Stop Scrolling for Inspiration and Start Planning With Themes
One of the things I come back to over and over again in my workshops and my keynote, Six Months of Content Planning in a Day, is themes/content pillars.
Having your themes for the month planned out in advance makes a huge difference when it comes to planning what to post.
It’s honestly the difference between getting a post online or scrolling through Instagram searching for inspo for hours.
When business owners tell me, ‘I don’t know what to post,’ this is always the missing piece. Once you start using themes, content creation becomes SO MUCH easier and way less overwhelming.
What Are Themes?
Themes, also referred to as Content Pillars, are the main topics your business talks about online. Think of them as the categories you rotate through when you're planning your content.
A boutique inn, for example, might have themes like:
The experience guests have when they stay
Behind-the-scenes glimpses of the team and the property
The surrounding area
What's happening locally
The story of the people who run the place.
Five themes. That's a whole content plan right there!
Instead of staring at your phone every Monday morning, wondering what to post, you already know the rotation of things you’ll post about. So you don’t need to scramble looking for inspiration!
How This Works in Practice
In my Social Media Content Planner, I have mapped out the exact process I use with my clients in the front section of the book.
That includes a section that walks you through mapping out your monthly themes, special dates, and topics before you touch a single post.
That planning step is what makes social media manageable! You plot out the things you need to talk about, like a sale, a seasonal change, or an event, and then you fill in your themes around them.
By the time you sit down to create, the decisions are already made! You're not writing months of content, but you are making the decisions that let you create content faster every single week after that.
Themes Are Not the Same as Tactics
You might think, ‘Why do I need a content planner when we cover what to post every week in the Social Media Minute?’
What I see a lot of people make the mistake of is thinking that tactics and strategy are the same thing on social media. They’re not!
Themes are the ongoing topics your business is known for. They don’t change all through the year; they’re regular and easy to plan for.
Tactics are the individual actions you take to get content out, like filming a quick video on your phone, updating your bio, or commenting on 5 posts in your community.
Every issue of the Social Media Minute includes a tactic you can use in a few minutes to show up online. Those tactics are actionable steps you can take to improve your social media presence in minutes.
Themes are part of the overall strategy for your social media accounts. They help you stay ahead.
Both matter, but they do different jobs. Themes keep your content consistent and recognizable over time. Tactics help you take action when you have ten minutes and need something to post.
Themes vs. Tactics in Action
Here's how the two look side by side, using a local Nova Scotian boutique inn as an example:
Themes (your ongoing content categories):
The guest experience: what people feel, see, taste, and do when they visit
Your team and the behind-the-scenes of running the property
The local area: events, businesses, and what's happening nearby
The story behind the inn: why you started it and what makes it yours
Tactics (actions you can take any week to create content from those themes):
Film a 30-second video on your phone showing a room being set up for a guest
Share a photo from a local event and tag the organizer
Ask a recent guest to send you a photo from their stay and share it with their permission
Post about a local business you love and why you send guests there
Your themes tell you what your content is about. Your tactics tell you how to get it made and posted.
The Social Media Content Planner
Making sure you’re signed up for my newsletter to get access to weekly tactics is the first step to showing up consistently online.
The second step is making sure you have a copy of The Social Media Content Planner to make posting online easy peasy!
It has a dedicated section at the front to help you do exactly this, before you plan a single post. Once your themes are mapped, the rest of the planning falls into place a lot faster.