How I Plan Social Media Content For My Side Hustle
As a WFHM (work from home mom), I have to plan out my days like a mad scientist. I think that lends to my strengths, though, because I do love a good planner, routines and systems.
(This may also sometimes be to my detriment since I also tend to not like it when my plans don’t go to plan… which is pretty much every day. It’s a nice back and forth I have going and I’m always working on my attitude towards things not going according to plan, lol.)
The same goes for planning out my social media posts. If I want them to get done, then as a WFHM, I have to make a strategic plan to get the actual social media planning done.
That’s why I’m going to talk a lot about “batching” in this post… because, well, it works. It’s so effective and helps me stay focused on the task at hand.
(If you’re unfamiliar with batching, it’s just a fancy word for doing the same types of tasks all at once, so that you’re saving brain power and being a little more efficient with your time.)
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Think of the following steps like this:
Step #1 is the prerequisite, and once completed it will set you up for success with the rest of the steps. If you don’t do it first, then things will be out of order, so get it done first.
Then, Steps #2-6 are each intended to be batched individually. Depending on the amount of time you have and your working style, you may be able to do more than one step in one day, but for me, I can generally only get one step done in a day because that’s all that my time and brain space allows.
Keeping that in mind, let’s get into it. Here’s how I plan social media content for my side hustle!
Step #1. Pick Your Content Categories (or Pillars or Themes)
The number one thing you need to do to get started is figure out what is called your “content categories”. Some call these pillars or themes, but essentially it’s the type of content you want to talk about, and the type of content of which you are experienced to talk about.
For example, all of my social media posts come from my main content categories, which I’ve already solidified for my brand. For me, that’s anything that has to do with:
- Branding
- Graphic Design
- Strategic Planning
- Social Media (and it’s relation to the above)
- With a little bit of working from home, mom life mixed in
As a brand designer of over a decade and social media manager for almost as long, these are the subjects I’m well versed in, and the ones I’m confident to talk about and teach others about.
Since I’ve chosen to stick to these subjects, it often makes it easier (and more fun) for me when I need to think of content ideas. I’m also not wondering what to talk about, and the categories keep me focused and grounded in my brand.
Once your content categories are set, you can head into your content calendar to actually get the planning going (I just use a spreadsheet for this, which you’ll see coming up next).
(Side note, I show an example of my content categories inside what I call my “48 Ideas Doc”. You can click here for more info on my process for hoarding content ideas.)
As I mentioned, this first step is really a prerequisite to completing the rest of the steps in this process. After you’re done with this step, the rest of the step will be so much easier to check off.
Step #2. Plan Your Post Content
Now that you have your content categories down, you can decide what types of content you want to make surrounding those subjects.
When I am really into it, I like to plan out a month or more at a time, so I can look ahead and be strategic about the content I post.
However, if I’m short on time, then I try to at least plan a few days to a week out, just depending on how much brain space I have.
(Sometimes I don’t even post every week, which will be evident if you look at my profiles, but that’s a “strategy” talk we can have another time!)
Typically I’ll sit down with my content planner spreadsheet open and look at the month ahead, and as I decide what I’m posting, I’ll add those ideas to my planner.
I don’t actually make anything during this step, I’m just planning it out in my content calendar. Making visuals and writing copy are separate steps that I do on different days to help make the batching process easier and more efficient.
For me, most of the content I post comes from long-form content like my blog posts. I can take little snippets and nuggets from my blogs and make that into shorter-form content for social media. Whatever social media content I plan out, I always have it coincide with the long-form content that is going out that week so that everything is in sync.
When I’m planning social content, I’m literally just inside my content planner looking at the blog posts I have coming up, and deciding what social media posts will come from the blog posts.
Here’s a very high-level snapshot of how this process might look:
First I’ll plan it out in my content planner…
Then, I’ll write and post a blog post…
Lastly, I’ll plan out and post social media content that corresponds with the blog post:
Now, there are a lot of little steps that go with this process, so don’t worry, keep reading because I break this down a bit more for the social media posts!
I just wanted to give you a high-level view of how it all works together: Content categories feed my content planner, which are then made into blog posts, which then feed some of my social media posts.
Repurposing content (but in a creative and fun way!) is 100% the name of the game.
Step #3. Plan Your Post Visuals
Once I’ve got my content planned in my content calendar, I can then decide what each of the posts will look like. They could be videos, carousels, static posts, whatever, but I don’t decide what they’ll look like until I have the actual post idea put down in my planner.
For example, here’s what a typical few days of planned social content might look like:
Deciding what type of post it will be gives me an idea of the visuals (along with size and format) I need to create ahead of time. I have a spot in my content planner to note this, so that when I go to actually create the visuals, I can easily see at a glance what I need to make without having to search for it.
Using that same example from above, here’s what that looks like for a brand fonts post that I made as a carousel on Instagram:
So as you can see in my spreadsheet, I have the date I’ll post, the type of content it will be, the visuals I need to make, and the copy that I’ll post with it.
And again, notice that these first three steps are planning steps? I’m not actually creating anything yet.
I batch each of these steps out, so I rarely create visuals the same day that I plan the content in my spreadsheet.
It really helps to chop up the process and take a break between planning and creating content, so that my brain can take a break and come back fresh for the next step.
Step #4. Create Post Visuals
Now we’re on to the fun part (at least for me)! We have our content planned, our post visuals planned, now we can actually create the visuals.
To do this, I open my content planner to refresh my memory on everything I had planned ahead from Steps #2 and #3.
I’ll quickly skim to see what types of graphics, videos, and post visuals I need to make, and form a plan of action.
I typically start creating the graphics first, making whatever I need for those using my branded templates in Adobe Illustrator. You might use templates in something like Canva or Adobe Express, it doesn’t really matter, just use whatever program you’re familiar with to make your visuals.
When I’m done with the graphics, I’ll move on to take any photos needed, and keep moving down my list to then make the reels, trying to complete any other post visuals that are on the docket. It depends how much time I have, but I try to get done as much as I can when I batch-create visuals.
When I’m done, I put them all in my Google Drive or transfer them to my phone for easy access later.
Step #5. Write Post Copy
After my visuals are made, I like to write out my post copy drafts. I usually save the copy for last so that I can have a full picture of the final post when I go to write about it. I can see the plan, the visuals, and then write some creative words for it to complete the post.
I do sometimes take what I have in a blog post and use that for post copy, if I think it’s really good or I’m having a hard time with new copy, but a lot of the time I like to write something new so that people aren’t seeing the same thing over and over.
For some posts I know exactly what I want to say right away, and for others it’s a little tougher to write. I’ll take what’s in the visuals, as well as whatever content from the corresponding blog post, to help me write new copy for the social media post.
First, I’ll write outlines of what I want to say, then I’ll go back through to flesh them out into complete posts.
There’s a framework I like to use that I’ve talked about before, but here it is again:
- Hook/one-liner/question/scroll-stopping statement/story
- Body/Point 1
- Body/Point 2
- Body/Point 3
- Call-To-Action (doesn’t have to be selling, could be a question or ask to comment)
Here’s an example of how that framework looks in a post:
Step #6. Schedule Your Posts
Once you’ve got all the above ready to go, you can start scheduling your content!
Now, for me that doesn’t necessarily mean I have every single day filled or that I literally schedule out every single post for the next month.
There are certain types of posts that you can’t schedule ahead of time because you have to manually post or because you just want to post day-of. But what you can do is complete Steps #2-5 and have everything ready to go, so that all you have to do is load everything into your scheduler or social media app as a “draft”. Then you can either hit “schedule” or “post now” when you’re ready.
When needed, I make reminders for myself in my calendar for days where I need to manually post, along with notes or links to where to find the content. (Most of the time it’s in my Google Drive or on my phone by this point, so it’s ready and easily accessible when I need it.)
It’s All A Process
I find that, when I actually follow my own batching steps and advice, I’m able to efficiently plan out, schedule and/or manually post to social media without being super stressed or not knowing what to post.
Social media isn’t always a big marketing focus for my business, so if you look at my accounts, I may not be as active at certain times.
But, I’ve gotten really good at this with years of practice and experience doing it for others! (Read this post if you want to know more.)
PS- I have a blog post coming up about my blog content strategy, so sign up to be the first to know when that goes out!
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