- [Narrator] When we talk about online content,
we're talking about things like Facebook posts, blog posts,
comments, Twitter mentions, white papers,
videos, and tweets.
And many community builders struggle
with this side of things.
They often think they don't have anything to say,
or that what they have to say is too obvious.
As an expert in your field, and yes, a community builder,
you are an expert.
You take for granted how deep your understanding
of your topic is.
That is the key to creating content to grow your community.
Create content, that's blog posts, Instagram Lives,
and even free guides and topics
that you know intimately that will help your community.
Before you even get started creating content,
it's a great idea to start planning your content out.
It's time to get strategic.
Planning out your business' content in advance
is a key part of growing your online community.
For many business owners, content planning
can get pushed to the back burner,
but a content calendar will help.
It features all your upcoming social media posts
and online content.
A content calendar is going to save you time
and keep you on track.
It helps you plan out all your content in advance.
You'll never miss a holiday post or promotion again,
because it's already scheduled.
It's basically a system that increases productivity
and reduces your time spent on sporadic posting.
We've all been there.
We know that we need to post.
It's been a couple days,
and we quickly put something out
that maybe isn't our best work.
I love this quote.
"When your inspiration hits, you could write a blog post.
Or use it to plan a dozen."
That's what the content calendar is going
to help facilitate.
Your first step is going to choose your format or template.
You can download the content calendar template I have
under this course, or you can simply Google,
and I know Hootsuite and HubSpot have some great versions.
Once you have your template chosen,
you're going to fill out your monthly calendar
as far in the future, as you can.
If it's only two weeks, that's okay.
That's two weeks more than you had previously.
Then, this is really important, is to schedule a time
to work on your calendar.
It could be every Sunday, you sit down to fill it out.
Or it could be the first of every month.
What happens is, we get really excited.
We create our content calendar.
Then all that content gets posted,
and we haven't kept it up to date.
The format of the content calendar
could also be a Google calendar.
You can create additional calendars
within your Google account.
It could simply be an Excel or Google spreadsheet.
I prefer Google, because at least you can make it shareable.
Hootsuite.com offers this, as well as HubSpot and Buffer.
Let's talk about the different types of content
you could be adding to your content calendar.
Now I do want to say a disclaimer,
is the goal isn't beautiful content.
It's helpful content.
Beautiful is a perk, but it is not necessary.
Consider video and live streaming.
Try a Facebook Live or an Instagram Reel.
There's no need for fancy equipment.
When it comes to that,
your phone is going to be your best friend.
Make sure that in the background,
you don't have a lot of clutter, and sound is important.
You can buy a mic for pretty cheap on Amazon to help,
or just make sure that your surrounding area
isn't too noisy.
And with Instagram specifically, there are always filters.
If you're feeling a little bit insecure
about how you look on camera.
Why not try this?
Record a welcome video for your new members.
Post it to your community, if you're on a Facebook group,
post it to the group.
Then encourage new members or existing members
to record their own introductory video.
It'll be really fun to see if that boosts engagement,
and it helps you get to know each other.
If you're not able to be in the same physical location,
at least you get to see the person's face
and associate a name to it.
Why not try Facebook Live to get this done quick and easy?
Next are webinars and online courses.
Essentially, that's taking helpful to the next level.
And there is a potential for monetization.
You could try Teachable or Thinkific as a course platform,
or Zoom and WebinarJam,
and they have great video capability.
Why not try this: create a three day or four day or five day
or seven day mini course,
where you write up an email per day
with your course material.
After a new member joins, they receive the course,
or if someone signs up,
they receive the course and an email a day for three days.
It eliminates using an expensive platform
and a lot of time creating the course itself.
DailyOM is a great example of email courses.
So you could do this for every new member that joins.
They automatically get your three day mini course series,
and that will really boost their engagement
and get them more embedded into your group.
Another content type that performs
really, really well online are guides and checklists.
So why not offer a free guide or checklist?
You can create it for free in Canva.com.
The paid version is great too, but not necessary.
Then you upload the PDF to Box or Google Drive,
and then get a shareable URL.
And then you get to share it out with your members.
So an example of this could be,
you create a free how-to guide in Canva.
Perhaps you are a winter wilderness guide,
and you create to guide
with your top 10 must-have winter camping tools and apparel.
You're going to compile this into a how-to guide using Canva.
Then you get to share it with potential members
on social media.
You'll share it to your Facebook, your Instagram
and all over.
The goal is that these potential members
find it really helpful.
And it proves that you're valuable,
and your knowledge is super helpful to them.
And they might just want to join your community.
You could also source this information,
just like any of these content examples
from your audience, from your members as well.
They are experts too.
So collaboration goes a long way and is really powerful.
Remember, this is your community.
Do what you do best.
Start creating content and testing the waters
to see what your likes.
Start filling out your content calendar
to stay on track and up to date.
And then, once you have a lot of content out there,
use Facebook and website analytics
to see what content is performing the best.