If you’ve been following my blog for a while, this title probably caught you off guard.  You see, I’ve been a big proponent of ‘content pillars/buckets’ over the years and while I do think they’re a great idea to get your thoughts situated and organized, I think everyone should stop using them.  Read this post to see what I propose you do instead.  It’s better AND it saves you time.

WOW – my last blog post was in May when I thought I’d be able to sustain a blog post for every Podcast episode lol. I failed.  Which, if I was a client of my own, I’d sit them down and tell them IT’S OK TO FAIL, it’s OK to miss a mark.  You got shit done, you showed up and adapted, and now, how can we pivot to make sure we achieve full completion next time? The only failure is failure you don’t learn from.  

Which is exactly where we are headed with nixing content pillars.

THROW OUT THE IDEA OF CONTENT PILLARS + BUCKETS FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

IT’S TIME. 

Yes, content buckets were probably SO helpful for you to help define your brand and how you show up online. This {blog post} I wrote a while ago goes into more detail on what I mean by Content Pillars/buckets. 

But you know what else was helpful in your past? Pull ups. And you sure as hell don’t wear those anymore!

What are Content Pillars + Buckets for Social Media?

In short, content buckets/pillars define your brand. They help you navigate what you need to post on Social Media in categories.  They can literally be ANYTHING. However helps you categorize your content, is a content bucket/pillar.

Here’s an example of buckets/pillars for your brand:

• FAQs & Tips
• Behind the Scenes
• Meet the team, what sets you apart
• Seasonal topics (think valentine’s day, specials, promotions)
• Your services
• Quotes
• YOU, build know like trust
• Relatable to your ideal client posts
• Entertainment

You can see how Pillars/buckets make it easier to batch content especially if you’re a very ADHD person like myself, you create some QUOTES one day, you create outlines of your services the next… etc…

Why Content Pillars + Buckets aren’t working for your Social Media ROI anymore

So here’s the thing… Content Pillars can be a great beginners step for organizing your efforts on social media.  BUT, what it CAN do is overwhelm your brain if you over organize… & saturate your own content … & confuse your ideal client.

Wasting time, feeling overwhelm, and confusing your ideal client is the LAST thing we want.  

Read that again…

You’re probably wondering how the heck this can happen if the content pillars are all about your brand.  If you’re in the mindset of batching content within QUOTES for example, are you going to be thinking bigger picture about what’s upcoming in your business and what your ideal client desires to see you posting? My experience says no. NOT if we create content based on our pillars.

Join us in the Dynamic Life Collective FREE FB GROUP where we chat, discuss, ask questions and more! The community is BOMB and so are the free resources!

What would it look like if you could create less content with more intention?

What to start doing instead of Content Pillars + Buckets

RATHER THAN spending all that time organizing your ideas and content into Pillars/buckets (which is so very very time consuming), what if we did something better… What if we outlined EXACTLY what your ideal client wants to see, and brain-dumped every bit of information you have to say about what they need, and MAXIMIZED the content!

BUT, the first issue here when creating maximized content is identifying your ideal client and what exactly she needs from you. Because, it is about HER, and what YOU can do for HER… not about you.

Do you know who your ideal client is? If not, keep reading!

How to Identify your Ideal Client

Here are some questions to get you started mapping out your Ideal Client:

• What does she do?
• What is her day filled with?
• What does she do for fun?
• What is her major ‘pain point’?
• What’s her name?
• What situation does she find herself in often?
• What does she want from YOU?
• And so much more…

An example of an ideal client mapping is mine: Her name is Caroline, she is a mompreneur (mom + entrepreneur) that loves her business like it was one of those babies she birthed! She’s a hardworker and is doing it ALL. Her business is so important to her she has a hard time trusting others to do things FOR her so she wants to DIY it…. She’s wasting time trying to do it herself but is getting fed up with always working in car line, in line at the super market, while the kids are eating lunch… She’s looking for time saving tips that REALLY work for making her social media for business convert followers into clients and not be tied to her phone all day long and all night.

What does your ideal client outline look like? What’s her name?

How to Create Content that your Ideal Client CRAVES

Creating Content that your ideal client craves is easy once you know WHO you’re talking to and WHAT problems they face.

1. Show them how you solve it
2. Why they should trust you to solve their problem
3. And let them get to know who you are through the process.

Once you start serving up value that your ideal client craves, your Know Like Trust factor is built in RAPID time.  They know you’re the go-to for their problems and they know your advice works. They’re now loyal and telling all their friends about your tips!

Content prompts that support all 3 of those ^^^ coming soon in the Dynamic Content Generator. My solution to the struggle that is downloading ALL OF THE CONTENT CALENDARS and being severely disappointed. How many content calendars have you downloaded and disappointed in? This one is NOT the same.

How to Save Time and Create MORE content in LESS content. No, it’s not a typo.

The idea is to delve ALL your expertise into fewer MONSTER content pieces that then can be split into MINION content pieces.

This is exactly what my Coaching Clients learn to do.  Brain-dump their ideas, lump the similar ones together, and create some MONSTER content (a blog post, a Youtube video, IGTV, Podcast, etc) that has EVERYTHING they need to then create MINION content (their social media posts) from.

How freeing would that be? Creating ONE or TWO piece(s) of value-packed content to fill all the needs of your social media posts for the entire month? If you’re not nodding your head vigorously, we need to talk lol.

MONSTER + MINION CONTENT METHOD

From 1 monster piece of content, you should be able to produce AT LEAST 4 MINION content pieces.  This Method of content creation installs an element of storytelling too! 

For example: from this Blog post (MONSTER CONTENT) I’m creating multiple MINION pieces of content (social media posts) to support it. Here are the benefits:

• It’s all in one topic category
• All pieces overlap so they drive authority in my niche and this topic H-O-M-E.
• It took me less than 1 hour to write this huge post.
• It took me less than 1 hour to create the supplemental social posts (because I strategized in my outline of this post so that my time was easily spent batching the supplemental content for social – IG, IG Live, FB group, Pinterest)
• I structured my blog post with H2 headers (that SEO loves!) for my ‘hook’ of my social media posts.
• I structured each supplemental paragraph with its own call to action so that it’s easy to use for my social captions.
• I made notes (that you can’t see) for what sort of graphic/media to make for social posts.
• Storytelling is natural to the flow of a blog post through each section, so not only are you guiding your ideal client through your social posts, you’re building trust because story telling is safe, AND you’re keeping them wanting more as you trickle out each social post.

The Monster & Minion Content Method introduces an element that EVERY business owner needs to incorporate into their Social Media strategy: Efficiency… & Pinterest… More on that to come.

Are you using Pinterest? It is an absolute powerhouse for your business! More on that to come.

So, tell me… do you use content pillars for social media or are you ready to ditch them now?

If you need help on implementing this method and strategy into your business, let me know how I can help you! I create custom, NO BULLSHIT methods for my clients to ensure social media ROI… complete with back end systems that run simultaneously so they can really see the results.  No 2 plans are the same. 

Apply to work with me here… I have ALL SORTS of packages ranging from Done FOR you to Do it YOURSELF.

Just want free tips? Join my FB group… if the pop up didn’t get you 😉