If you’ve been following me for a while or have ever worked with me you know I’m all about systems. Not computer systems and software (although I’m called the widget Queen for a reason) but systems that make life and business easier. As I once heard, exercise should be hard, life should be easy. Especially when it comes to creating consistent weekly content that connects to your customer. I know, I know…this is one of the areas that people dread talking about. Planning weekly content and consistently creating it is one of the things I’ve seen people struggle with the most and I always get asked, “how in the world do you plan content out for the week? I have enough trouble figuring out what to post each day!”
When there are so many things going on in your brain (I know there are lots of things going through my brain), you’ve got tons of work to do, there’s so much happening in your life, sometimes it’s hard to write content because you either end up with a creative block or you’re running around at the last minute with the thought “What the heck do I post about?” Inevitably, we end up posting something completely random, or you post something just to post it, and guess what?? People can totally see right through that. So what do you do?
You plan it out and batch it together!
My simple rules to get you started include: brainstorm it, plan it, create it, schedule it, and breathe. Seriously, it works!! No matter what type of content you’re putting together you always want to make sure you are listening to your audience. This goes for social posts, emails, blog posts, etc. Planning your content in advance and listening to what your audience is craving helps you to be a part of the conversation and not an interruption. When you post random stuff, you’re interrupting the conversation so when we listen and plan it out in advance we can create really good content that really makes an impact. And that’s the goal, right?!
So, here are my five simple steps to help you get started planning your content:
- Plan uninterrupted “create before you consume” time into your schedule on Sunday or Monday to plan out your content for the week. When you plan your content for the week, I usually tell people to use a Sunday or a Monday, find some uninterrupted time in your schedule, and spend the time creating out your plan for what you want to post. This is a time in which you turn your phone and social media off, so that you can have complete focus on the task at hand. If you’re really motivated…you can actually plan content out for an entire month (trust me, I’ve done it and it feels AH-MAZING!!)
- Pick five to seven topics that relate to your business that you would want to talk about.These topics should reflect what your brand is about and the topics should also reflect what’s important to you. So let’s say your business is marketing and branding. You also love gardening, you love fitness, you love inspiring quotes, and you like to talk business strategy. So those are the topics you’ll weave into your posts.
- Do a brainstorm of content ideas. If you work with me you know, I love a good brainstorm! When you are doing your brainstorm of content ideas, keep in mind the intention behind what you’re doing. Ask, “Is this representative of me? Is this representative of my brand?” Think about holidays related to your business, events you have coming up and promotions you will be running. One thing that I do is as ideas come to me I write them done or take a note on my phone. I’m always collecting ideas for content so when it’s time to brainstorm…it’s easy to pull great ideas.
- Plan and create your content. Decide on your frequency – will you post five days a week, or six? How often you’ll be posting each week depends on what you can stay consistent with, and also what’s going to work well with the people you are serving. Plan out your topics using your brainstorm. Maybe you have an event and promotion going on. Maybe you’ll be talking about specific artisans, how to do something, or you’ll write about something inspirational.
5. Schedule and post your content! The next step…Batch, create and schedule all of your posts and that’s it! You can use a scheduler like Hootsuite or MeetEdgar and even an app like Plan or Later for Instagram posts. If you can’t create all of your content for the week (posts, emails, blog posts, etc) no problem! You at least have your topics picked for the week and you’re ready to go!
Get my FREE Guide “5 Simple Ways to Plan Your Content Weekly” for easy, quick reference!
Here’s a quick review: Plan uninterrupted time, brainstorm it out, create it, schedule it, and just breathe. I hope this helped you – five easy steps that you can do to create content on a weekly basis. If you want more information about creating more in-depth plans, and creating content, check out the rest of my website. I’ve got a lot of great resources here.
Take care, and I’ll see you soon!
