A content plan is the schedule of content you want to share over a period of time. This can be written content, visuals, videos and podcasts, as well as offline forms of collateral. The idea is to have it all mapped out in line with your wider business strategy so that each piece of content has a point and a purpose.
The benefits of a content plan are many. It’s a way to organise your ideas. It’s a way to plan what each member of your team should be doing (and when). It’s a way to make sure your launches run smoothly. It’s a way to make sure you’re consistent with your output.
There are many ways to set up a content plan, and it may take some time to figure out what really works for you. I use a simple spreadsheet that maps out everything I’m doing in my business and the pieces of content that will help promote my work. Some people use an actual real-life calendar, others might use Evernote or a free plug-in such as the WP Editorial Calendar. Before you spend too long dabbling, just remember the format isn’t quite as important as the contents.
I would recommend creating a plan that covers at least the next 4-6 months.
You want to add in any events you’ll be speaking at, any challenges you’ll be hosting, anything you’ll be launching, and also launches of any products or programmes of which you’re an affiliate. Even industry-specific celebrations and events should go in. In a nutshell, everything that you want to make sure you address in your content should be highlighted in your plan.
Next, you want to make sure you have all of your “platforms” in there. And this isn’t necessarily your social media platforms (unless you’re creating bespoke content for them too). This would be your blog(s), your newsletter, your podcast, your vlog, a website you contribute to…
Once you have this framework set up, you can start adding in your ideas to the relevant channels.
Seeing all of these content ideas before your eyes can sometimes leave you feeling a little overwhelmed. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve, to help content creation run a little more seamlessly.
Outsource
Team Gem are fabulous. They each help with different areas of my content marketing process, so that I can focus on working with my clients (which is exactly what I want to be doing). If you’ve never tried it before, dip your toe into the pool with Fancyhands – have someone research details for your next blog post, and see how it feels.
Work in batches
Trying to split your focus is never going to lead to maximum productivity. Set yourself a block of time each week where you can batch everything you need to do to get your content out. In that time, focus only on the task at hand.
If that seems like too much, try using the tomato timer, to work in smaller chunks.
Automate the promo
You should be promoting every piece of content you create as much as possible, but that takes up a lot of time. Play around with a few different pieces of tech, to see if you can free yourself up from sitting at the computer all day:
- IFTTT is incredibly handy for automatically sharing content between your social channels.
- Use Buffer to schedule promotion for each piece of your content. It also has a free add-on called Hiplay that will share evergreen content across your different channels. Coschedule is even better (and just happens to be my tool of choice) but you do have to pay for the privilege.
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