Hi everyone! This month's CC 101 blog post required more time to write and edit, so I'm posting it this week instead of the usual first Tuesday of the month. But your favorite column is back this month with the ultimate guide to set up your social media presence and be consistent. 

When branding yourself online, social media are a crucial part of your strategy and the most overwhelming one. No worries, I'm here to help you set up your social media presence, be consistent in the easiest way, and give you the tools to thrive. 

No matter the reason behind your decision to brand yourself online. It can be for blogging, influencer marketing, user-generated content, freelancing, or because you want to promote your work online. The steps to set up a terrific social media presence and be consistent are the same for everybody. You just need to adapt them to your why. 

Step 1: Reflect and set up your social media strategy

The first three questions you want to ask yourself are

• Why do I want to be on social media? What do I want to be remembered for? 

• Who do I want to speak to? 

• What values do I want to communicate? 

Let me give you an example based on martinamanca.com. My website wants to be online to inspire, create a community, and share beauty worldwide for the young, enthusiastic dreamers who want more from their lives. Martinamanca.com wants to make you believe in your dreams, capabilities, and a better world. So, it shares content around these values based on fashion, lifestyle, and educational content like this column. 

Step 2: Reflect and set up your goals

The second step can be tricky because you want to balance realistic and feasible goals and your greatest ambitions. 

So, reflect and set up your long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals based on your ambitions and your current time and resources to achieve them. 

For example, you have only an hour a day to create content and be on social media. In that case, you'll want to focus on one platform and work on creating content for this platform.  

Your short-term goals can also be divided into weekly and monthly plans to always have something to look up to. As a general rule, your short-term goals go from 1 to 3 years plans, your mid-term goals go from 3 to 5 years plans, and your long-term goals go from 5 years up. But if you're like me and need closer goals to be motivated, divide your short-term goals into more minor achievements and set them up as your weekly and monthly wins. 

Step 3: Reflect and set up your content pillars

The third step is what makes your social media presence real. You want to balance your social media strategy with your passions to find your content pillars. 

Let's continue with the example of martinamanca.com. 

Strategy: My website wants to be online to inspire, create a community, and share beauty worldwide for the young, enthusiastic dreamers who want more from their lives. Martinamanca.com wants to make you believe in your dreams, capabilities, and a better world. So, it shares content around these values based on fashion, lifestyle, and educational content like this column. 

Content pillars: I love fashion and lifestyle, but I also want to be remembered as an inspirational content creator and a brand strategist who helps you make your dreams come true. So, my marketing skills are valuable for the educational content, and my passion for fashion and lifestyle are perfect for the inspirational side of my social media strategy. So, martinamanca.com's Content pillars are: 

• Fashion

• Lifestyle

• Content creation and online branding

Once you have found your content pillars, write down some ideas you already know are aligned with your strategy. They'll help you start creating content to post on your social media. 

Step 4: Plan your week and review your work

The hardest part is creating content and posting it consistently on your social media. That's why you want to plan your week and make time on your schedule to create, edit, and post content on your social media. If you are a beginner, I suggest starting with one platform. It can be tricky because you reach more people if you have different platforms. But you want to learn what content works on your profile based on your goals and target audience. So, it's better to start small and then expand. 

Also, if you save energy and time for one platform, you can focus on building a community that will follow you once you expand. 

The ultimate tool to set up your social media presence and be consistent. 

The Creator Dashboard from the MM Shop is the ultimate tool to set up your social media presence and be consistent. You can set up your strategy in the first pages of the Dashboard and plan your weeks in the 52-undated week planner to be consistent and focused. At the end of your year as a creator, you'll have a page to review your year and prepare for what's to come. 

If you want delve into this topic and have a customized social media strategy, you can book a session with me on 1-to-1 Consulting. 

Previously on CC 101