Content creation is such a huge part of running your business – amiright?

Here’s how my clients describe what “consistency” means to them:

• Connecting and engaging with their followers regularly
• Content completion and execution on a regular basis
• A set schedule for posting new content

You know how important it is to get stuff out there consistently, and yet….it’s so dang hard!

You’ve got a million and one things to do, how do you fit content into the mix? It’s never-ending, and you have multiple sites and platforms to deal with.

It’s difficult to make time for it.

It’s even more difficult to make and stick to a content plan.

It can feel like an obligation that you begin to dread.

You want to create content, but without spending hours doing it!

You have so much amazing information to share with your audience and you’re working to make yourself visible to new audiences. You want to demonstrate your expertise and give people a taste of what it’s like to work with you and how you can help them – so consistent content is where it’s at!

Here’s how you can create all the content you want, consistently, without spending a ton of time on it.

Do your own personal content audit

First thing’s first: take a look at your overall content strategy, plan and/or goals.

What’s not working? What is working for you? Make a detailed list for each.

Why are you creating (or want to create) certain pieces of content consistently? Does it feel like something you “should” or “have” to do? Make sure you’re only spending time on content that’s actually informative, helpful, useful and valuable for your audience.

Ask yourself if this is something that relates back to your biz goals, purpose and vision. Is the content you’re creating aligned with those things? It should be, otherwise, why spend time on it?You don’t need to be everywhere, and if you don’t enjoy the platform, that vibe is going to show through in your content. When we spread ourselves too thin, the quality of our content suffers.

Keep it simple, aligned with your goals, valuable to your audience and focus on just a few platforms so you can put your best work out there.

Want your own content calendar? Get your own content calendar here! 

Have a checklist & a process that makes it easy.

There’s a lot of stuff to do when it comes to content creation. If you feel overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done and don’t know where the heck to start, then you need to create a process.

When you’re aware of, understand and plan for everything that’s involved and what you need to do, it’s going to feel much more manageable, and you’ll be able to get it done much more quickly.

First, make a checklist of every. single. thing. you need to do. Just work your way through this list each time you create something new.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or start from scratch either – put a process in place that’s predictable, consistent and repeatable. You’ll cut out all that time you used to spend wondering, thinking, humming and hawing over what to create, how to create it, what step you were at and which one was next.

Some examples of what to include in your process for each piece of content you create:

• Use the same layout for each blog post published to your website
• Keep a list of hashtags, by category, in Evernote so you can copy and paste them into Instagram
• Save templates for graphics and images
• Use templates for newsletters
• Have a list of all the links to your content in one place, for easy sharing and reposting
• Use a scheduling tool like Buffer, Tailwind, Hootsuite and/or Tweetdeck for your social media posts

Manage and schedule your time the right way

Schedule time in your calendar specifically for content creation. Don’t make this time available to anyone or for anything else, and dedicate it to all things content creation. Decide how you want your time to look, what consistency looks like to you, and block out the time. Are you sending newsletters weekly or monthly? Do you want to publish to your blog biweekly or quarterly? Is social media a daily thing for you, or three times a week?

Be realistic about how much time you want and need to set aside, and the best time of day that works for you. Make a plan. Put it in writing. You’re more likely to create habits, routines, and systems that stick when you set intentions like this.

Don’t think about when you have the most time. Things can get done with small windows of time, too. When do you have the most energy? When are you most productive? That’s a good time to schedule high concentration tasks like research, writing or creating video and audio. Save the mindless tasks for those times that you’re less perky – for me, that’s creating graphics, doing the backend blog post setup and scheduling everything at the end of the week.

This strategy really helps get tons done in a short time, since you’re batching similar tasks together. Jumping from task to task takes up a lot of brain space and energy, so when you do all of your writing or graphics creation for multiple pieces of content at once, you get into a flow state, which helps you focus and work through it faster.

Bonus tip: track your time! When you know exactly how long something takes you to do, it’s so much easier to schedule and fit it into your day. I recommend tracking your time for one full week, for a clear and detailed overview of how you’re spending your time.

Get organized with your own content calendar here!

Two ways to track time:

• Start-Finish Method: Each time you start a task write down the time. Each time you finish a task, write down the corresponding finish time. Keep it all in a journal, and add up all the hours/minutes for each individual task (psst: scrolling Facebook mindlessly and intentionally promoting yourself on Facebook are two different things!)
• Hourly Timer Method: Set a timer for each hour, on the hour. When it goes off, write down in your journal what you’ve been doing during the last hour.

You can also note your energy levels at the same time – this is a great way to find out your most productive time of day!

Use a content calendar

Save yourself lots of time (and heartache) by keeping all that awesome content related stuff organized and in one place. A content calendar is a great way to plan out all of your content ahead of time, create a consistent schedule and streamline the whole process.

When you wing it or wake up each day thinking “Hmmm what will I put out there for my audience today?”, you’re wasting a lot of time and energy. It can feel like a lot of pressure to think of new ideas every single day, which may lead you to avoiding it all together.That’s no good for consistency, or for free-flowing creativity and ideas. By using a content calendar, you’ll already have all your ideas flushed out, a clear strategy and a plan of action. *high fives*

Your content calendar can look however you like, but it’s most commonly done monthly or quarterly. Here are some thought starters for filling it out:

• Are you launching a new service/product? What promotions do you have during this time? Schedule in some content that compliments and leads into it.
• Include some themed content. These could be daily, weekly or monthly. For example, Monday Motivation engagement posts, Tuesday Tips & Tools newsletter, inspiring quotes, go live on IG every Thursday at noon for Q&A, etc.
• Schedule in some guest posts or featured contributors. This takes the pressure off you a bit, and gets some fresh content in that calendar.
• What content have you already created? Share it again! Update and repurpose it if necessary. (Chances are, not all of your audience saw it the first time around, so resharing / republishing an old post is a great idea.)

Besides scheduling out content, your content calendar can also be used to store links (for easy reference and resharing), create outlines, store resources, track and review audience analytics and insights, and store all your ideas.

And now you’re all set to create your content – consistently and quickly. Start with your own personal content audit, so you know you’re working on the right things. Then you’ll be ready to create a process that helps you churn out amazing content. A regular schedule dedicated solely to you and your content will help you manage everything, as will your content calendar.

I put together a rad content calendar for you – just click here to download!

* By downloading this content calendar, you agree to receive emails from Jodi Graham, Productivity Coach.

Meet Jodi

Jodi is the (left) brain behind Jodi Graham Productivity Coaching. She helps passionate and independent women creatives to get sh** done and reach their goals so they can feel proud, accomplished and guilt-free about how they spend their time.

Helping others to be their most productive self is Jodi’s passion and she values balance more than anything. Her belief is that these two things are what make it possible to experience everything that we want to and enjoy all the amazing things that life has to offer.

Jodi spends most of her time thinking about where she’ll travel next, what else she can purge from her closet and wishing she could eat guacamole (can’t – avocado allergy!)

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Enjoyed this post? You might like these, too:
Attracting Your Ideal Clients Through Experiences
How to Draw Content Inspiration From Everyday Life
Letting Travel Guide My Creative Processes
Building An Audience of Clients and Fans Using Quizzes

Grab access to The Quirky Pineapple Studio resource library and receive love notes once a month from TQP Studio! (:

[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Get access!”]