Create Content, Not Stress: A Guide
Creating content shouldn’t take five hours a day. So I’ve compiled all of my must-known content ideas, tools, and FREEBIES all in one place for you.
Can we skip to the good part?
aAaaaahahhhahhAAAAH.
Just kidding. But here’s how this page is set up (coming soon!):
PART 1: Social Media Basics
PART 2: SEO for Passive Income
PART 3: Tools You Absolutely NEED For Content Creation
PART 4: FAQs
PART 1: SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS
I’ll break down each social media platform's must-knows, dimensions, and tips. FREE resources below.
Post In-Feed 3x per week (Including 1 Reel or IGTV)
Post 1-2x daily on IG stories
Mix of personal, professional, and promotional (see 7-Day Instagram Spark)
Personal: how you started, anecdotes, fears, etc
Professional: How-Tos, Tips
Promotional: Social proof, Testimonials, announcements
Join Free 14-Day Writing Challenge for writing prompts
Types of graphics to create (preferred dimensions in 2022: 1080x1350)
Statistics (use Canva pie chart/bar chart Element)
Testimonials
Before/After images
Quotes
This or That
Carousel Posts
IG post dimensions
In-Feed Square: 1080x1080
In-Feed Portrait: 1080x1350
IGTV Cover: 420x654
Reels Cover: 1080x1920
IG Story: 1080x1920
Use Canva for templates
Download this dimension sheet for visual difference
Notes on Instagram
Create a recycle-able schedule (see 7-Day Instagram Spark)
Schedule using later.com (see how I schedule 30 days worth of posts in under 2 hrs in the annual TBJ membership)
Never post horizontal images: these perform the worst
Reels are being heavily rewarded right now
Repurpose one 10-minute YouTube video into 2-4 short IGTVs
Repurpose 1 blog for 5+ Instagram captions
Use all 30 hashtags (under 100k uses)
Post once daily using a mix on blogs, YouTube videos, and visuals
Pre-Schedule everything using Creator Studio or Later
Facebook dimensions:
Images: 940x788
Ad images: 1200x628
Notes on Facebook
Posting links hurt your reach. Try to post just the blog/YouTube feature image and put the link in the first comment (there’s no way to schedule the first comment so you’ll have to remember)
Use 10 or fewer hashtags
The best thing to do on Facebook is to engage in relevant groups and to create your own!
Post 1-5 times daily
Post articles, threads, and images
Threads look like this; you can break up a blog to create a unique Twitter thread post with the blog as the CTA
Schedule using Tweetdeck or Later
Twitter is a great place to try to connect with journalist and other PR tactics (connecting with podcasts, bloggers, etc)
Twitter dimensions
Banner: 1500x500
Images: 1600x900
YouTube:
Post once a week
Use SEO
Make sure your YouTube thumbnails use bold + easy to read words, pictures with no more than 3 people, your brand fonts/colors
Try to use How-To titles
YouTube dimensions
Thumbnail: 1480x720
Banner/Channel Art: 2560x1440
Notes on Dimensions:
All of these can be found in Canva by typing in the social media platform and the type of post
You might have to play around with banner image sizes and designs. Check these on both mobile and desktop because they will probably look different/cropped
Extra Notes:
For all of these platforms, use your Insights to determine the best time to post. There is no one-size-fits-all “best time” although you’ll find plenty of online articles saying otherwise. Don’t waste your time reading those!
If you’re just starting out, try different times until you have enough Engagement/Followers to determine the best time to post. Usually, each of your platforms will have different peak hours.
Create Content SIMPLY with these Tools:
Disclaimer: Some of these are affiliate links which means I can earn a small commission if you sign up!
Canva
Your creative content means making sure your social media is on point. What do I mean by that?
Your content needs to be branded.
That’s where Canva can help. This is a DIY design platform for non-designers and it has improved my work life in more ways than one. I personally use it for:
IG Posts & Story templates
YouTube and Blog Thumbnails
Pinterest Pins
eBooks
And so much more
Later
Wanna know how long it takes me to schedule my Instagram content for 30 days?
2 hours.
And that would not be possible without Later. You can even save your researched hashtags and caption call-to-actions. Plus, it allows you to lay out the perfect aesthetic.
In just 2 hours, you guys!
Flodesk
If you’ve looked into any email platform, you’ll know that you have to pay a pretty penny for anything more than 2K subscribers. But Flodesk’s email service allows you to have:
Unlimited subscribers (seriously, I have 50K right now)
Unlimited audience segments (I have 10+)
Pretty and professional drag-and-drop email templates
Click here ⤴
Grammarly
Did you know that bad writing is costing American businesses close to $400 billion every year?
Yeah. Your bad writing is costing you money.
If you want to get serious about your writing, I highly recommend Grammarly’s annual package. It’s only $11.66 a month and it will drastically reduce your editing and proofreading time.
It’s honestly a must for aspiring writers, bloggers, and business owners!
The best part: They have a free option
FAQs
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People create content for one of two reasons: to market their business or to create their own community.
Content can be made in a variety of media forms such as blogs, short and long-form videos, graphics, memes, and news.
Content is then distributed on digital platforms, namely social media. The most popular channels to post content are:
Facebook
Instagram
Tik Tok
YouTube
Pinterest
Twitter
Snapchat
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This seems like a multi-faceted question so I’ll answer it in two ways:
How do you create content (with examples)
I covered the basics of content creation on this page, but you can search my Content blog category for more information.
2. How do you create content examples (as a business owner)?
This applies to you if you’re a writer, a social media manager, or you’re a content creator who wants to sell UGC (User Generated Content) to brands.
The simple answer to creating content examples to land more deals is to create and post content for people/companies you want to work with on your own platforms.
For example, if you want o freelance write for Forbes, start your own blog to use as a writing portfolio. If you want to create UGC content for brands, buy one of their products and put together a professional UGC video to use an example when you pitch work to them.
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Good content is subjective. It falls in line with the phrasse “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” What I consider good content may not be appealing to you, and vice versa.
Creating content is all about connecting with an audience (making money, growing your follower count, etc are all results of community engagement). My suggestion, therefore, is to make things you would enjoy seeing online. Because chances are, the audience you want are people exactly like yourself.
In other words, if you want to create good content, you have to enjoy it first.
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I personally believe you should only create content if you want to make money or if it makes you happy.
If you’re stressing over analytics and your follower count because of a HOBBY, you’re doing it all wrong. Do not, and I say this with love, do NOT create content for your hobby and look at your analytics. Because if you’re not doing it to make money, the numbers quite literally do not matter.
The most authentic creators you see online get to where they are because they didn’t obsess over the numbers. They started creating content because it was fun for them.
On the other hand, if you know you want to be a content creator or you need to make videos and blogs to market your business, you need to have a strategy and pay attention to trends and numbers.