How to *easily* plan content in advance (that’s actually good)
What if planning a month of social media content in advance could be…easy? And dare I say, the content can be just as creative and high-performing as if you had one of your best ideas on the fly. The simple answer is that it requires daily dedication and effort. Having the right systems in place to make it EASIER for you to create content will also help you keep better track of your ideas and inspiration when planning time comes around. We will go over three habits that make for a steady flowing content creation system. Think of these as mini acts of self-love.
Habit #1 - Document + frequently revisit ideas and inspiration
This should be obvious and hopefully you are doing it anyways. Get in the habit of instantly writing down your content ideas and saving bits of inspiration as you come across them (Just assume you are going to forget, tbh). The key is to do this frequently and keep everything in one place. When you sit down to plan your content for the week or month, you have an ever-growing list of ideas and (linked!) inspiration that you’ve already connected with, and you don’t have to stress over trying to remember any of them. We all know creative blocks tend to spring up at the most inconvenient times.
How to do this ⤵️✨
Set up a system - Choose a RELIABLE method for capturing your ideas. This tool should be with you 100% of the time and always within reach. This can be your notes app, voice memos, a journal or notebook etc. I am a fan of digital tools as they can be constantly edited and you never run out of space. I use this Notion template (which has a page JUST for ideas + braindumps 💓). Another perk of digital tools is that they can work across devices.
Idea Generator Page - Content Creation Studio 💌
(Pro tip - Organize your ideas into categories by content type or content pillar!)
Revisit Frequently - Choose how often or what days you will plan to review your ideas. Review your inspiration and idea lists when you sit down to plan your content on a weekly or monthly basis. Adapt ideas to fit your current social media goals and audience. Make sure to refine the list often, keeping the inspiration alive and fresh.
The best content creators and social media strategies are those that are inspired, so keep track of your inspiration!
Habit #2 - Make taking B-roll a habit
I learned this from a creator client and it changed the game! I love a good shot list and planned shoot, but remember to document your work and experiences in the moment. Film yourself throughout your routines and day-to-day activities. It may seem boring to you, but these tiny glimpses into your life help your audience get to know you better. By making this a habit, you will have an abundance of fresh content when planning (and the clips are always more genuine 😉).
I used to work the entire day and then set up my camera and clickity-clack on my keyboard for 5 minutes of B-roll. Yes, it gets the job done, BUT what’s missing is the actual documentation of my work. It’s not as authentic of a visual as it COULD BE.
✨Try it out: Capture 10 minutes of genuine B-roll of you working in your niche, and compare it to any over-polished, “planned” content that you shoot. Personally, I think it is more genuine to have a mix of both (especially if we know that shoot was 6 months ago…girl, what does your business actually look like?)
How to integrate this into your routine (without disrupting your workflow):
Experiment throughout the day/week for when you feel the most comfortable filming and capturing your work. Do this by setting up the camera and forgetting about it. It may be helpful to keep a list of common angles and activities you like to feature in your content, so you don’t waste time and storage documenting things you won’t end up using.
Create specific folders in your phone/device and drop ANY footage that may be used for content in these folders, and watch your lil library grow 🥹🌱 This can be a GEM to lean on when you need clips last minute or need to replace a planned post for the day.
Hehe this is what my content bank looks like 🫶💓
Habit #3 - Flesh out the content plan as much as possible!
Are you guilty of this? You were good and productive and “planned” an entire month of content, only when the time comes to post, there’s nothing but a vague title you wrote down weeks ago. Me too!
The more details you leave behind for your future-self, the easier it becomes to actually create and execute this great idea you had. We are going into each month with goals and a vision, planning ahead keeps us on track.
How to actually do this:
Keep an outline or template for your content ideas and fill this out to the best of your ability. Always link inspiration when possible, or provide yourself with an example of this content idea performing well in a similar format. This way you stick to the plot and actually create what you planned to.
This is also where these habits become integrated, if you keep a running list of ideas and inspiration, you can refer to those lists even more quickly when writing your content.
In the Content Creation Studio notion template, you can customize and keep post templates ready to go. This way you spend more time planning and writing and less time setting up the silly outline in the first place.
🌟 Example Workflow to Integrate these Habits:
Pick one day each week to plan content: Solely for sorting through inspiration and outlining future ideas. Align this in whichever way works best for you and your current systems.
Pick a second day to flesh out social media content, write captions, and write on-screen text. Get used to fleshing out ideas as much as possible. LINK INSPIRATION. Bonus points for researching your best keywords and SEO optimization
Choose two days each week to film B-roll: If you’re like me, I can’t think about taking footage every single day, and a “habit” doesn’t need to be every single day, just repetitive in some nature. Choose two days out of the week (maybe your busiest) to hold yourself accountable for taking 1-3 high-quality B-roll videos.
Remember, the purpose of these habits is to make content creation easier for you and to create a workflow that you can stick to (and has promising results). The more often you are in-tune with your ideas and inspiration, the easier it becomes to create content that is true to you.
A review of our three habits:
Document + Revisit Ideas and Inspiration
Make Taking B-Roll a Habit
Flesh Out the Content Plan as Much as Possible
These habits work hand-in-hand to make a constantly steady workflow. Planning content in advance gives you more time to refine your concepts and make them better. Social media strategy is a constant, daily effort. If you are only visiting your content calendar and ideas once a month, it can become easy to feel disconnected with your audience and why you started creating in the first place.
💌 Resources you might like:
I mentioned this Notion template a few times throughout the post, and it’s what I’m using to write this blog post right now.
If you don’t want to waste time setting up your systems like an idea list, B-roll library, or a content calendar with post templates, check it out!
