Learning the hard way
Back when I started my first business, I used Hootsuite to schedule posts.
It was the same image, the same words, and the same hashtags. The posts went to my Facebook business page and Instagram, which was basically the same audience.
Since I had been told that consistency would help me see growth, I killed it! Five days a week I was posting. Just like clockwork. And I spent hours each week thinking of ideas for posts, then making them perfect. I even hired my first virtual assistant to help schedule these posts I wrote.
And the result was…….
A handful of likes, an occasional comment, and zero clients. Made extra painful by the fact that I was spending so much time and a little bit of money to get this stuff into the world.
I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. This is what I saw other online business owners doing. I was coached to use two platforms and make my content consistent and engaging. So why wasn’t this working?
I wasn’t being given bad information, but I was missing a few key points.
The audience for the content was too small. I had less than 1,000 followers between my Facebook business page and Instagram. This means about 10 of them were regularly seeing my posts. If I was lucky.
I didn’t know $hit about copywriting. I was writing college essay style posts. Posts with long words, jargon, big blocks of text, etc. Even the college professors who assign this type of writing probably don’t want to read it. Not to mention somebody sitting on the toilet scrolling their phone for entertainment.
I was sharing the same exact content across multiple platforms. This was a complete waste of time. People don’t consume content the same way on Instagram as they do on Facebook. Otherwise what would be the point of two different platforms?
If the content isn’t useful or consumable for the intended audience, there is no use in sharing it. It’s just an exercise in futility and frustration – as I learned very well.
Finding the solution
To fix these three problems, I had some learning to do. Taking a copywriting course solved the first two problems. (And if you’re looking for a good one, I can recommend a few people….)
But if you’ve already got copywriting down, I can help you with the repurposing piece. Adapting a good piece of content to be optimized on multiple platforms will help with the other two problems.
Step by Step Instructions
The Brain Dump
Pull up an empty document or a pad of paper. And start dumping your thoughts. Just get it all out. You will organize it later.
In fact, this can easily turn into a blog. If you don’t blog, this will be a Facebook post for your profile.
It is important you don’t skip this step. Maybe some writers who have been doing it for 27 years can skip it. But I can’t, and you shouldn’t either. This will get your real thoughts on paper. You won’t be censoring what you think you “should” say. Your real opinion is what will attract the right people for you, so let it all out.
For instance, if you think it is just fine to obnoxiously smack your gum in the presence of others, please don’t ever schedule a face to face meeting with me and chew your gum. We are not compatible. Once upon a time I thought I could be hypnotized or something and get over this issue, but I have decided I just don’t wanna.
Anyway…..the next step is…
Blog
Once the brain dump is finished, copy and paste the content into a new document for the blog. Make sure you have used popular keywords for your topic. Blogs do well if they are 1,000 words or more. Feel free to go into a little more detail in a blog than you would in any other kind of post.
You should also use subtitles throughout the blog, which will appeal to people who like to skim when they read.
Facebook Post
Copy and paste the blog into a new document. Pull out a few highlights to put in the post. You can include a link to the blog for your readers to get more details. The highlights should leave an open loop to catch the reader’s attention.
Don’t include more than one or two thoughts per paragraph, and avoid large blocks of text.
Instagram Post
Copy and paste the Facebook Post into a new document. Use this information to create a carousel, reel, or graphic in canva.
Use a catchy headline with a reel or carousel to reel in the audience. The best part, you can use the Facebook post as the caption. This is a copy/paste job that doesn’t feel like a copy/paste. You are still presenting the information in a completely different way.
YouTube
Copy and paste the Facebook post into a new document.
Make an outline of 3-5 main points that should be covered in the video.
Use keywords in the title, and record a 1-5 minute video.
Facebook business page
Use the YouTube video to post on the Facebook business page. Be sure to use an app that adds captions.
If you wrote a carousel for Instagram – use those main points for your email.
If you did not, but you wrote a blog, use the highlights from the Facebook post and send your email readers to the blog – or send them to your Facebook post if there is no blog.
Email is a great way to drive people where you want them – whether that be a Facebook group, your Facebook profile, or your website. If you can get them interested, they will go.
There are two options with a Pin.
The first one is to create a graphic and use keywords and Facebook summary to direct your readers to a blog.
If you haven’t written a blog, use this option.
Create a how-to graphic. Use the Facebook post as the caption.
If you wrote an Instagram carousel – use that text for a LinkedIn post to promote your blog. Be sure to post a link to the blog in the comment section, not in the body of the post because just like Facbook, LinkedIn doesn’t appreciate you asking people to leave the platform.
Use the same picture from Instagram for LinkedIn. If you didn’t write a blog or an Instagram carousel – use the Facebook post, and be very intentional about breaking the content into bite sized pieces. LinkedIn content can be long, but sentences should be short, and avoid big blocks of text at all costs.
TikTok
TikTok videos are very similar to Instagram Reels, except you don’t see long captions as often. I don’t recommend doing both – pick one platform or the other.
If you’ve made a Facebook live or YouTube video outline – this will be great for a TikTok caption. Just polish it a little and you’re all set. Incorporate a catchy headline to grab attention – you have about 1 second to do it!
Search trending songs on TikTok, and watch how other accounts are presenting their message. Don’t reinvent the wheel – do something similar that you see is already popular and adapt it to your already created content. There is no shame in the copying game here as long as you put your own twist on it.
Disclaimer…I’m not a huge fan of TikTok and I don’t use it anymore. I understand how it works and it can be great for some people, but it’s not for me. I included it here because I know several people that have had a lot of success there…. But I don’t dislike it quite as much as the next (and last) platform in this document
I was going to write a section about Twitter. I really was. But you know what – I don’t like Twitter. I think it is stupid. It confuses me and gives me a headache. If you have figured it out, congratulations. Maybe you can do a small collaboration and write this part for me.
But don’t get too overwhelmed…..
You see, each platform has unique benefits and is useful in its own way. And each can be very useful in building a business. You just have to choose the ones you want to try.
As a side note, unless you have a team, I don’t recommend using all of the platforms. You should master one, then master another if you are so inclined. Otherwise you will spend your entire life publishing content on different platforms.
To get a downloadable pdf with this information AND examples of how I adapted one piece of content to the platforms that I use – sign up here.