DOES CREATING CONTENT STRESS YOU OUT?
If you answered yes, it might be comforting to know that you are not alone. I have heard this almost daily from companies, business owners, heck even content creators, for the past decade. No matter what industry you’re in: the creative space, logistics, marketing, finance or even boat building – content creation for your brand can be a big barrier between your time and your energy [which let me guess, if you’re anything like me – you’d like more of both]. As many of us business owners know all too well figuring out what to create content about for your marketing can add a lot of stress to your plate if you’re not sure how to do it right.
The trick? Figuring out how to create more EFFECTIVE content in less time.
THE GENIUS BEHIND BATCH CONTENT CREATION
Batch content creation is when you create a lot of content at once vs. creating something fresh on the spot every.single.time. When I started my flagship company in 2012, I offered just one service—one that’s still my flagship service to this day—which is to make 3-month editorial calendars for companies each season, create all of the amazing content in batches, and then schedule it out.
The consumers of my clients see big-time results through consistency – which builds trust and expertise for them. It’s a win, win all the way around. Over the years, this also means that I’ve become a bona fide expert in content creation which – means that I’ve had to get really, really good at creating more content in less time. I want you to latch onto this magic idea so you can have massive success in your business too.
There are few strategies as important in today’s world as having an effective content plan. Without a short or long-term strategy around content, everyone who’s in charge of creating is all stressed out about what to post, where, how often, when… I know you’ve been there. To sum it up: A lack of strategy leads to content that brings absolutely no value to you or your readers. Which is just a WASTE OF TIME. And I don’t want that for you!
RULES FOR CREATING MORE IN LESS TIME
In my book, creating strategic content quickly comes with a few ground rules. If you can learn them and use them, you’re winning already. Hashtag #winning.
- One: Break long-format content into smaller pieces, aka creating more pieces of content from the same thing!
- Two: Create lists and have a space to capture all of the fabulous ideas that come into your head on a daily basis.
- Three: Know your power posting categories and then consistently use them.
- Four: PLAN, PLAN, and PLAN some more. A strategy without a plan isn’t a strategy.
- Five: Teach your audience to go from point A to point B.
ONE PIECE OF CONTENT 30 DIFFERENT WAYS
It’s easy to think of creating a blog post as one piece of content. But, what if you write a blog post and then turn it into 10 pieces of content? I’m a big fan of Gary Vee, and his content strategy he calls the Content Pyramid. It’s one of my favorites and a lot of big companies use a similar method. You take a long-form piece of content like a video, a blog post, or a podcast, and then take snippets of that content to create social media posts, captions, memes, gifs, and Instagram stories. The goal is to take one piece of content and make it into 10-20 o or 30! pieces of content to use over and over again to extend the life of the original piece.
I would suggest that if you are spending the time and energy on creating something make it evergreen to start with. Evergreen content means content that doesn’t “expire” after an event or a month passes. It can be consistently repurposed and re-used to create new content over and over again, and if someone lands on it a year after you publish it, the content’s still applicable.
Set a goal for yourself to keep 85% of your content evergreen, and you’ll be surprised at how much more you can do with it. You don’t have to completely overhaul your strategy to do that, either: just think of it in simple tweaks. Instead of posting a blog about meeting the April tax deadline, post a blog about how to keep your accounting organized for quarterly taxes. That way, your content can be repurposed at LEAST 4 times a year, if not more. See what I mean? 🙂
More than anything, focus on creating content that’s broken up into digestible pieces for your readers, customers, and consumers. When you strategically write your content with this approach, you’re making it way easier to chunk your content into different pieces that can all become different content. Helloooo Brilliant One.
OK – Next up on the less content/more time rollercoaster? Keeping ALL of your ideas close by, no matter how random or sporadic they may be.
One of the biggest ways to feel defeated when it comes to creating content is when you don’t feel like you have enough ideas. The simple fix? Make that impossible by writing ALL of them down. There’s a book by creative magnet Elizabeth Gilbert called Big Magic (which by the way, you should 1,000% add to your reading list if you haven’t read it yet). In it she talks about how important it is for us to give credence to our ideas before they leave us. She said, “ideas of every kind are constantly galloping towards us, constantly passing through us, constantly trying to get our attention. Let them know you’re available.”
I’m a big believer that our ideas come to us for a reason. When we ignore them and simply think that we’ll remember them later they go away. Who’s guilty of this? Because I certainly have been. They do… they just leave us because life is too busy to hang onto every fleeting idea by memory.
My favorite way to do this is by having one central place for all of my ideas, and it’s key to knowing exactly where I should put an idea when I have it, and then knowing exactly where I can FIND that idea next time I need inspiration. Like right now I have 20 Different Folders in my notes area, and each note within each folder is labeled so I can quickly find it when needed.
There are so many ways you can effectively keep up with your ideas, too—especially in the world of constant technology and apps. For example, try out the Evernote app, or even the simple Notes app on your phone.
This way, when it comes time to pull content, you already have your amazing thoughts written down in a central place. You’re not frantically searching around for a piece of scrap paper or an old notebook—you know exactly where to look.
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Once you get your idea strategy on lock and you start to hone in on your skills of breaking down content, it’s time to find your power posting categories. There’s a 5-step method I use to this, and it’s:
- Find your power categories
- Refine them
- Know the rules
- Cycle your power categories
- Remain consistent and trust the process
You’re probably wondering what a power category actually IS though, right? Your power categories are the sections of your life and business that you really just SHINE in. These are the categories that you’re a top expert in, the ones that you love talking about, and the ones that people trust you in.
My favorite way to help people uncover their power categories are by asking a TON of questions. To find yours, get really, really honest with yourself. You should ask yourself things like…
- What do YOU want to be known for?
- What questions are people always asking YOU?
- What are brands posting that YOU resonate with?
- What are the 3 things that moved the needle in your business this year?
Stick with me here. Then, you’ll want to refine them—you know your power categories, so use them! After that it’s all about aligning your content with my favorite 5 rules:
- Keep 30% of your content business promotion
- Keep 30% of your content tips and education
- Stick to 20% behind-the-scenes content
- Leave 10% of your content to Q&A
- Leave 10% of your content up for grabs. Personal updates, family stuff, home renovations… whatever, just keep it exciting! You never know where or why or when a person will connect with you.
After that, it’s all about cycling through your power categories and staying consistent. When you do this, you build higher engagement and higher trust levels with your audience. They know what they’ll get from you, and they trust that they’ll get it. Plus, when you know exactly what you should be posting about and creating content around, doing more of it just becomes easier.
To actually optimize all of these tips, the key is to plan like crazy.
I founded my marketing business on the premise that companies and businesses in need of a content strategy HAVE to have one that is planned out – [because marketing is not just about ticking boxes]. Otherwise, none of it is going to happen—and this goes for you, too. Whether you take a couple of hours at the beginning of each quarter, an hour every month, or a few minutes every week, make absolutely certain that you intentionally plan out your content calendar ahead of time. If I were you, I’d start with a clean blank months calendar and literally write down ideas each day on what to post about first.
The planning method also goes for the creation of content, too. If you have a photoshoot planned for your brand, have a shot list that you work through, checkmark by checkmark. If you’re writing a blog post, keep a list of objectives close by that you can mark off once you complete. If you’re planning a video series, detail out a plan that helps you work through it effectively.
If you’re anything like me, you probably heard a TON about the importance of planning and structure when you were growing up, but kinda, sorta ignored it. Trust me on this now that we’re adults, and planning and structure when it comes to your content strategy is absolutely KEY to creating more content in less time… and also key to making sure that said content is strong, smart, and effective.
In the good old classroom poster words of “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” remember: success comes from structure. Plans win out every single time when it comes to things like this in your business.
To top it all off, think like a teacher.
While content typically does swing around with an end goal in mind to make sales or convert customers, there’s one content objective that we sometimes miss when we get caught up in the process: content is nothing if it’s not teaching your clients, customers, and readers something. No one cares about a content strategy that’s pure marketing or sales. People want to feel like they’re being invested in—and that’s where your educator hat comes into play.
When you start on a new piece of content—or you begin your next content calendar—start off by writing a big old objective at the top: what are your consumers meant to learn from this piece of content? Just trust me on this—that one extra step can pay off dividends when it comes to how you spend your time. By knowing how to tailor the content you’re creating, you can come up with so much more of it SO much more quickly.
Think of it like this: why did you turn on this podcast episode and decide to listen to it? It was because you wanted to learn how to create more content in less time. So, why are your readers or viewers clicking on your content? What are they trying to learn? Why do they care about it?
When you think of your reader’s learning objectives first, it’s so much easier for you to create your content around that. Remember, someone has the decision to make when they read or watch or listen to your content. Do you want them to run full speed toward an action that you inspired them to take, or do you want them to search for someone that actually cared to teach them something? I can guess which scenario you’d prefer.
Closing:
Okay, Team! Aren’t you feeling like you’re baaaaasically a massive expert when it comes to creating more content in less time? Because you are! And, I know, it seems simple when it’s broken down into a podcast episode—but, trust me. These tips are EXACTLY what you need to become the content creation pro you’re meant to be.
Bottom line? It’s really just about being consistent, keeping track of your ideas, and thinking of your customers first. When you go into content creation and strategy with that framework over your head, you’re much more likely to start creating that content the right way, creating that content for the right people and creating that content in bulk. I want to challenge you to get outside of your normal content creation mindset and instead shift into this new one.
I’m sending you all of the good content creation ju-ju, and I can’t wait to see what you do with it! With a little extra intention, you’re going to be saving so much time that the possibilities are endless. And I’m so proud of you!
