Internet Boot Camp: Planning Content Pillars + Accounts
In deciding to grow Words Like Silver, I guessed at the topics most compelling to readers.
Published June 30, 2025
I have been joking about the need to "influencer boot camp" myself all year long, especially knowing the timing of some big projects and announcements coming down the pipeline. I always have a reason not to—reverting instead to posting on the blog, although that does very little for expansion. I love my content; I just need more eyes on it.
The biggest struggle for me thus far has been the sense of dissonance around my values of privacy vs. the knowledge of what's most effective and why (parasocial relationship.) In that sense, I might be too self-aware and absolutely need to think less. Think less, post more. Fake it 'til I make it. I do not give the best of myself away online, but I'm aware that others might assume they're seeing all of me. Ultimately, to be involved in the social media ecosystem means to commit yourself to always being at least a little bit misunderstood, and that grates against some desires I have to be in control of my own image. Keeping to yourself more is much easier to navigate.
That, and I don't naturally take a lot of photos or videos of myself, and pretty much all the data shows that I need to be more of a narcissist if I want to boost my following. It does make people feel more connected to you versus hiding behind the phone screen. Alas.
A Recent Read on This
Anyway, the Gist of It Is That I Want to Do More of This—
and be funded for doing so. Which means I need to sell my soul to Meta a little bit. Two years ago before I thought I'd be going on submission to publishers with my first literary agency, I doubled my following from 5K to 10K within a month and then let it cool. So if I take that same drive, I'm sure I can do it again. I just occasionally get stuck in the weeds of the details of perfection over execution. But more access will give me more time—and thus more opportunity to do what I'm passionate about.
Since Words Like Silver has been a reflection of me for so long, it feels strange to distill it down into what's a value-add for others that would tap into what would make them want to stick around.
Career-wise, I know I eventually want to be a Zillennial version of Maria Popova with a slightly different range, as well as to boost my travel journalism, fiction over nonfiction work, etc,. (If she did write a novel at any point, however, I'd be first in line.) When setting up the custom site with my (amazing) developer, I gave him similar instructions. I'd prefer a donation bar to running ads, for example.
So how does she find new readers?
If you do not already, you should absolutely be following The Marginalian. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite publications.
Popova's SEO presence is fantastic, and she has such a rich archive. She schedules 10+ more tweets or Threads per day, tying content to influential figures' birthdays and whatnot ("On this day in 1927...") for example.
Considering the chaos of AI in the Internet sphere right now, I don't think I can carve out the same Google space effectively, but I can follow her lead on the cadence of text posts from the archive blasted to social media, for example. So that's influencing how I put this together.
When working for a social media agency way back in 2020, we worked off of content pillars and nearly everyone will tell you that having a rhythm and routine helps you automate in this way. I need to be scheduling ahead so it's not as much on my shoulders day-of, because I will prioritize actual writing (blog, novels, paid journalism) every damn time. Still, I feel like I finally nailed down the proportion of content that would hit what I need to, and would be curious to know y'all's thoughts.
It's a Catch-22 I talked about in my last newsletter that strategizing something that's important to me can make it automatically feel manipulative in a way, but that's just a sense I need to get over because business is business, and the only reason I have that insecurity is because Words Like Silver—for a long time—has been something just for me, with any readers as a happy bonus.
Like, it's stupid of me to ignore the opportunity to make what I do more impactful (and more stable) out of embarrassment or purity or emotion, and each moment of growth that WLS has experienced has already sent such a zing of thrill through me anyhow.
I've been stewing over the "formula" for months, and this one finally popped in my head just the other day. And I think it's the right one!
My Content Pillars, As a Guess?
Basically, I narrowed it down to about six topics I can rotate between, with varying degrees of overlap.
1. Books & publishing — That includes me talking about the book deal process, all I know about publishing, the craft, writing advice, trends, my experience over 14 years. Book reviews too, but that overlaps with category five. Basically: everything about the literary life, but also with a dose of journalism, freelancing, writing for work, etc,. How I Got My Agent post, or Why Not to Buy Books from Amazon, or upcoming books I'm psyched about.
2. Travel & aesthetics — Obviously, I'm a sense of place person, and my goal within journalism is to be an established travel writer. I've been so lucky so far to move and travel to a ton of different places, and of course, that's just about the sexiest job possible. I'm often posting places rather than things or people, so here's a dose of that glamour. Postcards from boutique hotels, packing lists, After the North Pole.
3. Creativity & discipline — I wrote a book, I run my own business, and I have plenty of hobbies. This is the bucket for me to talk about the arts and how they're valued, my culture writing overall, the setup, my schedules, productivity, and anything related to "how to make it work," especially in regards to push or fatigue or inspiration. I might review Four Thousand Weeks or share my favorite planners or my zero draft structure.
4. Brain food & philosophy — All that jazz. Scraps, references, associations, favorite studies. All that good ol' psych or history knowledge bubbling up through the cracks. All my various fun facts.
5. Traditional style, books, recs — What you would consider "traditional" influencer content and what works in terms of growth. I should beef up my shopping content for any possible revenue from affiliate links (and to boost authority.) Outfit of the days, style commentary, etc,. Build up my authority in terms of the lifestyle space. And, of course, the books. Anything trend-related. This is where the money is, for example, or the posts most likely to go beyond me.
6. Aesthetics, beauty, gratitude — the core of my visual identity, the look and feel, aesthetics, etc,. Plenty of people followed me during quarantine specifically for my happy lists, and I love doing them. And then again, I just totally forget how much I produce in a given day that could just be scanned and thrown online—journal pages, workspaces, more stereotypically aligned with my "quiet, cozy" elements. I have the "look" of a writer too, so my function matches my format in ways that could help me out in terms of cohesion.
Deciding How to Structure My Account
When discussing this in early January while easing into my once-a-week newsletter Succinctish—which still isn't on the cadence it needs to be—I talked about how to divide out my content.
The blessing and the curse of what I do is that everyone follows @wlsgrace for a different reason. Some followers are specifically for the book deal process or because they want to read Mountain Sounds. Some are there for book recommendations, specifically.
Others follow me for my travel journalism (which has some gorgeous pics), and it's important for me to maintain my clips and portfolio on there because it's been responsible for so many trip invitations, editor assignments, and the bulk of my professional network. Instagram is more natural to me than LinkedIn, for example.
Still others follow me for my musings on art, creativity, etc,. either because they want to learn how to build in the time to notice beauty or because they appreciate my eye (which sounds obnoxious to say.) These are the more aesthetic, Pinterest-esque followers.
And then there's probably a handful of more traditional influencer-y followers who just think I live a cool life (flattering.) And then, of course, my personal network—family, friends, school alumni, various places I've lived, and other pockets.
How much I lean into one aspect or another has always felt seasonal i.e. there are months when I'm only talking journalism vs. in the thick of a book revision vs. those times when I'm being so obnoxious about the studies or takes that have been crossing my desk.
I've worried about eventually getting to book marketing and alienating some, or leaning more into more traditional recommendations content and having people drop off—because I don't want to solely do one thing on there? So what's a good rhythm that captures all of it that also doesn't feel like it's stifling me? Up until now, I've just posted what I want when I want.
And then I don't want to split it all out because then I don't necessarily have enough volume to populate each account without also getting unbearably repetitive (plus, @wlsgrace has the highest follower count and growth potential, so I don't want to lose the traction there. Growing that account would help me most.)
I think going forward, I decided I actually will split them out. Keep most of it all under @wlsgrace, but when I catch myself having to post a lot of volume—more salesy author content or very specific querying info, for example, directing it to a devoted account and maybe just sharing between them as collaborators on occasion. Three accounts feels reasonable.
And every new connection I've made through my blog this past year has been so rewarding.
The Account Split I Landed on
1. @WLSGRACE (ALL) — Everything, but in fair doses so I can keep it more even like it is now. Books, journalism, commentary, arts, aesthetic, personal. See what happens with keeping it generalist.
2. @WORDSLIKESILVER (BLOG) — The conscious pillars i.e. blog content. All my blog posts, book reviews, more "influencer-y" type content that relates to something I've written. Everything about this WLS engine that I want to build out. See what happens with niching down.
3. @BYGRACESMITH (AUTHOR) — Marketing, craft, process, etc,. The promo materials, plus more of a peek behind the curtain of the intensity of all the book stuff. That's a lot of me, but not all of me either, and a boundary between me and readers via a dedicated account would probably be great there too. Because I want to engage but not for the rest of what I do to be totally drowned out! See what happens with niching down. I will start using this one...soon.
Some Hangups & How to Fix Them
1. I often feel like I need to post a polished end result when in reality, people are just as interested in the process of what I do.
Like on this, even. I can map out strategy and business behind-the-scenes, but I could also type them up as a blog post rather than an internal note and just post the brainstorms directly. There's nothing confidential here, as it's just me, and the worst-case scenario in having them public is falling short of my goals. But at least I'd be closer to what I want and motivated to take further steps.
2. I never feel "together" enough to film myself.
I will probably never be a person who wants to take endless photos of myself, but I should get into the habit anyway. For one, I have few photo memories of my twenties of me by myself or me with others. Instead, my photos tend to be of landscapes or table lays, for example. So it'd probably be good for me personally too. And if I'm shy about showing more of my face (I always look tired, my hair's a tangled mess, whatever the daily "I'd rather not video myself" excuse may be—) then just suck it up. This is the price of a job.
3. Committing to a cadence might narrow my creativity. Or I don't want to be constrained.
Not really. That's the temptation in thought, but committing to a rhythm of certain topics on certain days might actually free me up. My art professor used to say that the best thing you could do for your creativity is to put it in a box, and followers like to know what to expect. Series build numbers too. Also, I might be more inspired to dig into my archive then because I already have so much fitting content that could be recycled or posted again.
4. People might assume they know me.
And that's their problem.
5. I spend so much time brainstorming, strategizing, and organizing, but not enough actually building out the content itself.
Content creation and content strategy are two different tasks, both involving a lot of time and energy. So now that I've figured out my tentative next strategy and how I need to section it out for (hopefully) sustainable rhythms, I need to actually fill in my calendars and ban myself from going back until I've done everything I've planned already. Plus, I have a vast archive of photos and videos, so I don't need to take a ton of new content either until I've exhausted the old. I could also look ahead more and schedule content according to holidays, seasonally, etc,.
So What's Next?
Now that I know the approximate proportions I'm aiming for, I need to actually build it out. Comb through my existing blog content and slot in the appropriate posts into their category so I can feel the rhythm of the topics going out. Draw from the buckets if I'm having trouble thinking of which saved idea to execute next, for example.
I'd like to get evergreen content—like tweeted blog links from the archive, daily—scheduled through Thanksgiving or so, and have maybe 2-3 grid posts figured out per week so I can fill in the rest as it comes up.
I'm always eager to double-back and perfect a strategy, for example, but need to ban myself from doing so or creating new "inspiration" placeholders. Because in this case, again: execution will outweigh perfection every time. I had to do this at one point when revising my manuscript too: black out finished text in the doc so I couldn't go back and tweak. Mentally, I need to do this with blog posts and inspiration so that I don't ideate more until I'm done with what I have, because I can always plan instead of post.
And then, I should actually care about factors like time-of-day, optimized caption SEO, crunching the numbers, etc,. Because I'm excellent at that when it comes to others, but again seem to think that's not natural enough when it comes to my own content. Right now, I just post what I want when I want, and that works. But I can actually make it more effective if I optimize on social versus just on here.
Words Like Silver has already come so far and built up so much. Now, I just want to turbocharge it by the end of the year to make it a bigger part of my work week.
What do y'all think? What do you want to see?
I have spoken before on this, but this is a double-standard I have that I'm so aware of. I'm friends with the loveliest influencers and never view their work that way at all. But as soon as I pick up the camera—oh boy.
