Our Tried-And-True Content Workflow
Time is money, and we’re not one to waste either. Through several rounds of trial-and-error, we created a content workflow that allows us to work smarter, not harder. We’ll break down what our workflow looks like when we’re creating digital content, but you can translate this into other parts of your business as well (like packaging orders for your online shop). This workflow will allow you to save time, create quality content, and save you the headache of asking “what do I post today?”
Batch Working
If you take nothing other than batch working from this blog post, we’d count that as a success. This style of task management will save you hours per week. Media mogul Jenna Kutcher defines batch working as the following:
“Batch working is highly-focused, topic-specific forms of working. It is dividing your workflow into different days/hours of ONE TOPIC instead of jumping around from task to task.”
Batch working eliminates the constant stream of work that eats up your time each week. For example, rather than spend time creating one social media post per day, we’ll create a whole week (or month) of content at one time. Here’s an example of what that looks like for us on a monthly basis:
Choose topics for each post for the month and assign them to a date using our Content Calendar.
Curate all of the images and create all of the graphics for each post.
Write all of the captions for each post.
Schedule each post with the caption and graphic/image (we recommend using a tool like Planable).
Boom! Your content is created, scheduled, and you don’t have to spend time each day trying to figure out what to post. You’ll essentially be dedicating a large chunk of time all at once to a single task, but then you don’t have to worry about it for another month.
Important note: Creating and scheduling your content ahead of time is a great business hack. However, do not leave your platforms on auto-pilot. Remember to check in on your posts, your followers, and engagement. Great content is really important, but engagement and follow-through will make everything that more impactful!
Set a Timer
Grab your phone, set a timer for 30 minutes, put on Do Not Disturb on your phone and email, and get to work. You can use this with batch working or on a simple task you’ve been putting off for a while. It’s mentally much easier to knock out a task (or make significant progress on) when you know you only have a limited amount of time to complete it. Whether you have a thousand emails you need to answer or thirty orders to fill, setting a timer can do wonders for efficiency and task completion.
#ProTip: If you’re one to get random bursts of inspiration or ideas, keep a notepad next to you to jot down whatever comes to mind. It can be easy to get distracted if you deviate from your timed task, especially if you’re using your phone or laptop. Using a good ol’ pen and paper will allow you to get your idea out and have something to reference back to after your timed task is completed.
Content Calendar
Our Content Calendar is basically our brain in digital form. We work with monthly and weekly calendars, and either way, they’re extremely helpful and keep us on track. We use Google Sheets for this, but there’s plenty of templates and platforms out there if you’re looking for options.
Our content calendar allows us to see what we have coming up at a weekly and monthly glance, what we have planned for the long-term, and what our clients can expect from us. We use the calendar for blog posts, social media posts, email marketing campaigns, and more. Not only does it keep us on track, but it also keeps us aligned with our Marketing strategy. If you feel like your Marketing is a chaotic, we’d suggest creating a Content Calendar first.
There you have it! Batch working, setting a timer, and maintaining a Content Calendar are three things that have completely transformed our workflow. If you have questions about how we work or about Marketing in general, drop us a note!
We’re true Marketing nerds and we’d love to learn more about you.