THE 4-STEP PROCESS TO NAILING YOUR CONTENT MARKETING WITH CONTENT QUEEN'S MARIAH MACINNES

For those of you that don’t know, many of my LinkedIn articles come from recent episodes of my Own Your Hustle podcast – that I then get transcribed. And, as of recording one of my most recent episodes, which I’ll detail here for you, we just passed 100,000 downloads!!

I have so many of you listening in to the podcast and I don’t think I know all of you. So, let me know that you’re tuning in! No more sneaky listening – haha. Come and say hello to me on Instagram or drop a comment here and let me know what the podcast has done for you and how it helps you stay motivated or what big takeaways that you always walk away from. Most times, people will say it's an energy. Actually, I had one of my podcast listeners say ‘Every time I listen to you, I just make money in my business. A registration will come in or an enrolment will come in. Etc.’ And I'm like, ‘That is awesome. Bring it on!’

Other things that have happened in the last few weeks -> I hosted my very first spirituality in business event. Oh my goodness, I am still riding off the high of it! We had 25 attendees in the end. There were few people on the night who couldn't make it and we missed you! But we had such an incredible evening. Honestly, I didn't know where it was going to go with these sorts of events, you know, I really do surrender to the universe. And funnily enough, that was the topic of the evening, but it was more about just whatever the message needs to be or has to be. I really trusted my guides to have that come through, and it's funny because everybody took something so individual away from it.

I had one of my clients who said that he literally had notes and notes full of the evening, but he didn't ask a question at all. He just sat there and just wrote and wrote and wrote. I had another client of mine say she went back home that evening and meditated and had one of the deepest, most powerful meditations of her life and just felt like the whole universe open up to her. I had another client of mine having epiphany that ‘Oh my gosh, like this is what I was always meant to be doing. And I realise now where I've been holding myself back’. Others saying that they remembered they had certain spiritual gifts when they were children, and somewhere along the way it got lost and forgotten about. And they're so excited to reignite their spirituality again.

This was all just so encouraging because there was a portion of me (or a part of me) that had always been searching for a community that would really bridge that gap between loving all things spiritual and discovering spiritual tools, but able to apply that in a very practical business sense. And this was something that I searched for for a really long time. I mean, obviously there are a lot of entrepreneurs and coaches out there who are very spiritually, who meditate and journal, who draw cards and who hear messages from their guides. But there's not really anything out there to teach how to be spiritual in a very practical business world. And this is something that I'm just being called more and more to. I actually started writing out a draft course, a brand new course that I'll be putting out there to the universe very, very shortly. So keep an eye out for that.

Other things that have happened -> very challenging vibes with everything to do with the #coronavirus happening right now, I talked about this in my last article here as well as some practical steps you can take to future proof your business throughout this current climate. I hope everybody is taking care wherever you were listening in the world. I'm sending you a lot of safe and protective vibes and trusting that you're looking after yourself and taking the right precautions.

With all those updates aside and without further ado, I would love to introduce you to Mariah MacInnes. Mariah and I have actually worked together at a private level before, and Mariah is also a mastermind client now. We are going to talk all about how to start copywriting in your business and, writing content that actually makes a difference, moves the needle and finally expressing what you want to your most align clients. Mariah is going to give you her pro tips on what she does with her clients to help raise their visibility, to be seen and to be heard in a way like never before.

So Mariah, for everybody reading, how would you describe what you do and your business?

Thank you so much for having me here, I'm so excited!

Essentially, what I do now is a lot of content creating, content marketing and content writing.

I started out with just writing blog articles for people. But as I have a background in marketing, I now help people create content with purpose and strategy. So they're not just they're showing up for the audience to create an aligned audience and they're showing up with meaning so everything makes sense and it's not just creating for the sake of creating, it's creating to attract the people that you want to bring into your business.

Oh that is so amazing. And you've really evolved even within content writing itself as a niche like you've really carved out a space on the Internet and you carved out your perfect clients and who you want to work with you! In our time working together, I remember you had this light bulb moment where you realised there was a bit of a formula, almost like a blueprint that people could follow to write and to engage and to connect more with the audience. Did you want to share that with us today? 

Yes, absolutely. So I thought of this while I was creating my podcast because I switched from my fun podcast to more of a serious content marketing podcast because I really love educating people because I don't think I necessarily have to write for everyone.

 I think everyone has the written voice within them.

I was showing up on my Instagram and I’d get my phone out every night I’d go - What am I going to post? I don't know. I have no idea. And I’d just find a photo on my phone and put some words to it get like no likes and no engagement. And I thought, but if I just keep doing it maybe one day it will get some likes.

Then I thought, ok, when we show up for our business we don't want to sell to people because we're just selling all the time and then no one's going to be listening because they're going to think ‘They just want me to buy. They don't actually value me as a client or a customer, whatever that looks like’.

So I had to think about it, and I know there's a lot around this but I came up with what I call the four content pillars. And I think this summarises it in four really easy ways.

And it's to INFORM, EDUCATE, ENGAGE and to HAVE FUN.

So, you look at your calendar for your week and the platforms you show up on and you fill them in with these four pillars and you have a theme around these four pillars there for your business. It could be, for instance, this week I am talking about how content marketing sells. So all of my pillars will form around that theme, and I might have a couple of little fun stuff in there to go with the fun pillar. But essentially it will ensure that all my content aligns, and I know exactly what I'm going to talk about before I even look at my calendar for the week.

INFORM

Inform is to tell people about who you are, who your business is or what your business is and what you could provide them. So that's kind of your promotional stuff, but it doesn't always have to be promotional. It can be, a little back story on your business, whatever that looks like in that week and whatever suits your whole content strategy.

EDUCATE

Educate is your value add content. So that's your educational pieces around your niche. That could look like, for me, where I'm going to give people value on how content marketing sells and what they need to do. So I might do a long form Instagram post on the four tips and that'll be the four tips on how content marking sells.

ENGAGE

Then you've got Engage, and that's where you ask people for feedback and two way communication. Because I have a PR background as well, we were always told that two way communication is key for promotion of business because people don't want to be talked at anymore. They want to engage with your content. So your engaging pieces are where you ask people to interact with you. Ask them their thoughts on things. Ask them to tag someone in this or whatever that looks like. Your call to actions are an engaging part of your posts too.

HAVE FUN

Have Fun is who you are, what your business is about in terms of behind the scenes kind of stuff and what you do on weekends. These all come down to whether you are personal branding your business in terms of the face behind the business or, if you're in a business where you might have a team or you're not necessarily the person behind that brand, you just have a brand that you work for. It just depends on where you want to go with that. But I think it's really important to show the faces behind the brand anyway. I don't think you should hide away from work or hide yourself from the business behind your logo. I think you need to show your team members too. That's huge on LinkedIn, if you look at like corporate world. So, you can bring that up even if your business name doesn't have your personal name in it.

If you spread your four content pillars - Inform, Educate, Engage and Have Fun - across your week, then you know each day exactly what you're going to be talking about. Because you know what pillar you're going to dip into and then you use your theme for the week to thread through those pillars, so everything connects.

So you might have a core piece of content, which for example, yours Ruby might be your podcast, mine is also my podcast. And then you have the blog that complements that or whatever other piece of content you have. So that's your core piece to go throughout the week.

If you don't have a blog or a podcast and you just have your social media, you could still have a theme for that week, and it's around your niche. So then instead of just posting things every day on different topics around your business, you've got a theme, and then everything talks and weaves together. And then you fill it with your fun stuff. You know, the quote you like, what you did that week and, whatever inspired you. And then you're engaging on all different levels and on all different pillars.

It's an easy way to put it in your calendar and to show every day where you're showing up and then what kind of content you're talking about. So when you go in on a Sunday or whatever that looks like, you know each day where you're showing up and what that looks like for your business.

Wow, this is awesome. So a couple of questions that have fallen from this, can we quickly do a little mini workshop? There's a lot of service based entrepreneurs, mainly coaches that will read this. So let's say you're a social media coach and you're wanting to take this formula and put it into play ... if they say to you 'Mariah, I want to start learning how to use this formula and I want to go through these four steps'. So if you're a social media coach and you go through the INFORM stage, you would basically just be saying, 'Hi, guys. My name so and so. And I run a social media agency. But I also do coaching as part of my offering ...' is this mainly what you would do in the INFORM stage?

Yes. So firstly you'd obviously introduce your brand and who you are and within that you can also talk about your journey, where you started, why you started, your purpose. Then you might talk about your offer for the month. So that's your INFORM promotional. But obviously, the way we talk and the way we promote now is very conversational.

Everyone will see how you Ruby go about it. Everything is very natural in the way that you write things and the way you speak about it. It's just a conversation. You're not saying 'Buy this! Get in! Don't miss out! Hurry!' - all those really sales-y words. You're just talking about what you love doing and and what you can do to help people and why you like helping them. And then you say, 'And I've got this offer for this month'.

So try to use it as promotional but also inform everyone about what you do at the same time. Informing doesn't just have to be introducing who you are. It could be talking about your background, your stories, how you got where you are and then also what you can do in each month to help others - so what you're launching and what your offers are.

I love this. This is obviously really great for Instagram if you're doing a written post but also for other platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. So when we go into the EDUCATE phase and it's a longer form post, would that be more like step one, two, three? Like 'Here are the 3 tips that I can give you like that can help you out with - so you're really stamping your authority with your expertise?

Yes. For example, if you were a social media coach it might be 'What are the best four platforms to engage your business or to create more followers'. Or 'How do you get more followers on Instagram'. So it's all about creating that value, breaking it down and looking at what you can educate them in that someone would need to know about what you actually offer. But, instead of promoting it, you're giving them that free value added content. You might not be saying anything different from anyone else out there, but:

1. People need to hear something seven times before they actually resonate with it and,
2. That's when you start gaining the really aligned clients. I wrote a post about this a couple of months back after I listened to a podcast and they spoke about how 'Just because you're saying what everyone else is saying, it doesn't matter. It's the way that you deliver it, that someone will resonate with you'. So if you're really passionate about what you're talking about, it doesn't matter if John down the road is saying and Mary on Instagram in America is saying it ... You will say in the way it resonates with your audience. Never be afraid to talk about what you're passionate about just because everyone else is doing it. There are so many people in this world so you're all going to get clients and, you each can't handle everyone in the world!

It's all about the way that you deliver it.

So start consistently writing about the educational aspects and you'll soon start finding new things in your business to talk about because you're looking for them. The 4 step content pillars came to me because I was just trying to generate content that would help people create content easier. And it came to me because I was putting my energy into it and thinking about it. There is so many things you could talk about when it comes to you or the niche you are writing about, you just haven't thought about them yet because you're not currently putting energy into it.

And if you still don't know (what to write about) then hire Mariah! Ok so - ENGAGE. Now, this is the one that I think a lot of people get undone with on. The main reason is because they're like 'I've tried and no one's talking to me. No one's responding. No one's commenting. I feel like a loser. It's literally crickets out there'. So how do you move your clients out of that mindset into a stage where they are starting to attract more engagement on their posts?

Yes, this is a good one because I still get crickets too guys. It's fine! You just need to create the stuff that people want to hear. Whether you ask them or, if you don't have clients or an audience yet, generate some topics from:

• Answer the public,
• Google trends and,
• Uber suggest by Neil Patel

Look at what people are searching for and then create the content around that.

Be consistent and remember it's the energy that you put into it (not simply whether someone is engaging with the topic externally). If you're just posting because you go, 'I know someone's told me I need a post'. You're not going to get the engagement that you want.

And even when your energy is there sometimes there will still be crickets. But when you do live videos and no one shows up - it doesn't mean they won't watch the replay. So continue to post that content. If you do a live, look at what you could do with it, cut it up and continue to use it. And remember that when it comes to engagement, people are too scared to engage straightaway because they're not sure if they're going to say the wrong thing.

Think about when you're in class and the teacher asks a question and no one puts a hand up because they're too scared to get the answer wrong. Maybe your clients are too scared. To communicate right now, what I recommend is to have conversations with your audience outside of the comment box, outside of the Facebook/Instastories polls, outside of the question boxes on Instastories.

Actually message people and have conversations with them.

When I first started my podcast, I remember having conversations with people and I just said 'What do you wanna listen to on the podcast, what are the kinds of things?'. They came in with a long list of content ideas and now they'll just like comment on my stuff because I've actually created engagement by talking with it off fly. No one else can see that but they'll go 'Okay Mariah is really engaging with me, so I'll reply to her feed or whatever'.

Don't be afraid to continue to be consistent because the penny will drop one day and you'll get all this engagement and won't be sure where it came from.

It's because you're putting energy into it, and I understand that posting when you don't get any feedback or any comments can make you feel a little bit stuck or like a bit of a loser because no one's replying to you, but you're not. You're adding value and, eventually you will build those relationships with your clients where they will just continually feed from you and reply to you.

Note: just because they don't reply to you in the feed doesn't mean they're not connecting with you on messenger. Not everyone has to see those comments flowing in. If you're having those really engaging conversations in messenger and in the DM, that should mean more to you than getting the comments actually physically on the page. Because they want to talk to you off site, off the actual feed, off Instagram and have conversations with you in the messages - that's how you have more aligned conversations and more in depth conversations. They'll open up more to you because they know not everyone can see the conversation happening.

When I first started I had zero comments and I had these discussions with my business besties or even just like best friends at work who would say, 'Oh, I saw your post and that was interesting!' and then they would raise something. They wouldn't have commented but they'd raise it in person or coffees or networking events, whatever the case is. And I took that as engagement, and I would then put that back up online so that was super encouraging.

I think you've just butt kicked a lot of people who have been wallowing in their sorrow of not having any engagement whatsoever.

The last pillar - HAVE FUN/behind the scenes. This is something that, for me, comes naturally. More so than educate, engage or inform. But I know there's a lot of people who forget this step and sometimes we can be super focused on being very valuable that we forget the value comes from the lifestyle and the joy behind it and why we do what we do. People love to see a good mime and a good desk chair dance/boogie. It brings a smile to people's faces.

100%. So if you're concerned that you're not getting any engagement, post a couple of pics of you travelling and you will get people commenting, I can guarantee you. Then they'll build those relationships and will start commenting on your other stuff.

Don't underestimate the fun because that's where you become super relatable and you become human.

People love having those really fun conversations that aren't always business so when you create that they come in the funnel at the very top. So if you look at your business funnel they're at the top of that awareness bit with your fun. They might progress a lot slower than someone that comes in with your educational pieces but never underestimate the fun side of your business because it's makes who you who you are.

And that's how you start showing the real you in your business and that's how you attract your aligned clients.

The people that are like minded to you. x

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Oh, my goodness how incredible is Mariah? Her knowledge is just so deep! Show some love and share this so that more people and the world can hear Maria's incredible message and, let me know what your number one takeaway was below.

In the meantime, I hope to see more of you in Own Your Hustle: The Membership. You will meet incredible souls like Mariah on the inside. The doors are currently open and classes have started.

I'm taking you through the ins and outs of how to launch and my live launch cycle, you'll hear the reality of how I made $50,000 plus you'll have access to the community and over 50 hours worth of content. So much good stuff in there. Get stuck into The Membership. I can't wait to meet you on the inside.

Let me know as soon as you join that I can welcome you with open arms.

Remember, you can absolutely #ownyourhustle.

Ruby x

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