I’m Catharine Richardson, Head Genie at My TechGenie Ltd. an application support company designed to make your every day tasks easier and more efficient. I recently spoke to the Guild about Prescheduling Social Media for the small entrepreneur, but when I was done I found I had more thoughts to share!
The biggest stumbling block for entrepreneurs when establishing a social media presence is developing content. There are lots of ways to think about content, but when you are at the beginning of your social media journey it is useful to divide your content into 2 types:
Time Sensitive vs Evergreen
Time Sensitive content is exactly that, content that will only be relevant for a limited amount of time. Oddly enough, focusing on Evergreen content first will give you more time to work on Time Sensitive content later.
What is Evergreen content?
Evergreen content is unchanging and requires minimal or no editing in order to be reused. As an example, statutory holidays. I’m sure you are planning on wishing your customers Happy New Year this year and every year. Great! Create that content. Store it where you can retrieve it yearly and be prepared to use it every year.
Other ideas for Evergreen content
- Are you part of a professional organization? (Presentation Guild anyone?) Build credibility by posting about your professional association.
- Do you have an FAQ? Do your clients ask the same questions all the time? Build posts that educate your clientele.
- Do you have inspiring resources, visuals, or authors that you use? Have you tried a bookend post? A bookend post is a split graphic showing the inspiration and the result. Obviously, this works well with an inspiring visual paired with your dazzling work. But makeovers are a natural too.
- Client testimonials.
- Showcase your work. Do you have work you are particularly proud of? Turn it into a post.
Create your Content Database
After you have created those evergreen posts – don’t lose them. At least create a folder to store your copies of your content in. Don’t expect your social media channels to keep high-quality versions of your images for you. I keep an Excel spreadsheet with social media posting phrases in it; that I can sort by the date of last use. Whatever tool works for you, is the one you should use. The whole point of working on Evergreen content first, is that you will be able to reuse it again and again. So, make sure you store it so that it can be easily retrieved and reused.
Aligned Content
Another type of content to look for is aligned content. Aligned content helps build credibility by establishing yourself as a knowledgeable resource for your clientele. Aligned content may or may not be evergreen. Be on the lookout for aligned content and be prepared to provide your aligned content to others. It has never failed to surprise me when I have reached out to individuals and organizations that align with my own interest how frequently they are unprepared to share their content. Why not just share a link to your site or feed? If you prepare a graphic and text ahead of time, you’ll find that you have more control over the resulting post and its presentation.
Ideas for Aligned content
- Professional resources
- Professional organizations
- Professional deadlines
- How to apply for …
Developing content is hard, that is a fact. But dividing content strategically into Time Sensitive and Evergreen allows you to choose what to focus on first for the biggest impact. Finding Aligned content sources allows you to build credibility.
