Top tips for creating a content strategy. Plus: What's trending the week of May 2 and who to follow now

In business, it’s standard practice to define your goals and determine your priorities and course of action. For an individual creator it’s not that different. Developing a content strategy can help ensure that the time you’re putting into your posts is time well spent. In an earlier era, questions of strategy would inevitably lead to discussions about a content calendar. That’s the past. Now the best creators have points of view on what formats work best for them, how often they’re posting, and how they want to be perceived. One creator once told me that she blocks out 15 minutes of every day just to comment on other people’s posts — that’s how she starts her day and that’s how she built her following. We’re clearly a long way from the “What’s my Mother’s Day post?” era.

Morgan J Ingram is a Linkedin Learning instructor. His course is called LinkedIn Creator Posting Strategy. He recommends posting every single day. Though to start, he suggests posting once a week and then building up from there. He also favors testing your content and when you post, but there is one tip he subscribes to above all else. He told me: “I believe staying consistent is the most important because you won’t know what works or doesn't work if you don’t say consistent.” These are his top five tips for a successful content strategy:

1. Always stay consistent (of course)
2. Be willing to A/B test your content?
3. Plan out your day to do content?
4. Pick a medium you like to communicate on best (example: video, written or audio)?
5. Ignore the haters

But the rules for content strategy aren’t etched in stone. In fact, if you ask a handful of creators for the top five most important things they consider when developing a content strategy, you’ll undoubtedly get a variety of answers. That’s exactly what happened when I talked to a select group of creators who’ve really got their strategy down. I wanted to know how they think about their content strategy from idea to execution.?

Be ready to capture all ideas

Head of community at Lawtrades, Matt Margolis is always thinking about content. As he explains in this post, it’s a role he essentially fell into by consistently posting about his work-related experiences and building a community of like-minded lawyers he found through that process. He recommends starting by identifying your core message. What are you trying to get across? For him, it’s “presenting the good and bad of the legal industry in a very human and funny way.” He devotes an hour or more a week to plan out content related to that message, but it doesn’t always happen that way. Matt told me: “That said, there are plenty of times that a random thought on a Tuesday will result in a content idea. I try to write those ideas down as fast as I can (they disappear really fast).” On average, he plans 2-3 pieces of content and schedules them throughout the week.?

Even better, he listens to his community — what they’re commenting on and how they’re talking will inform what he’s creating. He aims for high quality conversations, not just high quality content.

I was curious to see the tangible results of his approach and asked him to show me examples of the before and after. He was a bit reluctant, but here’s one I was able to pry away from him. He refers to this post about a piece of legislation that was proposed in Florida as, “the perfect example of a boring piece of content.” In retrospect, he says he could have done a short video explaining the legislation.?

Matt’s content strategy has come a long way in a year. Today his posts look more like this one. It’s concise and touches on his core message. He described it as a ”funny delivery of an aspect of the legal industry that we all find strange/contradictory.” He told me it came to him on the fly after someone joked about needing to find a template on the internet.?

Plan but assume plans fall apart

When I asked Matt if he’s able to plan ahead and still stay nimble he said: “Absolutely! Plans change. An idea for content pops into your head? Newsworthy event that aligns with your central message? A comment chain turns into a topical piece of content? Go with it. There are no hard and fast rules!”

When it comes to the rules for content strategy, Matt has the right idea. It takes some trial and error to get the right set of rules for you. What works for Matt may not be the perfect formula for someone else.?

For example, Karen Shafrir Vladeck, Managing Director at Whistler Partners has a very different approach to how she thinks about planning. Overall, her strategy is to not have a rigid strategy. Here’s what she told me: “Maybe I am in the minority, but I don't think out content in advance. Sometimes I will have an idea that I will write into my notes app on my phone that I will come back to if I have the time, but none of my content is particularly planned in advance or follows a sort of path that I think a content creator should take. I see content creation as something that I do because I genuinely enjoy the engagement and want to engage with folks and not because I want the content itself to be a product.

“I know lots of content creators create posts well in advance, but for me that feels less authentic (don't be mad at that answer, planners!) I try to post about things that are going on in my life right now or that something in my job/life has made me think about. That's just the strategy that has worked for me and what makes me enjoy using social media as opposed to making it feel like a job.”

I was hoping Karen would share some older posts as examples of her content before she solidified her approach but I couldn’t convince her. She told me: “LOL no! I am not reviving those old posts.” I can’t say I blame her. Instead, I had to settle for her top five tips:

1. Create real, genuine content that is related to your actual life and not just your work life.?
2. Form the kind of content that you want to see.?
3. You don't have to be a professional content creator to start creating content. I am a lawyer turned legal recruiter! I have never been trained in content creating and I make 100% of my own content. My entire network has been organically grown and I think it is because it has all been my own voice.?
4. "Treat others how you want to be treated" applies to content and engagement. Don't expect that people will engage with you if all you do is post your own content and never engage. Engagement is a two way street!
5. Ask yourself before you post something: Why am I posting this? Is it purely for "likes"? Is it because you want advice? Is it because you are seeking people with similar interests? Is it because you are being told you have to do it for your job? Is it to make people laugh? The reason that you are posting something should drive what ?you are posting and not the other way around.?

Engagement drives engagement

After hearing from Morgan, Matt and Karen, it’s clear that an effective content strategy is not one size fits all. You may find some useful tips in what they shared and you’ll likely stumble on a few more as you work through your own process. And if you’re still looking for a few additional insights to pull from, I have some bonus tips for you.

Mikey McBryan, General Manager at Buffalo Airways, told me he believes the best LinkedIn content strategy should evolve over time and engagement is key to retaining followers. He said: “Don’t be a Zombie, take care of the people behind those follower numbers, that is the best strategy.” When I asked Mikey to share some examples of what’s worked for him, he shared this short video post of his father arriving at work that went viral with over 7,300 reactions, 401 comments and 119 shares.

Melinda Emerson is an author and business coach. Her priorities when it comes to her content strategy are to provide consistent value and develop a strategy that is authentic to you. She shared this advice: “Don't focus on what's popular, focus on what makes sense for your business, what you enjoy doing, and your schedule.” She carves out one day a week to create content, posts consistently and makes sure she repurposes, getting two to three uses out of each piece of content. She told me: “It was a learning curve to start creating short-form videos. I was used to more polished productions. I struggled at first to just whip out my phone and record, but the response has been amazing.”

Upcoming Audio Events for the Week of May 2

May 5?

JinJa Birkenbeuel, Branding & NFTs: How To Create and Grow and NFT Community, RSVP

May 6?

Chris Do, Magnetize Your Self, Magnetize Your Brand!, RSVP

Future Cain, Our Mental Health Matters and Not Just in May, RSVP

Here are the topics generating attention over the last 7 days. These give you clues about what the audience on LinkedIn is looking for; use the insights to help you with your own posting ideas. Anything with a ?? is likely to continue to trend for another 2 weeks.?

?? #AAPIHeritageMonth: LinkedIn members pay tribute to Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which will continue through the month of May.

??? U.S. job departures in March highest on record U.S. employers posted 11.5 million openings as four-and-a-half million Americans left their jobs in March.

?? Starbucks offers $1B wage increase The company raises barista pay for the third time since their workers in three Buffalo, New York stores voted to unionize last summer.

Expected to trend: May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Use hashtag #MHAM or #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth to share your mental health experience or offer insights to help companies provide support for employees’ mental health.

Each week, I’ll highlight creators who are initiating meaningful conversations on LinkedIn. These members use a variety of tools — from live video to polls — to nurture their audience. See if any of their actions work for you or engage with them directly by leaving a comment and sharing your insights.

1. In this video collab, India’s ?Lubna Malhotra, along with Tanya Bahl? and Ananya Narang team up to talk about making the most of your college years.
2. Founder & Managing Director of Element of Inclusion, Dr. Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey points out the real cost of not building a modern workplace in this post.
3. In this post, Director at Climate Finance Advisors Darius Nassiry highlights findings from a Georgetown University study that calculates the impact of climate change on wild animal habitats and potential future pandemics.
4. Business, healthcare and compliance lawyer Irnise F. Williams, Esq takes a stand for nurses, encouraging them to shake off public presumptions to define their own view of themselves.
5. Entrepreneur Luke Manton shares the personal story of how his struggles and triumphs after being diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome have led him full circle.