Content plan for your personal brand and business on social media

It is widely believed that you need a rigid content plan for 5 weeks ahead However, adhering to strict standards and posting useful content on the first day, a motivational post on the following day, and an entertaining meme becomes less popular the day after. Nowadays, people prefer social media accounts run organically by ordinary people. Meaning, you shouldn’t focus on a strict plan but try to be catchy, trendy, and versatile.

A content plan will be different for your brand, a personal account of an entrepreneur, a community page, and a corporate account. Managing all these accounts is not the same; since there are many peculiarities, different approaches should be applied.

Content plan: definition & strategy

The idea of a content plan is not to schedule the date and time for publishing your post. You need it to change your perspective from time to time and avoid making stereotypical content: writing about the same topics, using the same old tricks. People tend to get bored, and variety is what keeps them interested.

It is also important to write in advance because it can make your life significantly easier. Don’t write your content an hour before you schedule the post; create it when you have a spare minute while you feel inspired, creative, motivated.

You should always have two-three posts ready to go. If you don’t feel inspired at this precise moment, you can always publish a ready-made post.

Content plan: private account versus group account

There is always a difference between running a private account and a group account because of specific approaches. Many people make the mistake of running a corporate account as a personal one, and vice versa. Your private account is all about your personal brand. It is an account dedicated to you as a person; it should tell a story of your life and be lighthearted.

A group is a corporate or thematic community. It has a different vibe; numerous people with diverse values may follow this group.

Content plan: personal blog

There is a “25%” strategy: the content plan is split into 4 chunks of 25% each.

The first 25% is your expertise. You tell the followers what you do, talk about your business or projects, and provide knowledge. Besides, you present useful content, share your experience and expertise, give advice and recommendations. It represents the first 25% of your content. So, one out of four posts should be about your expertise.

The second part of your content is your inner world. Your share your ideas, thoughts, emotions, world outlook, opinion. It is important to show your personality. You can present it as short stories, conclusions, life experiences, or just share your current mood.

The third part of your content is a lifestyle. You can show your way of life, surrounding, activities. In this case, you don’t have to show your expertise; no elaborated posts are needed. Instead, an appropriate format would be: “Here is my house, here is my lunch, and now it is time to go and meet my partners.” You show the world you are living in.

Finally, the last 25% of your content can be anything. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your content. You can discuss what happens in the world: recent news, trends, the topics you are interested in.

By following this 25% principle, you will have an organic profile. Instead of focusing on a single content type, you can switch between three different ones: expertise —today, your inner world — tomorrow, expertise or lifestyle — later on.

Stories Plan

Stories content can be divided into three categories:

1. Educational content. It includes making useful, developing, and engaging content.
2. Emotional content. People want to see real emotions in Stories – not necessarily positive emotions, also negative ones: disappointment, anger, annoyance when something goes wrong, or otherwise, happiness that you have succeeded. Why do people post emotional content? It makes their followers feel empathy, sympathy, share their feedback.
3. Lifestyle content. You simply show what is happening around you: your location, events you take part in, interesting stuff, picturesque places around you, appetizing food, shopping, family activities.

By doing so, your Stories will also look organic: you provide useful content, share your emotions, and show what happens around you.

Mind a crucial moment here: posts and Stories will only be interesting to interact with if they are varied and don’t become monotonous. People will appreciate that.

Content plan: groups and communities

If every second post in a group is an advertising post with banners, no one will follow such a community. The content in a group account should be divided by the 40%-40%-20% rule. The first 40% is educational content that helps you learn interesting facts and allows putting new knowledge into practice.

The second 40% is made up of “lighter” content that doesn’t assume long interaction. If useful content should be read, viewed, and requires concentration and attention, “light” content is a carousel with photos, memes, pictures with comments, and everyday content.

What is the difference between the first type and the second one? In the first case, people should invest their time and attention in reading or viewing the post. In the second case, 10-15 seconds will be enough to skim through and experience positive emotions. It is vital to interchange “light” and heavily-loaded content types.

The rest 20% are advertising posts and commercial content. You shouldn’t write in every post that your product is the best or you run a promotion campaign. No one wants spam in their feed. Commercial information is important, but you need to skillfully integrate it into useful and entertaining content. You can have direct advertising, but it shouldn’t exceed 20%. Out of 10 posts in your community, only 2 can include direct advertising. Make the other eight posts on different topics. They won’t directly sell or advertise, but they should be entertaining, useful, informative, and devoted to engaging content.