Let's talk about content batching, yall! For content creators, bloggers, marketers, and everyone in between, folks tend to fall into 2 camps. Those who batch ahead of time and those who don't. I tried a little experiment last year and went with NOT batching content as much as just going with the flow and regretted that decision early on, so in this month's blog posts we're going to discuss why I think batching is where it's at!
With The Right Tools in Place, Batching Is NOT as Daunting As It Sounds
I know, I know, batching is time consuming, but hear me out.I see it like this- It's time consuming-ish. It's really not that daunting if you have the right tools in place. Such as:
1. A planning calendar that you can use to jot down ideas for content as they come. Lots of marketing platforms have downloadable printables to use. Or hell, just your usual dayplanner is great for this too.
2. A dependable project management platform like ClickUp, Trello, or Asana to manage all stages of planning. The great thing about them is they can keep YOU on track and help you manage a team if you have a team of creators working together. These types of platforms make it easy to track workflows and keep everyone on the same page. And, their notifications and reminders certainly help too.
3. A reliable scheduling tool like Planoly,Hootsuite or Meta Business Manager. Once you have all of your content created, it's time to get it scheduled, right? You're on the homestretch now! By using a scheduling app, you can simply C&P your copy from your ClickUp or Trello Project Cards right to your scheduler. Add your hashtags and upolad your images and you are ready to pick the perfect time for that post to go live. AND? Most schedulers will give you an estimate for the ideal time to post, based on the analytics for your businesses page. How cool is that?
Batching Can Free Up Precious Time for You to Work On More Important Things
Batching content can totally free up MORE of your time to focus on the things you love the most. By setting aside a few hours each month or a couple of days each quarter, you can crank out a ton of content quicker than you think. Think about how many times you sat down on the fly to come up with somethign and just stared at a blank page, only to give up and put it off for another day. I know I certainly have, so I try to take advantage of a creative streak and if I'm feeling the flow, I batch until I have exhausted it all. I know for sure (thanks to my trusty time tracker in ClickUp) that it takes me about 14 minutes or so to create a post for social media from image creation in canva to writing the copy and adding the hasthags. I only post about 3 times a week, so that's 45 minutes or so to create a week's worth of posts. Not that long at all. By utilizing time blocking on your schedule, it's super easy to set aside a few hours to sit down and focus on just your social media content. As long as you have a clear plan from the start. Which leads me to my next point...
Get a Preview of What Your Feed Will Look Like
If you're anyting like me, you like to get an idea of what the end result may look like before you post. I attribute this to my obsessive need for some illusion of control. Fun Fact: I cannot get out of bed in the morning until I've checked the weather first. How OCD, right? You see, I despise being cold so I cannot get out of bed until I know how many layers I'll have to fish out of the closet before getting dressed. Silly, I know. But, I digress... Batching is kind of the same thing in my mind. Especially with some schedulers like Planoly. My favorite social platform is Instagram and batching allows you to schedule content and get a snapshot of what your grid will look like once all your posts are published. If your account is a highly stylized grid, batching is a wonderful practice to get everything laid out perfectly.
There are definitley more reasons to batch, but these three things are the key reasons I like to implement this practice with my own business when it comes to marketing on social media. The most important one being that I sure do like my free time and the creative mindset necessary to post quality content isn't always flowing so freely. For this reason alone I batch my content when the desire hits the hardest. Navigating life with ADHD means, I can't just sit down and force ideas to come. I sure do admire those folks who are just always on, creatively speaking. I have to take advantage in the moment when it strikes. Batching allows me to work within my zone of genius without having to force any
Looking for someone to help you with setting up a system for scheduling your content? I'm happy to help! Let's hop on a Discvery Call and see if we can collaborate and help you free up some of your precious time!