What to do when you can’t batch create your content
But still want to show up consistently
So in last week’s post, I talked about batch creation as one of the strategies you can use to make your content creation process more productive. But in reality, there are so many reasons why batch creation may not work for everyone. Some people have a static day job, and this consumes so much of their time. It could also be that this makes them ultimately tired and less creative during the day and sometimes even on weekends.
Others have a short creativity span, so they find it difficult to execute all their ideas at a stretch. It may also be physically and mentally exhausting. And the most common reason is a lack of time. Whether you own a business or work a standard job, there are so many factors that could reduce the availability of time for you. But no matter what your reason could be, remember you’re meant to focus on the solution, not the problem.
So in a situation where you can’t batch create, here are some things you can do to ensure that you still deliver content to your audience consistently.
1. Keep the goal in mind
The reason most creatives who can prefer to batch produce is that they may not have the inspiration or ideas or time during the week or month to do so. However, if you cannot create in batches, at least keep the goal of your content in mind, so that whenever you want to create, you won’t be going off track from where you currently are. You could decide to have a copy of the goals you want to achieve in your journal or in any book or device that is disposable to you anytime or day.
2. Use your phone to document new ideas
Not being able to batch create sometimes means that you will have to create your content on the go (except audio though, that’s not advisable). But for pictures for example, you may just be in a location where you feel you can take a very good shot for the gram. If you have your phone with you and you have already documented ideas of what content strategies you should focus on, it would be easier to create in line with your ultimate goals. Therefore, learn to use your phone as an important work tool.
3. Have one or two posts every week that you create on the spot
Sometimes, it’s just necessary for you to face reality and confess when you just cannot make out time to batch create content. You could decide to make it a part of your content strategy to have a day every week when you just “wing it”. This may seem like a huge risk given that you can’t control the nature of your day, but you just have to be firm with the decision that no matter what happens, you will create content. It’s also not such a bad idea because it gives your content more authenticity.
You might also be concerned with the fact that this decision might affect the look of your profile, for instance those of us that love to keep the perfect grid look on Instagram. To solve this problem, you could have an already curated cover photo that you can use for the content (works best if it’s a video). If it’s a picture, then you might not want to be so keen on the perfect grid look when using this technique.
4. Take advantage of your free time
So if you fall under the category of those who have a business or a 9–5 job, you should have recognized some patterns in your time regarding when you close from work, what free time you have from work, or how often you can take time off. Identify any free time you can use to create content and work with that. Also, don’t rush to squeeze in as much content as possible into small free time, you may end up with poor output. However, don’t forget to use some of your free time for what it was initially meant for — rest.
5. Focus on quality over quantity
Cliché, but please just do it. There’s a lot of rushed content out there, and you can easily tell that the creator just wanted to put something there instead of being absent. I’m not totally against this, but let it be a rare occurrence for you. At the end, you just have to admit, in reality, how frequently you can deliver content to your audience. Because even though they will appreciate the fact that you do show up, in the long run, you won’t matter if the information you’re giving them isn’t worth much value.
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In the end, if you can’t batch create your content and none of the above listed strategies works for you, you might want to rethink your content strategy. Not to discourage anyone, but if your content doesn’t have a way of fitting into your lifestyle (work, leisure, personal experiences, etc.), then you should consider creating content in line with this. I love to create self-improvement blog posts and podcasts because it’s something that fits into my daily life. Writing is part of the improvement process for me, and I ove to document the lessons I’ve learned and share with people who care to read.
Also, don’t be discouraged if you take out so much time to create content and it seems like nobody else is seeing it. You’ll get to shine soon.
I really hope something here was helpful.
Thanks for reading!
