It’s December, and you know what that means. . . You’re probably inundated with pop-up Facebook challenge groups and encouraging e-mails promising you the secret for planning your best year. Maybe I am a little late on that, but I plan to block off the last two weeks of the year from client and discovery calls for my yearly planning and will fine-tune them. #kidsonvacation Just in case you have already cracked the spine on your new planner, I wanted to share my best resources for planning your content right now. With a little help from Pinterest, of course!
My Best Resources for Planning Content:
1. Work Smarter, Not Harder -
One of the best resources for planning your content is a lot closer than you think – it’s already in your queue! I love to look through my best-performing content or the content I know is leading to my best offers and find ways to repurpose it. Why create content from scratch when you might have already done a Facebook Live about it? Run it through a transcription service like Descript and clean it up to make it into a blog post with a link back to your Facebook Live. Descript is my favorite tool for editing the uh’s and um’s out of my Facebook lives too! After I am done editing, I create a transcript with one click of a button.
I like to look at my schedule and see when I am going to be super busy, or just away from my office in general. This might be vacation times or retreats or planning my presentations for summits. This way, I know I don’t have to be dedicating a lot of extra energy to creating brand-new content.
Check out my post, 10 Ways You Can Repurpose Your Content for additional tips from me and some of the best experts in the industry!
2. Find Out What's Trending -
One of my favorite tools Pinterest introduced this year was Pinterest Trends.
You can read all the details in my blog post, 4 Tips to Use Pinterest Trends, to find out exactly how this works and how to use it as one of your resources for planning.
In a nutshell, you can see when your content is trending on Pinterest and what keywords are most searched. It may seem early to you, but you need to pin your content at least 30-45 days ahead of an event or holiday. The good news is you can repurpose your content on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn when it’s actually happening, so Pinterest forces you to plan ahead. (I know I struggle with this too!) But thank you, Pinterest!
Not all niches will follow the trends, but you may be able to put a creative spin on your content to make it work. For example, January is all about goal setting and vision boards, so if you are a done-for-you service provider or coach, is there a way you can work that into your content plan? Keep thinking creatively as you come up with ideas for spring cleaning (organizing systems and processes, getting a refresh in your biz) or back to school for the fall (books your niche may love, etc).
3. Fill In Some Details -
Now that you have some basics sketched out in your planner, like when you are going to be leaning into repurposed content and when you will be pinning content around trends, you can start to create your content calendar using Pinterest.
Yes, we are doing research here, but it’s worth it! Take some time to review your analytics, and also check out some popular sites to see what your audience may be asking to know more about. Remember, one of the best resources for planning is listening and then taking that information and providing value.
What do I look for? Which blogs were the most searched or the most read? What are people asking online in my niche? Am I getting questions in my DM’s? Remember you can also look on sites like AnswerThePublic, Quora, or Reddit – just be careful not to go down too many rabbit trails when trying to search for content ideas.
Sometimes the Best Resource for Planning is Knowledge
Don’t overlook Pinterest as one of the best resources for planning your content. Pinterest can be invaluable when it comes to helping you create and manage your content calendar. Learn how savvy entrepreneurs use it to organize their blog content, plan their posts and promotions, and grow their website traffic and audience with content marketing.
Do you need to sharpen your Pinterest skills? Or have you been using Pinterest but not getting the results you are looking for? Perhaps my course, Pinning Foundations can help.
If your workflow doesn’t already include Pinterest, you may want to consider adding this organic traffic source to your roster for the coming year. I’m happy to help you design a workflow for your content planning process through my VIP days and retainer services. Once you have the SOPs, templates, and tools in place, your creation and repurposing process will work to get you more leads and traffic in less time. You can check out my services and schedule a call with me here.
