I’ve talked before about my process for writing my blog posts, though I’m forever tweaking it to better serve my purposes where I am in my business right now. But now that I’ve added some other content to my repertoire (regular nurturing emails and a YouTube channel among them), my process has changed just a bit.
You see, I’m all about batch creating content so I can knock weeks and months of content creation off my to-do list. That’s because batch creating content is a huge time-saver and allows me to free up time for other projects.
So how do I get all the pieces to work together so I have one smooth process that allows me to create ALL the content I publish each week? So glad you asked!
Start with Strategy
A lot of pieces go into planning a content strategy, and it’s not something to be rushed—especially if you’re doing it for the first time. When I start putting together a strategy for the coming months or for a launch, here’s what I do:
- I start by looking at what kind of content is out there that’s similar to what I want to create. And then I gather ideas about what’s missing in this content, so I can fill in the gaps for my audience.
- Talk to my audience. Sometimes I’ll come right out and ask certain people in my audience about topics. Other times I’ll keep my eyes and ears open and listen to what they’re saying. But I definitely get some feedback from my audience so I know what it is that they need.
- Identify what’s coming up in my business. If I have a program or launch coming out, I’ll create content to build awareness and interest around that. And usually these programs and launches are based on the research I’ve done or what my audience has asked for.
- Look at notes. I regularly jot down ideas and questions that I want to address in my content. So once I know what direction I want to take my content in, I’ll look at some of the ideas that I wrote down several weeks or even months ago.
- Put it in order. Once I have all my topics and ideas, I map it out on a spreadsheet so I know exactly what I’m going to create—what videos I need, what blogs I’m writing, what emails will go out. I arrange it all so it follows a logical pattern for my audience.
[bctt tweet=”There are a lot of pieces to a content strategy. Don’t rush it. Plan it out.” username=””]
Create Outlines
Now I know what content I’m going to create, it’s time to outline it. I like to sit down and outline everything—all the blogs, videos, emails, free courses, opt-ins, etc.—at the same time. This helps me tie all pieces of content together so it scaffolds information and teaches my audience something (while also meeting the needs of my upcoming program or launch).
Create the Content
You’ve seen me write about batch-creating content, right? I couldn’t create the content I do without batching. I have time set aside in my business to sit down and mass-record videos, write blog posts and create other content I create for my business. It’s not as difficult as it sounds to create several weeks or months of content all at once and let me tell you—it saves SO much time in the long run! (I dare you to try it and see!)
Add Social Posts
You need to share the content that you’ve created, otherwise no one will see it. Once my content is created, I write the content that will help promote it out to my audience on social media. I have a form at the bottom of every blog draft that allows me to write additional thoughts and insights that might not have made it into the blog post—and those thoughts become my social posts. For my videos, I use my thumbnail or a variation of it to promote to Facebook and Instagram while YouTube will automatically push the videos to Google + and Twitter when they go live.
Leave Some White Space
I usually need some white space while creating content. I find it very difficult to write and publish a blog post in one day. I need to take some time away from it so I can reassess my thoughts and look at it with fresh eyes. If I’m writing my blog post the day it goes live (which I know some of you do!), I can’t do that. So I always make sure to put my blog away for a day or two and then look at it again before it gets scheduled.
[bctt tweet=”Before you schedule your blog posts, give yourself some white space to review.” username=””]
Edit and Schedule
Here’s where I get a little help with my content. Once I’ve proofed my content one more time, I assign it to my amazing virtual assistant. She loads everything up to my website, my social platforms, etc. and schedules it to go live. She also creates all the graphics for me, which also saves me loads of time. For the blog, we use a handy preview plug-in so she can send me a link to the loaded blog post for my review. This is truly the easiest step for me!
I do all my own YouTube video editing and scheduling, so this process is a little longer for those. And while this is my least favorite step in my video process, I’m totally okay with learning the system so I know how to do it. Eventually I’ll be hiring this out to someone!
Go Back and Review
I like to look at things one last time before they go live, so I grab that preview link and take a look at the blog on my website. Sometimes I’ll catch a quirky formatting issue or a typo in this last step, but because I took my time through the other pieces, it’s usually good to go!
Is my process perfect? Heck, no. I know there are places where I can tighten things up a bit. Does it work for me? Absolutely. With only one team member, we’re working on creating better systems so when I do bring more team members on, I can outsource more pieces (like the video editing) and save even more time.
The point is, having a system in place allows me to create a lot of content. Content that I use to market myself and my services, but more importantly, content that helps you move forward in your own business. Because that’s why we’re all in this business thing anyway, isn’t it?
