November Content Ideas for Small Business
“I’m going to show you my step by step process for creating a content plan for the new month ahead”
Many of you may not know that I still work a 9-5 job. I’m the general manager of a hotel and I must admit when I first was promoted back in January, I was overwhelmed. I had so much stuff to tackle from new hires to renovations and opening up as a newly renovated franchised hotel during an epidemic. Uuuh Needless to say content creation took a back burner the first few months as a new manager.
My goal this year was to have a business that thrives while holding down a job that strives! So I had to make a plan. I got my first social media manager and I started working on a plan to create weekly content in advance. Of course, I still struggle to get all of my content done on time but I did have a plan. Each month I created a monthly content calendar and each week I’d buckled down to get it done even it was the day before posting.
Having a content plan has really helped me and I’ve gotten so much better with it over time. With consistency and dedication, you to can have a content calendar and plan that will help you go from overwhelm to easy mornings of sipping coffee before work! Love those moments haha! Coming up with content ideas for small business entrepreneurs is something that can be difficult but I got you covered this month!
What we will discuss:
The importance of planning ahead
Types of content calendars that will work for your schedule
5 Ways to come up with content faster
November holidays and micro holiday content ideas to get you creating faster
Let’s begin…
The importance of planning ahead
You probably already know the importance of planning ahead but sometimes you got to hear a few times, like myself, in order to really let it sink in.
Here are 5 reasons planning ahead is necessary to your growth as an entrepreneur.
Gives you consistency with your audience: Your audience will know when you’ll be posting and to look out for your awesome sauce content.
Planning ahead gives you flexibility for real time updates. Sure you have something you can post already but what if you get super inspired. You can share it on your FB or IG stories, create a reel, or tic tock video, maybe even an IGTV. When you do get inspired for IG reels, do it and keep in drafts until a day comes available to post it.
Map out time sensitive events ahead of time. If you have a launch happening then planning ahead is essential for allowing it to succeed. Give teasers, sneak peeks, behind the scenes, share blog posts, create newsletters around it, and go live to talk about it. It builds up the anticipation.
Builds an archive of valuable information. This is something I’ve learned to start incorporating it recently since working a course I’m doing from Your Content Your Empire. By archiving your information you can go back and repurpose it for different types of content. I use trello to save blog posts links, social media posts, emails, etc. Anything that has been of value to my audience I’m going to save it and repurpose it. I’ll create a reel, a new video, an email all around that old content. It’s a true lifesaver!
Aids in building that like, know, trust factor. When you build like, know, trust with your audience you build an audience that will convert and convert others along with them. I’ll talk about this a little later!
So now do you understand why it’s so important to plan ahead. If you are a mother, a person who has a job, a hectic life, or just want to simplify their business planning ahead is a no brainer. Let’s move into the content plans that will help you plan ahead.
Types of Content plans
There is no 1 size fits all when it comes to content planning. You can create a calendar and plan content for:
The Next day
A Week
A month
A Quarter
Even a Year
Now, the quarter and year is probably a stretch for some who just started content planning or are on their own without a team. However, I challenge you to start off small this next month and focus on planning the next day, a week, and then work your way up to the month.
When the new year comes create a yearly content plan by simply create a theme for each month with the goals you have laid out. Each quarter reevaluate and see what you can start adding into the 3 new months ahead. From holidays to big launches pop them into a calendar. But don’t try to stress the little stuff. By planning the new year and new quarter coming up this you will save time on deciding what exactly you need to do for your daily, weekly, or monthly content plan.
5 Steps to always come up with new content each month
Decide on how many posts you’ll create and where they will go: If you are planning for a week or a month of content decide on how many days you’ll post each week is a great way to start. Are you going to post 3 days a week or 5 days a week. Where are you posting this content. Do you just have 1 platform or multiple platforms. Remember you can post the same piece of content on multiple different platforms at the same time! Whatever your amount and where you promote make sure to keep with it. Consistency is key.
Decide what days you will posts Speaking of consistency make sure you are sticking to specific days of the week. Now of course, there may be days that you have a spur of the moment instagram post or story but the good thing about planning ahead is you’ll get to have that flexibility. However, sticking to specific days will help your audience know when you’ll be showing up. I usually show up monday-friday. Weekends are meant for planning ahead or taking time off to recuperate after a long stressful week! Whatever days you plan to post on make sure that it aligns with your personal life and what YOU can handle. So ask yourself what days are you committed to showing up consistently. Here’s 7 tools that has helped me with consistency
Focus on the big events:
This is when you can start looking at your calendar. I created a calendar in canva but you can use your desktop calendar or an actual calendar. Think about what big holidays are popping up. Then check to see if there are any micro holidays that you can add that fit your niche? Don’t forget about your big launches happening. Do you want to post a teasers for that launch too? Add it all in and then don’t forget to add in personal events too. Is it your anniversary and you want to share a personal life event or story with you audience? Add in special events that builds the like, know, trust factor with your audience.
Repurpose old content
One of my new faves is looking at your old content. Like I mentioned before, I have a trello board that I pull old content from. I have content from old instagram posts, blog post, newsletters, freebie posts, promotional posts and even testimonials and screenshots from clients and members. If I wanted to, I could just repurpose those over and over again but in new ways because I have quite a lot to pull from. That’s the joy of repuposing old content. Same can be said for you whether you are new or have been at it for a while. What have you posted that got a lot of traction or had the most clickthrough. Do you have any post that you feel most proud of and you want to repurpose it again. Don’t worry if people will see it again, sometimes it takes several reads for someone to understand something. It took me several reads to understand how repurposing content was important and finally took action! You can repurpose these in new and fun ways such as carousel posts, instagram stories, going live, youtube or igtv videos, use them in captions and even podcasts.
Stick to balanced topics
Finally stick to topics that are balanced to build, grow, and convert your audience. Create categories that you can continuously pull from. Just like you see on blogs they have categories, for example lifestyle blogs. The categories probably contain personal life, fashion, beauty, selfcare. The same can be said for your business. Come up with topics that you care about and make sense in your niche. Come up with topics that will spark your creativity but also builds that like, know, trust factor. Speaking of topics that’s balanced you need to focus on certain types of content that will build, grow, and convert. Here are types of content to include:
People want to know you as a person, not you as brand: Share personal stories, inspire, share your why, your values, your lifestyle, and overall topics about you.
However people need to find you before you can get deep: Sharable content is the wave. Create relatable quotes, myth busters that make people want to share your content, take a stand on something and overall have an opinion that breaks the mold but is still relatable to your audience.
Then give them that value that will keep them staying for longer: Share valuable tips, answer questions, share testimonials and overall position yourself as an expert in your niche.
Bonus Tip: Research your niche and add in content ideas that inspire you to create!
Now that you got a better idea of coming up with content, I’m gonna share with content ideas to get those creative juices going! Let’s get into it!
November Content Ideas when you don’t know what to post!
November 7: #DaylightSavingTime
Here are some posting ideas for you daylight savings time. Btw who’s ready for an extra hour of sleep?!
Share your Night routine
Ways to get better sleep
Tips on surviving daylight savings time
What you’d do with your extra hour
November 1: Job Action Day
It’s to recognize and empower those who dream of having a dream they love and not just any job. This day is to empower you to find the job that you are truly passionate about.
Share why you love your job whether that’s a 9-5, side hustle, or full time hustle
Share your actionable steps you are taking to secure your dream job
Share a day in your life living your dream
Share reasons why you love your job
November 3: National Stress Awareness Day
First Wednesday in November aims to identify and reduce the stress factors in your life.
What are your ways to cope with stress and owning a business
What are some life hacks that keep you stress free
Tell a story of a stressful situation and how you handled it
What are your self care must do’s for the weekend
November 8- #ParentsAsTeachersDay
Observe this day by offering various educational services and resources to help children learn to reach their maximum potential. Share your tips with your audience.
For mothers how are you coping with homeschooling your children
What are some tips to help other stay at home mothers schooling their children
How are you getting more involved in your kids education
November 11-#VeteransDay
Honors military veterans who served in the United States Armed Forces
Share your support for veterans in your life
Have a family member who is a veteran? Share a personal story you’ve had from listening or seeing them
Create a quote celebrating veterans and how they’ve impacted your life.
November 13-#WorldKindnessDay
Let your compassion shine bright. Get caught showing as much kindness as possible.
Showcase your favorite small business thats you love
Support your fellow girlbosses
When was the last time you you’ve encountered kindness, how did it make you feel
November 16- #NationalEntrepreneurshipDay
Honors people who have built an empire from absolutely nothing.
Share entrepreneurs that inspire you
Share your before and after of becoming an entrepreneur
Share tips on being an entrepreneur
What are the pros and cons of being an entrepreneur
November 19 #Women's Entrepreneurship Day
Showcase the work of women entrepreneurs all over the world
Share women entrepreneurs that inspire you everyday
Empower inspiring women entrepreneurs with your words of wisdom
What woman inspires you to become the best version of yourself
Share your tips about finally getting your business off the ground
November 21- #World Hello Day
It encourages us to take the opportunity to simply greet people, and to recognize how important simple communication is in our daily lives.
Introduce yourself to your audience
Share 3-5 facts about yourself
Introduce your audience to the team behind your brand even if it’s your husband
November 24- #celebrateyouruniquetalentday
Share with your audience a talent that you have, don’t be shy!
November 25 #ShoppingReminderDay
This day kicks off an unofficial countdown to shopping season and jumpstarts your promotional sales.
Share your tips on shopping the big sales
Tease them about your upcoming sales to get them ready
Share your gift guide for small businesses (create affiliate links for them )
November 25 #Thanksgiving Day
Fourth Thursday in November is a day to share how grateful you are and spending time with the ones you love.
Share what you are thankful for
Thank your audience, customers, or clients
Share your favorite thanksgiving tradition
November 26 #Black Friday
Day After Thanksgiving, don’t be shy this is your time to promote yourself!
Promote you sale
Promote an affiliate sale
Promote other business that you enjoy and love
November 27 #Small Business Saturday
Promote a small business
Shout out several small businesses
Have a 1 day sale on your business
Share your reasons for supporting small businesses and why it’s important
November 29 #Cyber Monday
Promote you sale
Promote an affiliate sale
Promote other business that you enjoy and love
Now that’s 15 new content pieces that you can incorporate with ease! So what’s next…
What’s holding you back from creating content for your biz? Tell me in the comments!
Resources to create Content Faster
Resources help make creating easier! Remember you don’t have to do this alone. Outsource and find the right tools to make things easier on you. Now that you have everything laid out, it’s time to create. Whether that means sitting down and writing out the blog posts you outline, creating images for the Instagram post or creating 2-3 videos in one sit down, let your creativity flow!
Here are the tool that I use to batch create content for the week ahead!
Canva: It’s the most easy and simple online editor that I’ve ever worked with. Mind you, I’ve been doing this blogging game since 2012! Going with Canva Pro I’m able to have all of my brand identity elements with me to create faster.
Planoly: My social media manager plans all of my content here. It’s super easy to plan, schedule, and post. I love that the calendar features key dates to help you stay on top of content planning. You can also use the notes feature to jot down reminders, add your own key dates, and color code by categories! Plus they also give hashtag ideas!
She Bold Stock Photo Membership: High quality unique images is important to me. Inside the Membership we have over 3,000 unique images to choose from. Plus having social media templates like pinterest graphics that are designed to capture views is what makes this membership worth investing in. I also have a FB Live Training to share with you too!
Article Recap
There you have it, my fellow solopreneurs! How to create content for next month with ease! You learned:
The importance of planning ahead
Types of content calendars that will work for your schedule
5 Ways to come up with content faster
November holidays and micro holiday content ideas to get you creating faster
Ready to put these topics into practice and attract your ideal audience? Here’s a gift to get you started!