Back when blogging was a super duper popular thing, I remember all the bloggers —who seemed far more consistent + on top of their life— suggesting we use content calendars. They shared their bullet journals and how they planned out entire MONTHS of content.⁠

For so long I felt inauthentic thinking about doing that. How in the world are these people such ROBOTS that they PLAN their blog posts and email newsletters? #adhd

Buuuuut here I am.

8 years into professionally photographing — 3 years into taking my business seriously — and one year into diving into expertise in branding: I 100% prep, plan, and schedule my content.⁠

Before I did that, not only was I dreadfully inconsistent, my mental space was also swallowed whole on the daily.

Now? My content is still true and authentic, but I am not wasting my days planning out captions or mentally distracted by how I haven't put out helpful content.⁠

PROS TO BATCHING + CREATING + SCHEDULING CONTENT

consistency with showing up — consistency = reliability, trustworthiness, know what to expect
free brain space / mental space — when your week or month is already planned out, your brain naturally frees up all that space!
themes — you can actually plan themes to your content, instead of just random posts and pretty pictures. This creates authority.
strategy — you can strategize your content and plan for a consistent rotation of know-like-trust posts
be fully present where you are — if you’re a small biz owner, building a brand, and raising a family…it can be really easy to get caught up in your phone every day trying to pump out something to stay relevant; but when you’ve spent a couple hours in the beginning of the month batching + scheduling, you can be fully present exactly where you are

CONS TO BATCHING + CREATING + SCHEDULING CONTENT

the only “con” isn’t a con, but it is a challenge for me personally: having to be self-disciplined with time management. Again, this isn’t actually a con, but it is a challenge I won’t pretend doesn’t exist. As someone with ADHD, a single mom to three kids, lots of therapy apps (for me, for the kids), and I’m in charge of allllll their stuff (medical, dental, school, extra curricular, friendships, etc)…I can get caught up in the overwhelm of being alive. It can be a challenge to truly sit down and focus a few hours to this, but when I do, I end up saving soooooo much in the long run.

MY PROCESS OF BATCHING + SCHEDULING

Every Monday: block out 2.5 hours of time to work on content — sometimes I will scroll back through older blog posts & reuse/repurpose some of those pieces. Other times I will create brand new content.
I create as much new IG posts as possible, rotating the captions/content to be Know-Like-Trust. I create these posts directly into Later Media.
I start with 2 weeks of Monday, Wednesday, Friday; once those 6 posts are created, I go back and add Tuesdays + Thursdays — this is so if I run out of time, I have at least gotten 3 posts throughout the week every other day.
Every Tuesday: block out 2.5 hours of time to copy + paste (maybe+ add to) those captions into blog posts and schedule those out. I also use these pieces of content to create helpful emails to land in your inbox.
What this comes down to is turning my phone on Do Not Disturb. Setting timers that work for me. And getting this done. It is self discipline to me, and it is worth every ounce of effort!

Download LaterMedia for yourself! I used the free version for about 2 months before I upgraded, because it is that worth it.

Need a reminder about content pillars: Know-Like-Trust? Read HERE.