When it comes to maintaining successful social media accounts, the secret is in the planning. We all know those people — the ones who seem to just go with the flow and post real-time information about their day, their products, their activities. But guess what? Even the most natural seemingly impromtu content is usually planned. Discover three tips to on-going posts, articles, stories (and more) below.

Establish your content mediums

A word of caution before you start questioning why your brand collabs aren’t working or your following is too low: posting content just on Instagram isn’t enough. At JB Social, we meet clients who are in all stages of their influencer journey. And we’ve noticed one common ground among newer accounts — they’re usually only posting on insta (or, also posting infrequently on tough-to-navigate blog). If that’s you, it’s ok and super common, but let’s look at how get out of your rut.

Here’s the deal: brands and readers want more than just a pretty picture or sporadic storying.

For brands, social media at its bones is the easiest way to lead a follower down a buyer’s journey (share a little about a product, ask them to learn more on your website, solidify the purchase on your e-comm platform, and voila! You just made a sale). BUT, social media isn’t just for the business owner and consumer.

When it comes to your followership, your social media account is the outside of an onion ready to be peeled back! Yes, you can push sales like a brand would, but the content you post on social also doubles as your blog content starting point. Introduce a topic on social, provide a link where the reader can learn so much more, and ultimately ask the reader to sign up for weekly, bi-monthly or monthly emails where your content is naturally always in front of them (free of the algorithm’s reign). See where we’re going here? Robust content in the blogging world means story telling and connecting your followers to not only the brands you’re promoting, but also the brand that is YOU.

Bottom line: We really hope you have a rockin’ blog and corresponding e-newsletter to maximize both your community connections and your earning potential (and if you don’t, let us know, we’re happy to help).

Create content buckets

So you have a beautiful insta account and an equally beautiful blog to share details on. But what exactly will you share? Without a thoughtful plan, you’re probably in the “I talk about a little bit of everything” bucket. And so is everyone else. So, let’s differentiate and group like-content into content calendar buckets. Think about your “why” for becoming an influencer. Do you have something important to share about motherhood, sisterhood or singlehood? Is there a passion or experience that you’ve had that you could talk for hours about (like a divorce, being a new mom, marriage, healthy living…you get the idea)? Hone in on the topics that make your story unique and develop 3-5 content buckets. Those buckets often become tags or headings on your blog or story highlights, and help direct readers to a section of content that interests them (instead of throwing everything at the reader all at once).

Use the 12-month calendar

This may sound so simple, and that’s because it is. But it’s also often overlooked. Pull open the 12-month calendar and think about what months are meaningful to your readership. Is your audience full of mothers with school-aged children? August (back to school), December (winter break), March or April (spring break) and June (end of school) will all be important months to address the changes of your readers’ routines. Use the calendar to generate content ideas:

– 5 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy During Winter Break
– Your Back to School Checklist
– Tricks and Tips for Spring Break Packing

You can see how easily the calendar can lend a hand when it comes to planning content. Planning with the calendar also requires you to know your audience — and that’s a whole other thing. Spend some time engaging with your followership through polls. Ask questions about location, interests, family life and professions. Is your audience affluent or on a budget? Are they still in school or climbing the corporate ladder? Are they stay at home moms or working moms? What percentage of your audience is male v. female? Do they live in colder or warmer climate? Learning how the seasons and holidays impact your readers will reveal content topics that we call “low hanging fruit,” like holiday gift guides, lifestyle hacks, and more.