The 3 Keys to Consistency: Creating Content for Social Media
You've probably heard it said before: consistency is key when it comes to social media. But what exactly does that even mean, and how can you achieve it (without burning yourself out)
In this blog post, we'll look at the importance of consistency on social media and explore practical strategies to help you show up consistently for your audience on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
What is Consistency and Why Does it Matter?
The term consistency is thrown around by social media “gurus” like confetti at a wedding, but was does it actually mean?
Let me me one thing clear; “consistent” doesn’t mean posting daily.
Consistency on social media encompasses several elements, including the regularity of your posts, brand identity, and visual consistency. It's about showing up consistently to create understanding, attract the right audience, and position yourself as an expert in your niche. Consistency also communicates your brand's purpose and values, leading to increased brand recognition and memorability.
Why being consistent matters for your business:
It makes you memorable and keeps you top of mind;
It provides the opportunity to post a variety of topics that will appeal to your audience’s interests and spark conversion (instead of only showing up when you have something to sell);
It improves understanding - reinforcing your key messages and helping potential customers or clients move along the customer journey.
The 3 keys to content consistency
Before diving into the tactics of content creation, it is essential to have a clear understanding of your content’s purpose, target audience, and posting tactics - i.e. a content marketing strategy.
For the sake of this blog post I’m going to assume that you have that all figured out and you’re here because you want to increase your posting frequency, build a presence on multiple channels, and/or get more ‘bang for your buck’ when it comes to the time you’re investing in content creation.
(if you don’t have a content strategy yet, that’s certainly something I can help you with).
Now, let's explore the three keys to creating content on a consistent basis. These apply to any/all platforms you choose to market your business on:
1. Clever Content Creation Techniques
Batching: Create a batch of content at once to save time and maintain visual consistency.
Content Stockpiling: Create multiple versions of each piece of content to maximize its reach and effectiveness across different platforms.
Templates and Content Formulas: Use templates for visual consistency and as content prompts for must-have content categories.
Batching: Batching involves creating a number of content pieces in one sitting, which saves time and ensures visual and thematic consistency across your posts. By dedicating a day to content creation, say one a month, you can streamline your workflow and focus on generating high-quality content without interruptions.
This approach also allows you to plan your content calendar in advance, ensuring a steady stream of posts for your audience. Batching also helps you identify any content gaps, conflicting messaging, or if you’re trying to promote too many different products or services at once.
Content Stockpiling: If the thought of spending an entire day creating content makes you want to rip out your own eyeballs with a blunt spork, try content stockpiling.
This is my favourite approach and one my clients love!
Creating a content stockpile is as easy as creating 1-2x extra pieces of content each time. When filming a video I’ll film 2-3x different introductions (hooks) in order to post multiple times and test what works best. Creating a carousel post in Canva? Try making multiple title pages. This approach allows you to maximise each piece of content across different platforms and formats and reshare evergreen content without it looking stale.
By adapting content to suit the preferences and behaviors of your audience on various platforms, you can increase engagement and drive traffic to your content from different sources.
Related: Always Have Something To Post: Content Stockpiling
Templates and Content Formulas: Templates are pre-designed layouts that you can customise to fit your brand's visual identity. They not only maintain visual consistency but also serve as content prompts for recurring themes or categories of content.
Content formulas, on the other hand, are structured frameworks for creating specific types of content, such as customer testimonials, frequently asked questions, or product showcases. By using templates and content formulas, you can simplify the content creation process and ensure that your posts align with your brand's messaging and objectives.
Related: Make Templates Your Friend!
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Fully-customisable Canva templates for your Instagram Reels
2. Reuse, Repurpose, and Reformat Content
Reuse: Share top-performing content again to reach new followers and reinforce key messages.
Repurpose: Transform existing content into different formats such as videos, graphics, or blog posts to extend its lifespan and reach.
Reformat: Adapt content for various platforms and formats to maximize engagement and visibility.
Reuse: Reusing content involves sharing top-performing posts again to reach new followers or reinforce key messages. Since not all of your followers will see every post, and you’re getting new followers all the time, reposting valuable content ensures that it reaches a wider audience over time. This strategy works particularly well for evergreen content—content that remains relevant and valuable regardless of when it was originally published.
Combine this strategy with content stockpiling. When creating content, think ahead and plan to reuse it by creating different cover images, video hooks or formats at the point of creation.
Repurpose: Repurposing content entails transforming existing content into different formats or mediums to extend its lifespan and reach. For example, a blog post can become an infographic for Instagram, a video tutorial for YouTube can be split into multiple clips for TikTok, a collection of customer testimonials can become a promotional video, and a podcast or webinar transcript can become an SEO-optimised blog post for your website (which is exactly what I’ve done here!).
By repurposing content, you can leverage existing assets to create new opportunities for engagement and exposure across multiple channels.
Reformat: Reformatting content involves adapting for different platforms, devices, or content types to optimise its performance and visibility. This may include resizing images for various social media platform placements (e.g. Instagram feed vs Stories), editing videos for different aspect ratios, or tailoring written content for specific audiences or purposes. By optimising content for each platform's requirements and audience preferences, you can enhance its effectiveness and ensure that it resonates with your target audience wherever they encounter it.
plan like a pro
Effortlessly organise your social media content with these fully-customisable Google Sheet templates.
3. Cultivate a Consistency Mindset
Prioritise Content Creation: Block out dedicated time for content creation when you're fresh and energised.
Focus on Presence Over Posting: Engage with your audience consistently through passive and proactive engagement strategies.
Prioritise Content Creation: Make content creation a priority by allocating dedicated time and resources to it. Block out time in your schedule when you're most productive and creative, whether it's early in the morning, late at night, or during specific days of the week. By treating content creation as a non-negotiable task, you can ensure that you consistently produce high-quality content that resonates with your audience. Rather than letting content slip to the bottom of your to-do list.
Focus on Being Present: In addition to posting content regularly, focus on being present and engaging with your audience on a daily basis. This involves both passive engagement, such as responding to comments and messages on your posts, and proactive engagement, such as liking, commenting, and sharing other users' content. By actively participating in conversations and building relationships with your audience, you can foster a sense of community and loyalty that extends beyond individual posts or promotions.
Consistency is essential for success on social media. By implementing these three keys—clever content creation techniques, reusing and repurposing content, and cultivating a consistency mindset—you can create a strong and sustainable presence on social media that resonates with your audience and drives meaningful results for your business or brand.
Are you ready to grow your online presence?
Find out more about content coaching or visit the Shall We Social shop and pick up your free Content Calendar Templates while you’re there.
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