We all know them. Those super annoying people who have somehow posted to their blog, their YouTube channel, send to their mailing list, update their Facebook page every hour/day/week for a bazillion years.
They are the super consistents. The people who somehow do what most of us fail to do. Get their content out there every single week without a grumble.
And they are the successful people, right? Coz posting content consistently is soooo important. Everyone says so:
Inc Magazine:
“The regularity of your content has a direct influence on how credible people think you are.”
Divvy:
“Sticking to a consistent content production schedule and publishing regular, frequent content is one of the simplest ways to ensure your content marketing efforts pay off.”
iMatrix:
“If your content is not consistently published, then you are not fully using all the opportunities to connect with your target audience.”
I’m not here to mock those people. I’m envious of them too. I wonder what they’re secret is. I wonder how I fail to be what they are.
I know the answer. I know why I fail. Some people would call them excuses, but here goes:
- Work gets in the way.
- I get writers/videoers/mailing listers block.
Before we look for the solution (and yes, I do have one). Let’s decide what being consistent means.
What does consistency mean?
Posting content on a regular schedule on a social media/ content channel.
For example:
- A Facebook Live show at the same time every week on your Facebook page.
- A weekly blog post published on the same day on your blog.
- A newsletter sent on the same day every two weeks to your mailing list.
- Posting once a day to your Facebook page to a schedule.
- Posting twice a week to your YouTube channel.
- Updating your Instagram story 3 times a day.
Come back, don’t run away. You don’t have to do all of this stuff…
I’ll give you the solutions soon.
Does it matter?
We’ve talked about the people who tell us they are consistent, but are they the outliers? How many people do you follow who post frequently to their social channels?
Do you count me as one of those?
I asked my Facebook group about this and many people commented, saying they admired that I’m consistent. The thing is… I’m not, well I’m not always (but I’m trying to fix that).
So the question we need to ask is does it matter?
Yes
People need to remember you
By showing up regularly people will recognise you, get to know you and remember you. When they do that, they will also remember who to buy from.
They need to see how you can help them
Your consistent content doesn’t always have to be sales-oriented. I’ve been running a weekly Facebook Live show for 4 years. It doesn’t sell, but it helps build an audience of people who do buy from me. The next stage is to nurture this audience. I can’t do that unless I show up every week to build the audience.
You need to be there at the right time
Even if you’ve created in the past, people will forget about you and move onto the next big thing. When you keep showing up, people will come back to you.
You get into a system
Doing something frequently forms habits. You will develop systems for creating. These systems don’t always banish creators block, but they give you a roadmap to follow that sparks your creativity. Without that, it’s like starting from scratch every time.
No
People don’t always notice when you miss a day unless you tell them
My audience tells me they think I’m consistent. I’m not always… Maybe it’s not as big a deal as I thought?
You end up creating content people don’t care about
Creating for creating’s sake means that at some stage, you’ll create something that’s not great. That’s the time to ask. Is it better to create brilliant content but less of it?
Which leads me to my next point.
People get fatigued and stop taking part
Your fans aren’t fans for life, they could be ardent fans for months, even years, and then disappear off the face of the earth.
If you post too much, you could overwhelm your audience, even if everything you create is amazing.
Consistency alone doesn’t guarantee success
I’ve tried to be balanced, but if I’m being honest, I am biased. Consistency matters, and that’s why I’m fighting to show up every time.
It’s been one of my goals this year (It’s 2020 as I write this) to show up regularly. Here’s what I’m implementing:
Do less
Do you find it hard to keep up with all the content projects you’ve committed to? Take a step back and focus on the one or two that you can put your all into.
There’s a reason I’ve been avoiding TikTok. I’m not sure I’m brilliant enough at the things I’m already doing to add something else to my list.
By doing less, you can become excellent at the one thing you choose.
For me, this year, it’s been my Facebook Live show.
Focusing on that one thing makes it a lot easier to show up every time (or almost every time, more on that later).
Now you know what that one thing is you need to…
When we decide we want to lose weight, we set ourselves a goal, we decide how much we want to lose. We have to do the same for our content.Click To TweetCreate a measurement plan
If you know why you are doing something, it’s much easier to keep it up. When we decide we want to lose weight, we set ourselves a goal, we decide how much we want to lose. We have to do the same for our content.
How will you know if your content is successful?
To know this, you need to understand the purpose of your content.
- Is it to help you build an audience?
- Is it to nurture that audience?
- Is it to sell to that audience?
Choose the metrics that define success for those purposes. Set goals and record your progress towards them.
Watch out for the super consistents. The people who somehow do what most of us fail to do. Get their content out there every single week without a grumble.Click To TweetNow plan ahead
It takes the pain out of content creation. Stop reading now and go look at your diary. When can you allocate half a day to plan your content?
When you have a list of the content you need to create for the next month, quarter, year write some detailed notes on each.
You’ll be so pleased that you did this when it’s time to create. You’ll have a starting point. It becomes easier to get it done.
Grab my Free Strategy eWorbook and Planner to help you with the planning.
Get a headstart on Google Analytics 4 & understand the lingo with the GA4 phrase book
Next step?
Break it down into tasks
What do you need to do to get that content done? If it’s written content, how many drafts do you need? For video content, what equipment and shots do you need? Do you need time to edit? What images and graphics do you need? Do you need facts and statistics to back up your argument?
Now you know what’s involved, you can work on the individual parts. As you put these pieces together…
Create a checklist
It’s so satisfying to tick things off a list. A checklist makes you feel as if you’ve progressed.
Start by listing each step you take towards creating. You could use Google Docs, Evernote or just a pen and paper to create your lists.
Not only do these help you with the content process but when you get stuck or get creators to block, you can refer to them to get you over the start line.
And there are other benefits. Your checklists are the processes you use to create content. They can help you refine what you do and make it happen faster and more efficiently. Even better, if you ever decide you need to outsource some work they’ll be invaluable.
Talking of outsourcing.
What can you outsource?
If you think of content creation as your baby, the one thing that helps you infuse your business with your personality which in turns attracts customers you may be reluctant to outsource.
But, are there parts of your creation process you could get someone else to do?
☑️You could be a brilliant writer, but your graphics take up way too much time.
☑️You could be great on camera, but that half-day you take to edit is time you could spend more effectively somewhere else on your business.
And if you can’t think of anything right away, what about outsourcing…
Repurposing
Your big piece of content doesn’t need to fade away. You can make content babies from it that will help spread the word across more networks. You can repurpose videos, blog posts, podcasts and more.
For more inspiration on this, I recommend connecting with Amy at Content 10X. Repurposing is her thing.
The Hall Pass
What happens if you do all this stuff and still there’s something that is getting in the way? It happens, even the best plans can fall apart.
A ‘Hall Pass’ gives you a one time permit to not deliver content.
☑️If you can’t publish a blog post this week because something dramatic happened, that’s OK, as long as it’s just this week. Give yourself a pass.
☑️If you can’t do your live stream this week because the internet is down, that’s ok for one time. Give yourself a pass.
☑️If you can’t do your video this week because you have the flu. That’s OK, give yourself a pass.
To stop this happening too often put a limit on the number of passes you can have. I’m suggesting 4 a year.
Is consistency important? Yes, but by planning and putting processes in place you are giving yourself a fighting chance of showing up every time. You’ll no longer look on at others and wonder how they do it. Do less, do it well and keep showing up.
Get a headstart on Google Analytics 4 & understand the lingo with the GA4 phrase book
