Episode 16 Transcript

Let’s begin with the Business for Makers News Desk

As always, we start with lumber pricing

Chicago lumber futures crossed above the $500 per thousand feet mark, up from $450 2 weeks ago, and the highest since October 2022, supported by tight supplies and prospects of a demand recovery.

Last episode I reported a sharp drop in prices and sluggish demand forced North American producers to curb production, now leaving inventories low and sparking concerns about a supply shortage during the construction season this spring and early summer.

So where just a few weeks ago lumber prices were expected to dip this summer, now prices are expected to rise and we may even see a shortage, thanks to producers slowing production.

IN SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri says photos will get more attention on the app in 2023.  Mosseri says that the platform has gone too hard on pushing videos, and will look to make photos more of a focus once again in 2023.

As per Mosseri:

“I think we were overfocused on video in 2022 and pushed ranking too far, and basically showed too many videos and not enough photos. We’ve since balanced, so things like how often someone likes photos versus videos, and how often someone comments on photos versus videos, are roughly equal, which is a good sign that things are balanced.”

Mosseri further notes that photos will remain a key focus for the app, and that maintaining the right balance in this respect will be key.

Also, this week Instagram has added the option for business accounts to add a new “lead form” call to action button.   Think of it as an automated form to replace your standard line “DM me for more information”.  You can customize 3 questions you ask the customer, while their name, phone number and IG handle are automatically filled in on the form.

Now your caption can read “For details click the Learn More button above”

The button appears under your bio, next to the Share button.

To access the option, click your Edit Profile button, then click Action Buttons.

The TikTok Saga continues, as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to appear before Congress on March 23rd.  The House Committee announced intentions to question Chew on TikTok’s consumer privacy and data practices and its relationship with the Chinese government.

TikTok chief operating officer Vanessa Pappas has testified before a congressional committee as recently as last September, but this upcoming hearing will be the first time a chief executive of the company has been hauled to Capitol Hill to face questioning.

TikTok has been stuck in year long negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment to keep its app running in the US. 

And that’s it for the Maker’s News Desk.

 Is it time to take a fresh look at your content calendar?

With February beginning, I thought it was time to take another hard look at my social media content calendar.  

Due to time constraints, I have not been consistent on all channels as I had hoped, while at the same time adding our Woodwrx channel and its content.  

And finally, I don’t want to lose focus on the things I felt are critical to my success long term… the Business for Makers podcast, blog and newsletter, my introduction of CA glue, and of course my affiliates.

So it’s time to make some edits.

Based on the chaos happening on Twitter, I’ve decided to post only a couple times a week, using it primarily to provide content for other channels.

While Tik Tok is hugely successful, the time required to succeed will also preclude me from posting there.  Hopefully some day in the future I will restart that channel.

Likewise, I’m finding that Linkedin does not have a large maker community, so I’m going to greatly reduce my content there also.

This leaves me with

1. daily posts and stories on Instagram and Facebook for George Supply.  
2. What will now be regular posts in the Affiliate FB Group,  
3. 3 posts a week on Instagram and Facebook for Woodwrx, 
4. and the podcast, blog and monthly newsletters.  

Still seems like alot of content creation…  But it sounds worse than it really is.

The key to getting this all done is my Content Calendar spreadsheet. 

I have a spreadsheet with the days of the month across the top, and the marketing channels down the left side, like Instagram, Facebook, Stories, Blog, Podcast, etc

Then in each cell of the grid I just created, I type the theme of the content I’ll be posting that day on that channel, planning as much of the month ahead of time as possible.  For those following along at home, that's about 150 pieces of content per month, including some that are long form multi page documents.

So where do I start?

If you’ve watched the George Supply Instagram feed for any length of time, you’ll see I have a rhythm I follow pretty much every week.

• Monday is typically that week’s Business for Makers podcast or blog content
• Wednesday is a post about that night's Sawdust Talk.
• And Sunday is a highlight from the same Sawdust Talk episode.

So right off the bat I’ve gone from 7 to 4 posts a week that need to be planned.

• I try to highlight either a new merch store, or a current merch store on Tuesdays.  That gives the affiliate some fresh traffic, and the post usually gets shared quite a bit.

• Thursday is a reminder of the benefits of subscribing to the Business for Makers newsletter.  So week one might be the discount coupon, week two might be next months holidays, Thursday in week 3 might be the list of 100 maker hashtags

Now I’m down to just Friday and Saturday.

• Friday is typically a carousel highlighting the podcast or blog post for the week.  The carousels with helpful tips get shared and bookmarked much more than the other posts.  Probably from some combination of it’s practical use, the different format, and being on Friday.

• Saturday rotates between new product offerings, or a post highlighting a recent printing order someone placed like a banner or business cards.

Any given day might be replaced with some user generated content, a holiday, or a product category.

As you can see, planning an entire month's posts, while using some type of rhythm, makes the job of content creation much easier.

Obviously your content varies quite a bit from mine.  But if you created a list of possible post ideas, it might include

• Each Product category you offer
• Behind the Scenes progress videos
• Sponsorship obligations you have
• Affiliate links you want to maximize
• User Generated Content from customers
• Holidays you want to highlight
• Meet the Maker

I list many more in my Content Calendar blog post, which I will link to in the shownotes.

Then I repeat this process for each channel.  Of course, some content can be cross posted to various channels, after some minor sizing or caption changes.

And some channels I don’t post 7 days a week, including some I might only post once or twice a month.  

So where I post a blog post twice a month that takes a bunch of time, yours might be a monthly Youtube video that requires writing, filming and editing.

But in fairly quick fashion, I can get 90% of a month at least planned out, and start creating the individual content items, without ringing my hands trying to decide what to post each day

In fact, when you list it all out, you quickly go from “What can I post today?” to “How am I gonna fit all this in?”

And that’s how I came to the point that it’s time to edit.  There was just too much to post, much of which I was not seeing any return on my time investment, or knowing that the cost to succeed was more than I wanted to invest at this time.

Hard decisions, but as I like to say, “sometimes you have to put your big boy pants on

Hopefully this helps you organize your content schedule, so you can be present for your family, your job, and whatever is important to you, and not be a slave to the algorithm.

I’m Scott Chervitz, /   and thank you for listening to the Business for Makers Podcast, brought to you by George Supply Company. //

Thanks to my co-author Brian Chervitz, an Associate Instructional Designer at the University of Wisconsin Extended Campus.

For your convenience, the transcript of this episode will be available in our Business for Makers blog. /   I’ll include a link in the show notes. //

Subscribe to our podcast to get regular insights and tips for building your maker business. /   And you can get more information about building your brand, selling merchandise, and maintaining your business operations all at georgesupplyco.com. //