How to achieve consistent online content in three easy steps?
CONSISTENCY; it’s a word you hear a lot around the online content world. In fact, it was the topic of my first ever blog post.
If you would rather listen than read this blog post push play and enjoy
When you hear a word a lot, you think you know exactly what it means. However, hearing the many different opinions on what consistency actually does mean made me want to explore the word further. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but I thought I would start with the Oxford Dictionary definition. Here’s where it took me.
consistency
/kənˈsɪst(ə)nsi/
noun
1.
consistent behaviour or treatment.
"the consistency of measurement techniques”
This definition didn’t really give me exactly what I was looking for. I felt I needed to dig a little deeper. Which took me to the next level what does consistent mean?
consistent
/kənˈsɪst(ə)nt/
adjective
1.
acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate.
"the parents are being consistent and firm in their reactions"
This was starting to make sense to me. Being consistent with our online content, acting and doing it the same way each time would lead to accurate results in our life and business.
It all starts out with knowing what results you are actually after.
My Muscle up goal
When I was working in a Crossfit box as a coach, there was one movement I really wanted to focus on. It was the muscle up.
This movement is one of the most challenging movements in Crossfit.
Crossfit Definition:
The muscle-up is a movement that transitions from a hanging position below the rings to a supported position, arms extended, above the rings. It is a combination movement containing both a pull-up and a dip.
A lot of arm strength and timing involved as you can see from the video below. This was such a challenge for me, as I am much stronger in the lower body than the upper body.
A ring muscle up is something I had always wanted to achieve.
This was going to be hard!
it was going to take a lot of training to get anywhere near that and I had to do it in addition to my "normal" gym workouts .
Just to work on the basic skills of pull ups and dips, needed strength work to pull myself up and support my own bodyweIght.
The transition phase involved timing, this was way harder than first thought! Showing up at the gym, following the program consistently and doing the work was required to get the results.
Having a program to follow a program, designed for me that took into consideration my strengths and weaknesses, made it easier to turn up.
But it doesn’t matter how great your plan is if you don’t actually do the work consistently then your aren’t going to get results.
Deciding to show up, and doing so even when you don’t feel like it, keeps your momentum going and that for me was key to getting closer to my muscle up goal.
How do you stay consistent?
The program was uniquely designed to achieve my goal. Before starting the program my coach took into consideration my strengths and weaknesses to set me up for success. Once the new program for muscle-ups was done, I used my current situation at the time to ensure consistency.
These are the three steps that helped:
Show up: turning up to the gym and doing the extra workouts on top of my regular workout: habit stacking
Know what to do: doing the skills one day, the strength work on another: batching
Know when and where: turning up on the same days each week at the local gym. Also taking the scheduled rest days, so to enhance the gains.
Was it easy? No, but it was simple to follow and simple to stay consistent.
Consistent Online Content
Consistency with your online content plan can be just as challenging as training for a muscle-up.
It’s can feel hard to fit it in with all the other things you need to do.
When you don’t have a plan, you kind of do a bit here and there without an intention. I knew what skills and strengths I needed to work on to do a muscle-up I just didn’t know how to put it together in a way that would accurately get me the results.
In your health and wellness coaching, you know that getting your message online is a good idea to attract clients But maybe you haven’t yet drilled down on a specific intention for your online content. Without that, it’s harder to stay consistent.
So what do you need to do exactly to become and stay consistent with your online content?
You can start by following the three steps:
1/ Show up
2/ Know what you are going to say to whom
3/Know when and where you are going to say it
Let’s take a look at each of these three steps one by one:
#1 Show up
James Clear in his book Atomic Habits says it’s easier to form a new habit when you connect it to a current one.
For example, you have decided you are going to show up online every week on Wednesday to do that Facebook live. On Wednesdays, you have a cuppa at 2 pm, so at 1:30 pm you commit to doing your live video. Then you can enjoy your cuppa or the other way around! You show up for your cuppa and now you show up to do your Facebook live, as part of your online content.
This is called habit stacking. You combine a new habit with an old one to help you stay consistent.
You can also set a reminder on your phone or on your calendar to prompt you to do your online content.
#2 Know what to say to whom
It's been shown that if you do like activities together then you get more done in less time than if you did them separately. This is called batching and it can be so efficient for your time.
For example, how often do you check your email? Checking your email once or twice a day instead of every time one pops into your inbox can save you so much time- you could spend it on your online content instead!
You can use this concept of batching for all kinds of activities including generating ideas for your online content.
To start the actual process of generating ideas for content you can use my Brainstorming Checklist
Figuring out who your ideal client can be done using the Brainstorming checklist as well. Book an appointment with yourself to really think about who you want to connect with using the checklist prompts.
#3 Know when and where you are going to say it
Like having certain days for training and rest, your mind will benefit from knowing exactly when you are going to put your message out there.
If you don't want to spend your time every day on social media, and who does? Then you can schedule your online content to go out consistently without you having to physically be there. If you have a blog you can write them in advance, think batching your writing like in step #2 and schedule them. You can do the same thing with your emails to your list!
It takes such a load off when you have a plan for exactly when and where this content is going.
All you need to do is choose the days you want to be visible and which platforms you want to show up on. and then schedule it online.
Creating consistent content: Simple, not Easy
Being consistent and creating consistency, is simple but not easy. If it was you would be doing it now and not reading this blog post!
Having an intention for your online content is the first step to becoming consistent. Choose what it is you want to achieve.
Do you want people to book discovery calls or do you want them to join your mailing list?
Knowing your end result helps so much.
Start by doing these three things.
1/ Show up: habit stack, choose a habit that you can add on showing up for your online content
2/ Know what to say: batch, set a time to generate ideas for your content.
3/ Know when and where you are online: have your times and places selected and make sure you have time to rest and breathe.
Just like my muscle-up, it's so much easier to stay consistent when you have someone helping you.
You can do it by yourself but wouldn’t it be easier if you had a program to follow that has been designed for you?
Book a call with me and lets have a chat about how we can create a consistent online content plan that works for you and your business.
Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash
