicated, but having that framework in place can make a huge difference to the content you create.
Because your social media shouldn’t just be a collection of things you’ve posted, it needs to tell a story. This story can be who you are, what you know, what you offer and why people should choose you.
Show them what your business is about, why they should follow you, why they should trust you, and most importantly why they should remember you!
Because your social media shouldn’t just prove that your business is active.
It should give people a reason to care!
And if you’re ready to give your social media a little more purpose, we’d love to help you get your strategy into gear.
📩 info@poppyseedmedia.com.au 🌐 www.poppyseedmedia.com.au
