Here’s Why Every Post Needs a Job Description
I once had a client proudly show me her content calendar. Forty-seven posts were scheduled for the month. All of them colour-coded and, I must say, very pretty and beautifully organised.
But, a very big but…. very few of them had a reason to exist.
Now, her hard work wasn’t an isolated instance, and I’ve seen this pattern many times before. Hand-on-heart I’ve been guilty of it myself, too. The temptation to churn out content like a factory assembly line is very real, and that’s when you slip into measuring success by output rather than outcome.
More posts. More reels. More, more, more.
Until it’s too much.
There’s a school of thought suggesting 70% of business content goes completely unused because it misses what buyers actually need, or even what they’re looking for. That’s not a typo. Seven out of ten pieces of content you’re creating may as well have been shouted into the void.
Content without a job description isn’t marketing. It’s just expensive noise costing you time and mental bandwidth. And AI makes the “more content” roundabout very easy.
The “More Content” Myth That’s Draining Your Energy
Let’s talk about what’s actually happening when you post without purpose.
Consider this scenario: you’re sitting down on a Sunday evening, staring at a blank screen, trying to come up with something to schedule for tomorrow.
You scroll through trending audios, peek at what your competitors are doing, and maybe look through random quotes from your notes app. You glance skyward, hopeful for a flash of inspiration…. and at this stage, you’ll take anything.
Sound familiar?
This is a reactive approach to content creation and exactly why so many business owners confess they lack a clear content strategy. They’re playing whack-a-mole with their posting schedule instead of building something that actually works.
And how does this work for them? Burnout. Inconsistent results. And the creeping suspicion that maybe social media just “doesn’t work” for their business.
But here’s what’s actually on show: companies with a documented content strategy see 33% higher ROI than those without one. Not because they’re posting more. But, because every piece of content they create has a specific job to do.
What Does “Giving Content a Job” Actually Mean?
Think about hiring an employee. You wouldn’t bring someone onto your team and say, “Just… do stuff. Be present. She’ll be right, we can figure out what you’re here for later.”
That would be madness, agreed?
Yet that’s exactly how many approach posting, underestimating the importance of content strategy for small business.
Every piece of content you create should be able to answer one question: What was this post hired to do?
A post’s job description might be:
- Convert cold followers into newsletter subscribers
- Position you as the expert in your field
- Nurture warm leads who are considering working with you
- Drive traffic to a specific sales page
- Build trust through social proof and case studies
- Re-engage dormant followers who’ve stopped interacting
When you know the job, you can measure whether it’s getting done.
When you don’t? You’re just counting likes and wondering why nothing’s moving the needle.
The One-Goal Calendar: Fewer Decisions, Better Results
Here’s where content planning gets practical.
Instead of trying to do everything everywhere all at once (exhausting just reading that, isn’t it?), try building your content calendar backwards from ONE major business goal (per quarter or per month).
Let’s say your goal this month is to fill your group coaching program. That’s it. One goal.
Now your content suddenly has clarity:
Week 1: Content that addresses the problem your program solves. Job: attract people who have this problem.
Week 2: Content that shows your unique methodology. Job: differentiate you from other solutions.
Week 3: Content featuring client transformations. Job: provide social proof and reduce risk perception.
Week 4: Content with direct invitation to join. Job: convert interested followers into applicants.
See how different that feels from “What the hell should I post today?”
You don’t need more ideas.
You need fewer decisions.
And, when every piece of content maps back to one clear goal, the overwhelm dissolves. You stop second-guessing yourself because you know exactly what each post is supposed to accomplish.
Mapping Content to Real Business Priorities (Not Vanity Metrics)
Here’s where AI can do a whole lot of heavy lifting to help, when you use it strategically.
Now of course, we know AI helps generate content, and that’s what we’re here for.
But we also know AI-assisted content can become sloppy when it’s generated en masse and published by people using it solely for more and more words without a defined purpose.
When I work with clients, we start with business priorities, not posting schedules. What do you actually need to happen in your business over the next particular period of time?
More discovery calls? Email list growth? Launching a new offer? Retaining existing clients?
Once you know that, the content brief to AI (or to yourself) changes entirely.
Instead of: “Write me a LinkedIn post about AI tools”
You write: “Create a LinkedIn post that positions me as a thoughtful AI strategist, addresses the fear that AI content sounds robotic, and invites business owners to download my free voice guide. The reader should finish this post feeling understood and curious.”
That’s a job description. The first prompt is just… at best, a vague topic.
An Uncomfortable Audit: Does Your Current Content Have Jobs?
Pause for a minute, and right now, gather up your last ten posted pieces of content. For each one, ask yourself:
- What specific action did I want someone to take after seeing this?
- Who exactly was this for, and what stage of awareness were they in?
- How does this connect to something I’m actually selling or offering?
- Can I measure whether this post achieved its purpose?
If you’re struggling to answer any or all of these questions, you’ve been posting content that’s unemployed. It’s showing up, taking space on the feed, but it’s not actually working for your business.
This exercise isn’t about a slap over the knuckles; it’s intended to bring awareness to whether your or not content is gainfully employed. All business owners have a finite bucket of time and energy for content creation, so respect this and make every post earn its keep.
What Happens When Every Post Has a Purpose
The shift is remarkable once you make it.
Content creation stops feeling like a hamster wheel. You’re no longer scrambling for ideas because your strategy tells you what to create next. You’re not measuring success by engagement alone, you’re tracking whether content actually moves people closer to working with you.
A small business owner I was speaking with followed this advice, and recently went from posting daily without purpose to posting three times a week with intention. Her engagement dropped slightly. But her enquiries tripled.
Because she stopped tossing words out there randomly and started creating content that led somewhere.
Your Content Job Description Template
Before you create another piece of content, take time to fill in these blanks:
This content is for: [specific person at specific stage of your customer journey]
After seeing this, they will: [specific action or mindset shift]
This supports my business goal of: [one clear priority]
I’ll know it worked if: [measurable outcome]
If you can’t complete this in under two minutes, you’re not ready to create that content yet. And that’s okay.
Better to pause and get clear than to add more noise to an already deafening internet.
The Bottom Line
Content marketing isn’t broken. But the spray-and-pray approach to content is.
In a world where AI can generate infinite content, the competitive advantage can not be volume. It must be intentionality, which is knowing exactly what each post is supposed to do and then creating with that precision.
You don’t need more content. You need content that works harder.
So before you schedule that next post, ask yourself: what’s its job? If you don’t have a clear answer, don’t post it.
Your energy, and your audience, deserve better than content that’s just… there.
Ready to give your content strategy a proper job description? Download the free Content Purpose Audit checklist and evaluate your last 30 days of content in under 15 minutes.
