Do you want to build a credible authority brand in the marketplace, but posting to LinkedIn (and other social channels) all the time is doing your head in?
I hear you! Social media is an insatiable beast when it comes to content. Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t!
So, you have two choices:
(a) You can either slink away from the challenge, tail between your legs, never realising what “coulda been” … OR
(b) you can rise up and slay the social media beast!
I prefer the latter, and I’ve come up with a way to deal with it.
I call it my ‘Red Star, Black Star’ social content process, and it’s something I’ve been walking through with my coaching and consulting clients for years now – including just this last week – with positive results.
Put simply, the ‘Red Star, Black Star’ process is a more strategic and sustainable way to plan and publish credible content to your social channels so you not only reinforce your expert positioning in the marketplace, but also frees you up to get more creative with your posts.
*** HERE’S HOW IT WORKS ***
Check out the graphic below — the thick black line represents your personal brand or business narrative, how you want to show up and be seen in the world, in a professional sense: this is about consistency of story and message, as told through your content efforts.
BLACK STAR —
Black Star content is designed to support this narrative and thus reinforce your leadership positioning through your posts.
It’s content that is generally evergreen in nature, which means you can produce it in bulk and schedule on LinkedIn (or whichever social channels you are using) several months at a time as it shouldn’t date.
This will not only save you heaps of time and mental bandwidth, but by planning and producing social content in bulk, you’re going to be way more purposeful and strategic with what you post versus doing it ‘on the fly’ all the time.
It will also free ourselves up to become more creative with your Red Star content!
RED STAR —
Red Star content, on the other hand, is where the magic happens, and we love the magic on social media!
This is your humanity, your personality, your ‘in-the-moment’ content … the things that are happening around you that you can share with your connections and followers.
Interestingly, these are the posts that tend to get more engagement as well because it tends to be more relatable and human.
Here are some quick ideas on what that might look like:
- Maybe you take a photo of yourself getting ready for a conference or seminar that you’re speaking at, or you’re about to deliver a big presentation and you show a little bit of the slide deck on the screen. Taking people behind-the-scenes of what you are doing, or getting ready for, is a great way to give people a glimpse of the ‘real’ professional YOU!
- It might be things that are happening in your business. For example, some news that’s coming up such a new office move. Or perhaps it’s something that happened to you on the way to work that caught your eye (or ear) – a sign, a conversation in your local cafe – something that you can shape into an interesting micro-story, maybe with a lesson attached. It might be quirky, it might be serious, it may include a photo or video you’ve taken, or just be a quick text-based riff.
- Then there is breaking news on a topic or issue that you’re passionate about, or that’s relevant to your industry: don’t wait for it to go stale, whip up a post with your perspective on said topic … share your point of view, kickstart a conversation!
So there you have it folks:
BLACK STAR content – evergreen, plan it … batch produce it … schedule it out: reinforce your message and positioning over an extended period of time.
RED STAR content – capture those in-the-moment opportunities, things that are happening in your community, your industry, your day-to-day business life – document it on your social channels and show a bit of your personality!
I hope the concept of this process helps you get clearer on what to post on LinkedIn and your other social channels! Drop a comment below and let me know what you think!
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