Post #3: Content Batching
I don’t know about you, but lately I’m finding it hard to get everything done that I need to in a day. I’m always looking for ways to increase my efficiency so I was intrigued when I first heard the term content batching when it comes to social media.
Most of us have heard this term by now and according to Google there are thousands of approaches you can take. Each person must find what works best for them, as there is no right answer on what will be best for you. Read on to hear what I tried and what I’ve learned works for me.
Preparation
Last August I took the day off work and spent 36 hours in Canmore by myself for my first working vacation. Before leaving for my trip, I wrote out a rough sketch of our posts for September, October, November, and December. When I filled in our post calendar I started with:
Statutory holidays, special dates and national days (e.g. World Kindness Day)
What else was planned in our business (e.g. upcoming events, harvest)
And then I rounded out our post calendar with things I wanted to share such as inspirational quotes, reviews and information on where to buy our wine
This preparation step is so important because it is vital for creating and planning quality posts. The last thing I wanted to do was scramble each week on what I should post, or just quickly rush something up for the sake of having content. I used this time to pre-plan quality content that aligned with our business and our brand.
Content Batching
I started the day with filling in the content batching template that Jim created for me. The front page of the template had my post calendar for the month, and the back page had room for the details on each post including:
A description of the post
The date of the post
The type of post (single photo, carousel or reel)
It also included a space where I could check off my progress:
Was the photo or video ready?
Were the captions/hashtags ready?
Was it complete and ready to post?
I used all the information from my pre-planning to fill out this template which gave me an idea of where I was at with each post. From there I started with the posts that I was most excited to write about first and then moved down the list.
When it comes to writing my captions and hashtags, I actually use a basic spreadsheet. I’ve tried using some of the well known social media schedulers but I find when I’m missing part of the content (like the photo) it’s difficult to use these tools to plan ahead.
I organize the posts by date in my spreadsheet, so I can see what is coming ahead for the week. This makes it easy to post for the week as I have everything organized and ready to go for each post.
The view from my room at the Lady Macdonald Country Inn in Canmore
Our content batching template
Results
It’s important to have an idea of what you are expecting so that you can evaluate your progress. I wanted to be realistic with my expectations especially since this was the first time trying something like this.
My plan: heading into the day I was targeting to complete 12-14 posts. My goal was to work for around 7 hours, and I was hoping to completely finish 2 posts an hour.
My results: I ended up working for 8 hours and completely finished 12 posts and also finished the captions for another 7 posts.
It was a great feeling to meet my goal of 12 posts! But I did learn that I had to better manage my time throughout, as I easily found myself spending too much time on one post.
Takeaways
I learned there is value in time blocking your workdays, as it helps to get into a rhythm of pushing forward to getting tasks done and achieving my goals for that day. I really appreciated the work I put into this, as I now had my content completed in advance. This has saved me many hours throughout the week, that I can now use to focus on other parts of the business.
My main takeaways were:
It was a productive but exhausting day. I learned that perhaps the Pomodoro Technique may be better for me, allowing shorter lengths of focused time, with frequent breaks.
I can sometimes spend too much time on a single post, so I need to determine how long to spend on each post. I could benefit from time-blocking each post in advance, to stay within my goal.
As much fun as it was to get away for 2 nights, I won’t always be able to this, so I need to try batching content within a 2- or 4-hour window.
You need to celebrate your wins! At the end of the day I went for a relaxing massage and out for wonderful dinner.
Have you tried content batching? Let us know below!
Getting some fresh air down by the river in Canmore
Taking a sweets break at Le fournil bakery
An incredible dinner at The Sensory after a productive day