[EPISODE]
Ronda Nelson: Well, hello my friend. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Clinical Entrepreneur Podcast. I am your friend, host, and coach, Ronda Nelson. I want to talk about a subject that comes up over and over and over again. And truth be told, I struggle with the same thing which is, what in the world do you post on social media? What do your people want to hear about? Well, it’s like throwing spaghetti at a wall because you don’t know. I was prompted to do this episode because I get asked this question so many times.
First, let me say that I’ve done a previous podcast on how to create four weeks of content in three simple steps. It’s a great episode that gives you three simple steps on how you can plan four weeks of content. Honestly, if you follow it and do a good job at it, which I’m sure you will, you can squeeze 8, 10, maybe 12 weeks of content ideas that you can post. It’s Episode #19: 4 Weeks of Content in 3 Simple Steps or you can go to RondaNelson.com/19.
Now, we just need some super quick inspiration. “What are we going to do? I need to post something today but I’m out of ideas.” Blank screen, blinking cursor. It makes me crazy. And then I think, “Okay. Well, I’m going to go look at what somebody else did and I’m going to get some inspiration. Maybe something will come to me,” and invariably it never works. The reason is that they’re them and I’m me, and my little sassy pants attitude isn’t going to work with somebody who doesn’t have a sassy pants attitude, right? I have to be me. One of the key secrets for posting on social media is that you’ve got to be authentically you. I used to, years ago, try and act like I was all kinds of put together and everything, and I’m not doing that now. You either love me or you don’t, there’s nothing in the middle. I think when you find that person that you resonate and connect with, you can’t go copy anything else. You copy the people that you like.
All that being said, what we want to do is think about how we can get a quick idea for inspiration. I’ve got something fun to share with you today which is a certain website that I love to go to, which is called the National Day Calendar.
Now, fair warning, I don’t want you posting about National Swim Naked Day or National Healthy Ice Cream Day to get your kids all hyped up on sugar because that’s not consistent with who we are. However, you could find National Nutrition Month or National Drink Your Water Week. There are all kinds of great inspirations on there and it doesn’t even matter if your ideal patient is going through menopause, or you’re a dentist who loves to do restorative work. Whatever it is, you can pick the things that are relevant to you. It makes it so much easier on your brain because then you don’t have to figure anything out. When you’re posting, you can’t make every post about National Eat The Frog Day, but you can at least get some things that will start some interaction. The goal on any social media platform, it doesn’t matter which one, is to encourage the people that follow us to interact. The more creative, fun, a little out there, and sassy your posts are, I think that really resonates with people.
There are some personal posts that you want to share as well. The personal posts don’t have to be of you, you know? They don’t have to be of your personal space, so to speak, but people want to know about you. Your patients want to know about you. Show them you eating your favorite ice cream from Whole Foods. Or talk about what your favorite water is to drink and why do you drink it. Why do you think that that water is so great? What about how you plan for your summer vacation or you’re going to go on a cruise and how you’re packing for a cruise. You could ask them, “Have you ever been on a cruise? If so, what advice would you give me?” You’ll want to let them into your personal life a little bit, as well as adding in these kinds of one-off topics. If the personal life just strikes you as being a little scary, it’s okay. Just dip your toe in the water. You’ll be fine. I promise. You’re not going to drown.
Now, let’s get to our National Day Calendar. First, pick a topic. When I first go to the National Day Calendar, I know what week of the month it is that I’m going to post. Let’s say this month is June, so I will look for all of the things that are the National Month of _____ that happen in June. Then, they’ll have the National Week of _____, and then the National Day of _____. I counted them up for June in the National Day Calendar and there are 108 “National Day of something.” Now, some of them weren’t appropriate for what I’m doing, but there were a bunch of them I could have used. There were 18 different weeks, and there were 25 different National Month topics in June. Here are some of the options that I found in June. First, it’s the National Give a Bunch of Balloons Month, so you could find a gif or a meme that is about balloons, or you could just have a bunch of balloons in your office and say, “Hey, it’s National Give a Bunch of Balloons Month!” It’s also National Candy Month in June. We don’t want to necessarily support candy consumption, but you could talk about alternatives to candy, or talk to your patients about the dangers of candy and all the sugar.
It’s National Camping Month, which is appropriate for June. It’s National Zoo and Aquarium Month, Migraine and Headache Awareness Month, and National Iced Tea Month which I especially love. You could mention that it’s Papaya Month or that it’s Dairy Month, which is a great opportunity to talk about the health benefits of raw dairy. Just right there, I only looked at the month of’s and I have a whole bunch of inspiration for different posts I could do this month. Now, you don’t have to talk about the same thing. Like if you choose National Iced Tea Month, you don’t have to talk about iced tea all month. Switch it up a little bit. Pick a different month and share it or just talk about it. Give your followers something they can interact and engage in with you. You can link to a blog article if you want or if you’re on Facebook, find something in Facebook that has to do with that month and link back to that. It’s good kudos for the algorithms and it makes you look super smart. Now, if you’re a little more rogue and hip, you might want to look at the National Day Of. Here are some super fun days that are all in the month of June. We have National Olive Day, National Barefoot Day, or Say Something Nice Day, which I really like.
To wrap up, here are your action steps. First, go to the National Day Calendar website. The next thing I like to do is write on the days what the post is that I did, and I write it right on my National Day Calendar since I actually purchased one from them. I write, “Gif about Hug Your Cat Day,” or, “Short video about yoyo, me with a yoyo.” I’ll put that on my calendar so then I can look at it and I know what I’ve already talked. You could do a graphic, a live video, or you could even make a boomerang. Just focus on a fun image, something that just makes people smile, makes them laugh.
We do the National Day Calendar and it gives us a great opportunity to find something fun and cool to talk about that lifts people’s spirits and lets them feel like you’re a human just like they are. It may or may not have anything to do with your specialty and that’s okay. You don’t want to post that non-specialty type post all the time, but if you’re looking for something to post and you aren’t quite ready to show them what you’re eating for dinner, then look at your National Day Calendar. Find something fun and keep it simple. And listen, friend, even if you do it wrong the first time or it doesn’t turn out, don’t worry. I’ve posted plenty of Instagram stories that didn’t have sound, or I duplicated them.
Don’t worry about if it’s perfect, just do it. Better to take action because the thing that you’re resisting taking action on is probably the thing that’s going to give you the biggest amount of traction. And that’s what my challenge is for you today. Don’t wait. Go ahead and order that National Day Calendar. You can start making those posts without even thinking about it. It’ll give you some great inspiration.
[CLOSING]
Ronda Nelson: Well, there you have it, friend. Do you see how this is going to help you work smarter and not harder? That’s what we want. With just a few creative ideas, we can get your wheels to start spinning about the ways you can use these simple ideas to be able to get some social content out there without having to strain your brain trying to think about what to write. Of course, make sure it sounds right. But, if there’s anything I can do to help you create more content or streamline your practice so it runs as smooth as butter, please do not hesitate to reach out. I would love to hear from you. Have a great day.
[END]