The best social sharing snippet from this interview is by far… “Content that is truly magnetic and that is truly going to hook into an audience and really stick with them comes from you being passionate and also from what they want to hear and making sure that it really resonates with them.”
In this episode, I welcome Aligned Content Strategist Emily Poe. Emily shares her journey from being a doula to a full-time social media manager and copywriter. She offers insights into her content planning process, stresses the importance of aligning posts with personal strengths and business goals, and provides practical tips for maintaining a consistent marketing flow. The episode wraps up with Emily’s advice on overcoming marketing challenges and embracing creativity in content creation.
01:10 Emily’s Journey from Doula to Content Strategist
02:48 Finding Your Content Sweet Spot on Social Media
05:01 Strategies and Insights
08:09 Aligning Creative Process with Personal Strengths
13:34 Instagram Content Strategy and Planning
21:15 Effective Marketing for Your Offers
23:00 Staying Devoted to Your Dream
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tbdRaw Transcript
Hello, and welcome to the small business sweet spot. I’m your host Barb Davids, and this show is dedicated to helping small business owners like you get more organic website traffic and also to help create and distribute content and analyzing the numbers so that we can make better informed marketing decisions. It is action oriented, direct, and conversational. And if you’ve been looking for SEO or content marketing help, please stick around to the very end where I share about the group coaching program, small business sweet spot. I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s go.
Okay. Welcome back to the small business sweet spot. This episode I am talking with Aligned Content Strategist, Emily Poe. I came across her Instagram. Channel and I just fell in love with her content and her personality and I just I love everything about what she shares and how she explains how to share content specifically on Instagram with small business owners.
So welcome to the sweet spot, Emily. Hey, thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be here and to be able to share all of my thoughts on these topics with you guys and just really get into this with you. Yay. All right. Cool. I’m going to read off your bio for the listeners and then I will have you talk to them directly just so that we can hear from you specifically.
Emily is a doula turned marketer living in Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas. She’s passionate about helping you be you on social media and equipping you with the tools to create content that you love and that gets you results for your business. She is a full time social media manager slash copywriter.
She is multi passionate and also loves creative writing and poetry. She is a mom of one human, one dog, and two tarantulas, and lover of all things astrology and human design. So with that. I have to at least ask about the tarantulas because it’s a little scary to me. Yes. Yes. I’m looking at them right now, actually.
And yeah, they’re babies. So, we had three. One of them just recently passed away because he reached his, you know, full lifespan, I know. But we have two babies now. They’re only about This big when they’re really fully spread out. They’re pretty small And they’re just fine. They’re fun to have around They’re really fun to watch them grow and they’re super easy to take care of which for me was like, you know Wow, that was all for that But they just stay in their little plastic boxes.
I don’t touch them or engage with them really other than feeding. So Yeah. Okay. All right. And does your human play with the transfers at all? No, no. One of them has gotten out once before when we were like shifting him into his new home and the power went out and it was a whole thing. But other than that, no, they stay, they stay in there.
Yeah. Cool. Oh, very fun. So let me start with this then I’ll have you tell our listeners, you can share about what your sweet spot is, Emily, just straight from, from your mouth. Like who do you help? Yeah. What do you like to do? Yeah. So I mainly help solopreneurs who have a really big, like mission in their business and really hard to get.
Driven heart centered people and kind of the tongue twister that was there at the beginning of my bio, the, I like to help you be you on social media. And that’s really my sweet spot is there’s a lot of advice out there about what you should be doing on social media, what you should be saying, what types of posts you should be making.
And a lot of times we take on all of that advice without taking into consideration what we want to do in our business, what we want to create and what we want to say. And I really think that yeah, I could even use the word sweet spot again and say, you know, we could find our own little sweet spot of how can we show up for our clients and, you know, make waves in our business, but also like do it in a way that feels satisfying and aligned for us.
So that’s kind of my favorite thing to do is to help people find their message and share it in a way that works for them. Yeah. I love that. I, I can really relate to that because when I first started my Instagram journey, I definitely thought I had to do all of the things that people said, the dancing and the pointing and the whatever, but I still cannot do the pointing.
Like I won’t do that. And I will not put a Taylor Swift song on my channel. I know people love her. I’m not a Swiftie either. I don’t have anything against her. Yeah. I don’t have anything against her. I just, that’s not my brand. Yeah. Yeah. And, and that’s, that’s the thing really is like, if it’s not your brand, then like there’s no reason that you should do it.
And there’s this, those blanket strategies of like what people should be doing. It’s just kind of as a content strategist myself, it feels like unfair because there’s so many different things happening in different businesses. Some businesses are in a stage of growing, preparing to launch. Some are really ready to like rake in those sales and the temperature of every Instagram audience is different.
And so it’s just not, you know, fair to like prescribe people what kinds of posts they should be making without taking into consideration like their own unique needs. Well said. I love that. Okay. So I’m going to, I’ve got some questions ready for you. The first one, and feel free to elaborate as much as you’d like on these, or if there’s another tangent that you want to go down, I’m totally happy with doing that.
So the first one that I have that came to mind when I was looking at some of your content and wanted to talk with you about is how do you approach or how do you even guide people, the solopreneurs, solopreneurs. About the content creation and how to be magnetic and irresistible were your words. I love those words to who you help So, how do you pull that together?
That’s a great question So, you know keeping with this theme of like what works for your business and what works for you. I think Content that is truly magnetic and that is truly going to like hook into an audience and like really stick with them comes from you being passionate and And also from like what they want to hear and making sure that it really resonates with them.
So that’s kind of the strategy piece. And then this other piece is like, when we show up online and we’re saying something that we really believe and that we’re really excited about, people can feel that. And the other way around when you’re showing up and you’re kind of sharing something, because it’s what you should be sharing it’s what, you know, you think you should be saying and what you should be creating, like, people can feel that and it doesn’t feel good.
They’re like, it’s just there’s a disconnect versus whenever you’re really in your passion and you’re really, like, honing in on that, then. People can feel that magnetism and they’re like, Ooh, I want that, you know, and they didn’t, at that point, they might not even need to know all the details about whatever it is that you’re offering.
They just want to be in that energy. Right? So, it’s like, there’s that piece and then there’s also the strategy piece of like, using words that they use. Doing lots of market research to figure out, like, what is it that they’re currently experiencing? What challenges, what desires do they have? Like, what are their dreams?
And speaking to those with the exact words that they use to describe them. So that way when they read it, they’re like, Oh my gosh, I feel like you’re reading my mind. And it’s like, yeah, because I technically did. So and it resonates with them. They’re like, yes, that’s how I feel. And I’m like, yeah, I know, because I did the research.
And so I think there’s like a mix of. Saying what you love and being passionate and then also like saying it in a way that’s gonna really resonate with them. That’s great I love that. I do I do feel like when I first started my business I had trouble Figuring out the words that people were using Even though I was in it myself, it’s the funniest thing.
So that’s definitely a good one. Words are hard. There’s words are some of my favorite things, like, you know, in my bio, you heard I’m a copywriter and I love poetry and all these things, but sometimes getting those right words is a process. And it’s okay to be in that and to be in brainstorming and to not quite get it.
That’s definitely something you want to take your, take your time with. So. Yep. I fully agree. What strategies have you found are the most effective for aligning your creative process with your personal strengths and lifestyles? Oh, that is such a good question. So for me, it just comes down to like, I think, I think the very first thing to start is like your expectations.
And so, you know, I find a lot of people have these expectations of like, I can’t start posting until I can post like five days a week or something like that. And a lot of the clients that I work with on the coaching side of my business are starting with posting once a week. And so it gives them that space to figure out, like, what are their gifts, and what comes naturally to them, and what’s maybe more of a challenge that they have to, like, lean into and really refine without it being, like, So heavy of an expectation to post every day.
So I think it starts there with like lowering your expectations and like simplifying a little bit and being open to your own unique process. And not being bogged down with like what other people say is the right thing to do. I think also paying attention to like your natural rhythms and, and everyone’s life is different.
Like for example I I’m a single mom and so my kiddo goes to his dad’s every two weeks. And usually at some point in that time where he’s with his dad is where I’m like, well, creating a lot of content for my clients and myself because then whenever I have him, I can focus on homeschooling and like having him with me and being present and all of that.
So like, that’s my unique life rhythm and that’s what works for me. And so, yeah, I think just looking at your schedule of like, when do you feel the most creative? And then I also love breaking content creation down into like different steps. So, you know, I always say like a piece of content was not just like pulled out of thin air, right?
There’s lots of steps involved. There’s as, as someone who makes like a lot of content every month for my clients, there’s like the idea, which is often actually the hardest part the idea and the strategy and really aligning that. Then you have to like, do the, either the copywriting for the, reel script or for the caption or for the carousel.
And then there’s like making the graphics or filming the video. And then there’s like editing and then publishing. So if you break it down into these steps and kind of work out, like, you know, for me, I come up with my ideas usually while I’m on a walk or while I’m driving, which is really inconvenient.
When I’m laying in bed trying to sleep And so I have a place to go, like, dump those and, like, have them ready for when I’m, you know, it’s time to do the copywriting step. So I think just being open to it not being a very linear process, sometimes a piece of content, you might, Try to make it and then the idea is just not there, right?
So you need to come back to it in a couple weeks So just being open to it being like a flowy process and not something that’s very like I’m gonna sit down for an hour and like work on my content like that doesn’t work for everybody So yeah, yeah, you can’t make I feel like well, this is probably a discussion in and of itself, but I feel like you can’t make creativity happen like It feels like it’s, or you’re trying to be in creativity in the, in the ideation stage, what you were talking about, like it can’t came to you during walks or sleeping or something like that.
Like, that’s why, because it gives you that space to think about it. Otherwise you can’t make it happen. Like when you sit down and think, Oh, I’m going to make an idea right now. Yeah. That is something that I’m like, I’ve been playing with lately, and I’m like super interested in is like the actual process.
And this is where my like hippie spiritual side comes in, but the actual process of like creativity and inspiration and like where that comes from and like how we receive it. And yeah, there’s been moments where. You know, I’ve just like somehow channeled some idea for an, for an Instagram post that like does really well for my account or like when I’m feeling really confident, I make way better content that does wait.
And so I think there’s a lot to be said there for that. Like, I don’t fully understand it yet, but I’m, I’m interested in it. Yeah, I’m gonna, I’m gonna keep watch of you so I can learn more about that. There you go, I, I get a lot of my ideas on runs or also in the car and I ended up having to do voice notes, but then my voice notes get so long and then I’m like crap, now I’ve got all of these voice notes that I have to try and get through and like listen to them and write them down and see if they’re still valid or not.
So. Where, where do you put your ideas? So for the longest time, I had a Google doc, literally just called content ideas, and it got me like 30 pages long. It was ridiculous, but I’ve used it for like a really long time, just the same one. But recently I’ve gotten a lot more organized and I’ve, I used, I started using Asana again which is like a project management software.
And so I’ve been using that and the way I have it worked out is like. I have, you know, we can talk a little bit more about like what an Instagram content strategy looks like, but I have it basically organized into all the different pieces of my strategy. And so I can put different ideas for different pieces and the different like columns.
And then when I’m creating them, I drag them over to like, In process or like published. And so getting a little bit more of a system set up now, but for the most part, literally just a Google doc. Type the ideas. That’s it. Super simple. Yeah. Okay. And I’m happy to jump into that now if you want you referred to the Instagram strategy.
Feel free to dive in. I would love to. This is like one of my favorite topics. To talk about, which sounds super nerdy. But that’s okay. I’ll own that. So I, I basically got into this because as mentioned earlier, I was a doula for five years and that was like my main passion and way of like serving the world and I worked nights for.
Like a year and got really burnt out doing that. Go figure. And I basically had to figure out like what else I was going to do with my life since I needed to take a break from that and have these kinds of natural, like writing marketing skills in my back pocket that I had dabbled in. And so I started a VA business and a virtual assistance business.
That eventually I niched down into marketing and what was happening is I was getting like clients for social media content, but I, and I could sense, you know, I had the different ideas for my clients coming in and I could sense like, okay, this is getting a little out of control. Like I need a better, like, System and understanding of how to categorize all the different goals, right?
Because they’re like, oh, we want to advertise this class or we want to make sure we talk about this part of our business. And I’m like, okay, I have, like, all these pieces now and like, I feel like I’m just juggling them without any, like. And it was really overwhelming. And so out of that experience, I learned content strategy, which basically, you know, sounds a little fancy, but simply put, it’s just like different types of content based on your business goals that helps guide what you make so that you can actually like reach your business goals.
And so the way that I see it, I, I’ve. Kind of coined it the content life cycle, but there’s four main types of Instagram posts that you can make. The first one is attraction content, so this is keeping people, like, coming into your page, like, reaching new people because you can’t just always be talking to the same people.
All the time, it’s like, you got to keep the water running, keep the life coming. And then there’s storytelling content, which helps people get to know you better, humanizes you a little bit, brings more of a story to your brand, so it’s not just client centered. And then there is educational content, so that’s like the how to.
What is kind of content that helps you build authority and helps people like feel motivated to really stay on your page. And then we have promotional content, which is like focused on your offers and talking about why you created them why people should buy them, how they can work with you and stuff like that.
A good content strategy rotates through those four different types of posts at varying levels, depending on where you’re at in your business.
I feel like that is super helpful to be able to break it down into those like I guess topics or like themes. It makes it a little bit, it feels like more manageable to figure out what to do when you sit down and think, okay, well now what do I do? Like, yeah. Cool. Let’s see. Another question I have is.
Could you walk us through your content planning process and How does it help you maintain a consistent marketing flow? I know you alluded a little bit to you have kind of like the two weeks and you sit down and you do things Can you elaborate a little bit more on maybe the workflow that yeah. Yeah, definitely.
So, yeah, it helps me stay consistent because Like, I think where a lot of people, business owners get stuck is, you know, they, they maybe had a day where they were highly inspired, or they saw someone else’s Instagram and got, you know, a kick in their ass to, like, really get up and make some content. And then eventually that, like, goes away.
And so it’s like, okay, like, there, there is a level to it where it’s like, you have to commit to, like, showing up and that’s why people eventually hire out because it’s a lot. It is a lot of work. And so I think we have to be really honest with ourselves about like, this takes time. It takes effort. And you know, takes intention.
And so for me, this helps me stay consistent because I’m being aware of that and I’m like intentionally making space for it in my life. But so that I can like show up consistently. So my workflow currently is yeah. Like I, I make, I will, I have the ideas that come. Whenever they do at various times and then I have the kind of tracker where I keep them noted.
And then I. Sit down to create content, and I kind of, like, will, like, clarify whatever idea I have a little bit more, because sometimes whenever I reach an idea, it’s just, it, it doesn’t fully make sense. And so I have to go back in and kind of get more clear on, like, what it is that I’m trying to make.
And then I. Put what type of what like what format it’ll be so you could do like a reel or like a talking reel or like a b roll reel or like a carousel. So I get clear on that. And then I usually start with filming. So for me and my brand, that looks like, you know, sometimes doing my makeup and my hair and putting on something nice.
And I bought a little microphone off Amazon, which has been very fun. And I film any talking portions. I use CapCut and film in there. And then, and then I do One post at a time and just kind of go through and just get it done. So mine’s pretty bulk, like I do it in bulk. Occasionally, I don’t have something that I need for the post and then I just wait and do it day of.
And I always publish day of. I don’t like scheduling my posts because I notice that they get less, they get far less engagement when they’re scheduled. Well, that’s an interesting topic. Yeah. Huh, okay, because I always hear like and I have never tested it, so it’s interesting that you said that because everybody always says, or at least so far, this is the first time I’ve heard that the non scheduling makes an impact.
Really? Is it like reels or post or is there any particular format that you have seen?
Well, I, I haven’t experimented with it that much to be honest because I take my content very seriously, not only because it’s like what I do in my work, right? But also like I work so hard on it. Like I do not have time to waste a piece of content like that It’s just I cannot do that.
It makes me so sad, right? And so I feel like I did it like maybe once or twice. I think I did a reel and a carousel I think I’ve done both And I just noticed that both times, like it did terribly. And I have a couple of theories for this. I think that when we’re not in the app engaging, like people are the way it’s the way the algorithm works, basically.
I don’t, I probably don’t need to get into like all the little details about it. But it’s, it’s an algorithm thing. And the more present you are in the app, the more it’s going to push your posts to other people. Yeah, I have heard that. That makes sense. And then since you’re on there, you’re not scheduling it.
You’re on there. I’m already on there. I’m answering. That’s my time to answer messages, get back to comments from my post the day before, which really helps because then I’m like fresh in someone’s notifications and then, you know, my, my post is more likely to come up in their feed again. So and posting my stories every day too.
So yeah, it’s just kind of my time to like get in there and do a bunch of stuff and then just kind of like set it for the rest of the day. Yep. I love that. That’s good stuff. All right. So let me ask you this then. I have another question. What advice would you give to someone struggling to bridge the gap between having a great offer and effectively marketing it?
Ooh, I love that. Well, first of all, hit me up cause we should talk and second of all I’m not I would say I, I’ve recently come up with this like messaging funnel that I’m really loving. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs, business owners, like approach their marketing from the standpoint of their offers and they forget about the like overall mission of their business.
And so this messaging funnel that I whipped up is basically like at the top of the funnel is your overall mission. Like The transformation you want anybody to have that comes into your business, regardless of what offer they come in at. And like, what is that overall transformation you want them to have is like, everything needs to tie back to that.
So, I think, like, getting clear on what that is for you, a lot of business owners really aren’t. Clear on that. And so they have these different offers and they’re like, Oh, they’re not selling. And it’s like, well, what are you doing? And they’re like, I don’t know. And so I think being clear on that is like top of the funnel.
Like, what are you here to do is really important. And then I think like, once you get clear on that, I think you’ll be surprised at how much flow, how much more flowy things feel for you. But that would be my starting point. And then on top of that, like just. Ditch perfectionism and just. Make some content, you know, practice makes perfect.
It’s a, it’s a muscle. I think content creation is like a muscle. So you know, you got to practice and just keep going to get better at it.
Good advice. I love that. Okay. Am I another question? I’m just going down my list.
How do you overcome excuse me? How do you overcome the marketing? And stay devoted to your dream on the tough days. I love that question and it, it comes back to that mission again. And I think there’s even something on the other side of that, which is where, you know, one day when you get better at content creation and all of that, like, and you do get more visibility it’s really easy to get caught up in those numbers.
That’s something that happened to me recently. I started posting on tick tock and my, like, 1st tick tock got, like. A lot of views, and I was like, oh, my God, like, I was really happy about that. Right. And I even lost sight of my mission a little bit of like, and I’m here to help people. Right. And so I think, like, same thing when you’re on the other end, and you’re not seeing the views and you’re not getting the results.
Like, and you having that, like, marketing ick, just come back to your mission of like why you’re here. Like you’re here to help people do X, Y, Z, and just kind of trying to stay like service oriented and staying in your heart about it. And then just like adjusting your expectations. Social media is a long game.
It’s not a post three times and get a client kind of thing. And so I think like knowing that and being okay with that and giving your business other avenues of. Income or marketing whether that’s like networking or something like that to make up for it in the meantime is, is also really helpful.
Hmm. Very good stuff. All right. Out of everything we’ve talked about today, or that you’ve talked about today and shared with us, what is like the one takeaway that you hope people walk away from this episode with? Ah, just get started. Just get started. Don’t, don’t be, yeah, just ditch the perfectionism.
It’s not helpful at all. And anyone that’s gotten anywhere on Instagram really sucked at first. So just get started and it’s, it’s always going to be changing. It’s always going to be growing. And so just find your thing. Keep coming back to what works for you and focus on finding that. Awesome.
Great. Take away. I love that one. Yay. And where can people find you if they have more questions or do you have like a specific resource for them? You know, so when I was thinking of the word resource, one thing that came up for me and this is not related to my business, I’m not even like an affiliate or anything.
I just love sharing this. But CapCut is a really great app for editing reels. And I feel like that’s where a lot of people get caught up is like how to make reels. And so CapCut makes it really easy. There’s even templates. But my favorite feature is that they have a prompter in there. So you can go in, It’s on the very front page.
There’s like a little an arrow. It’s hidden. So there’s like an arrow. You have to press the arrow and then there’s a prompter in there where you can type in the script for your reel and then put your phone up to record and hit record and it’ll put the script on your screen. So you can read it while you record.
So it looks like you’re just talking, but you’re actually reading the script. And so. I love sharing that because it changed my life and everyone always really loves that. So there’s one resource but as far as connecting with me, Instagram is where I hang out for the most part. So I would love, love, love to connect with you guys on there and see what you’re up to.
I’m at, I just changed my username yesterday. I’m in the middle of a rebrand. So I’m at content dot with dot Emily. And I have some freebies coming out next week that are going to be really, really, really fun. So if you like free stuff and you liked this conversation, then definitely come meet me on there.
Yay. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Yes. Thank you so much for having me. This was so fun. All right. And that wraps up today’s episode on using content to how it fits for you and your business with Emily. Stay tuned for more episodes on making your business thrive online.
See you in the next sweet spot. Cheers.
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