How do you decide what to post on social media each day? Do you make it up on the fly, do you wait for inspiration, or do you have a plan in place?
Me? I take the pressure off by basing my posts on a Weekly Content Rhythm!
What is a Weekly Content Rhythm?
It’s a flexible framework that sets themes or post ideas for each day of the week. So Monday might be “motivation day”. Tuesday could be a social media tip. Wednesday could promote my latest blog post. Thursdays might introduce a new tool I’m using.
Each day has its own theme that guides the content idea and creation.
Why use a Weekly Content Rhythm?
After years of working in social media and trying a number of different content creation tactics, I’ve settled on the Weekly Content Rhythm for a number of reasons.
You’re rarely stuck for content ideas
It might sound counter-intuitive, but having a framework for my content helps to inspire my creativity and ideas. I’m never stuck staring at the blinking cursor, wondering what I can post today? By having the day’s theme as a “prompt”, I have a kickstart to coming up with ideas that serve my audience.
It helps you be more consistent.
Consistency is important on social media. When your audience begins to know when you post (and which topics you’ll address) a trust and expectation is built up. They may begin to look out for your content.
It allows for variety in your content
Having the themes set up mean that you’re consciously choosing different ideas and topics to share. You don’t fall into the rut of having the same content topic each and every day. You’re making sure that you’re addressing regularly all of the topics your audience is interested in.
It lets you batch create your content
Have you heard of batch creating content? It means creating several posts of the same type at one time – in a “batch”.
If you’re creating, let’s say, tips for your audience, rather than creating one at a time, why not get stuck in and create 10 or 15? When you’re on a roll you’re more “in the zone” and you can usually create them in a much more efficient way.
Then you can schedule that content out for its day in your content rhythm and you’re covered for a few weeks or months.
It makes it easier to identify popular content.
When you’re using a content rhythm, when you’re looking at your analytics you can easily identify which content is working better for your audience. If your Monday posts always get great engagement, then you know that that type of content works for your audience, and you may want to create more of it. If another day is consistently lower, you might decide to cut out that content type and try something new.
It makes delegation easier.
When it comes time to delegate to a team member or social media consultant, it is so much easier if you have a weekly content rhythm in place. It provides a framework within which they can work. It means that your social media content will be consistent, no matter who is looking after it at any particular time.
How To Use a Weekly Content Rhythm?
Identify the types of content or topics you would like to schedule.
Sit down and map out the topics or types of content you share that would fit into a weekly content rhythm.
For example, my event manager client might share posts that include:
- Venue reviews
- Event Planning Tip
- Productivity Tip
- Quotes about productivity
- Quotes about motivation / goal setting
- Relaxation / Work-life Balance tips or quotes
- Curated articles
- Their latest blog post
- Supplier showcases
Decide which day each post type would perform best
Keeping your primary target audience in mind, think about which content post would suit each day best. What are their mindsets and interests on each day of the week? If your audience is Mums of school children, posting lunchbox recipes on a Sunday or Monday (when they’re planning the week ahead) might work better than on a Thursday or Friday (when they’re worn out from the week and just trying to get through to the weekend … or is that just me?)
In the event manager example, perhaps their audience is suffering from Monday-itis, so quotes about motivation or goal setting might work on Mondays. By Tuesday they might be in more of a research / information-seeking mode, so venue reviews and supplier showcases might work well on a Tuesday. To show they’re not all work and no play, they could share work-life balance tips or self-care on the weekend while their audience is in relaxation mode.
At this stage it’s guesswork to decide which topics and days work together, but by making a start you can start observing and measuring the performance of each day, and then tweak your rhythm in response to your insights.
Create the framework, but be flexible
Your weekly content rhythm is a framework, not a set-in-concrete schedule. That’s why it’s called a ‘rhythm’. It should remain flexible so that timely information and posts can override the rhythm where needed. You should never miss an opportunity because you are tied to your plan. The beauty is, if you override this week’s Tuesday post with something more relevant and timely, it can always be used in future weeks when your rhythm is re-established.
Test and Measure
Once you establish the rhythm, it’s not a set-and-forget situation. Pay attention to your social media analytics and see how the posts are performing. Tweak or remove the post types that aren’t working well and try something else. Ask your audience where they need help or what they want to see, and incorporate that into your rhythm. It’s an ongoing process to make sure your rhythm stays relevant.
Let me know, do you use a content play or rhythm, or do you prefer to wing it?
Not sure what to post on social media? Create a weekly content rhythm. https://t.co/fWV6pFNvHf pic.twitter.com/J0peEdmoo2
— Kym O’Gorman (@kogmarketing) January 9, 2018
Feature Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
