EPISODE 126 OF THE BOOM YOUR BIZ PODCAST: THE REALITY OF CONTENT CREATION

IIf you spend a lot of time scrolling social media like I do, chances are you’ve come across certain “experts” who claim you can create a month’s worth of content in 30 minutes… IF you buy their super-duper program that shows you how.

And while I do believe you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every month, there does seem to be confusion surrounding what actually goes into creating content. 

In today’s episode, I’m going to take you through the elements of a good content plan, how long content creation ACTUALLY takes, and a few tips for making your content go further. 

(INTRO)

I talk a lot about systems and processes on this podcast, and if there was a way to create GOOD content in 30 minutes, you KNOW I’d be all over it. 

The content plans my team creates can take anywhere from 5 to 12+ hours for a month’s worth of content - and that’s with a structure and a strategy already in place. New clients can take a little longer, clients we know well can be on the lower end of that scale, but I’m yet to see even my most experienced team members churn out a monthly content plan in less than three hours.

And when I think about these content creation programs, THAT’S the word that springs to mind: CHURN. Churn out the content, get it done, one less thing to worry about.

Now, this may be a controversial opinion, but I believe that when it comes to your business’ online presence, less content is ALWAYS better than sub-standard content.

We’ve all seen those businesses who slap together a Canva graphic, write a one-line (or one WORD) caption, and then sit back and wait for the likes to roll in… and get all surprised Pikachu face when they get crickets in response.

And I can see why these “30 days of content in 30 minutes” programs can be appealing to people who KNOW they need a consistent social media presence, but don’t have the time or the confidence to do it themselves – and don’t want to pay an agency to do the work for them.

Here’s the thing, though: Most of these programs generate generic, repetitive content that’s not engaging, doesn’t connect, and doesn’t take into consideration things like what phase of business you’re in or your business objectives.

Many also rely heavily on AI to generate content pillars, write captions, and give you creative direction for your graphics or text tiles.

And while AI is a fantastic tool to get you started, to have it do ALL the content creation work for you? I don’t believe the technology is at the stage yet where you’ll get a quality result, and I don’t believe that the average user has the skills required to get the most out of the available AI tools 

If you ONLY use AI to generate your content, I guarantee that you will lose the human connection aspect and - to get a little woo woo with you for a minute - you lose the energetic INVESTMENT into your marketing.

Programs like ChatGPT and Gemini scrape data from the ENTIRE INTERNET, so unless you’re SUPER specific in the ways that you create your prompts, or you’ll probably end up getting really generic, bland results.

The good news though? We’re learning more and more about AI and how it can be used to create content all the time. I’ve gone WAY down the AI rabbit hole lately, and have been developing resources for you, so stay tuned for my next episode. I’m going to take you what AI can and can’t do, and I’ll give you some time-saving prompts that will save you pulling your hair out.

Now you might be thinking, “But Sonya, outsourcing content creation to AI is no different to outsourcing it to an agency, right?”

WRONG

When you outsource to a local agency or social media manager, they’ll put a LOT of time in upfront to understand your customers, your products and/or services, and what you want your marketing to DO for you. They’ll audit your content, identify gaps in your messaging, and they’ll level up your graphics and copy, too.

Or at least… they should.

Before working with any new client, we do an in-depth audit of their current content strategy. What they’re posting, why they’re posting it, how often they post, and the quality of the content they’re publishing – in terms of visual appeal and copywriting skills.

We take into consideration their industry, whether or not they’re able to invest in professional photography and videography, and whether or not they have a strong foothold in their market.

These things help us to determine if we need to build up brand awareness from ground zero, or if the content can assume a level of brand awareness and knowledge around what the business does.

From there, we develop content pillars.

I’ve talked about content pillars before in workshops and on the podcast, but in a nutshell, they’re basically themes that you include in your content.

These generally fall under three main categories:
Value content, Connection content and Promotional content.

From there, you have endless sub-categories to choose from.

Value content pillars are generally educational. They may include:
- The difference between your service and a similar service, for example, the difference between a conveyancer and a solicitor;
- Time sensitive content, such as a pre-tax-time checklist
- Explaining major industry developments, such as new legislation and how it can affect your clients.

Connection content isn’t just about dancing and silliness.
Content pillars may include:
-Meet the team posts, or posts celebrating a team member’s professional achievements
- Behind the scenes content
- The story behind your brand.

And finally, Promotional content is about more than just promoting your product or service – although that’s part of it! Promotional content could include:
- testimonials
- before and afters, or results
(Just be careful with before and afters if you’re running ads, they’ll get flagged and your ads account can get suspended. And then you have to spend hours and hours and days and weeks trying to get hold of a Meta Rep, only to have to create a whole new ad account and start from scratch. Yes, I’m speaking from personal experience here!)
- and of course, special offers and new products and services.

I know that was a lot to take in! Before you get overwhelmed about where to begin, I’ve got you sorted. I’ve put a link in the show notes where you can download a mini guide to content pillars, and I’ve designed it as a workbook so you can write down your own ideas for content pillars for each category.

Now, not every business is going to have the same content pillars, but YOUR business should have consistency in those content pillars month to month. This doesn’t just make it easier (and more efficient) to create content, it builds trust with your followers, as you’re not chopping and changing things up every month or two.

Speaking of consistency, where I see a LOT of businesses falling short is in the consistency of their visual content. While the days of the perfectly curated feed are over, I’m STILL seeing businesses post grainy screenshots, unedited product images and beginner-level graphics.

And while it’s nice to be able to invest in professional imagery for your content, I recognise that not everybody is able to afford it, so here are my top ten quick tips for leveling up your visual content:

1. Clean your phone’s camera lens. Yes, really. That’s all I have to say about that one.

2. Take photos holding your phone in portrait orientation not landscape. This ensures your images won’t get cut off when you post them. If what you’re shooting doesn’t fit in the screen on portrait orientation you’ll need to step back or relocate to a space where it does.

3. Know your brand fonts and colours… and stick to them. If you’re using Canva, go to the Brand Kit section on the home page, you’ll be able to upload your fonts and colours there so they’re all in one place.

4. Give your text space. For my Canva users, that square border you see when you’re creating a text graphic pretty much tells you not to step outside the lines. When in doubt, cut some words out, OR…

5. Reduce your font size. Bigger is not always better! One of the most common changes we make to client graphics is reducing font sizes.

If you don’t want to reduce the text size or the amount of words, this is where Tip #6 is an absolute gamechanger…

6. Jump on the carousel! If you have a lot of information to get out in one post, creating carousels is the BEST way to get it across to your followers.

If you head over to my agency – Linchpin Digital’s - Instagram account, you’ll see that we regularly use carousels for this reason. Instead of squeezing three points onto one tile, we spread the information out. This doesn’t just make the graphics LOOK better, we show up on our follower’s feed multiple times.

7. Don’t double-up. I know I just said the days of the aesthetic feed is over, but it pays to take a little time to roughly plan out your feed to make sure you have enough variety to look professional.

8. Create templates. It’s so easy to grab a different Canva template every time you need to create a graphic, but unless you’re using your brand kit or using the same template every time, things can get messy. Reach out if you need help creating templates for your business.

Tip #9: Look outside your industry. It can be tempting to just recreate what everyone else in your industry is doing, but this isn’t a solid content strategy. For starters, they may have different content pillars to you. They may have different business goals, and they may be at a different stage in business. Get inspiration, sure, but always come back to “what’s my objective?”

And my final tip, if you want to get serious about content creation?

Don’t take it so seriously!
Posts can be archived. Stories go away after 24 hours. Reels can be hidden from your main feed if you don’t get the cover image quite right (or, if you forget to create a cover image and the one Instagram chooses for you is… not exactly flattering).

Try new things. Fail. Try again. Try something else.
It's better than getting caught in analysis paralysis and ending up doing nothing.

Once you have your content pillars, brand kit and templates sorted, creating content will be a LOT quicker. Not “30 posts in 30 minutes”, quicker, but it’ll smooth the process along.

And just a bonus tip, before I wrap things up: If you’re going to take the time to create content, make sure you maximise that content whenever you can.

The bloopers from your team filming day? Can be turned into a reel for connection content.

That reel you created for a product? It can be uploaded to your Shopify store on the product listing. Video content performs best on EVERY platform, and that includes your website.

Speaking of websites, that long-form article you wrote to boost your SEO? It might be perfect for a series of posts, or condensed into a carousel.

While content trends come and go, the importance of content can’t be understated when it comes to marketing your brand or business. And there’s more that I haven’t covered here, like copywriting, SEO optimisation and where different pieces of content fit in your customer journey funnel.

I’ve made a commitment to offer more workshops and trainings around the aspects of marketing YOU struggle with, so if you want me to cover any of these (or something else) in more detail, shoot me a DM on socials or email hello@linchpindigital.com.au.