We always want to learn the most effective ways to market our business online. We look to online mentors and marketers for advice and support. 

But there are always things that don’t get shared. The logistics, the creative process, how yes we aren’t perfect either. 

So - let me share some of the things you might not know about content marketing and how you could use this knowledge to improve your efficiency.  

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah. ⁠⁠⁠

✨ ⁠⁠JOIN CONTENT BOOTCAMP AND GET YOUR STRATEGY REVIEWED BY ME (if you are the first 10) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠✨

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

• The 5 things social media managers and content marketers don’t always share

• Processes to help you be more efficient 

• The creative process of content marketing 

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

• JOIN Content Bootcamp (be one of the first 10 in June and get a FREE video review of your strategy from me) - ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.contentqueenmariah.com/content-marketing⁠⁠

• Find out more about how to WORK WITH US -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.contentqueenmariah.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Connect with us on INSTAGRAM -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 230, and I'm telling you some things that content marketers and social media managers don't tell you, but it'll help you with your own content creation journey as a business owner. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur, storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content Bootcamp and founder of Content Queen.

I'm here to teach you how to share your unique content. Story. Create content and market your business with strategy through the channels that work for you. Each week I'll deliver a story to help you connect to a powerful strategy around marketing, business, and content creation. I'll also be joined by amazing souls and entrepreneurs who are here to share their own journey along with actual steps to help you take your business to a whole new level through amazing storytelling, powerful line marketing, and content strategy.

Let's do it! Hello gang! Alright, we are still in June. And that means that our content bootcamp birthday offer is still up for grabs. So basically, when you purchase content bootcamp in the month of June,  the first 10 people will get a video recording of me going through their strategy and giving feedback to optimize it and strengthen it before you implement it.

Not all 10 are left. So if you're interested in joining bootcamp, this is now the time. If you've been waiting for me to run it live, cause I do that, you will get access to a live run when I run it. So now is the perfect time because you'll get access to it live when it runs, but then you get this video review of my strategy of your strategy by me.

And before we jump into things that I think I have, how many I've got five things that I want to share with you. About the world of content marketers, social media managers that will help you with your content. Um, I want to flag the importance of content. So basically I mentor people and I have some mentoring that I do  and as part of it we do like a quarterly call because it's more like done on whatsapp and through our air table  and you know, When I jumped on the call with the client because I post so much on social media, she's like, Oh my God, I feel like I've talked to someone famous because I see you so much on social media.

And you know, obviously we talk on WhatsApp, but seeing you face to face. And she said, it's funny because I actually got the same thing myself. When I did an event, someone spoke to one of the people in her team was like, Oh my God, um, such and such. I feel like they're famous because I see them posting content online.

So isn't that interesting? And I said to her, Oh my God, it's the funny, the importance of posting because you create this persona and this brand and people follow it. And, um, yeah, maybe get a bit of star struck from it. But anyway, I thought I wanted to share that because that is the power of content.  So basically the other week, what happened was I had my podcast podcast.

planned out and the episodes that I wanted to do based on guests, et cetera, et cetera. And what had happened is I wasn't as organized. I was organized with planning the content. I know what's going up, things, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. But I wasn't as organized with getting the emails out to guests or asking them if they wanted to appear on the podcast.

And what had happened was, um,  I, yeah, it didn't get it sent out. So that person didn't book for the time that You know, because I've got things on, which is fair because I wasn't organized. So then I was thinking, you know what? So, you know, this can happen. We're not all perfect. Like, even though I have a strategy and a plan.

Um, and this is also another reason why I have a strategy and a plan. Because when things go wrong, I've got backup, you know, ideas. And I had a backup idea that I could do as a solo. But then I was sitting in the bottom of the shower and I thought,  Well, this could make a really good podcast. Like, taking people through the process of, Um how social media marketers or content marketers work because  it's not just like that we're perfect and we're robots and everything works, but it also shows the power of having that plan and strategy.

So when things don't go to plan and don't go how you'd hoped, you could trust yourself to have an idea. And also it explains the importance of, you know, some agencies have this very set and forget thing, like schedule everyone's content and then not think about it for a month. But because I don't work like that, and that's what I want to show, share my creative process.

I had the plan to shift and move things, because this idea I thought was quite good, but if I had already batched it, I would have to move things around, or, you know, I probably wouldn't give myself as much leniency. So,  this idea come to me in the shower. Um, and these aren't stock things, like these are not, um, you know,  I don't know, tactics and things.

They're more just giving you an insight into how you could probably,  you know, have empathy for yourself. It's probably a bit of a mindset thing, but also some  techniques or things that you could use when you are creating content for your own business. Because Really what came from this is when you have an idea, then you've got to act on it, right?

You want to act on it straight away. And I, that's what I wanted to do. And, you know, if I had been batching content all the time, then I would, I wouldn't give myself any time. the creative process, I feel. And that's my fifth one. And I'll go into that, but basically I've got five things that I wanted to share with you that maybe you didn't know about the industry and how it can help you.

So the first one is, and I think this can give you a bit more, I guess, leniency towards yourself is we aren't perfect.  There has been many a times where I am doing my own content more last minute than anyone else's.  Of course, we always put our client work ahead of. Well, most would put their client work ahead of their own, but of course it is important to prioritize because you want to create great content for yourself so that you can show that you know what you're doing.

So it is definitely like a balance and there'll be times where certain days in the week I prioritize content queen before I work on client work and it's just all about managing the workflow. But. This happens, right? Like I wanted to have a guest come on this week because usually it's guest solo, guest solo episodes, and I didn't organize it in time.

I knew what content I wanted to do, and I had planned it according to my content strategy, but I didn't execute it in time in terms of the admin side of things. So we are not perfect. Things go wrong a lot. Things are last minute, and But the thing is having that content plan and strategy you save a lot more time and you can Get things done quicker and that's probably why I do sometimes push it because I know what needs to be done I'm just putting it off doing it So  if you are like a last minute person and you think I will Content strategy won't work for me because you got to be super organized and super planned.

That's actually not it It is, you know, it just helps you save that bit of time when you are last minute so You know, there are times where I am creating things. Um, and I will talk about that a little bit more, but yeah, there are times where I'll be creating things last minute and sometimes also not for me, but for clients too, because some clients are behind in what they want to get done and what they want to do.

And anyway, I'll go into that, but we are not perfect. And just because what you see on social media is like, Oh, they've got all this content going out and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. They've got a plan for one. So they're saving time because they have that content strategy, but there would be times where they're not perfect and things are done very last minute.

So, and I will talk about that in number four. Number two is the creative process. And I wanted to take you through mine because I think sometimes it's hard to understand How content marketers content creators in general or social media managers get it done and how they do that So I want to share my creative process  Basically, what I do is on the 15th of every month I sit down and I look at what is coming up for the next month now before that I would have done like a quarterly plan.

That's why I have my like quarterly planning sessions  Because then it allows me to like work out my goals and everything. So that's the first thing is trying to understand, okay, well from my quarterly plan, what is coming up? And then I sit down and I go, okay, what, and this is the 15th of the month. So I've given myself 15 days to organize guests, which again, I didn't do for this episode, but basically yet working out the guests that I want to come on and then sending out messages and coordinating my calendar and everything like that.

It just gives me enough time to do that.  Then I write down a rough idea of what the topics are going to be for this podcast.  That's it. I don't do anything else after that. I park it and then I work on my other things. The only other thing I do is try to map out roughly what I want each newsletter topic to be, because I do a weekly one.

Then, basically, the week before the content goes out is when I start editing.  It's when I record the episode, which is usually done on a Wednesday, which at the moment, it's not happening. Finding it a bit challenging. Um, and I think it's because, you know, I sometimes am like, look, I'll do my client work first, and I'll record it at night, and because I'm currently living back at home at the moment, that's when everything's loud here.

So, that's the reason. You know, sometimes there's a blocker, but that's just more in my head of just putting it off, right?  So, basically, then the week before, as I said, each day has a dedicated kind of task. Now, I learned quite a while ago that Mondays wasn't really good for me creatively, and it was more like that high level, kind of take on the work I was doing, admin stuff, things like that.

So I decided not to do much content creation on a Monday if I can help it, unless of course things last minute, there's always exceptions to the rule. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday would be my main content creation day. And this is also for my clients.  I try not to create content on a Monday for clients because again, it's the same.

Same thing goes whether it's mine or client work. I try to keep that to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, finalize things on Friday. And obviously, depending on the approval process, some want to look at it before it goes out, some don't. So that will obviously alter, um, what I need to  do beforehand. So, um, Some, it can be a little bit more reactive than others.

Um, others, like if they need to approve, I need to have everything organized. And some want it a month and some don't. And that's what's interesting. Like everyone is so different. And I'm going to talk the next about my processes. So basically understanding my creative process, then within that, the kind of hours or times of day and things like that and what I could do beforehand.

So I always journal and read in the mornings. Um, I find that really helps me spark that creative process.  Um, so you know, getting things out on my mind, brain dumping, things like that. And then there's times where I unfortunately don't. feel as creative as I do on other days for certain activities. So sometimes you do have to honor that.

And that's why some things can be last minute, but unfortunately everyone works different. And sometimes that's just how it is. Now, it's been very interesting. I invested in the creative process in my own creative flow by, um, investing in a group program called Sonic by Joe Makas, and she's going to come on the podcast in a couple of weeks and share this, but basically she's really been helping me understand how my energy works at certain times of the month, whether it's with my cycle or the moon energy, because I'm very into that.

And it's true, I can feel in some times where I'm more motivated than others to be. Physically like doing the thing and others more like in my head getting ideas out. And that she talks about us, we are always creative but there are certain times where that's a different level of creativity in terms of the action or task that you do.

And I will have her come on the podcast and talk all about it. But basically, she said, last week, towards the end of the week, was a dynamic moon phase, which meant we were gonna be very creative. And guess what? Guess who smashed out all of her work in one day? Me! So, understanding how I work as a creative is very important.

The other thing that came up in this creative process is actually identifying that I am a creative person. This was a big journey for me because obviously when I was younger, I liked to write and draw and do all these things, but I wasn't necessarily good at it. So I didn't think I was creative. But I've come to learn that creativity looks different in many ways.

There's people that are good at arts, like the art side of creativity. Um, I didn't realize that being a writer made me creative and it took a long time to go, you know what? I am very creative person. For example, like my mom, she's creative in different ways. Like she used to make all my like costumes and stuff for like book week and she's a very good cook and things like that.

But I don't see myself creative in that.  So it is interesting. And I've had many conversations with entrepreneurs like, Oh, I'm not creative yet. They're entrepreneurs and small business owners. Like you've created something, but everyone is creative. It's just finding out in what element and then how you can harness that creative process.

So.  A lot of social media marketers, content marketers don't really talk about their creativity and their creative process. Also, there's things that I do like scrolling and consuming. I don't necessarily go, okay, this is a time of day where I'm going to scroll and consume. I kind of do it when it's time to look for something.

Um, or if I'm just, you know, scrolling, you know, consuming content from just like my own entertainment purposes,  you know, things come up that are very interesting. So that is also part of my creative process. Having meetings with clients, I find when I have meetings or WhatsApp voice notes back and forth, that sparks this like creativity in me.

When people ask me questions, they ask me to problem solve. I can be quite creative in the problem solving and content ideation. process. So I know that's a strength of mine and I've been able to harness that over time. And I think understanding where you're really creative is important in anything, but in your marketing too, because then you can go, Oh, I'm really good here,  but maybe not so much here, here and here.

And then you can understand where you need to fill in the gaps. And it might not necessarily be, you need to hire someone. It could be joining Some kind of group, it could be, um, following certain people, like just somewhere where someone can help you understand that creative part of the overall, you know, piece that you want to create or, you know, anything that you want to do in your business.

Now,  it might be like, Oh my God, right. You're making content creation sound like an art form. Um, and I'm, it's not my purpose, but I'm trying to get you to understand that it is a creative process. Not a matter of just, here's a photo, here's a bit of writing, slap it up. Because when you have that. You know, creative process in the content, you have fun with it for one, but people can see it and it's unique to you when it's your own creative process.

So yeah, think of it as a creative journey. Like I think it's more fun. And what I've loved about working with clients over the years is getting them to harness that and get excited about content marketing. And, you know, every time I have a conversation with someone about content marketing, they always like, Oh my God, I'm so excited now.

And that makes me so happy because it is a fun process. Process. And instead of just going, Oh, I hate it. I hate it. Let's find out how you can be creative in it.  So that's the second one.  We don't really share our creative process, but it is a very creative thing. Content marketing, content creation, and everyone has their own unique style and journey.

And like, I think we just need to embrace that more. The third one is the processes around getting things up. And also the fact that our phones are always full.  So I had a conversation with a client that was like, Oh,  you know, I, I just feel like, um,  it takes me a lot of time to get things executed because I have, like, photos on my computer and then I have to email them to my phone, and then some things I can schedule on Meta so I can do it on my, my computer, and some things I have to do on my phone, like, and, like, Unfortunately, there's not  the best way to do this, but what we sort of worked out is how can we streamline this process?

And I don't think this is talked about enough because we, our phones are really full, like my, and I've had to buy more iPhone storage. Unfortunately, these platforms don't work together. So it doesn't make our lives easier. easier. You know, even things like two factor authentication, I get it. We've got to have those things, but you know what I mean?

Like when you're working on client stuff or when you're navigating different platforms yourself, you know, remembering passwords and everything like that, it's not easy. So  it's trying to use the tech that you have. So for example, if you're on a Mac or if you've got LastPass, having some kind of password  Moderator that keeps all your passwords somewhere.

So when you're, you know, signing out of things or signing back into things, you've got the passwords already saved. It seems pretty simple, but it, trust me, when you're trying to find passwords, and even for your own stuff, right? So that's the first thing. Then it's about, like, okay, if there's some things I have to do on my phone, some things I have to do on my computer, What can I use?

Now there's things like iClouds, Dropboxes, um, AirDrops if you've got iPhone and Mac. There is, even if you've got like an Android phone and a Mac computer or a Windows computer or whatever computer and then an iPhone. You can make it work for, it's like each other, like you can make it an easier process for you.

So you can do things like log in to that cloud on your desktop and drop files in that you can easily download on your phone. I mean, I have AirDrop so I can AirDrop things back and forth between my Mac and my phone. And then I have it all there and can do bits and pieces and it makes it very easy. But if you have, you know, Google Drive, if you have iCloud on your phone, you can use it on your desktop.

You can sign in and you can drop in files. Um, and then you can pick them back up on your phone. So just trying to find cloud based things that makes transferring files very easy between phones and computers. It seems like an admin thing, but trust me, like, it makes your life easier. One thing I wish I did when I first started was, um, cleaned up my phone regularly.

And now it's something that is a bit of a mess, but going through and deleting a lot of that content just frees up space. Um,  and even like drafts on your, you know, in TikTok, drafts in your reels, like trying to clear them out when you can, because it does make it a lot slower.  Um, which can be a little bit annoying as well, but it's interesting with this process.

So basically what I would do is if I like, the first thing is try and do as much on my computer as possible. I just find it a lot easier to work on my computer. Then I leave all of the real creation or phone stuff towards the end, get that all done. And then I can drop it back to my computer if I need to schedule it or I schedule it all.

Like you've got a task, like manage where you're working. So like, okay. All the computer stuff gets done first and then we work on the phone stuff and then we do scheduling on the computer first and then on the phone, even between platforms. If you've got LinkedIn, um, Instagram, Facebook connected, like you've got similar posts, you know, do all the LinkedIn one first and then go over to the Facebook.

Because like tasks switching and going between different is so much easier. Impossible, right? It's super hard. And even small things like, okay, how do I get the cop caption of the the copy of the caption to post in the thing? Just trying to have things all set up so when you are going to execute the content, you've got everything you need.

Right. Because I think that's really time consuming. Another thing that we  come up with, with this client is that task management. So basically, and this is what I do  certain days for certain tasks only on Mondays is this only on Tuesdays is this, and it's not about one post at a time. It's one action at a time.

So, okay. Mondays, I'm going to plan what the content's going to be. Tuesday, I'm going to write all the captions and do the visuals. Wednesday, I'm going to proofread everything, add emojis or hashtags or whatever, and Friday, I'm going to schedule. Something like that. Like, uh, Wednesdays, I'm going to record videos.

Like, have, okay, this task at this time. Not like, okay, I'm going to do post one.  Go, film the video.  Write the caption because you're always task switching and it makes it really hard to get it all done. And then at least if you go, okay, one task, one task, one task, at the end of the week, everything's done, but it's not one thing at a time.

And I found that be really helpful for clients who, because you know, you just got to do that one task.  And even if, and it depends how you work. Some people want to see the whole picture, but if you're finding that you're not getting things done as quickly, just try that. Okay, I filmed the videos. I don't have to worry about editing them till tomorrow, but they're done.

And that's a sense of accomplishment. Like I did that task. Not, Oh, I wanted to get this post, this post and this post done, but I was too busy task switching. And then you get distracted and it's a mess. So the process is massive. I just feel like we don't talk about that a lot and everyone has their own way.

And I, you know, obviously I'm always trying to perfect and make mine easier for myself and things like that, you know, for example, if I start working with clients and then over time, the scheduling and execution becomes a bit too much to do, then I get support with that part. So then I can focus more on the zone of genius tasks of myself.

Then the fourth one, which I mentioned before, was sometimes it does come to the 11th hour. And unfortunately, like it can be stressful in this time, but it just, it just happens at times, you know, like your marketing campaign, you might be waiting on one thing and it's not done until the last minute. Um, again, a podcast guest might not book in until the day before the episode is going to come out.

So you've got to spend time editing it and stuff like that. Um, There might be some weeks where you're doing your posts the day it goes out, but the problem is with this is we're always like, I'll get ahead next week. I'll get ahead next week. I'll get ahead next week. Sometimes you just don't get ahead.

But if you can find a time to then just like get yourself back into a better habit. That's okay, right? So like, when I got home from South America, I found I was playing a lot of catch up, but I knew I was gonna get ahead eventually, but then again, we're never really ahead. So some things were at the 11th hour, and I just had to give myself the empathy to go, You know what?

It's okay. It happened. And sometimes the best work happens in the 11th hour. Let's be honest. Um, You know, sometimes that's where the creative flair, you know, and I was never a last minute person at university and as a business owner that happens, but you know, next time we'll be better. Next time we'll be better.

And sometimes we're just going to accept some things are just going to be last minute. Some things I know I can get ahead with or I might need to outsource and get more support with, but then some things are just always going to be last minute. You might always have, um, You know, even a client, if you're a service based provider, that is always last minute and they, and they say, I'm going to, but maybe that's just not them.

So you just take that into consideration when you're doing work with them.  But that could be even for a coaching client, like if you've got to prep work before you coach them, um, you know, they might not give you what the, the support or what they want to work on until, and you've only got half an hour to work, but that, that's, you can only do with what you've got.

And I think, um, even though we like to be super organized and perfect, it's not always like that, and things, Can often be last minute. It's just trying to identify what things can be done ahead of time so that when you're doing the last minute activity, you can kind of cut back the amount of things you have to do in that time.

And one other thing is that like  with some things, you're like, Oh, I'll do that next week. I'll do that next week. I'll do that next week. And you keep pushing it, pushing it, pushing it until it gets the last minute. Because we always know when we've got a longer deadline, we're going to take.  the longest amount of time to do it.

So not often giving yourself a bigger deadline might not be the answer. Um, but with this whole last minute thing, it is really about identifying in what areas you are really late with things or you're doing, and it's stressful. And if it's super stressful, how can you sort of just eliminate that through processes, through understanding your creative process?

And then just through empathy as well, or can I get some support in other spaces so that I'm not so last minute with this thing? Like, you know, we run a lot of marketing campaigns for clients and some of them, the idea just doesn't come until the last minute and you can't force some of these creative things.

Like sometimes it just happens like that.  And then number five, the last one is, yeah. batching too far isn't always the best. And that was the example with this episode, you know, um, this idea came to me and I wanted to slot it in. There was other moments, you know, when the pandemic happened and things like that, like we had to kind of be reactive to go, Oh, how, you know, people are struggling at the moment.

What kind of stuff can we create to help them? And if you've got things batched for months and a month in advance, it might not always translate. So even if you are batching, where is there room to kind of. move things around to make it, you know, a bit more like suitable for what's happening in the current climate, I think.

And sometimes batching is for people and sometimes it's not. And as an agency owner, like I, I don't expect my clients to know exactly what they're doing in four or five months time so we can get content organized. Business, small business, entrepreneurship is very reactive and it doesn't mean that I want to be creating content the day before.

I don't know if you guys have heard of it, but it's just about trying to have that balance between, you know, trying to get a little bit ahead and getting organized and then leaving space. Like even that client that wanted a month's worth of content, Ida said, let's just leave some spaces for things that come up.

And they were totally happy and okay with that because, Things happen. Things change. And we don't want to be like, Oh, sorry, we've already done a month ahead. We can't, we have no room to move. And I think that is a problem in the agency space. Um, some people might agree that batching, you know, some social media marketers or content marketers might say batching is the way to go.

That's just my personal opinion. I don't think too far ahead is always best. The idea, what you might want to do and having like a rough plan, great. But it's even with goals. We know goals aren't always going to happen when we want them to. Like we need to make shifts and have space for room. So that's all of my things that you might not know about the content marketing or social media marketing space and how you could think about those things and how it works for your own business.

This was very like. Behind the scenes and maybe more like taking you on a journey to take what you want from it and see what could help you with creating your own content, um, for your business. And it's not an easy process, unfortunately. Like it, that's why people do it as a full time job. So give yourself a lot of sympathy, empathy if you feel like maybe some days it's really hard.

Cause  That's what happens, especially in, in content marketing is the most creative part of marketing in terms of like what we see visually. So it doesn't always come to us naturally all the time. And that even happens with us. So  as I said, if you do want to, you know, get more organized and be in that, um, planning phase of your business and have more of a strategy so you know, when things are reactive, when you're last minute, when you know, you've actually know what needs to be done.

You just have to do it even if sometimes it is last minute. So, um, and then if you purchase bootcamp, that is what will give you the strategy. And I will review your strategy if you purchase that within June. Um, if you're listening to this outside of June, you can still join us anyway, we'll have a live session coming up at some stage.

And um, yeah, I can't wait to  welcome you into bootcamp and help you build a strategy, but be a content queen or king. And remember that developing your strategy and story develops your business. Thank you so much for joining me today. And please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends.

You can do this by adding it to your Insta stories and tagging me at content queen Mariah, or just tell them about it. If you write and review on whatever platform you're listening to this on, it helps us get the podcast out there and also bring on more amazing guests. I get pitched. If I'm seen in the charts.

So we get incredible guests, which we have amazing ones coming up. Cause I finally got my shit together and planned all the guest episodes. So I'm now ahead, follow me on Instagram or connect with us on TikTok  and let me know any topics you want me to talk about in the future, I'd love to cover them, but I will talk to you next week.

Bye.