Business Plans – an investigation (2)

Update on business plan

Content Plan Research

As I discussed in the above video, I decided to drop LinkedIn as part of my feedback loop and focus on my current Instagram and Facebook content plan to inform this requirement of the DA.

• “A content strategy is an all-encompassing approach for creating content that drives key business objectives“

• “A Content strategy is the higher-level planning process. In comparison, content marketing is the nuts-and-bolts process of creating, publishing, and promoting content“.

I’ve found in my research that a number of content pillars are important to keep your audience engaged consistently with you and your business, rather than just promoting constantly. This allows the audience to feel a connection to the brand and feel as though they are getting value from each post, see below for some examples.

Pinterest

My Content Plan & Purpose

Below is the current plan I have for my Instagram and Facebook pages, I want to focus on giving value to my audience whilst establishing authority in my industry. Moving forward, I want to focus more on personable content and personal brand building to further this authority in the industry and deepen the connection with my audience.

Future Cultures Research

Trajectories & Planning (Week 2)

The key to Futures Studies as an academic discipline is the systematic approach to examining patterns of the past and present in order to anticipate the possibility and the potential of future events and trends.

(Moore, 2019).

Futurology

Bell argues that modern futures studies is a continuation of the futurological quest to understand the world and to make a good life in it and admits that Futures Studies is often done badly, however, it is about taking part in the conscious decision to act (Moore, 2019). Through my DA of my business plan, Bell’s point relates to my conscious decision of acting through planning. Through planning, I am able to adopt futures thinking in order to recognise that planning does not mean that a single outcome will occur through these actions, but rather multiple possible, probable and preferable futures are to be expected. “Futures studies seeks to make the future better, not just preparing for the worse, but ensuring that we make the things happen are the things that we want to happen, and to stop the things that we don’t, with the full knowledge that things may not turn out as we plan” (Moore, 2019).

Planning

World War 2 brought advancements in planning that were unprecedented which put huge demands on leaders to plan for the short and long-term, and carefully regulate the logistics and distribution. Planning is paramount when thinking of Futures Studies, especially when the focus is on the short-term, medium-term and long-term futures. “The primary purpose of futures research is to give coherence and direction to planning processes. Futures research distils a vast array of information from many academic disciplines about dynamics that have shaped the world and how those forces might change to create new opportunities, threats, and uncertainties” (Cole, 2001). Futures research is giving direction to the planning process of my DA of a business plan by bringing to light the different forces that can shape the multiple futures that the plan will highlight throughout its development and beyond. With the DA focus on short, medium or long-term futures, planning is crucial to my DA of a business plan as “Both are idealistic activities seeking to make people’s futures more secure and more fulfilling” (Cole, 2001). In this regard, it is my own future in which I am aiming to plan for to make more secure and fulfilling by attempting to make plans around my business and its trajectory.