The Ultimate Content Planning System (that you’ll actually want to stick with!)
I’ve been where you are: wondering what the heck I’m going to talk about in my content and staring at a blank Canva design, hoping inspiration will strike.
Today I’m teaching you another way to plan and create your content. This is a simple system that you’ll actually want to stick with long term.
Oh, and I share lots of examples for authors and bookish business owners (that’s who I help most around here!) but this content system works for everyone. Yep, everyone!
First, Some Real Talk
You’re probably overcomplicating your content. You don’t need to be on all the platforms, creating posts for 10 different content pillars, and repurposing everything 12 times over.
In fact, simple is better. If you’re confused while creating your content, then your audience will be confused while consuming your content.
The system I’m walking you through here today will help you keep things ultra simple. Let’s dive in.
Step 1: Select Your Platforms
Before you can create content, you need to know where you’ll be sharing it! The platforms you need to select are:
Main: This is where you’ll share your main content, like blog posts, YouTube videos, or podcast episodes. However, not everyone will have this type of content.
If you’re a business owner, I highly recommend creating regular blog posts, podcast episodes, or YouTube videos. This type of content can help grow your business immensely.
However, if you’re an author, this type of content may not be the best way for you to spend your time. You may want to blog about your writing process to connect with your readers on a deeper level or blog about writing tips if you want to create another revenue stream around author coaching, but it’s not a must. Instead, focusing on getting interviewed on podcasts to hype up a new release could be time better spent.
👉 Action Step: Decide where you’ll host your main content type (if you’re creating this type of content). Good platforms are your website (for blogs), YouTube (for videos), and Buzzsprout (for podcasts — and that’s an affiliate link!)
Communication: Everyone needs a communication platform! This is simply where you’ll send emails from. (If you want to get even more advanced, you can also use SMS marketing, but that’s certainly not a must, and it should come after email marketing.)
You may be wondering if you need an email list from the beginning of your business, and the answer is a big yes. You’ll want to capture your audience’s emails from the very beginning — even before you have anything to sell. You don’t own your social media platforms, and if they go down you have no way of reaching your audience. (Remember the big Instagram outage of 2021?)
Also, your email list will most likely be your biggest revenue driver in your entire business.
👉 Action Step: Select your email service provider. You’ll need a provider, because you can’t send email marketing just from your email account. There are loads of platforms out there, but my favorite is Flodesk. Check it out for 50% off your first year (affiliate link).
Socials: This is probably the reason you’re here — to sort out your social media. You’ll want to select these platforms next. (Psst…I know YouTube is technically a social media, but I include that in the Main category above since it’s where people share those bigger, more evergreen pieces of content.)
Start by selecting one or two social media platforms. You can always add more later, but starting with no more than two allows you to get in the groove of regular content creation without spreading yourself too thin. I recommend selecting from these platforms:
📍 Pinterest — This is technically a search engine, but for our purposes we can consider it social media. This is a great option for business owners, but authors can use it successfully as well!
📸 Instagram — Most audiences are here, so it’s a great option for almost everyone.
💻 Facebook — If you’re going this route, I’d stick to a group rather than a page, as pages don’t see a ton of engagement unless you’re running ads.
📱 TikTok — This is a great choice for business owners and authors, but be mindful of its current status in the U.S. — it would suck to build your audience there and then have it disappear!
👉 Action Step: Decide which platform(s) you want to use for your social media! Remember, keep it to one or two to start.
Step 2: Create Your Content Pillars
Now that you know where you’ll be creating content, it’s time to decide on what you’ll be creating. A word to the wise here: don’t overthink this. Create the content you want to create. The more fun you have creating it, the more fun your audience will have consuming it — your enjoyment (or lack thereof) really translates into the content. As you create and share more content, you’ll learn more about what performs well and you can adjust your strategy based on that. Remember that these aren’t set in stone. They can (and probably will) change later on.
For the majority of your content, you’ll want to come up with 3-5 main topics that you’ll regularly post about. These can be varied, but should make sense together. For example, if you’re a book cover designer, your topics could be:
Info about book cover design & why it’s important
Behind the scenes of running a design business
Case studies of previous cover designs
Many different types of posts will fit within those pillars, but it will all be cohesive together. However, some of your content should also not fit within your content pillars. What?! Yes, this is a bit of a curveball, but hear me out.
By posting a few things that are different from your normal content and a bit more candid, you’ll be showing up in a unique way that lets your audience really get to know you. For example, if you’re the designer from the previous example, throw in some posts about:
Your favorite holidays
Your recent travel
Your silly pet photos
I once had a social media series about my obsession with digital organizing. It really didn’t have anything to do with my main business, but it was a fun thing about my Type A personality that my audience enjoyed.
A good ratio to stick with is 90% of your content being about your main pillars/topics and 10% being other random fun stuff.
The 4P Content Marketing Framework
Now that you know your pillars, let me share my signature content marketing framework with you that will accomplish a few things: letting people get to know you, making sales, and growing your audience. It’s called the 4P Content Marketing Framework.
PROFESSIONAL: Professional posts allow you to show up as an expert in your field and can include things like tips, tutorials, strategies, hot takes, and other educational posts. Let me give you a couple examples.
If you’re a book editor, a few of your professional posts could be:
The top things you correct in drafts that authors can avoid
Most over-used phrases and alternatives people can use
Tips for developing a story based on genre tropes and conventions
If you’re an author, the professional posts will be a little different. Rather than positioning yourself as an expert in your field, position your book as one of the best in its genre and how you were the right person to write it. Here are a few ideas:
Share tropes of your book that make it stand out from others in its genre
Tell the story of how you came up with the idea
Show photos or videos throughout the writing process, from first draft to completed novel
PERSONAL: Personal posts allow you to connect with your audience on a deeper level. People like to buy from other people (rather than companies without any personality), so this personal connection is really important. These posts can be anything about you, from your pets to your life to silly little details like not liking to edit with red pen, but rather with blue.
PROMOTIONAL: This type of content sells your products, services, or books. You can sell both directly and indirectly — I’ll give you some examples of each.
Direct selling includes:
Mockups of your book with a call to action to buy
A “How to Work With Me” carousel outlining your services and process
Time-limited sales or bonuses that inspire people to buy quickly
Indirect selling includes:
Sharing a case study and dropping in a “Want similar results? Learn more here” somewhere in the content
Linking a book or product in an email where you’re telling a story
A basic rule of thumb is if your content’s main purpose is to sell, it’s direct. If your content has another goal, like telling a story or showing a case study, it’s indirect.
PARTNERSHIP: This type of post is created with the idea of bringing new eyes to your content by partnering with others. These posts can be formal partnerships and collaborations where you get in front of another person’s audience, or they can be informal partnerships where your content gets shared by others (think: highly shareable and viral-worthy posts).
There is some overlap between these content types, so don’t overthink it. Sure, a personal post might also have an indirect sales pitch in it, making it promotional as well. That’s okay. The key is to just get a mix of all of these types of content in your overall marketing plan.
Step 3: Your Content Schedule
Now that you know where and what you’ll be posting (a HUGE accomplishment — congrats!) you can decide on the when. As you create this schedule, get it written down in a planner or added to a project management system so you stick to it! Follow these steps to plan your content schedule:
Decide on the day(s) you’ll be posting your main content. Whether you want blog posts to go up on Mondays or YouTube videos to go up on Thursdays, this is entirely up to you. Just decide on a day for your content piece(s) to go up and stick to that schedule.
Then add in the day you’ll send your communication content (probably just an email, but SMS too if you’re using it). Make this content go out later in the week than your main content so you can link to the blog post, YouTube video, etc.
Finally, add in your social media content. Decide which days you want to post on which platform(s). Keep this schedule regular. For things like Instagram stories or Threads that are a bit more casual, you can post to these on less of a set schedule.
Here’s a sample schedule using a brand designer for authors as an example:
Monday: Blog post about how a strong author brand can help you sell more books
Tuesday: Instagram story with a sneak peek from the blog and a link to the full post
Wednesday: Email newsletter that includes some branding tips and a link to the blog post
Thursday: A carousel post on Instagram showing some before and after transformations of author brands that you’ve worked on (and the results that the branding has brought if you have that info)
Friday: Pinterest Pin about your blog post
I think you get the idea! The main content informs the other types of content throughout the week, making brainstorming and creating content a breeze. For socials, you can also create some other content that doesn’t necessarily relate to your main content of the week. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: don’t overthink it and have fun with it.
We covered a LOT!
I hope you feel confident in your content plan moving forward. Remember that it doesn’t need to be perfect — in fact, it never will be, and that’s okay! The key is to get started and learn as you go. Action creates clarity.
👉 I have a couple resources for you to help you even more in your content creation journey:
FREE Instagram Audit that will help you set your IG account up for success. Click here to grab it for free.
A pack of social media templates that will help you brand your platforms and create cohesive, consistent content.
