My Social Media Strategy For 2022 (This is what's ACTUALLY working)

A clear strategic social media strategy is what grew my business to a six figure business. It wasn't Facebook ads. I'm going to show you in this video how you can create this social media strategy as well and how YouTube videos really work into this social media plan. Let's just jump right into it because I know it's important to grow your business. The very first thing you need to Understand is where YouTube fits into this plan. YouTube is the primary piece of content that I create every single week. In fact, I'm going to walk you through what I what this all looks like on a calendar. But first I want to explain why YouTube should be the hub of your content and why it should be the one thing that you create every single week. First of all, YouTube is great long form content. Your audience is really going to build their know like and trust for you around long form content. Micro content like Instagram captions and Instagram stories are great to nurture those relationships. But to really build that know like and trust long form content does that the best. The same goes with video content. Why do you think TikTok? Why do you think reels is so popular right now? It's video content. And video has such higher conversion rates than text, than images actually combined. And so by focusing on YouTube, not only are you checking that long form content box, but you're also checking that video box. And honestly, if you're still avoiding video now, it's going to be really hard to come up with excuses. Why? Because video is honestly king in Marketing in 2022 and will continue to Skyrocke. YouTube is also searchable content. Look, I don't want to create content that expires within a few days, let alone a few hours. And what's great about YouTube content is since Google owns YouTube, all of my content shows up on Google. That means the time I'm putting into creating this content for you doesn't disappear. The time I'm sitting here planning, recording, it doesn't disappear within a day. I have videos from 2019 that still work for me. And so why I really think YouTube should be your hub is because I don't want you on this constant 24 hour rat race of creating content. And YouTube allows you to get content up and take a break. It's not like Instagram where you got to post like every single day, multiple times a day. YouTube is your evergreen strategy so you can have a vacation. And lastly, before we talk about how this all fits and how many times you should post and all of those things, YouTube content is so much easier to divide up into micro content. So just with one video, you could summarize the key takeaways in an Instagram post. You could also summarize each key takeaway on multiple posts. You could create a carousel post. You could pull clips from this to put it on the feed, to put it in stories. And so when you're creating YouTube videos, you're creating the ability to really divvy up and create micro content to build your visibility on different platforms like Instagram or Facebook or Snapchat even. Let's take a field trip on over here so that we can map this all out. All right, we're getting interactive, we're getting off our chair here. And this is how I literally start creating my social media plan for about six weeks to 90 days at a time. I've got some color coded pens, I got post its and this just allows me to think a little bit freer than I get it electronic. So what I have right now is a calendar. I literally got a post. It just handmade. This and this is the one that I did for the new quarter for 2022. You can see the pink post its are my YouTube videos and the blue post its are my podcast episodes. You also see there is some drawings down here that highlight my promotional periods. So we're going to do this over here so you can figure out how it works for you. We're also going to be incorporating in Instagram content and any other type of content. So I have all the color codes down here as well. So let's talk about how often you should post. So, so something that's brand new for me this year is I'm posting to YouTube twice. So Mondays and Thursdays are going to be my posting schedule for YouTube. I recommend getting started with one video a week. For a long time, I posted every single Wednesday. So let's say you choose YouTube as your primary long piece of content and you're going to post that every single Tuesday. We're going to do sacred as the YouTube color code and we're going to put it on this calendar. For me, I've also been doing podcasts and, and I know many of you are figuring out how to incorporate YouTube and podcasting at the same time. But right now, if you're doing podcasting once a week, which is all I'm doing, we're going to put that on the calendar. Now we're just putting the dates that we're posting. We aren't picking the content yet. Like what we're actually saying in those videos, we're just figuring out what our posting schedule is going to look like. So podcast is going to be green and let's say we podcast every Thursday, right? So you have two pieces of long form content every single week. Now let's talk about Instagram. Everybody wants to know about Instagram, what should we be posting? How many times should be posting on Instagram? I'm going to mostly be talking about stories, the feed and reels. This tends to be like the trifecta over on YouTube with Instagram TV. I haven't really seen much success there. So let's just say we're going to focus on feed reels and stories. So for me, showing up on stories is pretty easy if I have a game plan. So let's say I'm going to show up on Instagram stories four to six times a week. So I'm going to use my purple and put is four for IG stories. Okay, you get the theme here. Now for the feed, we hear a lot, right? We hear we should be posting every single day, two times a day. For me, realistically, I think I can post three times a week. I'm just gonna commit to something that I can do consistently and we're gonna say for the feed three times a week. I know it's gonna be easier for me to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have that long form content because I can easily repurpose that some way. So I'm gonna go over here know that Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm gonna be posting on the feed and maybe pick one other day that I could commit to. So I'm go if for the feed. And I'm also going to post on Mondays and Fridays because I think it's easier for me to come up with themes on Mondays and Fridays. Mondays could be like, you know, motivational, how was your weekend type content? And Fridays could be more like, what are you planning to do this weekend? What did you get done this week? I feel like I could pull more content out on Fridays. So we're going to plan to post on Instagram feed four times a week. Reels. I have found that I overthink reels, but reels do drive you a new audience. Again, I'm going to pick something that I think I can realistically do and I think I could realistically put out three reels a week to start with. Again, I want to start with something I can realistically approach so I don't throw this massive plan out here and immediately fail on the first week. So realistically, I think I can do reels three days a week. So we're going to do IR for reals. So now what it's looking like is three posts on Instagram on Mondays and Thursdays because I'm on a reel and a feed post, and then two posts technically on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Not posting on the weekend, I think it's doable for me. My audience isn't typically on on the weekends. You're usually moms, you're usually busy on the weekends. So I think this is doable for me. So you're going to replicate this week throughout the rest of the month. Now, let's talk about what should we be posting. We've got all of these published dates, but what are you actually posting on these days? So it's a new approach that I've been talking about in my community video strategy academy and with my clients called the firework approach. So that's what I did over here with my YouTube content. You'll see this particular video on January 3rd is what I call a core video. So with the firework approach, you have a core video and the whole purpose of that core video is to get people on your email list or to get people to buy something. This is my core video, where the purpose is to send people off of YouTube. Then I'm going to support that core video with four to six Spark videos. Right? With the firework, you have that core and then it sparks out to make that firework. So I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Spark videos, where the primary goal of these spark videos is to send people to the core video. Why this works. One, YouTube wants you to create content that makes bingeable sessions. Okay? So of all of these spark videos, the primary call to action at the end of the video is get them to this core video, which is like a meaty, chunky, big, valuable piece of content, pushes people to there. YouTube says, hey, we're going to push more of these spark videos to more people. Because if people watch that, they then click on that next video and they watch like a 20 to 30 minute video. By doing this approach, the firework approach, not only am I feeding the YouTube algorithm, but I'm feeding my business as well. So what should you be pushing in this core video? Well, you need to look at your calendar again and think about what are you promoting, what do you have coming up? Do you have any launches? What are you promoting that your core video can send people to? If we look over here, I have a launch Coming up at the end of February, and prior to that launch, we're going to be hosting a challenge. Knowing that my challenge kicks off the beginning of February, I have about two weeks of promo period that I want to send people to sign up for that challenge. The beginning of January is a little bit early to start pushing people to that challenge promo. So instead, I want to be pushing people to my prep system for video success. It's a small offer that I have available that you can purchase that really helps you understand content on a deeper level and gives you the processes inside of Asana and Trello to get this set up on your own so you don't have to figure it out on your own. You literally copy and paste mine or download mine. So I know for this first cluster, for this first firework, I'm going to promote my prep system, and then this second cluster, I'm going to promote my challenge. So what you want to do on your calendar is with your. Your promo color, what are you promoting at the beginning of the month? So for me, it's going to be prep, and let's say it runs three weeks and I'm promoting prep, then I know the next promotional thing, because I'm not promoting this on every single piece of content that I put out, but I know for three weeks, the primary goal is to push prep, right? So creating content that supports why you need a workflow that supports why you need to be on YouTube, that supports why you need to understand video content. That's how I know what content I'm going to be creating for three weeks. Then I know I am promoting my challenge, so I'm going to put that on here. So then we have a promotional period challenge. This is key to a successful posting strategy, because you don't just want to be slapping content up here without understanding the bigger picture. You want to be posting content. You want to be slapping content up that feeds into your business goals. Is it to make more money in your prep system? Is it to get more signups on your email list? Is it to get more people to your challenge? That is really what's going to formulate what your content is going to be. So we know this, we know what we're promoting. So, for example, if you've been following along here on my YouTube channel, you'll know that my core video went out about how to create a content calendar, a strategic content calendar from scratch. A spark video was new ways to grow on YouTube. The next one is, I believe, this particular video, and then we have another one Coming out about how I plan for my content. Like, how did I come up with these ideas? So I've already done that. What you need to do is think about what core video would really get people convinced that they need your offer or that they need your service or that they need to buy your course. Right. What core video, almost webinar, stylish video would get people to buy into or sign up for? Okay, then you want to think about the next, say, three YouTube videos. If you're just doing once a week, what other videos would support that? What other pieces of information will pull people in and it would make sense for them to watch that core video, that simple key, because if this is a video right here and it doesn't make sense for them to watch that core video, they're not going to jump to that core video. That's going to minimize your eyes on your offer. That's going to limit what YouTube pushes out on the algorithm. Because if this video doesn't get people to click to this video, YouTube is not going to push this to more people. Okay, now, how does your podcast fit in with your YouTube content? These should be two totally separate pieces of content, but also support each other. So what we have going on over here this week, I talked about what's working on YouTube right now. Today, I'm talking about how to set this up and promote your content more. So on the podcast this week, I'm talking about the overall theory, right? I'm talking on my podcast about creating a consistent stream of sales. And I'm saying that the way to do that is to have a strategic content plan. So what I'm going to do in that podcast is say I go into detail on how I do that over on my YouTube channel this week. Check it out. So you can actually see how I do this with markers and actively do it. And on this particular video, I'm going to tell you that over there, I tell you how this all works behind this scenes, like what the funnel looks like, what are the different things that I have in place to make this work. So if you want to hear all the different things that I have in place and the tools that I use, this is the podcast you need to go listen to. So these are both supporting each other since we know this month. I'm talking about strategic content and how to create strategic content to fit into your goals. All of my podcast episodes should Somehow support my YouTube content as well, because we're all on theme here. All right? It makes it a lot easier for people to Binge my content. The more they binge, the more they like me, the more likely they're going to convert into the prep system or into my program Video Strategy Academy. Okay, so you really want to think strategic here about the type of content that's going to lead people to the ultimate goal. And for these three weeks, ultimate goal is my prep system. And it just helps if you have your podcast in your YouTube video synergetically or working together or creating great synergy. And that's the best way to do it. Okay, so YouTube podcast, done. Now what the heck do we put on Instagram? We got the Instagram color, so we talked about the feed, we talked about stories, and we talked about real. Let's talk about Instagram feed posts and what works on Instagram right now. Hashtags used to get you a lot of reach prior to the past couple of months, maybe even longer. What's really getting you reach on Instagram right now is shareable content. Content that people want to share with their people, right? If I create a really great quote and people are like, wow, yes, I resonate with that. I'm going to share it with my audience. That gets me in front all of their audience. That's what's really going to work to grow your Instagram right now when it comes to feed posts. So I know I want to create at least one shareable piece of content on Instagram each week. So maybe that's my Monday post, right? Everybody is groaning that it's Monday, back to work. Maybe the kids just have a hard time getting back into their routine. So maybe I want to post some type of motivation every single Monday about why we do this or, you know, something that people want to share. So I'm going to put shareable right here. So shareable is my Instagram feed. Monday strategy. Another thing that works on Instagram is saveable content. When you go into the Explore tab on Instagram, what you are being shown is what is getting engagement. When people save your Instagram post. Again, that tells Instagram, this is great content. People are saving it. This must be great. I need to put it in front of more people. That's why you see so many Instagram carousels now, because people are really highlighting important information, you know, just the bits to achieve a goal by the end of that carousel. So you want to have at least one carousel post in your Instagram strategy. Carousels work great to promote your YouTube video or your podcast, because that's a little bit longer formal content. So I got an Instagram feed post here when my YouTube video goes live. So I'm going to highlight the key takeaways or the key points for my YouTube video for Instagram. So that is going to be my Instagram carousel post. So now I know every Monday I have a shareable piece of content, which is my motivational content on Monday. Every Tuesday, I know I have a savable piece of content. You know, content that carousel piece that everybody is saving. Another piece of Instagram content that I have found does really well for me is selfies and then sharing more about my story, Right? And so I've always tended to notice as I could share more of a story in an Instagram post that got more traction because more people were likely to engage or more people were likely to heart it. People aren't going to save this or share this piece of content, but it does create that deeper community. So I'm gonna put on here selfie for Thursday where I share more about my story. And then Friday, what I really want to do is get engagement. This is the whole purpose of this post, is to get people commenting. So it could be something super simple as what is your Friday night cocktail tonight? Like, what are you hoping to get to the end of the day? It's five o' clock somewhere. What are you pouring a drink to tonight? Or do you like oat milk or almond milk in your coffee? Or do you like black coffee? Or do you drink tea? Something as super simple as that? Or do you wish to start a YouTube channel this year? Are you skipping YouTube channel? Right. Something super easy for people to engage on. When I have these questions of the day type posts on my Instagram, they get the most engagement and the more you comment back to them and you have that conversation going back and forth again. Instagram is going to put that out to more people that will allow you to organically grow your Instagram content. So we know on Fridays it's going to be an engagement post. Now, I bet you didn't know this, but you can totally batch your Instagram stories and I highly recommend it. Today I'm batching my YouTube videos and I'm batching the Instagram stories that promote this video today as well. So that easily checks off one Instagram story for the week. We know that when your YouTube video goes live, you got an Instagram story to promote it. Let's say with your podcast, you do little chunks of your podcast with that wave, right? You don't even need to show up with your face on Instagram stories that day. You're just Gonna promote your podcast by sharing that little slideshow and incorporating clips of your podcast on Thursday. Now, you know you are promoting your prep system this week. For the next couple of weeks, you need a promo story. So what I'm talking about, promo is how can you highlight what you're promoting, what benefits they're going to get, what features are in it. And so when I talk about my prep system, I may do an Instagram story, pre plan, right? And talk about, okay, I'm planning my content, I'm getting it set up in my asana. Here's what my asana workflow looks like. This is why it's super easy for me to stay consistent with my content, right? Six to seven quick 15 second clips. That says you can also get my prep system. Just go to trina little.com prep and copy the exact process that I have. So I'm gonna have an Instagram story sometime every single week during this first three weeks promoting prep. So we're gonna do it on Wednesdays and it is. We just have Monday and Friday Instagram stories and then reels. So what else can you post about on Instagram stories? It's really important. It's a highlight. People you work with, what accomplishments you get done or what you're able to achieve. So I would always recommend like some type of win for your Instagram story. Whether it's a win, a client has a win that you have just to show that what you're teaching actually can happen in real life. Last is left is Monday. So maybe this is where you don't pre record these and you just leave it up to share your day a little bit. You know, pop in, share something you're watching that night, or just have more fun with that. So it's not something rigid, but still reminding yourself that you got to do that one. So we're going to call Monday's Instagram story a wild card. So now what we got are just Instagram reels. And while I don't have a dedicated process yet for reels, and I'm playing with it more this quarter, I will tell you that I have overthought my reels for too long. So what I would do is any of these videos that you create, how can you turn them into a reel? 15 to 20 seconds, you could just highlight the key points like I said, you could turn that video into a series of reels. Let's say I'm talking about the Instagram posts that you need to do every single week. Say each one that you needed to do. Or I could break down Instagram stories. Here's five ideas. Instagram feed. Here's five ideas. That's two reels. So try to simplify it. I would also look at other people out there in your feed or in your Explore tab. Don't copy them, but see how you can inject your creativity and your secret sauce into the way they are doing it. You don't have to get super fancy with editing, you don't have to do dancing, but find a way to at least do two reels a week. Because I do think we need to be focusing on reels. I just don't think we need to be overthinking them the way that I have found myself doing now. I'm going to show you some quick do's and don'ts when it comes to this, but I want to hear from you in the comments. Does this way of creating a strategic social media plan and showing you exactly what to post, when to post, really help you? So see how social media can be manageable, how it doesn't need to be so overwhelming? Let me know if you had any aha moments down in the comments because again, this has just worked for me. It may work for you, it may not. But I want to know if you feel like this is something that is now doable, that you could easily implement now. Because I haven't even incorporated what my Instagram stuff is like I said I always start with YouTube. I put my YouTube videos up there first and the pink post it so that it was episodic, so that it followed the firework approach. Then I put in my podcast, then I'll put in my Instagram content to support it. So thinking of it like a pyramid, YouTube at the top, which is one video, then podcast, then Instagram content. Let's quickly run through some do's and don'ts because I want to make sure you do this right so you can see the maximum results you really need to make this process work for you. Look, if you want to focus on YouTube and podcasting, focus on YouTube and podcasting. If you want to focus on blogging and Instagram, focus on blogging and Instagram. If you want to incorporate LinkedIn to the process, incorporate LinkedIn. It's your business, your rules. Nobody says you have to use YouTube. Nobody says you have to use Instagram. This is what's going to work for my business right now in Q1. Specifically, I may reevaluate this and determine, you know what, I'm going to shift this for the next 90 days and that's okay. You just need to have some metrics that you're looking at to determine did this work towards the goal I wanted to reach? If yes, do I keep going this way or do I change something? Don't stress over this. Like I said, you get to pick and choose what you want to do. You don't have to do it all. Absolutely. Especially if you are a team of one. You need to pick the things that you can pull off. And that's going to work for you. Absolutely. I promise it will work for you. You don't have to do all the social media platforms to make social media work for you and help you grow your business. Focus on the ones you can do and really give them your undivided attention and you'll see results. Do repurpose as much as possible. Kind of how I broke this all down. How can you really kind of like pick the meat off of that YouTube video, right? Kind of like a Thanksgiving turkey. How can you really take that YouTube video and maximize all the content that you created and researched and planned for and use it in as many places as possible? Definitely create those templates and create different types of ways to make this repurposing process as easy for you as possible. Don't feel like a failure. If you set this plan up and you go good for a week or two and then something happens and you miss a couple days, that is life. That is okay. You do not have to go all in. And if you don't do it every single day the right way, then you failed. I feel like this really, really ties into how I feel about exercising. I make a plan where I decide I'm gonna work out every single day. And if I miss a day, I think I've totally failed at that month. But it's fine. It's life. Pick back up the next day. Pick back up the next week. Okay? So don't tie yourself success into doing the plan you set up perfectly. Create a plan as a guidance and then try to pull off as much of that as possible. All right. Never feel like a failure because you didn't hit every single post you wanted to post. Do get a clear system in place. In fact, I always talk about Asana and how getting this digital is critical and really implementing this. So watch the video that's on your screen right now because it's going to show you how you can take everything we worked through today, get it to into Asana so that's easy to replicate again and again and again. That's how you're going to get in front of more people, and that's how you're going to get more eyes on your offers. Click that video now to jump in. And if this was really helpful for you, make sure you hit that subscribe button and I'll see you in that next video.