The online world is more crowded than ever, and thousands of new service-based businesses are started every single day. Without having a clearly dialed-in content strategy, it can be incredibly hard to stand out online so your ideal clients can find and hire you! 

Social media content marketing–the act of creating and sharing valuable and relevant content designed to attract a specific audience to your programs, products and services–is a crucial part of any business plan for service-based entrepreneurs.

Sharing consistent and value-rich content on social media can make the difference between being booked out for months and you staying the world’s best kept secret because nobody knows you exist. 

This is especially true for service-based entrepreneurs who are the face of their brands, such as coaches and healers. Because your clients work very closely with you, most of them will need to get a sense of who you are, what your personality is like and what you stand for before they feel confident investing their time and money into working with you.

Social media content marketing is an excellent way to give potential clients a glimpse into your world and help establish the Know, Like and Trust they need to say YES to your services!

Creating a good social media content strategy has many facets, but one very important thing to consider is what you’re posting and why you’re posting it. 

For example, when you create content that makes your ideal client’s life easier (let’s say a checklist on Instagram), they’ll want to keep coming back for more by following and engaging with your content. This leads to a loyal fanbase who are more likely to share your work with others and think of you when they need your service!

Or, when you create content that shares your work and your expertise (while delivering value at the same time), this gives your potential clients a glimpse into the transformation they could experience when they work with you. This is the part that truly inspires them to hire you for your services and join your programs. 

Social media content marketing, when done well, is also the most effective way to build authentic connections and genuine community with your audience. The conversation you start online can lead to friendships and other opportunities for your business down the road (such as speaking opportunities and collaborations with other entrepreneurs that may in turn grow your business).

2 Common Barriers to Successful Social Media Content Marketing

There are a couple barriers that seem to get in the way of many women entrepreneurs being successful with their content marketing: 1) they usually struggle to stay consistent and 2) they often don’t know what to talk about.

Consistency, when you have a strategy in place, is what allows you to start building relationships through content marketing and position yourself as an authority in your space (and, in doing so, grow your business and fill your programs). 

While we know that staying consistent is important, it can be incredibly difficult to do when you aren’t sure what you should be saying and posting in the first place!

7 Secrets to Avoiding These Barriers 

While bumping up against these barriers can feel discouraging, after over a decade of working with service-based fempreneurs like you, there are 7 things I see over and over again that will help you stay consistent with your content marketing and make knowing what to talk about so much easier!

1. Get clear on your offer

Everything you say and post on social media ultimately needs to lead potential clients to your offer (your program, course, membership, package, etc.).

Sometimes this will be a direct invitation to work with you, but most of the time it will be indirect - such as sharing valuable information in the form of tips, tools and strategies (related to your offer) or connecting with your audience in ways that build credibility and trust (demonstrating that YOU are the one to help them solve their problem … when they purchase your offer, of course).

It makes sense then, that if you’re unclear about your offer (or don’t even have one!), coming up with things to talk about on social media will be difficult!

In the Impact Tribe’s, “The Power of Programs” course, you’ll learn how to build a signature offer that positions you to earn 100K+ a year – even if you don’t have a big email list or a huge marketing budget.

2. Understand your ideal client

Understanding your ideal client is marketing 101, so you’ve probably heard this before, but it’s an important reminder.

While there are many reasons why understanding your ideal client is important, the reason is pretty straight forward when it comes to social media content marketing:

When you don’t understand what your ideal client is thinking and feeling, it makes coming up with topics to talk about on social media extremely difficult. And when you don’t know what to talk about, staying consistent is almost impossible.

In the Impact Tribe’s, “Pinpoint Your Profitable Niche” course, I break down all the ins and outs of defining your niche and creating your ideal client profile so you never run out of ways to resonate with the hearts and souls of the potential clients you interact with online.

3. Establish a brand identity you feel confident about

If you skipped out on building the foundations of your business and catapulted yourself in front of the world (HERE I AM INSTAGRAM!) without having things together behind the scenes, then you’re probably struggling to see a return on the time, money, and energy you’re investing into growing your business on social media (or anywhere else for that matter). 

Not only that, but when you have a brand that isn’t solid, or that you don’t feel confident about, it can be hard to even want to show up online. 

In the Impact Tribe’s, “Boom Your Brand” course, I lead you through figuring out the foundation of your brand personality (such as values, point of view, vision, mission, intolerances, etc.) and then communicating who you are and what you stand for through clear messaging and beautiful visuals.

4. Clarify your marketing message

Part of building your brand, and a very important part of showing up online, is clarifying your marketing message. Your marketing message is sort of like your “elevator pitch” – it’s what you say any time someone asks you what you do.

Say goodbye to glazed-over stares and stressed-out jumbled-up words - when you go through the Impact Tribe's “Master Your Marketing Message” course, you’ll get step-by-step guidance as well as templates and examples so you can clearly communicate your value next time someone pops into your DMs asking “what do you do?”.

5. Map out content categories

Content categories are the things you teach about on your blog, newsletter, YouTube channel or Facebook lives. These are the topics you become known for and a big reason why your audience follows you on social media.

For example, my content categories are Branding, Marketing, Community-Building, Website Strategy and Leadership.

Clearly defining your content categories will be a massive game-changer for your social media strategy because you’ll always know what topics to talk about, you’ll never confuse your audience with “off-brand” content and you’ll become known, sought after and remembered for a few very specific things. 

In the “Effort-Less Editorial System” course inside the Impact Tribe, I guide you through exactly how to define your content categories (and subcategories and microcategories too!)  and break them down into solid ideas so you no longer have to struggle with figuring out what to talk about in your marketing.

6. Design professional-quality graphics

If you aren’t a designer, or creativity isn’t your strong suit, then this one may be a little tricky. One of the main reasons I see that entrepreneurs don’t want to show up online, is that they don’t feel confident about, or understand, the visual element of social media content marketing. 

The images and graphics you share on social media are usually the first thing your audience sees, before they even read the caption. Unfortunately if your graphic is a dark grainy image or an unprofessional, cluttered design, it may turn off a potential client before they even have the chance to read what you have to say! 

Professional-quality graphic design can take your content marketing efforts from meh to magical, and can truly make the difference in the success of your marketing efforts. 

Not a designer? You’re in luck! 

We’re getting ready to release an exciting new resource to our Impact Tribe members: Our Canva, Build Your Own Brand and Marketing Collateral templates (designed based on my archetypes system) to ensure everything from your logo to your social media graphics are aligned with your brand personality!

7. Create a consistent content plan

Posting on social media consistently can be hard – I get it. BUT, when you put a content plan in place, it can create the structure you need to know what you’ll be posting when, so you don’t have to rack your brain every single day trying to come up with ideas.

All you have to do is set a date with yourself each month or week to create your content. Then queue it up and schedule it to auto publish so your content can be going out without you even having to think about it. 

If this still sounds like a lot, I’m excited to share that we’ve just made this a million times easier for you with the newest addition to the Impact Tribe: The Consistent Content Creation System!

Hopefully this will eliminate any lingering excuses as to why you can’t be consistent with your content marketing;-)

The Consistent Content Creation System

The Consistent Content Creation System is a new Impact Tribe resource designed to save you time, frustration and overwhelm trying to decide what to post on social media and then having to write captions to match.

In the Consistent Content Creation System, you’ll receive …

• 4 content “pillars” to build your captions around - instead of sharing random posts and hoping for the best, your content will finally be backed by strategy!
• Daily, fill-in-the-blank caption templates that rotate between our content pillars. We’re not just giving you a prompt, we’re giving you the entire caption! All you have to do is fill in the blanks.
• Daily story prompts designed to spark connection and trust with your audience, so you’re never left wondering what to share on your Instagram or Facebook stories.
• A “hook” bank, so you know exactly how to open captions to catch your audience’s attention in the noisy online space.
• A “Call-to-Action” bank, to help you create engagement, grow your leads and make sales from your social media posts.

Everything in this system is backed by strategy and the best content marketing practices for growing your business through social media, and every prompt is completely customizable to your brand, brand voice, and how you want to show up on social media. 

Each month, we’ll release a new content calendar for Impact Tribe members so you’re never left guessing what to post and you can finally start seeing the results from being consistent with your social media content marketing! 

As the face of your brand, you need to be focused on your areas of brilliance, not churning out content like a machine. So we’ve designed this system to free up more of your time to focus on doing what you do best, like working with clients, leading group calls, creating programs that increase your income and impact and building online relationships with potential clients that lead to more sales. 

📌⬇︎PIN IT⬇︎📌

If you’re ready to say a big, bold YES to showing up confidently and consistently in your content marketing, then learn more and join the Impact Tribe today!