Productivity hacks for content creators that will save you time and stress!

Being productive helps us prioritize tasks, be efficient with our time and resources, and at least for me - keeps my mental health in balance. Paul J. Meyer, who many consider to be the founder of the self-improvement industry as it exists today said - “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” If you are ready to commit and save yourself a lot of time and stress, keep on listening!

Create a Content Calendar

Just like we plan out each day with to-do lists, when creating content - I prefer planning out my entire month with a content calendar. Your content calendar should include what you will share, when you will share it, and where you will share it. It will help you establish a process for not only creating your content - but help you be organized and post consistent content as well.

Let’s break this down a little more.

How to determine what you will share?

You might already have a core niche that is your main focus on Instagram and other platforms, or at least an idea of what you’d like that to be, but our first major step in determining what to share is breaking that down into subtopics, which I call content pillars. You will want to determine the topics that you’re passionate about and that your ideal audience would also relate to. These content pillars will help you decide the various different topics you want to create each month.

How to determine when and where you will share it?

When determining your posting schedule, the best posting frequency is the one that you can consistently keep up with. If you can do 5 posts per week - great, do it! If not, pick a schedule that is comfortable for you now and you can always work towards more overtime. People (and the Instagram algorithm) love consistency. If you want consistent steady growth, then being consistent in your posting schedule is key. But where do you share it? Here in a bit we will start talking about batching content, one part of that is creating multi-use content that can be used on various different platforms. For example - if you create a Reel for Instagram, you might as well take the extra step to share that as a TikTok and a YouTube Short if you’re using those platforms as well - you can even take it a step further and share it as a Pin on Pinterest.

While already on the topic of batching, let’s take that a step further …

Creating & Batching Your Content

If you have been in content creation for a while, you have heard about batching your content once or twice before - and there is a reason! It is one of the best ways to stay productive and consistent with your content - and in case you’re unfamiliar with the term, content batching is a productivity technique where you create all of your captions or visual content during a set period of time.

There are a couple of different batching approaches I want to share with you, one is starting with cornerstone content and the second is grouping your content creation process.

Starting with Cornerstone Content:

The first step in the batching process is deciding on what I call cornerstone content. This is content that is longer from, high value, usually educational or maybe inspirational content. This is going to be the biggest time commitment in your content creation process - but it is so worth it to invest in because it will allow you to power through the rest of your content creation process, and repurpose so much content across several different platforms. This could be something like a blog post, podcast episode, or a youtube video. Once you have all this great, long-form content to work with, there are countless opportunities to repurpose all of this for social media. Some examples would be …

Making a graphic carousel, story, photo, or reel highlighting the biggest takeaways from your long-form content. You could create a tweet graphic, quoting a memorable section of this piece of content. You could even create a meme that references a relatable problem you mentioned.

Now, if you do not have any long-form content to work from, that’s okay too! You can always find inspiration from existing articles, blogs, videos, etc.

Grouping Your Content Creation Process:

There are really 4 steps to the creation process; planning, writing, visual creation, and scheduling. Sure, you could create one post at a time and hit each of these steps - then start again. But you would save way more time if you were to lump each of these categories into groups. Let me give you an example.

In the cooking world, there is a term called "Mise en Place" (MEEZ ahn plahs) - Mise en place is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking. Everything is prepared - from the pans, mixing bowls, tools, and equipment. This technique is used by chefs to assemble meals quickly and effortlessly.

Imagine if you were cooking something that requires you to cut five vegetables - would you cut one vegetable, wash and put away your cutting board & knife, then move on to the next step. Then come back later to cut your next vegetable? No - you would cut all five vegetables and then move on to the next step. Now, cooking metaphor aside - batching content is the same concept. You would plan all of your content via a content calendar, once planned - you would move on to writing all of your captions. Once all of your captions have been written - you would move on to creating the visuals. Then lastly, once all of your visuals and captions have been created, you would schedule them all in your preferred scheduling platform (more on that here soon).

You might be thinking, “yikes - that sounds like a lot of work!” Well, it is. But there are some ways to make it easier, which brings me to my next productivity hack…

Creating Templates & Outlines

Creating templates and outlines for your content will not only save you loads of time, but keep your branding consistent!

Saving you loads of time.

We only have so much time in a day, which is why I am such a huge fan of batching content - but by creating templates and outlines you can follow during your creation process, you will already be one step ahead each month. This could look like Canva graphic templates, pre-researched hashtags in your various pillars, caption outlines or prompts, email or blog templates, etc. If you have a few of these on hand - you will breeze right through your content creation.

Keeping your branding consistent.

Branding is a key factor in content creation. On the outside, your brand should have consistent colors, logos, and aesthetics - but it’s more than that - your brand is actually the entire identity of your business, it’s your voice and how you make others feel. Your brand gives you personality. A strong brand is the foundation for a strong content strategy. By creating specific templates and outlines, you can ensure the branding of all of your content is staying consistent - especially if you decide to outsource help in the future.

Now that you have all of your content created, it’s time to post your content, but how can you do that with as little effort as possible?

Use a Scheduling Platform

Using a scheduling platform, like Later, can help you schedule and manage your social presence across Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn. As I mentioned when talking about content batching, this is really the final step in the creation process - this upfront work will give you so much relief during the month and free up a lot of time for you to focus on the other facets of your business.

There are so many benefits of using a scheduling application, one important one is the freedom to take some time for yourself. As a mental health enthusiast, I believe taking breaks and time away from social media is very important for your mental health and thanks to the various scheduling platforms - you can be active on social media without necessarily being present or available. Another benefit is not having to worry about internet access. I have been hitting the road lately and getting a little taste of van life, but with that - we have had some experiences where the internet was an issue and having already scheduled content during this time was a lifesaver. While on that topic … if you like vlogs and van life type content, feel free to check out my Katie & Dan in a Van YouTube Channel and Instagram.

I think another important benefit of scheduling is less distractions. Did you know that it takes an average of about 25 minutes (23 minutes and 15 seconds, to be exact) to return to the original task after an interruption, according to Gloria Mark, who studies digital distraction at the University of California, Irvine. If you have to pause what you are doing to get on Instagram or another social media platform to make your post manually, you are really losing about 25 minutes, even if it only takes you a few minutes to complete the task. Scheduling as many auto-publish posts as possible can help decrease the opportunity for distractions and overall, increase your productivity.

My final productivity hack is by knowing when to ask for help …

Knowing When to Outsource

Outsourcing can help increase productivity in many ways, but most importantly - it allows you to focus on what you do best and delegate the tasks that you don't have time for any more or just aren't really your cup of tea. There are a couple of things to consider before deciding if hiring help is for you.

Systems and Processes:

Most Social Media Management businesses, mine included - have proven, tried and tested systems. Honestly, in my experience with Creatorly Media, this is actually one of the key reasons a lot of business owners want to hire an agency. When you come to work with us, we have a regimented system for developing a strategy, creating a content calendar, and producing content. We have built-in checkpoints for revisions, so the client is always involved in the creative direction, but doesn't have to oversee the day-to-day operations, or worry about ensuring that the creation is staying on track.

Pricing and Budget:

Obviously the most affordable option is to plan and create your own content, but when it comes to outsourcing a social media agency versus hiring an employee - outsourcing will usually be a more affordable option. This is mostly due to the efficiency and batch working systems that can be achieved when an agency is performing the same task for many clients simultaneously (at least, that's how we're able to do it at Creatorly). We offer packages for Instagram content creation around the $1200/month price point, which is a lot less than you would pay a full-time employee to do the same work.

If you are in the season of your business that you can invest in the help, this will overall increase your productivity - since you will not be the only one working towards your goals. If you decide you’re ready to outsource any of your social media needs, make sure to check out our website and fill out our application at www.creatorlymedia.com/services. If you are not quite there yet and want a helping hand in creating your content for the next quarter, definitely check out our Content Planning Workshop replay for only $85 - this workshop is over one hour long, with a few bonuses as well. Check it out at www.creatorlymedia.com/workshop.

I hope these 5 tips help increase your productivity and remember, only do what you can handle. The easiest way to kill your productivity is by taking on TOO MUCH - so instead, come up with a manageable plan, stay consistent, and when needed - ask for help. I will chat with you all in our next blog about getting clear on your purpose and mission.