I don’t know about you, but I’ve been struggling to create content over the past couple of weeks. The overwhelm here is real. But like most things, I think the thought of doing something is actually worse than the doing itself.

I’ve been getting myself in a tizz about the homeschool / running a biz / keeping mentally healthy / keeping physically healthy balance of it all.

However, now we are actually in the throes of homeschooling, and having firstly lowered my expectations of what is possible on all fronts, I feel a lot happier.

Walks, rather than school work, is the mandatory anchor right now. Play, rather than sitting at the table for hours on end, is the focus and if I manage to plan a few things for the next month and everyone is happy then I think we’re onto a winner.

With limited time, it means you need even more of a refined focus to each block of work time.

With the added stresses and strains on life at the moment for everyone, attention spans are short. People want to feel like they are making the most of their time and getting value from the people they follow online.

So when I carve out some time to write my content for the next month, I’ll be thinking about these questions to ensure my content has a strong focus:

1. What will my audience get from this post?

This is a tricky one, yes your audience want to hear from you and learn more about you, but you need to work the post around to something that they will learn from. Otherwise you’re just broadcasting 📣

2. Am I entertaining / inspiring / educating or informing?

Every post you create should fall into one of these 4 categories, bringing your audience along and delivering them a reason to engage with you.

3. What’s the tone of your community right now / what’s the social context?

In other words, ‘read the room’! Make sure your posts and copy are relevant and sensitive to the world around you and those of your followers. If you are based in the UK and in lockdown but your followers and dream clients are all US based, then banging on about the homeschooling juggle isn’t going to resonate with your audience.

4. Am I being clear?

Some people might be landing on your account for the first time, so make sure you give a background, summary or context to whatever it is you’re talking about. Don’t assume your audience are seeing every piece of content you post, bring them up to speed with what you’re talking about.

5. Am I being authentic?

Once you’ve asked yourself the questions above, do a final check to ensure your posts sound like you. Are they true to you and your situation right now? Does it sound like you? Would you use this language in a real life conversation?

5 questions to ask when creating your social media content