Clarify Your Message with Content Buckets – A Good Social Media Plan
Are you ready to take back the reigns on your social media efforts and create a clear, consistent strategy that makes sense? I hope you’re shaking your head, “YES!” Sydney Delucchi is here to chat about the importance of authentic content and how you can create content buckets to clarify your message. Sydney is a social media strategist and digital marketing guru. She also hosts her show “The Daily Squish Report Podcast”. You’re in for a treat, let’s dive in!
Sydney, we are so excited to have you here with us but before we dive into “content creation”, give us an overview of your business and what your mission is!
So, my business pretty much catapulted from the coronavirus! In a way, I’m thankful for this time that the pandemic forced us into because not only did it make me redefine what I stand for, it made me take myself seriously as a mompreneur. I provide social media strategy and content creation in the coaching setting for clients. I also do social media management but I’m trying to branch away from that because I’m finding that everybody is so passionate about their content, but they are getting stuck. They have the passion, they have what they need to post, they just need better strategies for getting their message out. That’s where I come in! I help them build community around their brand. Additionally, I help them clear cut their content creation strategy (which we’re diving into today) and help them really be seen by their ideal clients.
That’s great, Sydney! So, you are really transforming your business from social media management and you are entering this coaching world so your clients can have control over their content and really implement it in the way that they want to. That’s really cool!
Why is authentic content important on social media?
So, what’s the goal of social media? It’s basically to build brand awareness and build community! I hate to break it to you guys, but your highlight reel is NOT attracting your ideal client! They can’t relate to you! In order to find your ideal client, you need to get them to know, like, and trust you. This is achieved by sharing the “realness”, by sharing your authentic today, your authentic self, and what you actually stand for! This ties into the know/like/trust factor and keeping social media… social! When you are creating content that sets a foundation of authenticity, people can actually see the true you and what they can expect from you. I like to describe the know/like/trust as a funnel. Potential clients get to know you through your intro offering, your free value, what you post about. They get to like you by utilizing the free value that you use. Then, they trust you by the continued consistency and your authenticity. The more authenticity you can bring to the game, the quicker you’re going to go down that funnel!
I love that! When you were in social media management side of things, did you find that a lot of your clients came in saying, “I wanna make sales on social media!”? Is that why you made this shift to coaching because you found yourself saying the same things over and over. Social media really isn’t about sales, it’s about connection.
Yes! This is an unpopular opinion for some of those in the marketing world, but I don’t think social media is what’s going to bring you sales. I think it’s everything behind your social media that’s going to bring you sales and your social media is going to help progress people through your sales funnel. Social media alone is not going to be the driving factor for people to click the “buy now” button. It’s hard to convince the client that has handed over their social media to you that you don’t suck at what you do! There needs to be better processes behind what you’re putting out there for them to see the value. That’s why I transitioned over to the coaching side because you can make sure that all the holes you poked are filled in!
What does a good social media plan look like to you?
A great social media plan is one that’s planned in advance! The reason that I say that is because if you’re like me and you’ve tried to get your ideas out there and you’ve posted something on the fly and then later, you’re like. “DANG IT! I should have added this!” I can’t tell you how often that has happened to me! A few months after my daughter, Amelia, was born I was frequently posting on the fly and when I’d look back I was like, “Yo! This is not cool! I preach better than this!”. Now, I make sure I’m doing what I’m preaching! Because you know, sometimes we are “Do as I say, not as I do!”. It all came together, and the strategy was more fluid, and people were reaching out to me because of the content I was putting out there! I want to make sure that people are able to do awesome content creation on their own. There’s nothing that makes me prouder than going to check in on a client and their beaming because their latest post has so many shares, so many comments, so many saves, and you get that content by thinking about it in advance. If you’re like me and your you think of great ideas in the shower or when you’re changing a diaper and they’re just lost to the wind because…. hello, mom brain! It’s all about retraining your brain how to remember those ideas. That’s something that we talk about in the Content Creation Academy. We learn about training your brain to “brain dump” things and elaborate on these topics.
You hit on a key point when you said you love you clients coming back to you when their content on social media is getting shares, saves, and comments. I notice that you didn’t say “likes” and I love that! Especially when we are talking about Instagram, you goal on there is to get the shares, get the saves, and get the comments! That tells you that you are putting out valuable content that your audience is CRAVING! I just think that’s so cool because Sydney, you and I connected on Instagram and there was a specific post that attracted me to you and I knew that I wanted you on my show! You stated on Instagram that “Valuable content means nothing if you have no structure or method to the madness” and then, you said, “content buckets are for clarity”
Can you tell us about content buckets?
The content buckets analogy is not an original idea of mine but it’s something that I found that I latched onto like crazy! I’m ADHD so organizing is a HUGE must for me. Sometimes this content bucket metaphor gets a little bit too specific for people and they get overwhelmed. They think, “How am I supposed to split my topics or my categories that define my business, my brand, and me as a person in two different things that I’m only allowed to post about?!” I like to break it down and tell them to think about 1 big Tupperware container or big bag that includes you, your company, your business, and the fun things about you that sets you apart from everybody else. Maybe it’s your personality? Maybe it’s what you bring to the table with your clients? Whatever it is, put those all in one big round ball. Maybe you include parenting, your family, etc., and then from that big massive ball, you take out a few different things that you can just lump together. Those become your buckets! Now, the buckets might change per quarter/per month/per week but these are here to help you organize your stuff. They give your following a quick overview of what you stand for when you’re trying to convert eyeballs into followers. Because let’s be real… If you’ve gotten somebody to come over to your profile, they’re going to probably look at your feed quickly and you want them to know within less than 15 seconds is that their initial perception of you is something that aligns with them. There are three things I like to think about when creating content buckets: Does this post align with my business and my ideal client? Does this most provide actionable value for my ideal client? Does this entertain my ideal client? If you post hits any one of those three topics, then you’re great and good to post! Sometimes you find that when you’re scrolling through your own feed, you might find that someone is posting something that doesn’t really align with their brand and you wonder why they are posting it. We definitely don’t want to create confusion for your potential followers and clients. We want them to enter our know/like/trust funnel and know what to expect because our content is consistent.
That’s great information, Sydney! I think a lot of our listeners have probably heard of this concept before because I use the term “content categories”. Some people might say” content pillars”. You refer to it as “content buckets”. Whatever you call it, the mind idea behind is is “What do you stand for” and I also got the notion of “What do you want to be known for?”. If someone looks at your feed, they should know exactly what you’re known for. I love how you went even deeper and you said the content needs to focus on your ideal client. I tell people all the time Instagram is no longer about you, it’s about who you serve. With that in mind, when you’re creating that content, you better focus on the end result and that is your ideal audience it’s not you.
When it comes to creating content, what is something you wish you would have known or tried sooner?
This is such a good question! I could just ramble about this forever because I feel like I’m always learning. One thing I wish I would have tried sooner is that I wish I would have just been OK with being myself rather than trying to repackage myself into what I thought everybody else wanted me to be. A little back story about me, I was in network marketing when I was younger, so I was brand new to “owning my own business”. I had mentors that I looked up to but I was trying to be them instead of being myself. A lot of them were moms already and I wasn’t one when I was in network marketing. I really felt like, “I can’t do this like there’s no way that I can succeed at this” and that’s the exact mentality that was holding me back. I had to redefine my vision of success and most importantly, I needed to be OK with being myself. Now, I’m unapologetically myself! I’m really excited that I finally let myself do that because I know that my ideal client out there is struggling with the same things that I am. She’s trying to juggle too much and probably has a little bit of impostor syndrome. I struggle with that a lot! It’s hard when you when you’re scrolling the ‘Gram and you’re like, “Dang it! I know this stuff and I should be posting about this but she posted it first and like I don’t want to copy her!”. Well, guess what? There’s no original idea anywhere. It’s all about how you present it and bring your own personality to the space and how you connect with people.
I can totally relate! I remember that feeling of thinking I can’t show my vulnerability. That was the biggest thing I wish I would have went ahead and shown the messy side earlier because it is MESSY! Sometimes your content is going to be a bit messy because you just have to start, and you just have to start putting stuff out there to figure out what your ideal audience is and what they need. So guess what? When you’re in the beginning it’s gunna be messy and you just need to be OK with that!
Yes, 100%! I’m also a fitness instructor. I teach indoor cycling and a lot of my clients like my riders are like, “I suck! I cannot come up out of the saddle. You were killing it!” I always tell them that it took me a long time to get to this point because it’s all about progress and not perfection! That same concept applies so deeply into everything: business, life, motherhood, all of it! You’re gunna suck it some stuff but it’s OK! You’re going to progressively become better and you do that with experience!
What is the best piece of advice you can share with those who feel stuck with their content?
First thing is it’s OK to feel stuck! Everybody has been there so give yourself a little bit of grace! It’s not that you don’t have ideas it’s just that you need it better process. For a lot of us, that’s a hard pill to swallow! If you’re like me and have ideas EVERYWHERE, you need to know how to get them out. I referenced this earlier, you need to train your brain on how to brain dump. Another thing that is super crucial after you’ve perfected the brain dumping strategy, once you’re looking at all these random ideas and assortment of things just dumped on this piece of paper or in your Google doc, you can then start maximizing the content. Some people call him “pillar and micro” content I like to kind of mix it up and call them “monster and minions” because I think it’s kinda cute! Just like we organize our content buckets or our content categories, you strategize and organize your brain dump into your “monsters” and your “minions”. The monsters are the big hitting things the ones that are more evergreen. It’s content that will survive through season changes and over the months and maybe years. If you can categorize some of your brain dump ideas into these monster categories and then have minions come off of the monsters. Something else that’s really great about monsters is that they take less time. For example, I like to think of a podcast episode or a blog post or an IGTV or a YouTube video as the monster pieces. Then your minion pieces come from things like a quote. Earlier I said, “Progress not perfection”, that’s a minion piece from this podcast monster! There are going to be lots of minions and they’re going to give you so much more content so that you’re only really investing a little bit of time into creating content. When you’re able to do that it’s so freeing because then you’re not feeling so ball and chained to your social media process and you can see it more clearly which is the goal, right?
Absolutely! I love that analogy of “monsters and minions”. Now I’ll have the Despicable Me movie playing in my head and I want to start yelling “Bee doo bee doo!” haha! But seriously, I love that! I love seeing all of these little minions running around, being supportive! Gru is kinda like the monster that has the “big idea” and all of your little minions are spreading little bits and pieces all over the world! I love it!
Out of curiosity, what is your favorite social platform and why?
Oh man, Instagram is my boo! I love Instagram while the algorithm has changed a bunch over the years and people have felt personally victimized by Instagram and their algorithmic ways, I still love it! It’s really the only platform that you are able to create a community. Sure, with Facebook you can create a community but it’s kind of hard with the Pages algorithm. Then you have to put people into groups and people are hating being added to groups these days! With Instagram, it’s a little bit more free flowing you can connect with people through hashtags, geotags, being a creeper (which is totally fine)! Go build that community slide into people’s DM’s! Make some friends! It’s so much easier to connect on Insta. Parallel to Instagram for me is probably Pinterest and Tick Tock. I’m trying to make tick tock work but I’m not a little girl that has abs for days so I’m not gunna be dancing around! However, it is interesting to see how rapidly content takes off on TicTok and Pinterest. Instagram is my community builder and then Pinterest and TicTok are like my keyword drivers that help me create my content and get my content seen by some people.
I totally agree with you! I love Instagram. You know, it’s funny… I want to go back to a point you said earlier that kinda just came to my brain. You addressed the know/like/trust factor and also mentioned a funnel… I like to look at Instagram as your feed being the place where people get to know you. Your stories are the place where people start to like you. Finally, the DM’s is where you build the trust! If you are reading this and thinking of that funnel and you’re having a lightbulb moment remember to use your feed so people can know you, your stories so people can like you, and the DM’s where the trust happens! That’s why I love Instagram and I am currently starting on TikTok… thanks for teaching me how to use it, Sydney haha! This conversation has been awesome! Where can we connect with you on social media and tell us more about your academy?
You can find me on Instagram @SydneyDelucchi and my Facebook group where I do little trainings and answer questions and provide some additional value is called the Dynamic Life Collective. If you guys like what I was talking about regarding content creation processes and you want to see how I build mine out for my past social media clients and current coaching clients and help them really find the personalized solution, the Content Creation Academy is now OPEN! If you join and become an Academy member you will be able to walk away from that experience with a complete MONTH of content (or more!) from the strategies that I teach! You will also get private 1 on 1 access to me! This is a great opportunity to get your feet wet with how coaching with me would look like! I’d love to have you onboard!
