New features every week, daily posts, reels, stories, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, shorts and of course, TikTok... Marketing on social media can quickly seem like a tsunami that you're either running from or being swept away by.
With all the effort, there's also the fact that sometimes postings and content hardly bring any engagement. Frustration arises. We often experience that clients start with a lot of enthusiasm and yet quickly give up again because they get the impression that the effort and return are not worth it.
Whatever those initial thoughts, social media is, and remains, a direct channel for staying in contact with customers, introducing new products, announcing news and answering questions or suggestions.
To master social media and not be mastered by it, you need a plan and a message. Here is how we do it:
- use your BrandScript for your social messaging
- create a content calendar
- increase your effectiveness
But let's start with the basics: your customer
Tip 1: For whom should I post on social media?
Every photo, video or text you post needs to appeal to your customers, not you. Remember? The customer is the protagonist of your story. Their problems are the focus of your communication and, thus, also of your social media postings.
Ask yourself three questions:
- Who is my customer?
- On which social media channels are my customers active?
- What problem do I solve for my customer?
With the answers to these questions, you can create content that adds value to your customers, for example, by showing how you solve their problems.
Tip 2: What should I post on social media?
All your content should follow your one-liner. In your one-liner, you have defined what you stand for. This should be your common thread that flows into every post, every reel and every photo.
Work out your BrandScript alone or with our support. In Episodes 1-5, we introduced you to the individual stages. Fill in the seven steps of your BrandScript (customer, problem, guide, plan, call-to-action, chances of success and failure).
Now you can use the seven steps of the BrandScript as topic blocks and develop social media posts from them.
For example, if you work from the topic block "Guide", then you can try using empathy and authority. Empathy is a powerful approach in social media because this is how you make an emotional connection with your customer.
Here are the ingredients for your empathy post:
- "I know how you feel..."
- "We understand that..."
- "We know the problem that..."
- and then add a pinch of authority
- "with the experience of..."
- "the certification of..."
- "the awards we have won..."
After you have gathered your content ideas for the other BrandScript stages, you need a content plan. Align your posts with your marketing and sales activities because your goal is to drive customers into your sales funnel - whether that's your website, your lead magnet, your email subscription or your events.
You don't necessarily need a tool to create the content plan, although there are many good options. A spreadsheet and a calendar will do to get you started. First, mark holidays, promotional days like Black Friday and social media days. Then add your activities, such as product launches, events or marketing promotions, and you have 2-4 posts per month planned.
Realistically decide how many posts you can do in a month and then add to your calendar. Here are some ideas:
- Growth: explain to your customer how you can help them grow.
- Curiosity: Introduce something interesting, new or different.
- Empathy: Describe why you care about your client's problems and that you have the authority to solve them.
- Motivation: Show your client the steps needed to improve their situation.
Complement these postings with the ideas you derive from your BrandScript. These can be testimonials from satisfied customers, successful case studies or even a plan on how to do business with you.
Tip 3: Where should I post on social media?
TikTok, Instagram or LinkedIn? Is Facebook still worth it? These are likely your first questions when it comes to where you should post your content.
Generally speaking:
Choose one lead platform:
- LinkedIn is great for B2B companies
- Instagram or TikTok can do wonders for solo entrepreneurs
- Facebook can be useful if you operate in certain demographics
You defined your target customers in tip one, and it should be reasonably apparent as to which channels they are on. Align yourself with your customers. Where your customers are, you should be too.
Of course, you can share the same content on different platforms, even if you probably won't hit the nerve of your secondary channels 100%. Still, cross-sharing saves you time and makes your content available on different social media platforms without any extra effort.
Here are two more pro tips for you:
#hashtag database
Compile the most relevant hashtags for your product and collect them in a hashtag database. You should review and update your list at least once a month.
Work on a bulk basis
Content creation is time-consuming. To produce as many posts as possible in a short time, we advise you to block a few hours in your calendar and produce all the content for your next publications in one piece. This way, the posts build on each other, and you avoid repetition. The same applies to videos. Record several videos, one after the other. It makes sense to change your outfit, camera angles and backgrounds for each video.
Here's our summary again, which you can use to start creating your content plan right away:
- Define your target audience. Be clear about what problem your brand solves for your customers. Use your oneliner (What should your customers know about you?). Also work out your brandscript to define topic blocks for your content.
- Create your content calendar for the next six months. Take an hour to do this and plan your posts around relevant events. Define your focus: growth, empathy or motivation. Write posts that always offer added value to your customers.
- Define your main channel and distribute your content on other platforms as well.
You now know how to create a successful content calendar for social media, and with a bit of practice, it's not that difficult. Of course, if you don’t have the time to do this yourself, or if you just want someone to show you how it’s done, we are happy to help. Just follow these three simple steps:
- Make a no-commitment appointment here
- Develop a content plan. We will create and plan and then let you run the show.
- Post relevant content. We'll help you find or write content to support your brand objectives.
With the authentic social method, you can win customers with social media and still have enough time for your core business.
