Stop Struggling to Create Content: 5 Steps to Simply Get It Done

There are plenty of advanced tips available to teach you to get the most from Facebook Ads, Snapchat, Twitter, and every other social network. However, before you learn the ultimate tips for any social site, you should nail down your content plan. You can't have an effective social media strategy without a content plan, and social content plans work best when kept simple. With that in mind, here are five tips from Katie Lance's recent Secrets of Top Selling Agents webinar for creating a simple but effective social content plan.

1. Brainstorm a list of topics.

Come up with a list of topics, ideas, and themes to work into your social calendar. If you already use social media for your business, look over past posts and determine what topics and themes you have posted on in the past. For example, do you post a lot of photos showing off home design ideas or community information? If so, use those as themes and break down what topics you can post on within that theme. Once you have a sizable list of topics, you'll be able to quickly and easily choose new content topics from your list of themes.

2. Determine how frequently you will post.

Think about how often you would like to post socially, then push yourself to do a little bit more. If you want to post something once a month, push yourself to post twice a month or once a week. Once you know how often you want to post, make sure you're planning to include a variety of different content types, such as videos, photos, and written content.

3. Be consistent.

If you decide to post a video every Friday, do it. During her webinar, Lance pointed out that "the more you can create content on a consistent basis, the success you have is only going to increase exponentially."

4. Plan ahead with Google Calendar or Spreadsheet.

Google Calendar and Google Spreadsheets are great tools for planning and coordinating your content. Create a grid with your chosen topic, media type, date, resources, and any other necessary data to keep track of what you plan to post, when you want to post it, and on which social networks. You can also add planned posts to your Google Calendar to remind yourself what content you will post and when.

5. Repurpose existing content.

Just because you posted your content doesn't mean you're done with it. Plan to reuse it in different ways. A blog you write can be converted into a video or an infographic. Photos of local restaurants can be compiled into a local guide. An eBook can be broken down into a series of blogs.

For more information on creating a content plan or great insights on developing a social media strategy, watch Lance's recorded webinar or order your copy of her book, #GetSocialSmart.

To view the original article, visit the Homes.com blog.