69. The Five-Layer Cake Method: Content Creation Tips for Product-Based Businesses
Listen + Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
The Five-Layer Cake Method: Content Creation Tips for Product-Based Businesses
Lately, a common theme across my posts has been the idea of making our lives easier when it comes to producing social media content, specifically video. Today, we’re sticking with that theme, but I want to branch off for a minute and tackle content creation for a specific type of business.
Out of all the different types of small businesses that exist, I find that product businesses struggle the most with idea generation for their content. I'm going to share an inside look into a five-part method for making idea generation easier and more strategic, both for product businesses and for anyone looking for some extra inspiration.
The Five-Layer Cake Method
As someone who used to be a social media manager for all different types of brands, but specifically product businesses, I found that there aren’t a lot of resources when it comes to idea generation, content pillars, or video content ideas for this particular niche.
To start, I need you to envision a five-layer cake. I’m going to take you layer by layer and explain the structure I think you should have when you are thinking of ideas.
These will be different sources of inspiration for idea generation for different types of content, and they’ll help you start thinking about not just creating content, but creating content with intention and strategy in mind.
Layer One: Sometimes, One Size Can Fit All
Layer One of the idea generation cake might ruffle some feathers, but here it is: if you're a product brand in a certain niche, your video content strategy will not be that much different from other types of businesses.
I often see product brands specifically getting in their own way with this. They think video strategies only work for coaches and influencers and other kinds of creators, or that they wouldn't work for what they’re selling and who they’re trying to reach. But I actually think that can get in the way of you humanizing your brand, because whether you're selling a product, creating a community, selling a service, or selling a program, people want to connect with people. That never changes between types of platforms and offers.
I actually believe it’s even more important to embrace more personal brand elements when you're selling a product. Of course, this comes with the necessity of you being willing to show up on video and infuse humanness into your content, which is where the other four layers of this cake come into play.
A really great example of this is actually with stock content. Stock content, if you're not familiar, is essentially B-roll footage that you can then use in multiple different types of video content.
It's multi-use, not single-use like a trend. This is actually a really great starting point to incorporating more of you in your video content, whether it's recording yourself actually packaging orders or connecting with your team or formulating and creating new products. These are all things that you can do by setting your phone up, capturing some content, and using that in a lot of different ways to infuse more personality into your content.
Layer Two: The Product Story
Layer two of idea generation is about you and your product story. We want to make sure that we're focusing on telling that story through your idea generation; not just once, but enough to keep it consistently present in your content and your brand.
Why? Because whether it's people that have been connected with your brand for years or if it's someone that is literally discovering you for the first time, people love founder stories. In fact, on TikTok, there is an entire hashtag dedicated to these founder stories.
I think this is why a show like Shark Tank is so popular. We like to see where the idea started and how it came to be: the ups, the downs, the wins, and really how the product is part of a bigger story. It's not just something that was manufactured by Amazon all of a sudden and plopped on a website. It was something that was created from someone's mind or hands or vision. That’s why it's really important to not only share your story about why you even care about what you do and why you even care for your business, but to also show off that product in conjunction with that story.
You have to be the biggest fan of your product first and foremost. This is the most common mistake that I see a lot of product brands making: I don't see you obsessed with your product, using it on a daily basis, using it in your routine, showing us how you use it and how it solves your problems. I want you to be yelling about it from the rooftops! That repetition is so, so crucial when considering idea generation.
Layer Three: Solving Problems Better
Layer three of idea generation is showing off how your product solves problems better than other products. So yes, I want to see how your product works. I want to see how it came to be. But what's actually going to make me buy your product over the other solutions available is going to be seeing how it solves my problem better.
To show this, you need to show your product in action, and you need to show it in action in a ton of different ways.
For instance, one of my favorite products is granola butter. If you've never tried it, go to Oat Haus. They have amazing granola butter. What I love about their content is that they're continually showing me how to use the granola butter, whether it's in recipes, in my daily breakfast, in different snacks, or even very specific solutions to very specific problems. For instance, if a parent has a kid that goes to a nut-free school, this is a really great solution to replacing peanut butter.
For this layer of the idea generation cake, you need to figure two things out. Firstly, what are the multiple problems, big or small, that your product, service, or industry solves? And secondly, how can I see you continuing to solve that problem in your video content?
Layer Four: Community Content
Moving on to layer four of idea generation. I have a feeling you’re going to like this one. This is where we begin infusing community into your video content.
Now, as I already mentioned, I need to see you in your video content. I did an entire post and podcast recently about why that factor is so important. If you want to see results, conversion, growth, engagement, etcetera, you need to be in your video content. That's non-negotiable.
However, showing off other parts of your community can still assist in adding that personal element. Infusing your community into your idea generation for your content can be done through user-generated content, such as people that are using your products or clients who are posting about their experience with you.
Then we also have our internal community. These are our team members: the people that are packaging orders, working on the back end of things, or maybe even your co-founders. Showing the community behind a product or behind a brand adds that extra layer of social proof. I want to know that you're obsessed with your product, but seeing that other people are obsessed too is a whole other layer.
Layer Five: Complementary Pillars to Idea Generation
Finally, the last layer of this five-layer cake is adding in complementary topics, or pillars, to your content.
In my Signature Shine framework, I teach content pillars. You’ve probably heard about these, but there are a lot of different ways you can utilize them. My framework doesn't say you need to have a niche, and mine also doesn't say you need to post about everything you're interested in. It's somewhere in between.
In my framework, we curate five specific categories or themes or topics for you to create your content around. These include an element of your expertise in your industry, but also some personal interests.
With this fifth layer of idea generation, we want to make sure we're thinking outside of our product, industry, or service box. We’ve already covered these. Instead, with this layer of idea generation, we're adding in topics that we know our ideal follower will also be interested in. We’re not just posting about anything, but we're posting about intentional things that are going to connect with that ideal follower.
For instance, let's say you're selling eco-friendly cleaning supplies. We get ours from Blueland, and I love how their content is not just about how to use their products and how they work and all the benefits of using them. That's just one layer of the cake. They also share other eco-friendly tips, which is something I’m going to care about if I care enough about finding a more sustainable cleaning solution to purchase their products.
Have Your Cake…And Eat It, Too!
I hope this five-layer cake of idea generation has been really helpful for you, whether you're a product brand that has struggled to figure out content ideas for your videos or if you were simply looking for fresh inspiration as a small business owner.
New concepts like this can be found inside my Signature Shine framework inside my group coaching program, where I walk you through how to create your own profile experience for the three-part follower journey, all the way from growth to conversions. I also share the do's and don'ts when it comes to trends.
I also share my three ways to repurpose your content so you're not always adding new ideas to your content, and I share more simple ways to create video content, including concepts like social sandboxing—this means leveraging new apps, new tools, new editing techniques, how to add content days into your schedule, and content looping, which is exactly how I use my reels and my feed content in my stories.
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Join my signature program to learn more: https://shinewithnatasha.com/accelerator
Participate in the FREE video challenge: http://videoconfidencechallenge.com/
CONNECT WITH ME:
Website: https://shinewithnatasha.com/podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shinewithnatasha/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL2BMkT_7jIu5NeV_yAXScw
Share the love
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on Instagram with tag @shinewithnatasha & #TheShineOnlinePodcast to show us how you’re enjoying the podcast!
