Speaker 1: What's up beautiful people? I'm Erin and this is Erin on Demand and today We are gonna talk about how to create a killer social media strategy that is stress free Okay, there are so many questions surrounding creating a social media strategy Especially as more platforms are coming and emerging. So some of the questions you may have are Which platform should I be on? Should I be on multiple? Should I just focus on one? Do I niche or do I create content that just vibes with me that I just love? Long form or short form? How frequently should I be posting? Should I post educational content or relatable content? Should I be scheduling content or posting when I feel like it? Woo chow. Okay, there are so many questions and there's so much advice swirling around the internet and this video is really I'm hoping that it takes the pressure off because because there are gonna be so many different answers that you hear from different people based on what has worked for them. And the whole idea of this is to find what works for you. The goal is for social media to not stress you out and to be a creative outlet and to also generate income because let's be real, we all wanna make some money. So let's get into the nitty gritty. I'm gonna try to make this video as compact as possible and then if you want me to expand on any of these parts, then I can make separate videos out of those questions that you may have. So let's get into it. First things first, should I be on all platforms or only one? Now, here's my advice. I think you should focus on one, but have a presence on multiple. And by that I mean, put most of your energy, if you could put 80, 85% of your energy into growing one of your platforms, and then the other 15% to maintain a presence on the other platforms, this could look like repurposing, this could look like quick and easy content that just helps that platform stay alive, then I would go ahead and try that route because if you really narrow in and only put your energy into one platform, you never know what could happen. These platforms could shut down, they could start charging us to being on them. Like, I don't know, you just never know what can happen. So I think it's always safe to at least have a backup platform, even if you don't have as big of an audience on there, at least you have something that you're building and growing and also people, when they love you on one platform, they are very likely to follow you on another. So don't miss out on that opportunity either. You're naturally gonna see those numbers on the other platforms that you have less focus on increase simply because you are putting so much focus on your main platform. Also keep in mind that it's a lot easier to balance platforms when each of them has a different purpose. So for example, if you have a YouTube channel and you really focus on business on your YouTube channel, but then your Instagram, you have personal tips and more of your health and wellness journey there, but you're still sprinkling in some of that business. And then on your TikTok, maybe you have very casual talking head advice giving videos. Maybe you only do Q and A's on TikTok. And so this helps to kind of segment your content so you're not thinking so hard about having to repurpose or having to create content for all of these different platforms. You kind of know what direction or what works well for each platform. And also that can take a little time. At the end of the day, when it comes to picking your platform, pick the one that you enjoy creating on the most. Honestly, you're only gonna create if you enjoy creating. And so you can grow really fast on YouTube, You can grow really fast on Instagram, you can grow really fast on TikTok. It kind of just depends on which platform makes the most sense for you. So I recommend kind of experimenting on all of them and then seeing what sticks for you. Okay, next thing to think about is, do I niche or do I create content that I love? Now, first I want you to think about the type of person that you are and the long-term goal of you creating content. Will you get tired of posting the same type of content in the same niche? Is there variety within this niche or will you feel like a broken record? You have to answer these questions for yourself so that you can really understand if niching is or isn't for you. Now, there are some benefits to niching. A lot of times, if you have a video that takes off and it is within a specific niche, then you can really narrow in on that and create more videos like that. And your channel or your socials will likely grow very quickly. The only issue with niching is that it can feel so confining and as years go by, if you don't wanna continue to talk about that or if the thing that blew up for you is now no longer as trendy or as buzzy or people aren't consuming content about that as much anymore, it can be really hard to kind of dig yourself out of that and pivot. So I think it's really important to have some type of focal point with your content, but not overdo it to where you have no variety and you feel very, very, very confined. I always say focusing on growth instead of focusing on good content can really leave you feeling bored. So this is why I recommend layering. It's a technique that I've kind of coined as a way to kind of merge the two, where you're creating content that you love, but you're also creating it with some type of focal point. So I implement this a lot on my channel where I'm layering in different things. So business and social media or creator economy is like the foundation of my channel. That is where you're gonna get a bulk of my content. But in that, I'm layering in vlogs where you see my family, where you see me getting dressed. I also like to, you know, be cute. So fashion and beauty is not so far-fetched from my content. I love good music so that is something that we fold into the vlogs. There are different ways that you can fold in parts of yourself into your content where it's still on brand and aligned but it doesn't leave you feeling so restricted. So I have a whole YouTube playbook where we explain the layering technique and how to really narrow in on your layers so that you can grow and you can enjoy the content that you're creating. Now the big question is should I focus on long form or short form content? And the answer is you need to focus on whichever one fits into your lifestyle the best and whichever you have the best skill set in. So it's kind of a twofold, but whatever fits best into your life. So if you are, I always use this example, a mom on the go and you have 15 minutes in the carpool line, what What can you do with that 15 minutes? This might be popping up your phone, getting a little car mount while you're sitting there and talking to the camera, maybe answering some questions or doing some quick little witty storytelling things about you and your kids or whatever your niche is about. But on the flip side of that, what are your skill sets? So if you are not skilled in popping up your camera and telling a quick story, maybe you're extremely long-winded or you have to do a gajillion takes or you know you prefer more of a vlog style content because you're really great at editing and shooting and you have a bit more creativity and that's more of your skill set, then you have to follow what skills make the most sense for your content and also what your lifestyle actually allows for. So here's the difference. With short form you have to be able to tell a story very quickly. You do not have time to be prefacing and doing all of adding these extra details and things in. Short form is about getting the storyline across very fast. With a long form you have to know how to keep people watching and be very engaging throughout the entire piece of content. So they are a little bit different, whereas short form you need to hook them fast, long form you need to hook them and keep them for a long time. Now if you are a long form person and you really want to take YouTube specifically seriously, my YouTube playbook goes through so many things like how to create your channel vibe, which types of thumbnails you should be creating to get people to click on your videos, so finding that thumbnail style, and also how to outline your video so that you do maintain that engagement throughout the entire video. Okay, so now is the part where we discuss what type of content you should create. Should it be educational or should it be relatable? And my answer is both. If you can strike a really good balance with both of these types of content, you are winning because educational tends to be more SEO friendly while relatable tends to be a lot more shareable. So you're gonna get that search engine content and you're gonna get that shareable content that people can really relate to. Now, I have found that both of them work really well on all platforms. So if you wanna sprinkle in vlogs and do educational content on YouTube, if you wanna sprinkle in some cute little fun skits or some witty little, I don't know, quick jokes on Instagram as you also create that content, that's also very educational and save friendly. These are all very important tactics to mesh together into your social media strategy. Falling in one or the other, it works, but it's really great if you can strike a balance with both. Remember, educational content is probably content that's gonna get people onto your page, especially if you're somebody who's trying to promote your business, your products, maybe not necessarily if you're only trying to be an influencer, but that relatable content is gonna help them stay. that's gonna help them build connection to you. It's gonna make them pick you over someone else if they're selling the same type of product or having the same type of workshop. Okay, so you know what type of content you should be creating. Now, how frequently should I be posting? And should I schedule this content? Let's get into it. When it comes to how frequently you should be posting, I always say post as frequently as your quality can remain the same. So if you start posting five times a week on Instagram or on YouTube or on whatever platform and your quality starts to dwindle down, meaning that your content just isn't good, people aren't consuming it as much, people aren't enjoying it, they're not engaging with it and you just notice that the quality isn't there, then decrease your frequency. Now, if you notice that you are uploading a lot and it's not bearing on your mental health and you can handle it, then continue that uploading schedule. So the most frequently you can upload without diminishing the quality of the content, I say go for it. Now, my advice is to do the most sustainable thing at first, with YouTube, at least once a week if you're gonna be uploading long form. If you're uploading shorts or repurposing to shorts, then I say go for as much as you can, even once or twice a day is never gonna be too much for short form content, especially on YouTube Shorts or TikTok, because that frequency is so much content. As for Instagram, I say, if you can upload three to five times a week on Instagram and it's quality posts, then that is amazing. I also have a video where I talked to an Instagram rep and I will link it down below and I'll put it up here, but he shared all of these different tips on how to max out your Instagram engagement and following. And so I will leave all those tips, well, all those tips are in that video, so I will link it down below. Now, when it comes to scheduling, I am not a big fan of scheduling, especially if you are posting for your personal brand. Now, if you have a business and these are things that you need to get out, if you're like promoting a product, like I'm sure for the top three page as we're getting that back going, we are gonna be scheduling those posts because those don't really ride on my personal brand. Now, with my personal brand, I do like to post in real time. It just feels better to me and it just feels more authentic to me. But if your schedule does not align with that, then schedule your posts by all means. The whole goal is to get the content out there. So it doesn't matter. As long as you can get it out there, then do that. Okay, a few other long-term tips to consider. Prioritize an email list. I cannot stress this enough. I love Substack. I've been using it as more of a personal newsletter. It's kind of like blog meets newsletter meets social media. It's just a really, really cool platform. And I don't know if y'all are sick of hearing me talking about it. I'm actually about to make a whole video about Substack, but it doesn't matter where you host your newsletter. Hosts have a newsletter. It can just be once a week that you're sharing, even once every other week that you share, whether it's random thoughts you've had, things you found that you love, things that caught your eye, little mental nuggets that you wanna get off your chest. It can be like a personal diary, or it can be resources for your community. Whatever it is, start pulling people from social media to your email lists, because this is where the power is. is. And you have so much more control and autonomy when you have an email list because you just never know what can happen on social media. Another thing to consider is to have a good digital product that you can lead people to. I shared a couple of times throughout this video my YouTube playbook. It is $10. It is loaded with information on how to really max out and monetize your YouTube channel in as short amount of time as possible and we really go through so many incredible strategies creating your channel vibe. I have gear lists like different gear packs that you can purchase linked in there so you don't have to do the research or figure out which camera should go with which lens should go with which mic. I also have things to help you navigate your channel vision, your ideal subscriber, so it's just loaded and this is really important because if you want to start making money from social media immediately and not necessarily depending on brand deals or bonuses or you know things like that you can have your own digital product that you are pushing people to purchase. And then lastly promote your other platforms on your main platform. Don't be scared to like pop up your Instagram on YouTube or to share about your TikTok on your Instagram like people will never know that you exist in those spaces if you don't tell them and this is just gonna grow your overall brand. Okay I hope this was helpful I hope that this video is gonna open your eyes to creating a killer social media strategy without all the stress and pressure. If you would like me to go more in depth about any of these things that we discussed today then leave them in the comments below and I will see you on Until the next one, bye for now.