Is Your Social Media Content Good Enough?

Episode 63: Is Your Social Media Content Good Enough?

In this episode, Holly Hibbard - Social Media Consultant & emotional intelligence nerd - shares with you...

• what actually counts as “social media content” so you can determine if you’re putting enough of it out there
• the mindset hack you can use right now to have your content creation process go from overwhelming to simple
• the covert way people are creating content every day without posting to their social media pages

If you like what you've read so far, I’d love it if you’d SUBSCRIBE to the show, and TURN ON your notifications so you don’t miss a future episode.

Referenced in this episode:

The Holly Hibbard Show, ep. 62: “The Real Reason You’re Not Making Content for Your Business”

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WORK WITH HOLLY IN NOVEMBER, 2024 //

• Ready to launch your social media brand quickly and finish your 2024 with elevated impact? Hire Holly as your social media strategist and coach! Book a quick call with me here: https://tidycal.com/thehollyhibbard/quick

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Transcript

Welcome to the Holly Hibbard Show.
I'm Holly, a relationship coach and emotional intelligence nerd turned social media consultant.
This podcast podcast is for coaches, consultants, and service providers ready to simplify their social media strategy, create impactful content, and grow their audience without the overwhelm.
If you want to attract dream clients and free up more time for the things that you love, you are in the right place.
Let's make social media work for you starting now.
Hey, everyone.
Welcome back to The Holly Hibbard Show.
I am so grateful that you are here.
I'm Holly Hibbard, and I am your host.
And today, we're going to be talking about what actually counts when it comes to social media content.
I talk on this show and on my social media platform about how to make your content creation process feel simple for you, have it fit your life, the season of your life that you're in, the energy wave that you're going through depending on how busy or not so busy you are and where your attention is going.
But what counts as content?
And I bring this up because if you are a person who knows that a great way to promote your business or your service is by putting social media content out there, that probably means that you consume social media content as well.
And as you are watching short form video, reels and shorts and, oh my goodness, long form videos, YouTube's, TikToks, whatever you are doing, reading, people's posts, you probably start to stack up whether you recognize it or not.
An expectation that you place on yourself of this is what content must look like if I am going to be considered a content creator or a person who at least puts content out there to promote their business or their service to attract clients and let people know and like and trust who you are, which leads to purchases.
Okay?
So let's start to revamp this expectation that we have on ourselves and find something that we can do that feels realistic.
Sometimes people have asked me when I when I've done a lot of leadership coaching and relationship coaching in the past, people say, what do you do when you feel overwhelmed and you feel like it is never enough?
And that is a a conversation or a mindset that absolutely plays a role when it comes to making your own content to promote your business as well.
You might feel like you are consistently behind the 8 ball and not making enough content, or maybe you are, but you're not posting enough.
Or you don't think that your content is quality enough, or you don't feel that you are, having enough call to action.
But that whole theme of it just isn't enough permeates the journey.
So what I would say to people when I was coaching in relationships and even now when I coach on leadership strategies and topics there, I share with people, how would you redefine what enough is?
And this is how we're gonna put the power and the control back in your hands, where you feel like you have some say over something.
Because the longer that you are a consumer of social media and these unrealistic expectations of what it has to look like keep piling up, that feeling of it's never gonna be enough will also become or feel like it is insurmountable as well, and we don't want that.
So let's define content here very, very simply.
A piece of content is something that when you post it, whether it is a video or something you wrote, whether it is longer, whether it is shorter, it is a piece of content that is designed to show people who you are and also describe perhaps the type of services that you provide by giving them some advice, you're teaching a tool, or you are sharing with your audience a success story for of somebody who you have worked with or a success story of your own if you feel that it also pertains to the journey that your upcoming clients are going to want to go through.
That is all the piece of content is.
Is you sharing a story, a tip, a tidbit, your thought, a piece of information.
And so content can, like I said before, can look like, yes, you getting on video and having a whole outline that you follow or recording a podcast and having it be very structured and very produced.
But a piece of content can also be posting 1 or 2 sentences with a color block on your Facebook and calling it a day and saying that is enough.
Because what is enough in that moment is did you share the tip, the trick, the hack, the tool, the success story, the piece of feedback that you got, the great review that you received?
That is so important because content isn't only about promoting your services, but it's giving people an opportunity to grow that know, like, and trust factor of you.
And without you posting anything, know, like, and trust factor is not going to grow.
And what would keep you from posting anything at all, it's that feeling that what you have to post as, viable or quality content must be of a certain style, a certain length, or whatever you make it about has to be polished.
There's so many different reasons that we give ourselves for how a piece of content will count or not.
So simplify it.
Content means that you are putting out there a tip, a trick, a hack, a celebration, a tool that you love, something about you even, that shares with people your character and something that you are that you enjoy about life, something you are passionate about because that is all part of the know, like, and trust factor.
If we have this expectation, for example, I, as a content creator, I do a lot of educating.
I am a formally schooled teacher.
I taught middle school and high school for a very long time.
I went to college for science and education.
So I am a teacher by nature.
I have been teaching people since I was a child.
Like, this is just my thing.
But sometimes I can get in my head and tell myself, well, if I'm not teaching something that is mind blowing, super new that they can apply right now, then it just doesn't count as content.
And that's not true.
It just isn't true.
So over the years, as I have done live streams and short form videos, I've also learned that it's important to incorporate into those moments of my life.
And I don't mean it to be super, super personal all the time.
But for example, when my mom passed away earlier this year, I absolutely had a couple pieces of content where I talked about the impact of my mother's passing on my ability to be creative, on my ability to focus, on my willingness to focus on my business in the moment, on how it ultimately helped me to see, wow, I don't have the emotional capacity to offer this type of service like I used to, not in this season of my life.
Those are things I put out there so people can get to know me and where I am at.
And, no, it's not, like, what's the word I'm looking for?
It's not like a first degree example, like, one degree away of, okay, I gave you a story and now go buy my stuff.
Like, I'm it doesn't have to be like that.
It's a way for you to let people into your life and who you are and you can be as private as you like or as public as you like.
But remember, content does not need to be probably what you think it does.
Now another way I wanna give you another way to think about content, content is not also it isn't wow.
I'm, like, really over my words here.
Okay.
Let me start over on that.
Content is, like I said, a tip, a trick, a hack, a tool, something that education, something you're putting out there.
But content doesn't always have to be an output from you.
Content can also include you asking your audience a question or you going into communities where your ideal clients hang out, a Facebook community following a certain influencer or educator or expert in your field, getting in the comments, asking them questions, replying to what they have to say.
It's answering people's questions or replying to what they are sharing about their life and their situation and what they are going through.
Content doesn't always mean you need to output something.
Content also includes your engagement.
When you are engaging with people, it counts as content.
Now if you are on social and you are scrolling, but you are not engaging and by engagement, let's be very clear about this.
Engagement does I know you might think to yourself, well, I like this post or I share this post.
Okay.
Liking a liking something doesn't really count as engagement.
That's super easy.
Okay?
Like, it's it's it's almost mindless and unintentional at times.
Okay?
But if you share a piece of content that somebody else created, don't just share it.
Share it and write a sentence or 2 on top of it or below it and post it then.
Share it with your thought or your take.
And, yes, you can say, I agree with this a 100%.
And I'm not downplaying any of this stuff.
This is thing I've done this before a bazillion times.
I love this post.
Oh my gosh.
100%.
Preach.
Like, I've said all the things.
Right?
But I also, there's actually a piece of content that I bookmarked yesterday that was talking about the different generations and which social media platforms they are using.
So what are the boomers using?
The Gen Xers, the millennials, Gen Z, etcetera, all of it.
And I bookmarked it because I don't yes.
I could just share that, but that's not engagement.
What is engagement is I'm taking a piece of content that I think is really interesting, and now I can share it and I can put text over it or put text on the next screen, because it was a video or make a video about it and stitch it together in, you know, in a TikTok app or something like that.
So it has my unique spin on it.
So content, yes, is the output, like I said before, but content also includes your engagement with others, especially yes.
The people who comment on your things love it.
Yes.
Yes.
Saying thank you for the people who share your items.
Yes.
Love that too.
But more importantly, people who are commenting on your content and then you are asking them a question to get to know them further.
In fact, most of the social media platforms that are oh my god.
I mean, I don't even know one that it would not apply to.
Let's just say every almost every social media platform loves when you encourage engagement.
And the way you encourage engagement is not just saying something like, hi, comment on the video.
But actually, when somebody does say something on the video, replying back and asking them a question.
Thank them for the comment, ask them a question, keep the conversation going.
The longer you can keep the conversation going, the more likely it is that that person is going to reply again and again and again.
You're gonna get to know your ideal client.
You're probably gonna come up with another 10 ideas for your next piece of content or 10.
And also the algorithms, no matter which platform it is, they love it.
It loves it because they want people to stay on that app or on that site.
And why do they stay?
They stay because they're either consuming the content that's there, but they're also in the comments.
They're also paying attention to what people are sharing, and they're writing, and you're writing, and back and forth.
Social media is called social for a reason.
So engagement absolutely is part of your content.
It's not only up to you to put yourself out there, put your thoughts and ideas out there, although that is very valuable and it's gonna show people your unique spin on the coaching consulting, the education, the service that you provide.
But also they wanna see how you work with people, how you encourage people, and people who've never heard of you before.
If all of a sudden you join a Facebook group and let's say it's related to something in your industry, And now you have people who are like, let's give a let's give a random example.
Okay?
Let's say that you are a nurse and you've decided to go back to school to become a nurse anesthetist.
That is like a big that's a big journey.
Okay?
Unless you join a Facebook group of people who are studying to become nurse anesthetists.
I'm sure something like this exists in the world.
If it doesn't, somebody make it.
So you go in this Facebook group, and some people are complete are done with their program, and they're going through their boards to be officially certified.
Some people are just getting started.
Some people are on the journey to apply for stuff.
But if you are somewhere in that journey, get in the comments, answer people's questions.
And then depending on the size of that Facebook group, let's say you want to do some sort of nursing consultancy somewhere.
You're in this Facebook group now and you have the ability to answer people's questions, lend your perspective.
And next thing you know, you're a name that people start to notice in a few places, and people will get curious.
And they'll click on your profile, and they'll wanna follow you.
And, oh, look.
You have you're documenting your journey from nurse to nurse anesthetist, and how you're handling the stress and the ups and downs of assignments.
But I don't know.
I don't I'm not making this all up as we go.
Okay?
But the engagement piece is absolutely counts as content.
Absolutely counts as content.
So the next time you think to yourself that you have to have a content creation strategy or a plan, which I am an advocate of.
Okay?
I want you to consider, yes, the days of the week, for example, that you're going to put something out there as your own, but what are the moments of your week or your weekend that you are committed to engaging and count that as enough.
Count engaging with other people's content as enough because, otherwise, if you think it only has to look one way, it doesn't make you feel multifaceted.
It also can really bear down on your energy.
And putting content out there that is original and creative, on your own, with your own unique lens and thoughts and experience, and I think to be fair, that takes more time, takes more energy than going into communities where your ideal clients hang out on social media and engaging.
One takes more time and energy, and one takes some time and energy, but not quite as much.
I hope I'm I'm kind of clear with that.
The last episode that I did of the show, I did talk about how you have to pay attention to both, how much time you have to make content and how much energy you have.
So if you have not yet listened to that episode, make sure you go back and, and listen to that episode.
I will try to remember to link it in the show notes so that you'll know what I'm talking about.
So point blank.
Here's the point of today, in case you're missing it and you're like, Holly, what the heck?
Content simply means that you are putting out there a tip, a trick, a hack, your own unique spin or perspective.
Sometimes in a video, sometimes it's a sentence, sometimes it doesn't have to be a certain amount for it to be considered quality content.
Get your thought out there.
Get your feeling out there.
Show people who you are in whatever capacity you have the time and the energy and the comfortability to do so.
And, also, if in that moment you're like, I don't have time.
I don't have the energy.
I don't have then practice engagement.
If not engagement with your own community just yet, engage in new communities upon of, like, within social media, whether it's in YouTube comments, or a Reddit thread, or a sub thread, or any of the places.
Go to those and take a few minutes and read what people have to say.
Okay?
Because that counts too.
And your audience is in all the places.
And the the further you get to know them, the more content ideas you're going to have as the days, the weeks, the months go on, and you're gonna feel like you're more creative with your stuff.
But your brain hasn't had to do all that work.
It's been fed to you because you've been engaging with your audience and asking people questions.
So I hope this was supportive.
Let me know in the comments, your new definition of content and what's gonna be considered enough for you with your social media content.
And, that's all I have for you for today.
I love you.
I mean it.
I appreciate you.
And until next time, I will talk to you next time.
Thank you for listening.
I'm giving you a virtual high five for prioritizing your personal growth.
If you enjoyed today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you could take a moment 5 star review on Apple Podcast.
Share the show with friends and family, or snap a screenshot of this episode and tag me on Instagram at the hollyhibbard.
You are not alone on this journey, my friend.
I'm always here cheering you on.
So until next time, stay curious, stay encouraged, and keep empowering yourself.
You are doing better than you know.