An ambitious online entrepreneur sets out to end their social media busy work for good but quickly discovers that the only way to do so is to master a strategic approach to content creation, balancing their own lifestyle with their desired ROI.

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“With the right approach, social media does not have to feel like busy work. Instead, it can feel like a powerful tool for connecting with people and marketing your offers in a way that feels good to you.”

After spending time researching sustainable, measurable content creation for content marketing, I’ve learned that in order to end the social media busy work, I need to employ a strategic content plan, create a social media content calendar, and set up a content database. With this strategy, I was able to maximize my efforts and avoid feeling like all the busy work was for nothing. I now have a balanced approach to content and have been able to create relationships with my target audience, leading to real ROI from my content.

This is the first of a two-part series on ending social media busy work–for good.

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You’ll learn:

How to create a sustainable social plan and get back to actually living your life.
How to plan strategic content and create an evergreen topic list to build your authority.
How to master one platform and create a backup plan for another in case of de-platforming.

End The Social Media Busy Work

Social media often feels like busy work because it never seems to end–and it can be hard to know what you should be doing. So many experts out there are talking about showing up and plastering social content on every platform–so it feels like yet another tickbox you need to check in the neverending to-do list. Want to end the social media busy work for good? You need to do three things and balance them well–and you’ll get there.

It’s important to plan strategic content to reach your goals without “throwing spaghetti on the wall.” Secondly, you must show up as yourself on social media and avoid creating fake personas that don’t represent who you are. Lastly, when it comes to honing your strategy, measuring what works and what doesn’t will help you to finally leave the busy work behind and focus on the strategies that yield results.

With the right approach, social media doesn’t need to feel like busy work–instead, it can be a powerful tool for connecting with people and marketing your offers in a way that feels good.

How to Create a Sustainable Social Media Marketing Strategy

Creating a sustainable social media marketing strategy is easy in theory, but it will only be sustainable if it fits your lifestyle. For most people, that’s not what they expect to hear when discussing social strategies! But the best strategy in the world won’t work for you if it’s at odds with how you live on the day-to-day.

That’s why it’s important to plan and be mindful of how you spend your time when creating content. Creating a balance of old and new content is a big part of a sustainable strategy. In this busy life, it’s essential that we use our limited resources wisely. Social media marketing is a great way to create new relationships, especially for visionary online businesses and multi-six-figure course creators. But it’s only good if you can be consistent!

Building a social media marketing strategy starts with basics

Consistent content creation starts with creating a strategic content plan. Where do we start with that? Like all marketing endeavors, it starts with foundational brandscaping.

Think of brandscaping in the same way you’d approach landscaping your yard. You’re making it clear if guests are invited are not. You’re showing a bit of your preferences and style with the choices you make. Brandscaping your business does the same thing. It’s going first to answer the questions:

Who are you? Who are you in the context of how you can help your best client–and what makes you different from the next nutritionist who may have the exact same schooling as you?
Who are they? Who is your best client and why is their current problem one you’re perfectly matched to help solve?
How do you serve them? In what way can you help them? Is it via a transformational course? A group membership coaching? What specific results are you guiding them to?

This always feels like basics to my clients and I often hear some version of, “But I’ve already done that.” I like to say if they’ve done that, it’ll be easy to walk through the questions–and also, revisiting the questions is always a good idea if you’re not currently getting the results you desire from your marketing.

Knowing your brandscaping foundation in and out makes it really easy to choose impactful topics for your social media presence. What makes a topic impactful?

It answers top-of-mind questions your best client has right now.
There’s a long-lasting impact; the topic can be evergreen because it comes up often for your audience.
The topics “play well together” and lead one to another, moving your best client along the buyer’s journey.

Create a social media content calendar

Once you’ve chosen topics that serve both you and your target audience well, it’s time to map them out on a calendar. The intentional dissemination of your content separates you from your competition, who’s still playing in the land of spray-and-pray social media posting.

You’ll want to:

carefully choose which social media platforms you’re present on. While I always advise clients to own their username everywhere, I don’t advise to spend time and create content for all the places
- where do you enjoy spending time
- is your best client also hanging out there?
- And which platforms will allow you to shine?
employ a content system, so each topic has the same assets and collateral as the next
save all the new assets to your content database for easy retrieval later
know your strengths and choose a content venue well; not everyone shines in writing, where they might kill it on video

Stop Being Busy with Social Media and Get a Strategy That Works

If you want to make the most of your social media presence, then it is important to stop being busy with social media and instead get a strategy that works. As I’ve already said, I don’t advise posting everywhere. That’s not strategic and frankly, you’ll burn out. Instead:

pick one channel or platform and master it
slowly work a second channel into the mix

Focus on ONE social media outlet

Social media can be an incredibly effective tool for marketing and networking, but you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Trying to master the nuances of four different platforms is a full-time job and unless you’re a full-time marketer, it’s probably not worth it. Instead, focus on one social media outlet–that way you know how to use it effectively and save yourself time. You’ll feel like the master of one platform instead of the jack of all trades, but the master of none.

The logic for mastering one platform is pretty apparent. What we focus on expands. Focus a lot of your energy on one platform and it will do well.

Plus, by mastering one platform, you can use it as a foundation for future strategies on other platforms. It’s worth investing your time in learning about social media and which outlets are right for your goals; that way, you can maximize the impact of your efforts.

Why busy entrepreneurs should still work on a second platform

Why work on a second, you might ask? The recent Elon Musk takeover of Twitter has changed the Twitter dynamic. A decent number of users fully left and closed their accounts, but plenty of others are still technical users and simply not engaging. Those who’ve built their entire business around Twitter are worried. They may still be posting on Twitter as usual, but I’ve seen a lot of big names who were Twitter-only starting to build a stronger presence on LinkedIn or Instagram these last two months.

The second reason? Building your business on rented land is always risky. I have countless friends who’ve lost their Facebook and Instagram accounts for no reason. Others, due to hacking. That’s outside of those being de-platformed for real reasons.

A good social media strategy means understanding which social media channel works best for you, what kind of content your followers like to see and how much content you should post.