5 Content Creation Hacks for Small Business Success

Small businesses owners have a lot going on and more than likely got into business to, well, do whatever it is you sell, rather than do marketing. That being said, you can’t sell those things you love (services or products) without marketing in some fashion.

So while you may have to do marketing to succeed, you do NOT have to be a slave to it all day. Here are 5 tips for creating marketing content more efficiently:

3 Tips for Blog Content

Content isn’t just about social media these days. The majority of your content (aka what you create to tell your brand/service/product story) should live on a platform you own, namely your website. A blog is the perfect spot for this.

Write a blog article demonstrating your expertise in your field, if you are a service business, or about a topic related to the products you sell. Remember, these should be informative and not salesy.

Then, to get even more content from that one blog-writing effort, follow these three steps:

1. Use blog copy in the email sent to promote it.

After writing the blog, take the first 2-3 paragraphs and enter them into an email you send to your list with a “continue reading…” or other call to action at the end that will send readers to the website to read it all.

2. Use blog photos & graphics in social media promotions.

Pull photos used in the blog and a paragraph or two for support and use them as individual social posts. These can be posted across Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. Depending on the length of your blog, you could generate an additional 2-5 social posts from what you have already written.

3. Include quotes and links in your email funnel.

If you have a lead nurture funnel that is automated, use that blog content IN the funnel. Again, no need to recreate the wheel and write fresh content for every single email in your funnel if you already have content you’ve written. Use it in a different way to nurture those new leads into customers.

Right there you have written one big piece of content, a blog, and from that you’ve also spurred an email, two to five blog posts, AND a secondary email in your lead funnel. Boom!

Instagram Hack 1: Reels Template Feature

Instagram is one of the platforms I get the most questions about these days. It’s fun, it’s popular and the audience size is expanding. The kicker is that as it has grown, simply posting photos is no longer enough. The algorithm consistently favors accounts that utilize its favorite feature: Reels.

These are very cool, entertaining/informative and…can take a very long time to make.

Well, at least if you keep doing it the old way. The new “Use Template” feature makes it faster. I advise clients to pay attention when they are scrolling through Reels and Save rather than “like”, any that have a “Use Template” marker and cool timing effect between the slides.

When you go back to create a new Reel, go to your Saved posts, click the “Use Template” on that Reel you liked, and simply swap out the original content for your own pics/video saving yourself a LOT of editing time.

Instagram Hack 2: Trending Audio

Trending audio!!! A big way to get more reach for less time on Instagram is to use trending audio.

How to find trending audio:

When you spend time on Instagram (15 min a day is fine for checking in), listen to the audio on Reels. Look for a little arrow in the bottom left corner next to the name of the audio. That indicates it is trending now. Tap the audio, and hit the “save” button.

It will then be easily accessible for you when it comes time to create your own Reel and you won’t spend unnecessary time sorting through audio options, a task that can easily go from two minutes to 45 minutes later.