Do you fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to your content creation? Are you getting everything done at the last minute? Scrambling because you forgot an essential step along the way. Vowing never to do it again, only to find yourself in the same situation again next week. If this is you, friend, listen in because we will uncover five steps to create a content system in your online business that saves time.
What will a system for content creation do for you? It will save time in your business while still providing the same high-quality service. Establishing systems is an effective way to create efficiency and consistency, streamline processes and make it easier to create content, or should I say actually get into the hands of the people that need it, verse another file located somewhere on your computer.
What are the Problems and Goals?
What exactly are you struggling with? Do you have 1,000 of pieces of content spread around over different locations such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or Onedrive? Yes, this is a real-life example. I had a client that didn’t want to pay for cloud storage. Instead, they had files in every free cloud storage, with zero idea of what was created or where it was located. It was such a mess. They had so much content that we could have reused if we didn’t have to spend hours trying to find the poorly name file on some random drive.
The first step in creating an effective system is identifying the problems you want to solve and the desired outcomes.
Determine what areas in your content process require streamlining, keep in mind your content is more than likely a big chunk of your digital marketing. Keep in mind it is everything from how someone finds you until well past the time they are a client.
It is social media posts, content plans, and courses that you’ve created and never did anything with. As well as your email marketing. Heck, don’t forget about your website or how you organize your content. You see how many little fingers your creative content has.
Take the time to analyze how you can use systems to meet your goals and objectives. Clearly outline what needs to be done and how it should be done for maximum efficiency.
Establish a content process to get started.
Once you have identified the problem with your current content process, you can establish a simple workflow. Try not to overthink this in the beginning. Remember, start simple and add on as you remember the different steps.
Brainstorm all the activities that you are doing to take your creative content from idea to publication.
Here is a few high-level creative content process to get started. Your process should involve
- brainstorming ideas.
- Create an idea bank
By creating a content calendar highlighting what you’ll be promoting. Promoting doesn’t mean selling; it could simply ask them to get on your email list or to like, comment or share a post.
What are the steps to creating content?
Where will you be measuring success?
Once you have established a high-level system for creative content, you can begin to optimize it to make it more efficient and effective.
Break Big Pieces Into Small Pieces
I’m curious, how do you eat a cookie? Stick with me here. When I eat a cookie or a bar, I break off pieces of the bar into small bite-size pieces. This is the same thing you should do with your content creation system.
To create effective systems, you'll need to break down your process into smaller, more manageable steps.
Breaking the process down allows you to pinpoint all components that go into creating a system to set you and your future team up for success. Think about each step logically and build out a thorough workflow from start to finish so that nothing gets missed. Nothing is to small to be added to the workflow.
Develop Process Flows
Before jumping into an actual system, it can be helpful to develop a process flow diagram. If you’re a visual person, do not skip this step.
Open up a program like MindMeister, and create an outline of everything you do. A little trick that I learned from Chejo at Systemlize Your Life Podcast. If you do this with an org chart, you can select to do this as a list.
After brainstorming your list, put it in project management software, such as Asana, Click Up, Trello, or MeisterTask.
If you are unsure which project management tool is for you, book a 30 min call to figure out the best project management system for you PLUS a template to get you started!
This is important; make sure to set it up as a “template” so you can duplicate it and use it repeatedly.
Little Side Note
“Having an effective content system in place is essential to unlocking your business's growth potential and driving profits to new heights.” Michele Duwe, Miss Task
Try it and change it.
You guessed it; I’m still finding new, more efficient ways to create content.
When you do things repeatedly, you’ll find easier ways to accomplish them.
Thank you so much for your time I appreciate you, and I hope you have a wonderful week.
