Content Creation 101: how to plan content and Set a social media strategy

May 9

Hi everyone! I'm still all over the place because of the MM shop launch, but let's get back to our CC101 series, the monthly series of blog posts where you'll see some tips and tricks and some inspiration for your content creation. Today's topic is more practical because I will walk you through the content planning process and how you can set a social media strategy for your project.

Content pillars

You may already know about content pillars, or you may not. But when creating content and setting a social media strategy, you must define at least three content pillars. A content pillar is a big topic you want to discuss on your social that you can list in different posts, videos, and stories. For example, martinamanca.com has three content pillars, fashion, lifestyle, and content creation tips and tricks. As a result, I post on martinamanca.com social accounts and website different pieces of content around these three content pillars.

When picking your content pillars, you want to ask what you're passionate about and what topic is so appealing that you can talk about it all day. Next, look at your daily life and list things you love. Then, try to find a connection between them. Lastly, try to brainstorm some content ideas about these things, and you'll have your content pillars.

Do the content pillars need to be the same forever? Of course not! You're an evolving human being, so your preferences change with you. As you evolve and discover new passions, you can adapt your content pillars to them. Remember: no one is like you, and that's your superpower.

Content ideas

Since CC101 wants to hold your hands through your content creation journey, here are some content ideas you can use to start.

Fashion

Outfit of the day: you can share it daily or weekly, do a round-up of your favorites, make it as a static photo, as a video, or both.
Try on haul: share your shopping, the size reference, how you would style it, and why you bought it.
Recreate an outfit: take one picture from Pinterest or your favorite accounts and recreate the look with the clothes you already own
Decluttering: take your audience inside your closet and declutter with them. It can be a mini-series or one video.
Come shopping with me.

Lifestyle

Vlog of your daily life
What you eat in a day
Your favorite recipe
Your favorite workout routine
Your books
How to work-life balance

Wellness

Journaling prompts
Morning/night routine
Come for a chill walk with me
Your favorite quotes
How to start journaling

Travel

Your favorite travel hacks
Mini-guide of your favorite places
How to pack an intelligent suitcase
Where to go for couples, solo travelers, families, friends groups

Strategy 50/30/20

When I set my social media strategy, I picked 50/30/20, 50% blogger, 30% brand strategist, and 20% personal. So, you need to prioritize your content pillars accordingly to these percentages. I chose to prioritize the blog side of martinamanca.com because it's the core of the entire project. So, I share the blog posts, some highlights, or exclusive content about the blog posts on the social accounts. Then, 30% of the posts are for Branding with Martina's side of the website, so the technical me, where I share tips and tricks about content creation and online branding, promote my services and give you the tools to do by yourself. Lastly, 20% of the posts are personal, so life or wedding updates, newsletter promotions, and direct chats with you.

If your content pillars are Fashion, Lifestyle, and Travel, you can split them accordingly to your preferences or content. For example, you know that in the next month, you'll leave for a big trip. So you can split 50% of the content about the trip (Travel), 30% posts about your lifestyle during these days, and 20% about fashion. Otherwise, if you're more passionate about fashion, you can dedicate 50% to outfits and shopping, 30% to the travel content pillar, and 20% to lifestyle.

Feed ideas

Even though curated and aesthetic feeds are no longer a thing, planning your feed of content helps you with the 50/30/20 distribution of the posts. You can leave the spontaneity to the stories, where you can share in real-time your personality and what you're doing and take your audience with you.

If you need help figuring out where to start planning your feed, check out your favorite content creators' feed, screenshot it, and try to understand their pattern. Then, integrate your strategy with the feed pattern, and you've got it. So, for example, for Instagram, you can start from the 9-post grid. 50% of them means 5 are dedicated to your central content pillar, 30% of them means 3 are for your second content pillar, and the last picture is for your third content pillar.

Color palette

Another crucial part of your feed planning is picking a color palette. In fact, if you follow a color scheme, your feed looks cohesive and aligned with your brand. For example, your brand is based on neutrals and muted tones, so your feed needs to incorporate beige, creams, and neutral shades in your graphics and photos. Otherwise, if you love bright colors, you must adapt your shoots to this because it makes you stand out.

For example, for martinamanca.com's feed, I picked out 5 colors, and I gravitated around these to create a cohesive feed.

Fonts

Pick one or two fonts for your brand if you plan to incorporate graphics and quotes on your feed. Of course, I chose to include one font from the website, and the other two are a great pairing to lighten the first one and improve the elegance.

If you want to know more about it, let's chat on 1-to-1 Consulting!

In primo piano