4 content ideas for March (inspired by awareness days)

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:: 00:01

Need some content ideas for March I'm Janet Murray. I'm a content marketing expert and online business strategies. And in this short episode of the courageous concept podcast, I'll be sharing for ready to go content ideas for March. You can use them as inspiration for social media posts, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, whatever content you need to promote your business. And if you find the content useful,

:: 00:22

don't forget to follow on apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts content. That way you won't miss an episode because I show up four days a week with inspiration advice, tips, everything you need to create engaging content for your business that will help you attract your ideal clients or customers March. The second is be kind day. So why not share a tip on kind ways to do something difficult?

:: 00:54

For example, the kindest way to give negative feedback, talk to a friend who's just had a miscarriage or loss. Someone who's just had to let an employee or contractor go. And remember, you don't have to use awareness days. Literally they are not a straight jacket that dictates that you can only post about certain topics on certain days. And if you live in a particular country,

:: 01:17

if you're listening to this episode after March the second, there's no reason why you couldn't create any of those content ideas. I've just shared with you because awareness days are just there to spark ideas to get you from the blank page to actually producing content. If you have a copy of my courageous content planner, this is an example of an educate post. And if you don't have no idea what I'm talking about,

:: 01:42

I'll give you a quick summary of the four styles of content I recommend at the end of this episode, March the 13th is world book day. So this is a great opportunity to share recommendations of books that will be relevant to your ideal customers or clients and ask them to share their own recommendations. And remember, you don't always have to stick to business posts I do now.

:: 02:04

And again is just telling people what I'm reading fiction wise and asking people to recommend other books like it. So I might share three to five novels that I've read recently and enjoyed, and then ask people to share that way. I'm giving people an idea of what I like to read so they can recommend similar books. I find this kind of thing works really well on Instagram stories,

:: 02:29

Facebook pages, LinkedIn, not so much on your Instagram grid. This is an example of a community post. And typically I don't tend to use my grid for community posts. This kind of posts would also be great for engagement in a Facebook group March. The eighth is international women's day. And the theme for this year is sustainability. So you could highlight women making an impact in this area or share impactful work by women in this area who will be relevant to your ideal customers or clients.

:: 03:02

This is a great example of an inspire post. If you have a copy of my courageous content planner, the first idea at highlighting women making an impact in this area will be an example of a news and trends post and sharing impactful work by or for women would be an example of an inspire post. And by the way, a Facebook page, I really recommend for sharing amazing content.

:: 03:27

Like this is a mighty girl. If you don't follow it already, I'll put a link in the show notes, but well worth a look, a really great example of how to create engaging content. Finally it March the 18th is world sleep date. And I've found that people love talking about sleep, how much they get to, how little they get,

:: 03:46

how much they wake up in the nights, how little they wake up in the nights, their favorite pillows, mattresses position to sleep in. You name it. If it's related to sleep, people love talking about it. If you can find a business angle then great. So the way I always approach it is to think about what I do and then think how sleep might be connected to it.

:: 04:06

And another little trick that I'll share is you can even do a Google search. So if I was doing this, I might go to Google and put entrepreneurs and sleep and see what people were searching. And I'm guessing that's the kind of things people will be searching for are how much less do you need as an entrepreneur? Do entrepreneurs survival, less sleep or more sleep,

:: 04:26

or how does it affect you? If you have tips or advice to share, this would be a news and trends post. If you're asking questions about sleep, which is great for engagement, this would be a community post. So if you don't have a copy of my courageous content planner, and you're wondering what the heck, I mean by these four content styles.

:: 04:45

So I recommend four. I don't recommend you stick slavishly to them and have to post one of each four times a week. But I do have clients who do that, particularly when they're trying to get consistent with their content, because it just gives them a framework. And then once they're up and running and they're consistent, then they start to freestyle a bit more.

:: 05:03

My courageous concept planner, if you have a physical copy, actually has little stickers that you can put in for the days of the week, according to the styles of content that you're going to use, which is quite fun. But we do also have a digital version as well. And as ever, I will put a link in the show notes. So it using trends is about sharing something new and in the news.

:: 05:21

And I think I'm getting better at explaining what I mean by this. So the way I would look at this type of content is content that has to run a particular time. That's the former journalist in me talking. So my editor used to say to me, like, why do people need to hear about this at this particular time? So the example I gave earlier,

:: 05:39

it's probably not very helpful publishing content ideas for March in September or October, but publishing those ideally in February or early March is going to make much more sense. Awareness days can be brilliant for sparking ease and trends because you can run your content, publish your content. I should say, on the day of the awareness day, which means that you can take advantage of the fact that that awareness day might be trending on Twitter.

:: 06:05

We'd be using the hashtag a lot talking about that topic a lot, but you can also make things timely in so many different ways. So to take an example of world sleep day, you could tie that in with a sleep-related anniversary. So the day that scientists conducted their very first sleep study on or whatever it might be, or the day something exciting relating to sleep was invented or something like that,

:: 06:30

it's by content is all about reassuring people, making people feel better. So inspirational quotes or means can work well here. And I also put sales content in this bracket because I don't believe we should be talking about selling to people. I think we should be talking about inspiring people to invest in our products or services. Then we've got community content, which is about conversation,

:: 06:52

about bringing people closer. So asking questions, starting conversations, that's very much community content, but also taking people behind the scenes. If your business say packing orders, unpacking orders, unboxing giving people a tour of where you work. All of that content is community concept because it's about bringing your audience closer. Then finally we've got educate content. So this is the type you're probably most familiar with.

:: 07:18

This is when you're sharing tips and advice, answering people's questions. And this type of content is brilliant for helping to bring new people into your world. So people who are actively searching for answers to their problems, answers to their questions on Google, on social media apps. So this is why this type of content can be particularly effective. What's the difference between news and trends and educate.

:: 07:42

They can seem quite similar news and trends needs to run at a particular time. It may not make sense to publish on another date or time educates will work whenever, but they are very similar. So I hope you found that useful. I'm looking forward to seeing how you use these ideas in your own content. And by the way, one final tip on world sleep day,

:: 08:04

you really don't have to take these dates. Literally. There is a phrase you might've heard don't sleep on, or are you sleeping on? Which is like metaphorically means, are you ignoring something really important? So you could take word sleep and use it in a less literal sense to share tips or ideas on issues. You think people in your industry are sleeping on,

:: 08:25

they shouldn't be sleeping on. And if you want to know more about how to use awareness days, I do have a full on episode on this. It's called non-cheesy ways to use awareness days in your content. I'll link to that in the show notes. And as ever, I do love hearing from you and the best place to connect with me either,

:: 08:41

usually on social media. And I'm typically most active on Instagram. I'm at Jan Murray UK.