Step-by-Step Content Planning - without the Head Ache
Alright, can we be honest here? We’re all friends, right.
Most service providers don’t post regularly because they don't see a ton of engagement, and the expert advice of “post more” is unhelpful at best.
But, before I wax poetic about why content is powerful and how you should fall in love with the process…blah, blah, blah…I’m just going to dive into this edition and give you what you asked for!
Speaking of which, a huge shout out to everyone who voted for what they wanted me to cover in this edition. As you can probably guess, we’re gonna cover how to create a stress-free, won't be a part time job, content plan.
Take a deep breath, and let's go!!!
Step 1: Take inventory of what you already have
If you’ve been posting about your services for over six months, this will be great for you. Search back 6 months - 1 year and determine which 3-4 posts performed the most.
After you’ve determined those posts, decide whether you want to keep the posts in their original format (keep the video a video, keep the graphic a graphic, etc.).
Been on a podcast lately? Be sure to grab the audio and video of your favorite parts
Had a speaking engagement recently, hopefully you have a video or photo from that event you can use
Special event happened in your family recently (anniversary, birthday, milestone worth sharing, etc.).
Result - You have at least 3 posts out of 30 that you don’t have to come up with.
Step 2: Decide your categories for each day in a week
For example...
🌿 Monday - Motivation Mondays (x4) (quote from someone you admire, quotes from books you’ve read that really inspired you, quotes from family members that impacted you as a kid)
🌿 Tuesday - Testimonial Tuesdays (x4) (this could be a mix between sharing reviews from your clients and also a time for you to shout out businesses or other professionals who have done something to positively impact your life).
NOTE: Don’t just copy and paste the testimonial and call it a day. Use the testimonial as part of a case study. Talk about the client's initial problem/challenge, what you did to address them, and the outcome. A testimonial is much more impactful this way.
🌿 Wednesday - Biggest hurdles you’ve faced in business (x4), this could be a good video series, which means you have at least 4 videos for the month
🌿 Thursday - This is the day you share your repurposed old content
🌿 Friday - Lessons you’ve learned in business, and how you’ve turned those lumps into future advantages
🌿 Saturday - Try sharing a meme or joke related to your industry
🌿 Sunday - Break/lesson learned from some other thing you’re a part of (non-work related), use photos of you, your family, places you’ve traveled to, etc.
📢 BONUS:
Write similar content at the same time. For instance, you might want to write four different case studies with testimonials at the same time, or maybe write about four different quotes that have transformed your life and business. Your brain will thank you for this!
Step 3: Schedule Your Production Days
One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to do all the things related to filming video, designing graphics, writing copy, and scheduling at the same time. Stop it. It’s no wonder you hate the content marketing process.
I suggest creating content on a monthly basis. Meaning, you’d start to ideate and create rough ideas for your August content right now.
Right now, you can do the following in the next two weeks to get ready to kill it in August.
Select a day to film all video content
Decide on a day (or two) to write your captions
Decide on a day to schedule your content
Select a day to review your content before it starts to publish
Example of a production week:
Monday - record all videos and edit
Tuesday - break
Wednesday and Thursday - graphics, as needed
Friday - caption writing
Saturday/Sunday - scheduling content
You can also split it into 2 weeks:
Monday #1 - record videos
Monday #2 - edit videos
Tuesdays - break
Wednesday/Thursday #1 - static graphics
Wednesday/Thursday #2 - carousels
Friday #1 - caption writing for 1st half of August
Friday #2 - caption writing for 2nd half of August
Saturday/Sunday #1 - scheduling 1st half of August
Saturday/Sunday #2 - scheduling 2nd half of August
Outside of shooting your videos, you should not spend more than 30-60 mins on any given day on content marketing.
Step 4: Create a Content Calendar
This is a crucial step, because keeping everything organized is essential to getting the overwhelm out of the way.
No time to create a calendar? No worries. I got you! You can grab my content calendar that we used to use in our agency when we managed social media accounts. Steal my content calendar here!
The calendar will help you lay out all of the following:
All the content ideas you have
All the dates you’ll post that month
All the captions
All the links to folder with graphics, photos, videos, and memes you’ll use for the month
Which platforms you’ll be posting different versions of your content on
I’d strongly suggest that you create a social media management folder and save all of your images, videos, etc. in an “August Content” folder. The spreadsheet can be duplicated each month with tabs to represent every month. That way, you can track a whole year’s worth of content in one place. Makes it easy to find old content to reuse. 😉
Step 5: Pull Everything Together
By the end of this exercise you should have all of your content complete, organized and ready and scheduled.
The point of this is not to show you how easy the process is. It's not. BUT, with a bit more intention and planning, you can cut down on the amount of time you spend thinking about what to post, when to post, and where to post.
By the way, a few extra points:
When to post: When you have the time to be social. Don’t schedule your content for 6am, if you won’t be up and engaging on social media at that time.
Where to post: Post wherever your ideal client hangs out the most. This is not the same as posting about your vacation tan. You’re trying to increase brand awareness and it only matters if “your people” see you and engage with you.
What to post: Stories. No matter what you do, be sure to bake it into a story. Key point here is to always include a hook - e.g. “I lost $50,000 on a bet” and a CTA, e.g. “When was the last time you took a gamble that didn’t turn out well? I can’t be the only one.”
Whew! That was a lot of information, but I hope it helps you kill your August content game.
Ps. I need this to be a conversation. So talk back to me in the comments! Are you planning to batch create your content for August? What is one thing you’re planning to implement from the advice I shared above? Content pro, what advice would you give for anyone feeling overwhelmed by content planning that I didn’t share above?