Have you tried batching content only to feel overwhelmed and time-sucked? The key to batching content effectively: a SYSTEM!

As an online entrepreneur, you’re likely familiar with the saying: ‘content is king’. Nowadays, there are so many digital platforms to connect with your audience and deliver value for free. 

From blogging to social media, there’s no denying it can be hard to keep up with posting engaging content consistently that serves your audience while managing all the other aspects of running your online biz. 

Having a solid system in place for creating content is a game-changer.

So, if you’ve been flying by the seat of your pants, posting on social media when you have a few spare minutes of time, it’s time to get strategic about how and what you are sharing with your audience.

Enter: content batching. 

If you spend even just a few minutes a day scrolling through social media posts, you’ll likely see content creation tips like: “If you want to scale your biz, schedule a few hours a week to batch your content!” 

But what actually IS content batching?

In this blog post, you’ll learn about content batching, why you need it, and how to create a system to start batching content to grow your business.

Misconceptions about Content Batching

First, let’s get clear on what we are NOT doing when we batch content: we are not creating a whole post in ONE hour.

What we ARE doing: creating multiple pieces of posts in a few hours (which = multiple posts!). 

If you’re thinking, ‘okay, but how do I get started?’, The answer is actually simple: You create a SYSTEM.

Why Systemize your Content? 

In short, it’s a lot easier to spend an hour on just one type of task, for example writing 3 captions  than it is to switch between different tasks for an hour. 

For example, it is much faster to group similar tasks together, like brainstorming several pieces of content or captions, versus trying to record, edit, write, and schedule one full piece of content from start to finish each time.

Grouping similar tasks together in order to batch content allows us to enter a ‘flow’ state.

When we enter the flow state, we can produce more content in a more effective way.

Scale

Like with any type of task, when you systemize, you can scale. 

Batch

When you have a clear system for how you plan to create content, from initial brainstorming to the finished product, it becomes much easier to batch content.

Outsource

Once you establish a clear content creation process, it becomes easy to outsource. As you grow, you’ll want to think about which tasks you want to outsource in order to gain back more valuable time and energy. Hiring a social media or content virtual assistant is typically one of the first ways you might outsource. 

5 Steps to Content Batching

Step 1: Define Your Strategy

• Get clear on what you’re creating and how many times you’re creating it!
• Decide how many pieces of content you want to publish each week 
• Determine those pieces of content will be: social posts, podcast episodes, blog posts, or video content.

Step 2: Create Your Content Process 

Your content process is the system, or step-by-step process, through which you create your content.

For example, your steps might include: Brainstorm -> record -> edit -> write caption -> publish.

Once you decide what types of content you will create: ex. Static posts on Instagram or Facebook, carousel posts, reels, TikTok, and podcast episodes, you’ll start brainstorming topics that are aligned for specific types of posts or for the specific platform you’ve chosen.

As you begin to systemize your content, you can also repurpose your content for different platforms, which can be a massive timesaver.

For example, you can create a podcast episode and easily turn the main points of the podcast episode into a carousel post for Instagram and/or into a Reel or Tik Tok video.

Step 3: Create a Content Calendar

Content Creation Tools: 

I highly recommend using your Project Management tool to manage your content, because they include templates like ClickUp (my favorite), Asana, Trello, Notion, Airtable, etc. 

These tools can help you organize your content calendar and give you a visual representation of what you’re posting, what platform(s) you’re publishing to, and when. 

It becomes a central place where you can store your captions, graphics, and your content schedule. 

Additionally, using your project management tool as your content management tool makes it easy to outsource.

When you’re ready to hire a social media or content virtual assistant, you can easily delegate different tasks in the content creation process and monitor the progress all in one place.

Step 4: Batch Your Content

Once you’ve nailed down a solid content strategy, defined your content process, and created your content calendar, you guessed it, it’s time to batch!

Set aside time to focus on content-related tasks. Time block separate sessions for brainstorming, writing captions, and recording videos or podcast episodes. 

Batching your content not only helps you by allowing you to establish a flow state, but it also sets you up for being able to outsource your content when you’re ready.

For example, if you love recording videos or podcast episodes, and you batch record 5-10 episodes, you can easily hand off the recording to a team member to edit, or repurpose into a social post, or blog post.

Set a schedule for content batching that works best for you and your business.

Depending on how much content you plan to create, maybe you designate one or two specific days per week to focus solely on mapping out content. 

After you batch your content, it’s time to schedule it out.

Step 5: Schedule Your Content

Lastly, try to schedule your content, so you don’t have to think about it again! 

Set aside time at the end of your process to review your content and schedule it for the next week.  

To keep things simple, I recommend using the platform’s built-in scheduler (if it has one!).  

As you schedule your content, consider theming your days. For example, if you find yourself the most creative on Tuesday, try to center all your work around creativity on Tuesday. 

As you get clearer on your content process, you’ll start to develop regular content pillars, and certain days will focus on similar topics or have a similar goal for how you are choosing to engage with your audience. For example: educational content, storytelling / ‘about me’ content, and inspirational content.

When you get strategic with your content, your voice becomes more clear, your audience is more engaged and connected to your message, your story, and your brand. 

Your content is what brings people into your business. Think of each piece of content you share as an opportunity to connect with and serve your audience. 

By connecting authentically with your audience, you are attracting your ideal clients into your business. 

If you’re not batching your content: what are you waiting for?! If you’re ready to scale your online biz in 2023, I highly recommend making creating a content system a priority. 

By having a system in place, you’ll stop flying by the seat of your pants and rushing to create posts, just for the sake of producing content. 

When you systemize your content, you’ll start creating with more ease and spend more time in a flow state, allowing your content to become much more intentional and aligned.

Are you ready to get started with systems for inevitable success in 2023? Watch my free mini masterclass: 3 Key Systems You Need to Hit 6 Figures!