Ask a business owner what their one wish would be if they had a magic wand for their marketing, and many would say “to have a month of content scheduled”.

There is the constant guilt of not posting enough, like a burden hanging over you.

So “success” can sound like finally having 30 days of posts automatically going out on your social media.

And that’s what you hear from all different people: “Post more content!” and “You have to post every day!” or even “You have to post 3 times a day!”

Let’s say, you did it and you got your 30 days of content scheduled. The month comes to an end, but instead of celebration, you realise nothing in you business has changed, apart from being able to tick the box of posting every day.

If this is you, how is this strategy currently actually working for you? 

What is the return you are seeing for your business?

As business owners, time and focus are two resources we need to protect. I want you to get very clear about how you are currently spending yours and why. 

Here’s why treating scheduling 30 days of content like a marketing strategy just doesn’t make sense.

You’re not fuelling engagement

Social media works differently now. Back in the day, the social media algorithms, and let’s talk specifically about Instagram here, you would typically see content in your newsfeed from the accounts you followed at and around the time it was posted. So if you wanted your audience to open their phones at 7am and be almost guaranteed to see your post, you’d post at 7am. This is why posting frequently to our accounts used to be a strategy that worked. 

For instance, I was consulting to a successful restaurant, who wanted to increase trade during their quieter periods of the day. This was mid morning and mid afternoon. So our strategy was to post around mid morning with a delicious cake and coffee to encourage their followers to come in and enjoy these, and posting healthy smoothie images at school pick up time to entice the parents to drop in with their kids on their way home.

Now, Instagram doesn’t serve content in a purely time-based order. Look down your newsfeed and you’ll see posts from 15 hours ago, then 6 hours ago, then even 2 days ago.

One of the biggest factors for actually getting your content in front of your followers is engagement. Fail to capture engagement, your reach will be extremely limited, meaning you can post as much as you like, but barely any of your followers are actually going to see your content, and it’s a waste of your time.

You’re not building relationships

As sole traders and small business owners, the most powerful way to use social media is not for content distribution – it is for relationship building. 

Our goal shouldn’t be: how much content can I share. It should be: how many relationships can I create?

Treating social media and posting like a box you need to tick isn’t the purpose. Actually BEING on social media, have conversations and connecting is. 

I remember an attendee who came to one of my workshops several years ago told me the one thing he wanted to learn at this Instagram Strategy Workshop was how we could never log in to his account. He wanted to schedule content to go out on there and never actually go on Instagram. I thought, “buddy, you’re in the WRONG workshop!”.

You’re not testing and optimising for results. 

If you are scheduling 30 days of content or fretting over getting a daily post out on your social media… how strategic are you really being? 

And, importantly, are you tracking what is actually working, looking at the data, test, adjusting and then doubling down?

I remember I was in a Facebook Group, and the organiser was never in there, but she had scheduled out the weekly posts. You know the ones! Like “Inspiration Monday: What are you inspired by this week”. Noone would comment on these posts, and yet week after week and month after month, they kept rolling out.

If this business owner was looking at her analytics, it would be glaringly obvious that these posts were not connecting with her audience, or doing anything for her business.

Ok let’s recap.

Scheduling 30 days of content is not a marketing strategy. Posting more content doesn’t create more results. 

Fuel engagement, build relationships and optimise for results.

If right now, you’re stuck on a content treadmill, constantly sharing, with all that effort making no difference to your sales…

Or stuck feeling paralysed about what you should even post, so you don’t post anything at all…

You feel overwhelmed by all the different platforms and advice you hear…

And are constantly listening to podcast episodes, downloading free guides and *hoping* somehow it will all suddenly ‘click’ and the clients will start rolling on in…

You are going to love my BRAND NEW free training that is going to break down for you the system I have taught to hundreds of students to guide you in going full time in your business the right way so you can avoid the uncertainty, and be strategic in everything you do with your time with laser focus on your goals.

Go to emilyosmond.com/free to register.