Pulling your hair out trying to stay on top of creating all of your content is totally no fun.
But there’s an easier way to manage it all. In this blog post, I’m going to walk you through the 4 Principles of Efficient Content Creation.
There are 4 Principles of Efficient Content Creation:
- Repurposing
- Batching
- Staggered Schedule
- Getting Unstuck
As with everything in content management, none of these are rocket science, but it can totally help you understand how to become way more efficient in your creation of various pieces of content across a wide variety of content types.
So, if you’ll come with me, let’s dive right in!
Principle 1 – Repurposing
Starting with principle number one – Repurposing.
We talk a lot on this show about repurposing. Finding ways to take content we’ve already created and weaving into something new.
One of the quickest ways to burn out when it comes to content creation is to be constantly trying to come up with totally new and 100% original ideas. But here’s the thing – you don’t have to. When it comes to clarifying and distilling your business message, constantly darting off in a new direction is confusing to your consumers. They’ll find it hard to remember what you’re about and what your key messages are.
Repurposing can:
- Keep you on message
- Alleviate stress
- Create consistently
Principle 2 – Batching
On the eastern point of the Principles of Efficient Content Creation Star we have Batching.
Batching can be big or small
Depending on many factors including how much or how little time you have, the intensity of the task and so on. When it comes to tasks that are intensive and a little bit time consuming, I like to do “micro-batching” – so two to three of the same content type within a session.
Batching saves you time because you’re not switching between different types of tasks. You can get into a mode – say writing – and really focus in on that for a good stint. You have a much higher chance of hitting your flow and getting a lot accomplished.
Principle 3 – Staggered Schedule
On the southern point of the Principles for Efficient Content Creation we have “Staggered Schedule”
This is in relation to how you publish your repurposed content.
For example, you create a video and then repurpose it into both a blog post and a written newsletter. What you might like to do is on week one publish the newsletter (so people on your list get exclusive access to it) and then on week two publish the video and the blog post together. Or even the video first and the blog post on the third week. This enables you to create consistent reliable content in advance across a variety of platforms.
A staggered schedule is an elegant way to produce a consistent message across a variety of platforms over time.
Principle 4 – Getting Unstuck
We all have days where we are not feeling quite up to the task of creating content. And that’s pretty normal. However, when it comes to efficient content creation, we do want to try and stick as closely as possible to our schedules so that we can create stuff in advance and get it out consistently.
That’s why on the western point of the Principles for Efficient Content Creation I have “Getting Unstuck”. Getting unstuck is really just finding your suite of tips and tricks that can get you in the mood and zone for creating content.
Here are some ideas:
- The Pomodoro Technique
- Changing location
- Using Voice to Text
So, if you’re feeling like the whole creating your content feels too big and too overwhelming, definitely put these principles into place. I promise you’ll be a whole lot more efficient in no time.
