I don’t respond to pretty or perfect.

It doesn’t make me feel like I can relate to the person who is posting it. This doesn’t mean that I don’t love beautiful graphics, beautiful homes, and beautiful vacations. It means that I like to see those mixed in with real life.

I want to see the messy houses.

I want to see the imperfect moments of everyday life.

I want to see your face without make-up.

I want to see your messy hair.

In order to relate to you, I need to feel like I understand you.

Do you have a type of content that you find that you gravitate towards more?

WHAT CONTENT DOES MY AUDIENCE WANT

Are you currently giving your audience what they want when it comes to the content that you create?

Do you know how to tell if you are giving them what they want?

In my last blog post, we talked about different ways that you can create your content. We specifically covered content pillars. Content pillars are a way for you to pinpoint what you talk to your ideal audience about. These pillars are going to help you share your expertise in ways that only you can.

Your audience wants help. What they specifically need help with is what you are going to need to know to help them. This information is crucial or you won’t be able to give them the content that they are needing or searching for.

For example, my audience for this blog is looking for ways to add blogging to their content. They are also looking for ways to make planning, creating, and improving their creative content to help build their business and showcase their expertise.

How do you figure out what content your audience needs?

A great place to get started is to check out the content that those in your niche are sharing. This isn’t to copy and paste what they are doing because that isn’t going to work for you and it is illegal to copy someone else’s work.

Instead, you can see the content that is working for them. You can see where their audience is engaging and maybe the content where their audience isn’t engaging.

Another way to help you figure out what your audience is needing help with is to ASK. It is an easy way to get to know your audience and what they are struggling with. By asking, you are going directly to the source and determining from them what they are needing help with. This not only will help you with content ideas, but it is also going to help you build a community and trust within that community.

I want you to remember that social media is meant to be fun. So try new things and see what works and what doesn’t. There is nothing wrong with figuring it out as you go. Make sure that you don’t just post and run. You and your community are going to want to engage. That is the number one thing to do when it comes to social media.

Now let’s talk about ways that you can improve the content that you are creating in 2022.

11 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR CONTENT IN 2022

Creating content should be about a journey.

A journey to get to know your client.

A journey for your client to get to know you and your business.

Your content doesn’t have to be perfect to make a difference. It doesn’t have to be perfectly curated and you don’t need to have a beautiful IG feed to improve the content that you are sharing. I want to get away from thinking about your content in an aesthetic way. Let’s dig deeper.

1. SHOW YOUR REAL LIFE

Like I said in the beginning, I don’t respond to pretty or perfect. I respond to real. I want to see who you are. I want to see the imperfect shots. You don’t need to show anything that you are uncomfortable with. This isn’t about giving up all of your privacy. This is about showing who you are in the moment.

Whether you are sharing a selfie or a photo of your office. This type of content can really help people get to know you when you are in your element.

2. DON’T POST AND RUN

The BIGGEST mistake that anyone can make on social media is to post and then run. You NEED to engage on that social media platform or your strategy just isn’t going to work. I want you to know here that it doesn’t have to be a huge time suck when you engage either.

For example, in my Facebook group, we did an Instagram Challenge the other day. It was engaging for ONLY 12 minutes a day for 7 days.

My numbers for this simple challenge were…

7-day insights

• Accounts reached up by 223%
• Accounts engaged up by 10%
• Total followers up by 0.1%

30-day insights

• Accounts reached up by 513%
• Accounts engaged up by 11.3%
• Total followers up by 0.4%

Remember this challenge was just to show that even with 12 minutes of engagement per day, you can begin to see an increase.

3. BE CONSISTENT

I am not going to tell you here that you need to post multiple times per day or even once per day. You have enough on your plate. If you want to grow quickly then yes, you can post multiple times a day but not many people have time for that.

ESPECIALLY WHEN RUNNING A BUSINESS!!!

When I talk about being consistent, I mean choosing a schedule that works for you. There may be those out there who completely disagree with me but I don’t care. If you can post to your social media three times a week THEN THAT IS WHAT YOU DO!!

Create a strategy based on what you can do. You can get results by posting three times per week. It may take a little bit longer but that doesn’t matter. You don’t need thousands of followers overnight. Pick a plan and stick with it. Stick with it for 30 days and see how you feel after those 30 days. Maybe you can add a day or two per week. If not, then continue with what is working for you.

4. COLLABORATE WITH OTHERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

I just did an IG interview yesterday with someone. It was an hour-long interview that I was able to share from his page to mine. You can view the IG conversation here where we talk about authentic storytelling and so much more. It was a great way to get in front of another audience and talk about what I love to talk about.

You do NOT have to be scared to reach out and collaborate with those in your niche and in your shoulder niches. These other brands are going to help you build and you are going to help them build.

Have fun and get creative. You could even do an IG stories takeover. I have done that before and it was a lot of fun. Reach out to the brands that you love and even the brands that you are buying from. See if you can collaborate with them.

5. GET CLEAR ON YOUR GOALS

What do you want to achieve using your social media? It doesn’t have to be all about sales. It can be about reaching new people, sharing your expertise, or building your brand. Knowing what you want to do with your social media platform is going to help you to know what to post when it comes to your content.

6. USE STORYTELLING

We have been using storytelling for thousands of years to create connections and build communities. Social media is no different. You want to add pieces of your business story and of your life story into your content.

When it comes to using storytelling, you want to make sure that you are authentic when you are sharing. People can tell when you are being fake. Be true to yourself and you will attract the audience that you want.

7. REMEMBER THAT YOU DON’T NEED TO STICK WITH TRENDS

I may be going against what others say here but there are some trends that I just don’t like. Well, I may not like any of them. When it comes to my social media, I don’t use dancing reels. It is something that I absolutely hate. I don’t watch them either.

Don’t feel pressure to do the trends if they just don’t sit well with you. There are other ways to get information to your ideal client and audience. If you enjoy doing them then keep doing them BUT remember that this is your social media. You DON’T need to do them if you don’t want to.

8. LOOK AT PAST CONTENT TO SEE WHAT DID WELL AND WHAT DIDN’T

You can’t improve your content if you don’t know what is working and what isn’t. Go back and look at your insights. This is going to give you a look into what your audience is loving and what they don’t really care for.

Remember, you can also reuse your old content. If something was a hit, reshare it. If something didn’t go over well, try redoing the post and making it into something new.

9. CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CALENDAR

There are many ways that you can do this. You can use an online scheduler to help you map out your social media content or you can use a paper version.

I love to map out my content using a giant monthly calendar. I buy the one from Walmart that is undated so I can use the calendar whenever I need to. I use different coloured pens and post-it notes to help me plan what content is going to go where.

This helps me know what I am going to post day by day.

10. BUILD A COMMUNITY NOT JUST FOLLOWERS

Today we seem to be consumed by numbers. A few months ago, I remember seeing a post written by someone about an influencer passing away. In it, they talk about how many followers she had. That has 0 to do with who she was as a person and it made me sad that whoever wrote the post thought that needed to be added.

If you are looking to just gain new followers, you are going to feel like you are being burned by social media.

You need to build a community. Have real discussions with your audience and get to know them. Build up the trust factor so that if you are trying to build a business or a brand, they will get to know you. Social media is meant to be social and if you aren’t using it that way, you are missing out on the best opportunities for growth and building authority.

11. BE YOURSELF

Don’t feel like you need to be anyone else but who you are. This plays into showing your real life. Comparison can take over when you see all the other people on social media platforms showing their best life.

You have a beautiful life. Remember, a lot of the time, you are seeing the highlight reel of someone else’s life. You are seeing the curated version. When that is all you see, it is hard to see who they are in real life.

Don’t be afraid to be where you are. If you are a beginner then say that. Build up that confidence as you go.

No matter how many other people are in your niche, there is no other you. You have a unique piece to bring to the niche that you are working in. Show it off.

There aren’t crazy things that you need to do to improve your content. It truly comes down to being authentic, being willing to try new things, and embracing where you are. Be willing to learn and grow and take chances.

If you are ready to have some help with your social media content or even your blogging, reach out to me. I’d love to be able to help you uplevel your content through authentic storytelling. Together we can build your brand and help you step into your story.