What is the PAGER Method? The Social Media Strategy Explained
It’s time to simplify social media for small businesses and brands. The PAGER Method is a social media strategy that you can easily use on any platform and in any niche. You’ll know what to create, make sure that your content isn’t too salesy, and still promote the events and initiatives that your business needs to survive. Here, get an overview of Downstage Media’s original content method with examples. This is the summary of what is available in my book, Simple Social Media.
You’re Too Busy to Come Up With a Social Media Strategy
Of course you know that social media is vital for every business. Whether you’re in the arts, medicine, or in tech, you know that it’s important to show up where your audience is, remind them of how what you offer is going to make their lives better, and help them get it. It just seems so complicated.
After creating social media strategies and content for businesses for nearly a decade, I realized many of the methods I tried didn’t last because:
they are platform specific (they work great on Instagram, but not on LinkedIn, for example)
they require you to always have your phone “documenting” what you’re doing, which is hard for anyone who needs to do more than take pics and videos of what they’re doing all of the time
they’re great at building community but not increasing sales
they’re great at promoting your business but not building relationships
So out of necessity I’ve created a social media strategy called the PAGER Method and wrote the book Simple Social Media. which lays it out in more detail. The PAGER method combats all of the aforementioned issues by:
working on every platform
not relying on content that is created “in the moment” (but it can be if that work flow works for you)
still making sure to focus on initiatives, promotions, and upcoming events
encouraging dialogue with your audience
Okay, so let’s make your social media strategy really, really simple because all of these systems are complicated. And nothing breaks down big concepts like a ‘90s throwback mnemonic device.
For the record, if I had to create a 90s grunge cover band, I would name it Mnemonic Device.
The PAGER Method
Here’s how the PAGER Method works, each day of the week you’re going to post one piece of content on your social media platform of choice. It will correspond to each letter of the word PAGER and will help you with your different social media goals.
The PAGER Method organizes your social content into five clear categories so you can stay consistent without overthinking what to post.
P of PAGER: Promotional Material
One of the biggest issues with social media that I hear from clients is that they spend all of this time creating and posting social media content but it doesn’t really “move the needle” and affect their businesses. This is often because they are posting stuff about their brand or their audience. But they aren’t posting about what they actually sell. They never ask people to buy the thing, subscribe now, or come to the event.
On the other hand, doing that too often will make your audience scroll past your stuff because no one wants to follow a walking billboard.
So, by posting promotional material once, or at most twice a week, you’ll be able to let your audience know what you are up to, business-wise, but not bombard them with salesy content.
Here is what promotional content entails:
Promotions - If you are having a sale of some sort, it goes with Promotional content. Below, Emily Feinsod Photography wanted to spread the word about the mini sessions that she was taking appointments for.
Initiatives - When your business offers more than one thing, it may want to choose one to highlight for a specific amount of time. For example, back when I worked at The Container Store, they would always highlight their dorm solutions May to September - right around graduation and move-in time. Those products were sold throughout the year, but there was a specific initiative to draw attention to them during those months.
Events - If you are in the performing arts, you have many events that you are pointing people towards. Your Promotional content is where you will be overt about how to buy tickets.
By making sure that you post Promotional content once a week, you will be sure to let your audience know what you have going on in your business, without bombarding them with spammy posts all of the time.
To make your own Promotional Content (and learn my “Talking Points” trick) read What is Promotional Content and How to Make It.A of PAGER: Articles
Once a week it’s worthwhile to post content that is more in-depth. It’s a great way to highlight the work that you are creating or appearing in. And if you are just getting started and aren’t creating your own long form content, then it’s the perfect place to share other people’s in your industry and then share your two cents. Here is the kind of content that you can share on social media in the Articles section of the PAGER mode:
Articles you have written or appeared in
Podcast episodes you have created or appeared on
Blog posts you have published or guest published
Blog posts that you have appeared in
Long form videos (longer than three minutes) that you have created or appeared in
Curated content (of any of the above) that resonated with you or your brand
Too often when brands publish their long form content they simply share the link to the video, podcast, or blog post once and then move on to creating the next piece of content. But by continually sharing those posts they have a chance to really sink in with your audience. Imagine if Taylor Swift had to come up with new songs every time she stepped out on stage. She’d burn out quickly. Instead, when she goes onstage she does have new material, but she also plays the hits. You should too.
It’s what marketer Ross Simmonds is often talking about, “create once, distribute forever.”
REMEMBER:
— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) May 11, 2022
If your content resonated with people in September... It can still resonate with people in May.
On the flip side, if someone else hosted you on their podcast, video, or blog, distribute that content as well. You will help to build up that relationship with them so they may think of you again in the future. Earned media opportunities like that give your brand more authority, so it’s also in your best interest to share it.
Distributing Blogs, Podcasts, and Videos on Social Media With the PAGER MethodG of PAGER: General Content
Many people who are on social media, though, don’t want to “change the channel” and click on a link to your website to read an article that you have appeared in. This is where General content comes into play. You are giving information, entertainment, and insight right then and there in their feed. With General content, you:
solve problems
answer questions
overcome objections
give tips
provide case studies
share testimonials
validate beliefs your audience has
empathize with motivations your audience has
share in what your audience loves and gripes about
laugh at something funny in your niche
celebrate holidays in your niche, area, or country
Basically, you want to come up with ideas or concepts from this list, and then create posts that are in three different formats all based around those ideas.
Think of relaying the same information as:
text-only posts
still shots
videos
What is General Content for the PAGER Method and How to Make ItCame across your pager model a few weeks ago. Love it. Easy for businesses to understand and take action.
— Joseph Kenney (@brainreceptive) August 6, 2022
Obviously, in the case of a platform like TikTok, it’s mostly going to be video-based. But on Facebook or LinkedIn, for example, the posts you create could come in any of the above formats.
And speaking of stockpiling content, Trello boards are excellent ways to store your social media content. Especially if you need to get approvals or feedback on your posts or if you want them to go out at specific times. I have created a public board that uses the PAGER Method and gives hints for how to use it best. Check it out so you can start creating, organizing, stockpiling, and uploading your content.
What is a Content Stockpile for Social Media? And Why Do I Need It?
E of PAGER: Engagement Posts
We all know that communication is a two-way street. And although you can encourage interaction with your audience at any time, it’s great to have a day in your schedule that’s simply devoted to posts that get your audience tapping, commenting, and providing their thoughts.
Engagement posts are:
polls
fill in the blanks
answer with a gif / emoji
this or that
any kinds of games
By getting your audience to interact with your posts, you not only get to know more about them and what they like, but it helps in the algorithms too. Many times algorithms will show more content from the accounts that users interact with. And at the same time, the more people that interact with a post, the more accounts the algorithm will show that content to. So it’s in your best interest to include this type of content into your mix.
I also love to use AI to generate a bunch of open ended questions on social media. Jasper.ai does this very easily.
How to Build Brand Awareness with Engagement PostsR of PAGER: Random Posts
The final letter of PAGER stands for Random. Some third party schedulers, like MeetEdgar will send out any piece of random content that you’ve uploaded. If you want to post a fifth time in a week, this is a great option. You don’t have to come up with anything new, just use the content that you’ve already created and put it here as well.
When to Post PAGER Content
To decide which day of the week is a Promotional Day or which day of the week is an Articles Day, take a look at the platform you’re posting on, and your audience. Then simply assign a letter to each day of the week. If you’re only posting four days a week, then just do PAGE.
It’s Work at First, and Then It’s Done
Implementing the PAGER method takes a bit of work right off the bat. Coming up with the different kinds of content, creating it, stockpiling it, and then scheduling it. Once it is going, though, you will find that almost all of your social media content creation time is eliminated. When you have a new event to promote, or a holiday coming up, then you add a few posts into the mix.
That’s it!
You can go about your life without worrying about creating your social media content! How nice would it be to have that little bit of anxiety that is always there (and probably has been there ever since Facebook launched Pages ten years ago) just gone.
Install the PAGER Method into Your Company
I work with companies to take this system and make it work for them. Schedule a Call with Annie Figenshu to find out how you can make the PAGER Method work for you.
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You’ve never heard of Creator Economy Expo before. So… is it worth your time? You don’t want to take days out of your business attending an event that won’t yield results for you in the upcoming year. In this blog post, I’ll talk about what it is, why it’s worth considering, and how to get it at a discount. So you can decide if it’s a good fit for you and your brand.
It’s not always clear how you can use StoryBrand on your social media. Much of the StoryBrand Framework is based around using marketing to increase sales - but social media is different than a website. And no one wants to turn their social media channels into a spammy billboard. Here you’ll learn a StoryBrand-inspired formula for writing copy on your social media posts, as well as different ways to use existing assets in your marketing - lead generators, BrandScripts, and more - in a way that works on social media.
Struggling to get your social media posts noticed? It might not be your content—it’s your strategy. By combining the StoryBrand BrandScript with Downstage Media’s PAGER method, you can create social posts that not only resonate but also drive real results. In this post, you'll learn a step-by-step approach to crafting clear, engaging content that doesn’t turn your feed into an endless ad, but a true engagement tool.
General Content is the “G” of the PAGER method, and it can be the most confusing because it’s the most vague category. But these are the posts that show your audience that you understand who they are and you know how to solve their problems. Read on to understand what these posts are, see them in action, and learn how to implement them into your content mix so you can turn your audience into your community.
It’s time to simplify social media for small businesses and brands. The PAGER Method is a social media strategy that you can easily use on any platform and in any niche. You’ll know what to create, ensure that your content isn’t too salesy, and still promote the events and initiatives that your business needs to survive. Here, get an overview of Downstage Media’s own content method with examples. This is the basis for Annie Figenshu’s book, Simple Social Media.
If you don’t post on social media about your promotions, initiatives, or events your audience won’t know what you have going on business-wise. So you can start to question whether all of the time that you spend posting is worthwhile at all. Here you’ll learn a simple system to create posts that will help you reach your business goals without making your account seem like a salesy billboard.
It can be hard to make the most of your email marketing. You don’t have the time to learn how to send out more than a quick blast but you don’t have the time to learn anything more. Annie Schiffmann is Mailchimp Certified and takes you through how that special training can help you reach your goals for your company.
No one wants to spend time crafting an email that will be ignored. Learn these best practices gleaned from Mailchimp’s Content Optimizer to get your audience to actually read the emails you send out.
The StoryBrand Marketing Livestream is a two day investment in your business. But if you don’t take time to prepare, you could get a low return on that investment. Learn success tips from facilitators who’ve ushered hundreds of attendees through the workshop.
The internet is full of marketing advice, predictions, and trends for the new year. Many of them, though, don’t quite apply to an arts-focused brand. Here, I’ll take some marketing trends for 2022 and filter them through the lens of the performing arts, offering my insights for how brands in the arts can use them now.
You do more copywriting than you think. Any post, email, or webpage where you want a reader to take action counts as copywriting. Unfortunately, lots of copywriting misses the mark which leads to lower clicks, conversions, and sales. In this post, you'll learn simple copywriting tweaks that will personalize, activate, and strengthen your work so you can connect with your audience.
The prices for online courses and coaching programs varies wildly - with some as low as $47 and others are high as $5000. So when you’re considering an online course and a coaching program, it’s important to know what’s in store, and how it compares to other comparable courses. Downstage Media has partnered with Business Made Simple to offer a suite of online courses and a marketing mentorship as well. Here’s what you can expect to pay, and what is included, and how it compares in the marketplace.
Like what we’ve done for your company? Think other organizations need to get their work out there? Here are the easiest ways to leave us a review that will answer the questions our potential clients often have. Whether you prefer to fill in the blanks, tap record, or write on a form, answer these five questions and you’re all done!
Understanding the difference between a hashtag and a handle can instantly strengthen your social media presence. If you’ve been guessing or mixing the two, you’re not alone — and it’s hurting your visibility. This post breaks down both tools in plain English and shows you how to use them strategically so your content is easier to find, easier to engage with, and easier to manage. Keep reading to make your next post clearer and far more effective.
Annie Figenshu
Annie Figenshu is keenly aware that many companies are pressed for time, and every minute counts. She helps brands make the most of their content marketing so that their hard work is shared with the world. Annie is certified in both StoryBrand and Mailchimp, has two kids with Beatles-themed names, and is afraid to think what a day without coffee would look like.
Your LinkedIn Company Page isn’t struggling because you’re posting too little. It’s struggling because LinkedIn prioritizes people over logos. Here’s how employee engagement multiplies reach and helps your content travel further.