Why it’s Important to Have a Content Schedule

Are you constantly struggling to come up with content at the last second? I’m guessing that’s because you don’t have a content schedule in place. A content schedule is a game-changer and have totally transformed my business. Fair warning – you have to commit to being organized and to plan in advance for this to work. But I promise it’ll be worth it! In this blog, I’ll explain what a content schedule is, how to organize a content strategy, and how you can replicate my process for creating a content schedule.

I also did a podcast episode about this topic on Wisdom in the Tangents! Listen here:

Content Scheduling

Content scheduling is creating a calendar of content for the month. This includes social media posts, blogs, emails, Tik Toks, YouTube videos, freebies, online courses, and anything else you can think of. I’m a very organized person and love to plan (as you’ll soon see after reading this blog). I want to share what has worked for me and how you can replicate my process.

STRATEGY

Content scheduling allows you to think ahead about your content strategy rather than throwing something together just for the sake of it. Yes, content needs a strategy. You want to make sure you’re giving your target audience what they want. Do some research and see what they’re talking about, liking, and commenting on. See what questions they have that you can answer in a short video. 

Planning out a month of content means you can anticipate trends and organize campaigns. If you’re planning December, you know that people will want to consume content around the holidays, how to manage their time, giving gifts, creating a new annual budget, resolutions, etc. 

In terms of organizing campaigns, you want to make sure all of your content aligns with each other. Let’s say you’re launching an online course. You want to make sure you have relevant content before, during, and after the launch. It could look like this: create hype around your course, announce that it’s live, and answer questions people have before enrolling. Plus, sticking to a schedule will keep you accountable. You know that you need to have your course launched by March 15, so you need to start promoting February 15, and so on. You get the idea, right? 

How to Create a Schedule

Let’s go over exactly how to create a content schedule.

ASANA

I love using Asana for my content schedule. It allows me to see what I have coming up and easily adjust dates. Plus, you can use different colors for certain tasks, like I have pink for social media posts and blue for emails. It’s super organized and I love it. Can you tell that I’m a planner yet? 

FREQUENCY AND TIMELINE

You next need to decide on the frequency that you want each piece of content to have. I post two-three days a week on my Instagram, send one email on Wednesdays, and post one blog a week. I know, it sounds like a lot! I definitely started small and increased where I could. Pick a frequency that works best for you and make sure it’s realistic. You don’t have to do everything. If you aren’t a writer, don’t force yourself to sit down and write a blog. Choose the pieces of content that you want to do and decide how often you want to do them.

BATCH CONTENT

Now that you know how much content you want to create in one month, it’s time to batch it all. Batching is one of my favorite things to do. It’s efficient and allows you to get a little ahead in your task list. Isn’t that what we all want and need? 

Batching means bundling similar work together, so you are focused on doing the same thing. I’ll pump out a month’s worth of social media content for a client in one sitting rather than creating a new post every day. I’m sitting down and focusing on one task at a time. It gets me in the zone instead of constantly trying to switch gears. Plus, you’re ahead of the game! If something else comes up, you aren’t stressed trying to fit it into your busy schedule. The task is done for the month. I do this with my weekly emails and weekly IG reels (which I also repurpose into TikToks and YouTube Shorts). 

As an example, here is my step-by-step process for batching Instagram content.

1. Create Asana tasks – I create a task for each post and assign it to myself on the day I want to post it. So the task will be due on January 1 for the post that I want to schedule for January 1.
2. Write the content – In each Asana task, I write the content for the post, including relevant hashtags.
3. Design graphics – I create graphics in Canva and attach them as a file to the Asana task. You can use my link to try a free pro trial!
4. Schedule – I then go through each Asana task (AKA post) and schedule them to send via Sendible.
5. Sit back and relax – My Instagram content for the month is done! This whole process usually takes me 1-2 hours.

Are you convinced that you need to create a content schedule? Set aside an hour to create your content schedule and another hour to start batching content. I know that sounds like a lot of time to dedicate to this (especially this time of year), but it’ll pay off. You’ll be surprised how much time it ends up saving you and how grateful you’ll be that you put in the work ahead of time. Say goodbye to being stressed and randomly creating content without a strategy behind it. Your business will thank you.

P.S. If blogs aren’t your thing but you know how impactful they can be for your website traffic, let’s chat! I offer blog writing and strategy services to creative entrepreneurs. I’d love to help you with your content schedule and strategy!