The Content Diet: Why Your Audience Isn't Engaging (And How to Fix It)

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I've been noticing something in my feed lately that I just HAVE to talk about. If your engagement has been dropping and you're wondering why, I might have found your problem.

It's likely not the algorithm. It's not your posting time. It's your content balance.

Most creators I see struggling with engagement are making the exact same mistake: too much promotion, not enough value.

Today I'm breaking down my content pillar strategy that helped me build a 70K+ audience while still promoting my business (yes, it's possible to do both!).

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Why Your Content Pillars Are Exactly Like a Meal

Think about your content strategy like a plate of food:

• Protein (meaty, substantial content that builds your audience)

• Veggies (nutritious content that's good for your audience's growth)

• Carbs (comfort content that makes your audience feel connected to you)

• Dessert (promotional content - the stuff you actually want them to buy/download/sign up for)

Because if your plate is 80% dessert, you're going to make your audience sick. And they'll stop coming back for more…

I see this ALL THE TIME with creators who are wondering why their engagement has tanked. They're constantly posting "Download my free guide!" "Buy my course!" "Sign up for my webinar!" without giving their audience anything substantial to chew on first.

Your audience didn't follow you for a non-stop stream of promotions. They followed you because they want the value you provide.

The Ideal Content Mix for Maximum Engagement

After years of testing and analyzing what works (and what definitely doesn't), I've found that the ideal content meal should look something like:

• 30% Protein (deep expertise, unique insights)

• 30% Veggies (helpful tips, industry news analysis)

• 30% Carbs (relatable stories, behind-the-scenes)

• 10% Dessert (promotional content

And yes, I know what you're thinking:

I hear you. I am in the same boat with you. But here's the counterintuitive truth I've learned building my audience to 70K+ followers:

The less you directly promote, the more your audience will actually buy.

The reason why is because when you consistently serve nutritious, valuable content, your audience trusts you. And when they trust you, they're MUCH more likely to buy/take action when you occasionally serve that dessert.

My Personal Content Pillars

Want to see what this looks like in practice?

Here are my actual content pillars that I use across LinkedIn and other platforms:

🥩 Protein

• Career advice and professional development frameworks

• Actionable personal branding tips, content creation systems and templates

🥦 Veggies

• Industry news, trends and analysis with your own spin and POV on it

• Industry insights from my 13+ years in working in sports, media & entertainment

🍚 Carbs

• Behind-the-scenes of building Arena

• My personal career and business wins and failures

🍰 Dessert (limited to 10-15% of content)

• Updates and features about Arena

• My beehiiv newsletter promotions

• Speaking engagement announcements

• Brand partnerships and ads

The key is that I'm intentional about balancing these pillars. When I notice I've been heavy on the dessert lately, I immediately course-correct with the other content pillars.

How to Audit Your Content and Take Action Today

Time for some real talk, y’all. When was the last time you actually looked at what you're serving your audience? Let's fix that right now with some immediate action steps:

1. 🔍 Quick Content Audit (5 minutes)

• Open your social platform of choice

• Look at your last 10 posts

• Categorize each one: Is it protein, veggies, carbs, or dessert?

• If more than 20% of your content is promotional (dessert), you've found your engagement problem

2. 🗓️ Plan Your Next 4 Posts Using the Balanced Meal Approach

• 1 protein-heavy post (deep expertise or unique insight)

• 1 veggie post (industry news analysis)

• 1 carb post (relatable story or behind-the-scenes)

• 1 dessert post (if needed - but only if the other 3 are solid)

3. 🔔 Set a Weekly Reminder to Check Your Balance

• At the beginning or end of each week works great

• Review what you posted the previous week

• Plan your balanced content plan for the upcoming week

Want my Notion template for content creation? Click here.

tl;dr

If your engagement is down, before you blame the algorithm or think you need some fancy new strategy, take a hard look at your content diet. Are you overfeeding your audience with promotional content while starving them of the valuable stuff they actually followed you for?

Remember: your audience signed up for a balanced meal, not an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet.

I'd love to hear what your content pillars are! Comment below and share your balanced content meal plan. 😄 

You got this,

P.S. 🎁 My birthday is tomorrow and if there’s one gift I could request is that if you found this helpful, I'd be super grateful if you'd share my newsletter in your feed or with another multi-hyphenate creator who might be struggling with their content strategy. We’re all in this together!

Note: Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links - if you use them, I may earn a commission (no extra cost to you). I only share tools I actually use and love.