One great way to minimize the pain of content creation
Stop reinventing the content creation wheel every month…
Create structure and recurring formats that you can leverage every month.
It’s a pain in the ass to create consistent content for social, but, it’s not impossible, and there are ways to not only expedite the process, but also make the content more valuable to your audience.
One of the biggest assets to my content creation strategy is leveraging recurring content formats.
What the hell is that?
In a nutshell, a recurring content format is a specific theme or type of content that you can use as a way to structure your raw ideas on a month-to-month basis.
Truthfully, I’m borrowing this concept from my days behind a video camera while working in the television world. Everything that you see on television falls within a specific type of format. Even segments within one show are formatted specifically - the way it’s shot, who is on camera, the graphics that are used, and the amount of time dedicated to that segment.
By creating these highly-formatted segments, television producers can plug their creativity into hyper-specific content and not spend time re-imagining the entire show day after day.
I can’t even imagine how draining that would be!
So, when it comes to my social media and blog content, I leverage a ton of these recurring formats in order to channel my thoughts and energy in a specific way so as to not have to keep going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch.
One of the biggest recurring content formats is my use of quote posts like the one above.
I LOVE quote posts!
Before I write one word for the upcoming month’s content cycle, I open up my content calendar, and every Monday and Thursday, I write “QUOTE POST” in each.
That’s my cue to channel and narrow my focus to write 8-9 posts monthly in the format that you see here - an image accompanied by a phrase or thought in a text box with my logo at the bottom of it.
Simple and clean, this format is a wonderful way for me to not only create about ⅓ of my monthly content in one fell swoop, but, it also helps motivate me to create very punchy and meaningful content.
I write and re-write that one sentence or phrase that I leverage in these posts until it feels just right. Once I lock that part in, I write my story that will accompany it, and then, I hunt within my image library to find the right photo that will visually punctuate the sentiment of that quote post and accompanying story.
It’s a really awesome process now that I have it down to a science because I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on these from clients and colleagues who follow along and engage my content and I’ve adjusted based on their comments and suggestions.
In addition to offering bite-sized content, the quote posts also serve as a wonderful visual on my social feeds. These image assets break up my string of image-only posts and are sprinkled consistently throughout my feeds.
Now, the quote posts are just one example of a recurring content format, but, I have others brewing in the background, as well.
I don’t keep this kind of knowledge to myself, either - I leverage my experience creating them with my clients to help them identify ones that makes sense for their businesses and brands.
Usually, they are discovered organically when I work with them through my one-on-one, idea generation program, The Idea Nugget Incubator. Interested in learning more about it? Cool, check it out here.
Any questions?
Schedule a call with me to see if we’re a fit to work together, :)