A simple content strategy. That’s the dream isn’t it?
Knowing exactly what to do and when to do it can save so much time and effort when it comes to creating content and putting yourself out there on the big wide web.
That’s where everyone’s favourite topic (you can read that sarcastically or cheerfully depending on your disposition) of goal setting comes in.
Not ambitious goals that intimidate you and burn you out, but rather sustainable goals that cheer you on and help you pace yourself.
Sustainable goals are goals that are realistic, authentic to you, and help you move towards your vision in a way that’s careful and considerate.
Ready to learn a little more about how to set goals sustainably to simplify your content strategy?
Let’s start with the age-old concept of life and biz goal setting…
What do you want to achieve in your business and personal life?
Before we even get to your content strategy or your content goals, let’s take a little look at what you want to achieve in your biz as well as your personal life.
These overarching goals have a bit impact on your content.
If you want to spend more time with your family, then you’ll need to spend less time on your content. That’s where your content goals would come in.
How can you create content goals as part of your content strategy in a way that minimises your time spent on creating content?
Coming up with content ideas quickly and easily would be one part of it and I go into detail about 3 little steps you can follow to come up with limitless content ideas.
If you want to make more sales in your business, then how can you use your content to reach that business goal?
That will determine your content goal and what you need to be achieving with your content.
What do you want to achieve with your content?
Here’s where we start getting more in touch with your content strategy. Content goals refer to what it is that you want to achieve by creating and posting content.
There are a few objectives when it comes to creating content.
- Do you want more sales?
- Do you want to reach more people by increasing your brand awareness?
- Do you want to connect with more clients?
- Do you want to widen your network of peers?
Those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creating content goals. However, the best place to start when setting content goals is to understand whether or not they will help you to realise your vision.
What is your big business goal?
If you understand your business goal you can start to piece together what you need to do with your content in order to reach that goal. Keep in mind that it should complement your personal goal to ensure that all the pieces of your life and business are in alignment.
If you’re hating your business it will seep into your personal life. We all know how resentment works. Not the most ideal situation if your personal goal is to spend more time with family.
In order to determine how to reach your content goals you need to be posting relevant content – relevant to you, your business, and your audience.
How do you combine these to create sustainable goals?
Personal, business, and content goals need to work together towards the same thing.
If they’re not aligned, this means that you’ll struggle to move forward in a way that encourages growth. And growth is the whole point of putting together a content strategy. You can’t action a strategy if you don’t know what end result you’re aiming for.
I’ve created a goal setting Google Doc to help you determine whether or not your goals are working together. Make a copy and get brainstorming to determine how you can move forward in a way that’s realistic and true to your purpose.
Remember: once you have your goals set, you can start to piece together what you need to do to reach them.
At the end of the day you need to be able to break your goal(s) up into actionable, bite size pieces so that you can take daily action.
Daily, transformative action is the key to actually moving forward. Even if that’s as small as writing the subject line for an email to your list. Or having a business lunch with yourself to discuss strategies. No judgement here.
How does this simplify your strategy?
Your content strategy guides you towards creating and sharing content that drives your business forward and helps you stay consistent while doing so.
It includes elements like your brand values or what marketing channels you’re going to use.
Combining your goals (business and personal) with your content strategy means that you have a clear way forward when it comes to creating content.
These sustainable goals ensure that your vision feels tangible – it makes reaching them feel more manageable.
There’s no need to burn out trying to reach unrealistic goals or feeling overwhelmed by all the steps you have to take to meet impossible standards.
Once you know your goals and how they fit nicely together, you’ll have a clearer understanding of how to action your content strategy.
Final Thoughts
Goals aren’t half assed New Year’s resolutions. Their purpose is to take you back to your why and help you to be intentional in all that you do while striving for business and/or personal growth.
Goals should answer your why.
Maybe your goal is to get more clients. Why? How does that serve your purpose?
If your goals aren’t aligned to one another, you won’t be able to reach them.
As someone with the whole “out of sight out of mind” mentality, too many goals will be forgotten about but complementary goals are easy to remember as they’re working towards a similar purpose.
If you’re struggling to get your head around goals and goal setting (how many times have I written that now?) think about it like setting intentions.
Be intentional about all that you do. If you’re intentional about reaching a certain milestone then you’re more likely to actually get there.
Top Tip: Try out the Jar Concept where I lay out how to stay on track of what you’re doing to stay motivated.
Don’t forget to celebrate the small wins on your way to reaching your goals.
A good way to do that is create a little “success checklist”. In the goal setting Google Doc I’ve given you space to create your own success checklist to check off as you go. We all need a dopamine hit here and there. Why not make it productive?
What works for you when it comes to setting goals that move your content (and in turn your business) forward?
