Sometimes it's like there's a lack of ideas. What kind of post, what graphic to put, what kind of video to record. Social media can tire you out with its intensity - of creation and use. How can we prepare for worse days, when nothing comes to mind, and the keyboard cursor is impatiently waiting for you to write at least a few sentences? The creativity matrix comes to the rescue.
POST IDEAS AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Ideas for posts do not come by themselves. Of course, there are days, weeks when we have no problems with what to write on our profiles. But without a doubt, each of us will admit that sometimes we do not know what and about what to write.
Our first resort should be communication strategy, which we prepare at KomuKoncept during the first weeks of work for our clients. This is the time when we do not publish any posts and focus on analysis and development of activities that will provide the brand with character, style and will respond to the problems and needs of clients.
And while some of you may sigh and roll your eyes as you read this, please note:
Communication strategy is the first step to interesting and fluid online activities. End of story.
What elements must appear in the strategy? Every company, every person has their own list – more or less extensive. I suggest you not to skip:
- Defining goals, brand values, vision and mission (without discussion).
- Analyzing the market – what is happening with the competition, what are the latest technological trends, what impact the economy and the economy have on my business, etc.
- Analyze the threats that may occur.
- Defining target groups and creating personas
- Brand features
- Brand archetypes and communication style (visual and verbal)
- Themes and associations around which the brand revolves
- ACTIONS.
I wrote the last point in CAPITAL LETTERS, because that's our star of the evening :) We create specific ideas for posts in it, divided into communication channels. There are many ways to do this, but today I'll present you with the Creativity Matrix tool.
CREATIVITY MATRIX
The creativity matrix is a simple table on which you can work individually or in groups.
I really like this tool because it can be customized to your needs. It consists of rows containing lists of social media channels and columns, each of which can represent, for example, a customer segment.
CREATIVITY MATRIX – GROUP WORK
The creativity matrix is a tool that broadens the scope of group thinking. Have you heard of the synergy effect, where 2 plus 2 equals 5? It's about the fact that when 3 people meet in a room, each person influences all the others in the room. So, when we start to pin ideas for posts together on sticky notes or enter them in Excel, Marek and Zosia may come up with new ideas because they looked at Aniela's sticky note and were inspired by it.
The creativity matrix has a positive effect on divergent thinking, which allows you to look at a given issue from many perspectives and does not criticize ideas as they are generated.
CREATIVITY MATRIX – HOW TO CREATE IT
On a piece of paper or in a program like Myra draw a table of maximum five columns and five rows.
Then, in the upper left corner, write a question for which we will generate ideas throughout the table. It is good to start with "How might we..." and here write the problem, the need that you currently want to address.
Assign a customer segment or the name of a specific persona to each column. And assign a social media channel to each row.
Leave one blank line at the bottom, to which you can add ideas that, in your opinion, do not fit into any category.
CREATIVITY MATRIX – CELL REPLENISHMENT
The next step is time to generate ideas. Set aside at least 15 minutes for this. Let everyone in the group fill in the columns and rows in any order. Work quickly! Draw or write.
There must be at least one idea in each column.
CREATIVITY MATRIX – IDEAS EVALUATION
After filling in each column, evaluate the sticky ideas! Gather around the matrix, read what everyone has written. Then, let each person indicate 1-2 ideas that they like the most.
Once you’re done, gather your chosen concepts into one place that works best for you when creating posts (I still encourage you to include this in your strategy document).
SUMMARY
And voila! You have ideas for posts out of your head. The creativity matrix is a tool that can be easily replicated and used to answer various questions and needs.
With the matrix, you will fall asleep and wake up peacefully knowing that the upcoming schedule of posts will contain all the necessary elements of the strategic puzzle. And most importantly – it will be interesting for the recipients!
Based on: "Modern business model design", OnePress Publishing House, 2018, pp. 140-141.