Why you should never try to create content (and what to do instead) How to build a content assembly

Painting on a canvas is often seen as a solo, artistic activity where inspiration flows naturally.

Building with Legos, however, is more structured.

You take different pieces and put them together to make something new.

Following this analogy, content creation is more like building with Legos than painting on a canvas.

You start with a bunch of ideas, tools, and resources. Your job is to piece them together in a way that makes sense and connects with your audience.

This means planning, organizing, and sometimes even redoing things.

So, how do you assemble content?

Well, you build a workflow.

Today you'll learn

• How to approach content creation
• A simple system to hit “publish” consistently

One thing before you dive in

I conducted a 2-hour workshop on this exact topic last week where I shared in detail my step-by-step process. If you want access to this and dozens of other resources, you'll be interested in joining my Skool community.

More info at tulkit.co/skool

Why you should never try to create content (and what to do instead)

Workflows are the activities needed to complete a task.

In this case, a content workflow is the process you follow to get from idea to finished product (i.e., a piece of content).

So, instead of seeing the creation process as one thing, we break it down into multiple steps.

• Ideation
• Outlining
• Drafting
• Designing
• Editing
• Publishing
• Measuring

For LinkedIn, we can keep it even simpler.

This way, you are no longer in a “creating mode,” but you step into an “assembling mode.”

Disclaimer: Some key information, such as hooks and writing examples, is shared during the workshop. You can add your own examples to make this prompts work for you.

Step 1: Generate ideas

Prompt 1:

I'm trying to extract my genius and expertise so I can communicate it to my target market and build my personal brand. I'm a {profile description} who {profile activity}.

Can you write 30 questions that help me extract that expertise?

Also, make sure to make them personal. I want to be able to tell stories, experiences, share resources that helped me in the past, etc.

Step 2: Let them marinate

You then let those raw thoughts marinate for a day or two. You come back to them and see if you want to change or add anything

Step 3: Turn raw ideas into hooks

You then transform that raw idea into multiple hooks from different angles and perspectives

I personally don’t categorize my content into the proverbial “funnel stages,” - TOFU,  MOFU and BOFU. This strategy comes from the SEO world and I don’t think it fits how people behave on social media.

Instead, I categorize them into:

1. Tactical (How you do stuff)
2. Strategic (How you think)
3. Direct response (How you’re able to help)

Prompt 2:

Act as a LinkedIn copywriter with years and years of experience. Your job as a copywriter is to write the perfect hooks for social media content. "Hooks" are the first line of every piece of content you post online.

Can you study the style, rhetoric, syntax, formatting, and copywriting of the following hook examples so you can write 10 new hooks based on an idea?

### Hook examples ###

(Insert your hook examples here)

### Hook examples ###

Please make sure all the hooks are relevant to my target audience: {target audience description}.

Step 4: Turn hooks into drafts

You then transform those hooks into actual posts

Prompt 3:

Act as a LinkedIn copywriter with years and years of experience.
Your job as a copywriter is to write the perfect LinkedIn posts.
To execute your job, follow these instructions:
Step 1:
Use this information as inspiration to create your own LinkedIn posts.
You must study the style, rhetoric, tone, voice, structure, syntax, formatting, and copywriting so you can write your own LinkedIn posts.
### Writing examples ###
(Insert examples of good writing)
### Writing examples ###
Step 2:
To help you write the LinkedIn posts, I'll provide you with a hook.
### Hook ###
(Insert your hook here)
### Hook ###
"Hooks" are the first line of every piece of content you post online.
Based on that hook, you'll write 3 LinkedIn posts.
You must follow the rules below:
Rule 1:
The hook should stay the same. You should only write the rest of the copy.
Rule 2:
All the content should be relevant to:
### Profile description ###
(Insert key information about you and your work)
### Profile description ###
Rule 3:
You must stay on point.
Make sure everything you write is coherent with one single lesson.
Rule 4:
The goal of these posts is to build thought leadership, so you should avoid platitudes or generalities or bland content.
Think about depth instead of breadth. Write insightful content.
Rule 5:
Make sure that the output variations are understandable for a 7th grade student.

Step 5: Let them marinate

You let them marinate for a day or two

You then come back to them and see if you’re happy with the end result

Step 6: Proofread

Prompt 4:

Can you spot any grammar, spelling errors, or inconsistencies in the post below?

If so, you start creating a visual for each piece.

Two types of visuals that always work:

• Fake tweet
• Personal photos

Many people think these are too simple and they want to create stunning visuals. If you can do it, go for it, but you can do well with simple quote images.

Step 7: You repeat

You can follow this process every week, month, or quarter. It depends on how comfortable you feel and how much time you have available for this.

So, a quick recap:

• Generate the idea
• Let them marinate
• Turn raw ideas into hooks
• Turn hooks into drafts
• Let them marinate
• Proofread
• You repeat

A few principles to keep in mind:

1. Allocate a specific time to tackle each step. Don’t try to multitask.
2. You shouldn’t be in a hurry

That’s all for today.

See you next week.

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’s 2 ways how we can help:

/Skool: Navigate the journey of LinkedIn growth with expert mentorship and community support.

/Agency: A 1-1 partnership to 10x your expertise-related opportunities on LinkedIn.