How to Batch Content Like A Pro
Look no further than Betty Crocker for insight on how to whip up something irresistible.
Let’s take cookies for example. If you had to grab the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, then fire up the oven every time you wanted a single home-baked cookie, let’s face it, you’d probably skip the cookie. Baking batches of ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies at once is a no-brainer because it saves time and yields a lot of goodness in one sitting.
Having a plan to batch create digital marketing content means your feeds will never go hungry no matter what else gets put on your plate. Being stressed about not having something to post, and scrambling to throw up anything in an effort to be consistent ultimately muddies your brand message — and you already know a confused buyer does not buy.
Whether you're a solopreneur, part of a team, or just starting out, this content batching workflow can work wonders for you. Learning how to batch content for social media, websites, and newsletters WILL save you hours, give you clarity, and free up mental space for other areas of your life.
If that sounds good, then content batching is gonna be your new MVP (Most Valuable Process).
I’ll show you how it’s done.
What is Content Batching?
At its heart, content batching —or batching tasks in general — is when you set aside a specific time to focus on one project until it’s complete.
Instead of repeating the same thing day after day, we only have to do it every month or so. That frees up time, allowing us to work in a state of focus instead of scrambling.
For content creators, or small business owners turned-content-creators, this can look like spending a few hours or even a whole day researching ideas, writing social media posts or blogs, designing graphics, or scheduling your content.
To sum it up: Content batching a highly strategic set-it-and-forget-it technique that ends inconsistency.
Benefits of Content Batching
Batching content is amazing for productivity, consistency, time savings, quality, and workflow.
Firstly, it's a productivity hack that will make life easier. By focusing on one task for a longer period, you'll get more done in less time. Plus, you won't waste precious minutes switching between tasks, which can be a real time-suck if your distraction-prone like me.
Another benefit is consistency — both in frequency of posting and in brand messaging. By creating content at once, you can ensure that it all has the same vibe, it communicating what you need it to, and it will give your readers a good user experience. That'll make your brand stand out and look trustworthy.
Let's not forget about time savings! By batching content, you'll be able to get more done in less time. Plus, you won't have to come up with new ideas every time you sit down to work. That means Monday’s unfinished post won’t be lingering over your head all weekend.
Oh, and did I mention that batching content can improve the quality of your work? By focusing on one task, you'll be able to pay more attention to detail and make sure your work is on point.
Lastly, batching content can help you get into flow state — the magically time when your cranking out masterpiece after masterpiece effortlessly. It takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes of focused attention to reach a flow state. Once in flow, it may last from 30 minutes to a couple of hours.
How To Start Batching Content
1. Choose Content Pillars
Content pillars area of subject matter expertise. They exist to give your content direction and allow you to position yourself as an expert in your field . When chosen well content pillars answer the question, “What should I post today?”
Here’s a pro tip for choosing high-converting content pillars.
Each pillar or topic should represent an area of expertise where you deliver results that solve a problem specific to your ideal customer. These pillars should answer your audience’s most common questions, solve their nagging problems, and allow them to envision you as a trust guide to navigating the topic at hand.
Service-Based Business Content Pillars
Here is an example for a bookkeeper who offers monthly accounting services to small businesses.
1. Financial Planning: This pillar could cover topics related to making financial decisions such as budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning.
2. Tax Preparation: This pillar could cover topics related to tax preparation and compliance for small businesses. For example, tax deadlines and requirements, tips for minimizing tax liability, and advice for staying up-to-date with tax laws.
3. Bookkeeping Basics: This pillar could cover the fundamentals of bookkeeping for small businesses, such as setting up a bookkeeping system, recording transactions, and reconciling accounts.
Multi-Passionate Business Content Pillars
Here are some potential content pillars for an artisan candle maker who sells aromatherapy candles and ALSO teaches people who to make their own:
1. Candle Making Techniques: This pillar could cover different techniques for making candles, such as soy wax candles, beeswax candles, and gel candles. This could include information on the best ingredients to use, tips for creating unique scents, and advice for troubleshooting common problems.
2. Aromatherapy Candles: This pillar could cover topics related to aromatherapy candles, such as the benefits of different essential oils, how to blend scents for specific purposes, and advice for creating a relaxing atmosphere. This could include information on the science behind aromatherapy, tips for creating custom blends, and advice for incorporating aromatherapy into a self-care routine.
3. Candle Making Business: This pillar could cover topics related to starting and running a candle making business, such as creating a business plan, marketing strategies, and managing finances. This could include information on the best ways to market candles, tips for pricing products, and advice for setting up an e-commerce website. Additionally, this pillar could also cover industry trends and news to keep the audience informed about what's happening in the world of candle making.
2. Build The Foundation With Long Form Content
We have to start by talking about macro vs micro content — this is going to be foundational for your overall content strategy. What’s the difference between macro and micro content?
Macro content is the big stuff. It's the long-form blog posts, the YouTubes videos, and podcasts. Macro content requires much more time and effort to create, but it can pay off big time in terms of engagement and traffic.
These pieces of content are perfect for establishing your brand and showcasing your expertise. Consider:
What are the main pieces of content —blogs, podcasts, video — that will position you as an expert?
Figure out how much time you’ll dedicate to the major creation. Will you create macro content once a week, once a month? Personally, I’m partial to three piece of macro content a month, all blog posts that repurposed into micro content and distributed on social.
Pro Tip: What are you ideal readers searching for? Not just in the metaphysical sense, but on Google. Spend time on keyword research to ensure your ideal readers are finding your most valuable content.
Micro content is the small stuff that keeps your visibility high.
It's the social media posts, the short videos, newsletters, and the quick blog updates. Micro content is all about staying top of mind with your audience and keeping them engaged on a regular basis. These pieces of content are perfect for building relationships and nurturing your audience.
So, if you’re wondering which one is better? It’s neither. They work together.
Marco content serves as the main event, and micro content gets people to the main event. Now, let’s jump into how to batch create your social media post from your long form content.
3. Establish Content Goals
Now that you are honed in on the subject matter you can share that benefits your ideal client most, let’s turn it into a content creation outline.
First, what is the purpose of sharing this content?
Sounds like a simple question but you’d be surprised how few business owners know if and how the content they are sharing is benefiting the business. Set goals before creating the content that is going to be push out on social channels.
How To Set A Monthly Content Goal
For example, our aforementioned bookkeeper wants to attract two clients through her organic content marketing efforts this month. She could start by checking insights to see what type of posts bought in new business in the past. But, let’s say she doesn’t have that data, what type of content should she use then?
Posts that address objections or fears.
Posts that point out common errors that cost real money.
Posts that share her credentials and experiences. Hint: brand storytelling is great for this type of content.
And because she’s hoping to attract new business, she’ll want to post more frequently. The Marketing Rule of 7 states that a prospect needs to “hear” the message at least 7 times before they'll take action to buy that product or service.
And just because you posted 7 times doesn’t mean your ideal client saw it 7 times. It’s ok to repeat yourself, you’re probably going to have to more than once.
4. Create a Content Calendar
Companies that publish more than 16 posts a month generate 3.5 times more traffic than those which publish less than four times. Coming up with that amount of website content — plus social media posts — will be nearly impossible to wing.
That is why all businesses need an editorial or content calendar. Editorial calendars map out the big picture, including as what long form content your creating, as well as short form social media content, newsletters, etc. Mapping it out at least a month in advance is ideal, but you can map it out by the quarter or even the year.
This will help you and your team stay organized and on track instead of scrambling for content. Having a schedule will also help you keep your content consistent. This is key to keeping your audience interested and coming back for more.
How To Structure A Content Calendar
Determine how often you’ll post. This will depend on your goals. If you’re looking for more reach, engagement, and conversions, ramp up the number of times and days you’re posting this mix.
If you’re in a phase where you are deep into client work or you’re working on a special project behind the scenes, you can scale it down. I'd recommend no less than 3x a week to maintain
Break up long form content into social media sized posts aligned with your content goals. Maximize your effort with scroll stopping social media headlines — swipe these.
Consider content format. Reels, carousel posts, single image posts. It’s good to have a healthy mix.
Example Content Calendar:
4. Create A Content Batching Schedule
Enough planning. It’s time to batch content. There are two camps of content batchers.
There is the done-in-a-day camp. For some, it’s easier to spend a few hours a day or even a whole day researching ideas, writing social media posts or blogs, designing graphics, or scheduling content.
That is a great system — and my preferred method — if you are able to set aside large chunks of time in a single day to dedicate to the process. It gets you in a workflow, and, like the camp’s name suggests, at the end of the day, you’re content for the foreseeable future is done.
For these campers, it could look like:
9 a.m. to 10 a.m.: Research content ideas and plugging them into a content calendar.
10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Research and write captions/blog/video scripts.
2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Create graphics, videos, or take photos.
4 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Schedule out content for the next week.
Camp two spends an hour or two each day for an entire week to complete their batching. Each day is dedicated to a specific task. For example:
Monday: Research content ideas and plugging them into a content calendar.
Tuesday: Write captions/video scripts.
Wednesday: Create graphics, videos, or take photos.
Thursday: Schedule content.
The important part here is to set a specific amount of time.
Don't drive yourself crazy creating until you're exhausted. Set a deadline, stick to it the timeframe, and walk away when the clock times out. Make it fun and it will fly by and you'll look forward to coming back to batching.
5. Repurpose Your Greatest Hits
Repurposing content is an excellent way to fill in gaps in your editorial calendar because it allows you to recycle existing content and present it in a fresh, new way. By repurposing content, you can reach a wider audience and reinforce your brand message without having to constantly create new material.
One of the top ways to speed up content creation is by repurposing old content through the use of the ACE model. Pick a piece of the content you want to reutilize (preferably something with prior success), and then complete the following:
Adjust: What needs to be added, removed, or re-worded?
Combine: Where can you combine related content to provide new value and meaning?
Expand: Is there an opportunity to expand on something you’ve already done to dig deeper into the topic?
Doing this will leverage the previous success of your original content while still making it new for your current audience.
Batching my content truly saved my sanity and my business.
Taking one day a month to gain back the rest of the days is invaluable for so many reasons, primarily saving you from the stress of panic posting and allowing you to focus on what’s really important: creating the best possible experience for your clients while not working 24/7.
If you found this helpful, I’d be so thankful if you could take a moment to leave a comment or share this with a fellow business owner.
Happy Creating!
Cyndi, Owner of Ascent StoryCraft
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