When marketing your business online, consistency is important. Not only do you need to publish content consistently, but the message needs to be consistent—across all the platforms where you’re publishing.

Oh, great! I’ll just copy and paste from my blog to my email to my social post. And then I’ll read my blog post on my YouTube channel and Facebook Lives!

Hold up! Not so fast!

It’s true that the overall message (the tone, voice and overall idea) needs to be the same. But not the words you use to deliver it. And even then, it’s important to give a little something different on each platform you use. Here’s why:

You have an audience on Facebook that might be a little different on Instagram, which might differ slightly from your followers on YouTube. And because your email subscribers have trusted you with their email address, that’s a different following altogether.

You need to provide content in all these places (and more), depending on your business goals and resources available. Everyone has a favorite, go-to platform to both create and digest content. But many of your audience members will follow you in more than one place.

Important note: Do not try to be in all places at all times, especially if you’re new to business. Start with one or two platforms and grow from there.

When your audience follows you in more than one place (as they often do), they will come to expect new value wherever they go. And if you don’t provide fresh ideas and additional value, your open rates will decline, people will stop following you on social media and you’ll have less traffic to your website.

What Not to Do

Let’s say you publish a blog weekly. Rather than trust your followers to grab that blog on their own, you copy and paste the blog into your weekly email. Same exact content, two places. You want to grow your YouTube following, so you head over there and post a video that covers the exact same points you talked about on your blog (and email). And when you promote your blog (and YouTube video) on social media, you use the first paragraph of your blog (and email) in the status update section.

Put yourself in your audience’s shoes for a minute. Are you going to take the time to digest the exact same content over and over (and over) again? Nope, not likely. Because it’s really annoying.

Instead, provide new and valuable content no matter where your audience finds you.

Uuugh, Abby. That sounds like sooo much work!

I’ll be totally honest here and tell you that yes, it is a lot of work. At first. But when you have a strategy and a plan for your content, it becomes easier. And after you’ve done it a few times, it works like clockwork. As long as you stick to the plan. I’ll give you the down-and-dirty how-to.

Know Your Content Centerpiece

First, decide what your content centerpiece is. This is your favorite place to create content and where you’re able to create content without getting bored (or wanting to scream with frustration). For me, it’s my blog. For you, it might be YouTube or even your Facebook group. This centerpiece is where you’ll start planning your content—and you’ll base all your other content around your centerpiece.

Pro Tip: Know that it’s okay to hire someone to help you with your content. People do it all the time, which is why I still have a job! There are people out there who will edit your videos for you, create social media content and even post everything online for you. You don’t have to go it alone.

Decide Where You’ll Share

Now you need to decide where else you’ll share your content. Make your email list non-negotiable, for starters. But also decide which social platforms you want to share content on and if you’re ready for YouTube or Facebook Live. Again, don’t try to do everything all at once—only do what you can handle on a consistent basis as you’re getting more comfortable with sharing.

Pro Tip: Start with the social platforms that you know and love to use. When you gain a following or get really consistent with your workflow, add another platform.

Build Out More Value

Here’s where you start to create original content that doesn’t simply regurgitate what you’ve included in your content centerpiece. You can do this a few different ways, depending on where and how you want to share your content. Different content types work better on different platforms, so keep that in mind when you’re planning.

• Tell another perspective
• Take one major point and expand on it
• Tell a personal story about the content
• Pull a quote out and use it in a branded graphic
• Add onto the centerpiece (in a different platform), telling what happens next
• If your centerpiece is a narrative, restate it in a bulleted list
• Create a tutorial about something you mention in your centerpiece
• The list goes on…

Now Time to Execute

Once you know what you’re going to share and where, it’s time to execute on the plan. If you’re like most online business owners, you sit down and write today’s blog post…um…today. Am I right? While it’s important to get it done, it’s even more important to plan ahead and get it done ahead of time.

That means you need a workflow for content creation so you stay on track. And I always recommend that when you sit down to create your content centerpiece, you also create (or at least outline) the content for other platforms you’re using. It’s easier to be “in the zone” and create valuable content that you’re not including elsewhere—but that still maintains a certain voice or theme.

Pro Tip: Do all your outlining one day, write the next day, shoot videos another day, create graphics on another day, then proof and schedule on separate days. Blocking your time this way helps you flow more seamlessly from one task to another.

So, really, with a little planning it is possible to be in all the places—at least the places you want—while providing killer value to your audience at the same time. Need a tool to help you with all this repurposing? Grab my downloadable below to help you identify what content you want to provide on which platforms, and then start planning it out!

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Abby is a content strategist and content coach for small business owners, helping to get her clients’ written message out to their audience, in their own voice and on their own terms. She specializes in working with female-owned, service-based businesses to generate ideas and strategies that help to move their businesses forward with content that attracts the perfect clients. Abby firmly believes in the power of educating and empowering business owners so they can grow their businesses without breaking the bank. Community over competition is truly her jam! When she’s not crafting words or coaching her clients through their own writing roadblocks, you can find her exploring the mountains near her home in Phoenix or finding new ways to get her teenaged daughter to take a break from the school books and technology. You can follow her on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.