3 Reasons Why You Should Use Daily Content Themes
Want a social media manager’s secret to creating content? Have a system for content fillers. It’s really that simple.
After drafting key items for the month, like posts for a product launch or to follow-up from a recent newsletter, many will use content fillers - or high-level daily content themes - to fill in any gaps.
High-level daily themes are basically post prompts to help further branding consistency. They’re not the priority for posting; these are purely content fillers to be used between announcements or whatever other points you wish to share with your community and followers via social media. It’s important to think of daily content themes as ways to further brand awareness, build community, or offer social listening.
Here are 3 reasons why daily themes work (and because alliteration is awesome, I included short phrases to help you remember each one):
1. Prevent Panic Posting
If you’ve ever had a ‘oh crap! I need to post something NOW’ moment and ended up quickly posting a blurry image with a franticly tapped out “I did something” message, that’s panic posting. While some spontaneous posts can do well, often last minute posts can backfire. They can leave your long-term audience wondering if you’re ok, while leaving an unfortunate first impression for new or potential audiences of your brand thanks to a non-message message. By using a daily content theme, you’ll be able to look at the week’s plan and know what to post.
High-Level Daily Content Theme Examples
2. Create Content Consistency
We all know algorithms thrive on posting consistency, but did you know your community does too?
You may notice there are large gaps in your content calendar after sorting out product or service announcements and other priority messages for the upcoming month, along any special social days or holidays you may wish to acknowledge; so daily content themes can help further posting consistency for your audience.
A friend, without fail, posts a topic every Monday as that week’s theme with her insights; on Wednesday, she continues the conversation; and on Friday, she wraps it up with a thought or two for her community to mull over the weekend. I know exactly what to expect on these three days from her.
On the other days, I’ve definitely noticed a pattern in what she posts, often loosely related to the week’s topic. For example: she alternates between posting on Saturdays and Sundays; on Saturdays, the posts are related to some sort of weekend activity, while Sundays are generally about taking Sunday back for herself. My best guess is when she plans her content calendar, she wants to bridge weekends to the week, so she has two themes she works from (and both tie in neatly to popular weekend hashtags to boot).
BTW: “consistency” doesn’t mean posting every day. It simply means having a regular posting schedule that best works for you and your community. When I create a posting plan for clients, it’s created for what’s within their current capabilities, gradually working up to the following general schedule, using daily themes: Week A (Tues, Thurs, Sat) and Week B (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun).
So how do we apply this IRL? Let’s look at a retailer that wants to tell shoppers about: 1) new products, 2) a sale, & 3) shipping deadlines for an upcoming holiday.
3. Beat Brainstorming Burnout
How many times have we sat in front of our laptop, staring at the wall, feeling creatively zapped? It’s the worst. By having a daily theme, you can quickly check the theme and - BOOM! - inspiration strikes. Or at the very least, it simplifies the task at hand with a writing prompt, helping you be strategic yet thoughtful about the post.
An important side note about content creation and creative burnout (or the overwhelming need to take a break): Not every post needs to be overly clever or filled with deep insight; it should however value your audience’s time. If you constantly feel pressured to always be whip-smart or create a heart-clenching, deeply insightful post, that constant pressure will make your creative well run dry and creating content feel burdensome. In part, your brand’s content style should feel natural to you, and by having a content creation system, like daily themes, allows you the creative flexibility needed to actively share content, while building an authentic relationship with and growing your community.
And something I’ll dive into more in another post, but applies here: a very common, yet the most telling, thread within the brands I love to follow: they’re building community honestly. Each post shows they value their community’s time - they’re not throwing out a post ‘just because’. Check out three, of the many, brands that I enjoy following: here, here, and here. Again, I’ll dive more into how to build community later, but it applies in how to create well-rounded content.
A Case Study: Putting Daily Content Themes Into Practice
A few month ago, I was conducting an audit for a new client, and noticed once a month, over the course of 2-3 days, there would be a flurry of posts showing all of her store’s new products. Some posts would have one image and others would have ten, with copy that seemed to be quickly typed out, and often shared at night. And then, crickets; nothing for days.
When I asked her about it, she said she wanted her followers to know what was new, so she pushed them out immediately. And after talking a bit more, she mentioned she posted directly from her phone (so always on the fly), mainly felt social media was a burden, and often had a hard time being “creative,” so she’d jam posting in during a brief lunch break or after dinner.
Using her current situation and setting a timeline to help her reach her marketing goals, I created a strategy that included high-level daily themes centered on lifestyle-type topics, to make it easier to group and share new products, current inventory, and sale items. We also made the decision to shift from relying heavily on social media to a strategic use of her newsletter coupled with social media.
We also reviewed her work calendar and discussed when she felt most creative (mornings), so we scheduled two weekly content creation appointments into her calendar. Each specifically blocked an hour so she could focus on creating content and queuing posts for the following week in a scheduler, before moving on to other work projects and tasks. Since then, she’s noticed her content creation is far more efficient and productive. And her community has definitely noticed too with increased engagement and steady growth with social media followers and newsletter subscribers.
bottom line:
Use high-level daily themes to fill content gaps in your content calendar. They can prevent last minute-posting off-brand mistakes; offer consistency for both the algorithm and your community; and help you stay focused while creating content. Remember: they’re the back-up, not the priority.
