Hello Zen Organizer,
As you know, today, a business needs to be present on social media. You probably also know that managing social media requires a lot of time and energy.
That's why I wanted to share some tips to help you be as organized and efficient as possible with your content creation and social media management!
Are you ready to optimize the time and energy you spend on your content strategy?
Tips to efficiently manage your business AND social media
Plan ahead
Plan your weeks and days so you always know what you have to do and how much time you have to do it.
Block some time slots for your recurring tasks or dedicate specific days for specific tasks.
You should also create a content calendar to always be on top of your content creation (see below for more information).
Focus your time and energy on a limited number of platforms
Unless you delegate your social media accounts to a social media manager, you won't be able to be on all the platforms simultaneously, especially not initially.
When you start, I suggest choosing a maximum of three platforms (blog, podcast, YouTube channel, newsletter, social networks, etc., included). Each platform has its own language, codes, and format(s), so there will be a lot of learning! Focus on a few and master them before expanding to new platforms.
To choose the best platform(s), consider your personal preferences, of course, but mostly your ideal client's favourite platform(s).
Finally, choose a rhythm of publication that you'll be able to maintain in the long run. Remember that consistency is more important than frequency. For example, it's better to post three times a week on Instagram than post five times a week for three weeks and then abandon your account for a few weeks because you're exhausted.
Implement processes
To make your content creation as productive as possible, you need to implement processes. A process is "a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end" (Merriam-Webster, 2021).
Implementing processes in your content creation will help you know exactly what you need to do at each step and avoid forgetting to do something.
For example, here's my process for my weekly content creation across all my platforms:
Write script
Write article
Write newsletter
Edit article
Create visuals
Create reel
Write captions
Article layout
Record episode
Edit episode
Create audiogram
Write episode description
Upload episode
Add episode reader to the article
Publish episode
Publish article
Send newsletter
Once you've listed all the tasks needed to create your content, make sure you keep this list in your task-manager and use it every time you have to create content!
Automate as much as possible
This tip applies to every aspect of your business, but it's especially true for social media.
Once you've created your posts, use scheduling tools to automate their publication. This way, you won't have to be present at specific times of the day to post your publications manually (and then maybe forget or have an unforeseen difficulty that prevents you from doing so 🙄).
There are many scheduling tools out there and most of them even offer a free version with all the necessary features to get you started:
Creator Studio
Later
Planoly
SproutSocial
Hootsuite
Loomly
AirTable
Choose the tool(s) that matches your needs and start automating your content publication!
Tips to efficiently create content for your social media accounts
Have a content calendar
A content calendar is used to plan where, when, and which content will be published. It's a must if you want to post regularly and consistently and if you never want to run out of ideas.
You can create your content calendar on paper, in a spreadsheet (ex. Excel), with a specialized app (AirTable, Loomly, Hootsuite, StoryChief, Later), or with a productivity tool (Google Calendar, Notion, Trello, Asana, Evernote).
I personally use Notion for my content calendar and content creation.
Whatever tool you decide to use, make sure your content calendar contains the following information:
Date and time of publication
Platform
Title or headline (or topic)
The goal of the post (sell a product/service, create engagement, promote other content, etc.)
I also suggest always having a running list of post ideas to help you fill your content calendar. Make sure this list is easily accessible. Write down your ideas as soon as you have them, so you don't forget them!
Finally, I suggest creating your content calendar at least one month in advance. This way, you always know what to post, and you can create and schedule your posts beforehand.
You'll see, it will help reduce the mental load and the stress associated with creating content for social media!
Batch your content creation
Batching is a technique that consists of grouping similar tasks together to reduce the number of cognitive switches required by tackling different kinds of tasks one after the other. If you want to be productive, it's essential to reduce the number of times your work gets fragmented between different tasks. Batching is a great technique to do that!
For example, you can batch the writing of your blog articles, the recording of your podcast episodes or your videos, the creation of your reels, the redaction of your social media captions, etc. Any recurring task can be batched to optimize your time and focus.
Create templates
Creating templates for your posts will help you save a lot of time for the creation of visuals. It will also help you maintain coherent branding throughout your posts and platforms. My personal favourite tool to create visuals is Canva.
Here are some examples of templates you can create:
Instagram posts
Reel and IGTV covers
Video thumbnails
Podcast covers
You can also create templates for the structure of your blog articles, podcast episodes, newsletters, landing pages, and much more.
Just like automation, templates will help you save a lot of time on your content creation!
Use time blocking
When creating content, it's easy to spend waaaaaaay more time than initially intended.
That's why I suggest using time blocking to plan this kind of task. By allocating a specific amount of time for each task, it'll be easier to control the time you spend on your content creation. Of course, it's important to respect the allotted time as much as possible. 😉
Three time laws to keep in mind
As you probably already know, I love time laws (I already did two episodes on different times laws: episode #10 and #18)! Here's how you can apply some of these laws specifically to content creation:
Pareto Law
"80% of your results are produced by 20% of your actions."
Focus your time and energy on what brings real impact to your business.
For example, on Instagram, reels are very popular at the moment. They can bring you much more visibility and engagement than regular posts. So it might be a better use of your time to create reels than other types of posts because of how much impact they can generate.
Hofstadter Law
"It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law."
Over a few weeks, calculate how much time you TRULY spend on each task linked to content creation. This way, you'll have a better idea of how much time you really need to create your content, and you'll be able to plan your weeks more accurately.
You can also use the results of this calculation to determine how many posts you can create each month for each platform.
First, determine how much time you want to spend on each platform every month.
Then, divide this amount of time by the amount of time it takes you to create one post for this platform.
The result is the maximal amount of posts you should post on this platform monthly.
Parkinson Law
"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
Set a specific time to create your posts and try to respect it as much as possible. Otherwise, you'll spend more time creating content than running your business...
How to avoid getting distracted or procrastinating on social network
Using social networks like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc., can easily become a distraction and a time-waster. They are designed to make you stay on their platform for as long as possible.
So here are a few tips to help you use them as efficiently as possible for your business:
Deliberately choose when to go on your social networks for your business. Don't open them every single time you get a notification or when you're bored by your tasks.
Turn off all the notifications on your computer and your phone (and close the tabs while you're working).
Set a daily amount of usage on each platform (step-by-step tutorial for Facebook and Instagram here) and regularly control your screen time on each platform.
On your business accounts, only follow other accounts that are relevant to your business.
Only comment posts that allow you to show your expertise, to meet potential clients, or to support your business friends.
Have a routine and stick to it. It will help you avoid falling down the rabbit hole of spending hours on social media without having any impact on your business.
For example, this is my daily Instagram routine: I spend 15 minutes commenting on the posts and the stories of the accounts I follow and my followers' accounts. Then, I spend 15 minutes commenting on the posts of a few hashtags in my niche.
Remember you're using your accounts for your business, not for entertainment or personal use. Use your time on your social media accounts strategically and purposefully.
I hope these tips will help you be more organized and efficient in your content creation!
I wish you a zenly organized content creation!
