I know those very busy periods when managing (self-)brand communication is really challenging from the time’s perspective. I know how it is, when you have great plans, lots of content ideas in your head, but the execution and delivery are slower, than you want.
I am sure, many of you know this kind of situation. Either busy entrepreneurs with no time, or old/new businesses with less capacity might be familiar with this situation.
Content generation is often tiring – no question, I think so. Doesn’t matter, if it is about B2B or B2C communication, you need to continuously generate posts to stay visible, to be up to date, to keep up your followers’ engagement, to strengthen your expertise or pioneer role on your field. And if you have to manage everything on your own or just with a couple of you, it can be very challenging after a while.
I have 4+1 tips on how to avoid the burn-out in your content generation and how to bridge temporary periods when you lack the time or capacity.
1. ‘RE-PURPOSE’
I call it as ‘mutation’: If you have a new content, mutate it and use it as much as it is possible. GaryVee (Gary Vaynerchuck) is a master in content generation, in content ‘mutation’. His famous story is about how he repurposed one of his keynotes into 30+ pieces of content, and then successfully distributed all of that content, resulting in over 35,000,000 total views. Of course he has a team dedicated to record him (his vlogs, keynote speeches etc.) then to create diverse micro contents (posts, short videos, memes, gifs, quotes etc) to the different channels (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok, Twitter, Youtube etc.). However, we can follow his example and implement the ‘content mutation’ into our communication methods.
2. ‘RECYCLE’
Check your old posts, articles, videos etc., and find the way how to recycle, rewrap and post them again. You can renew them with up-to-date numbers, with latest data or use a new perspective to actualize them to the present, or sometimes it is just enough to use the #FlashBack approach and repost them again with the original message. Good contents are permanently valid and can be useful for ages, just sometimes need a new wrap.
3. ‘GO FOR SECOND-HAND’
What does it mean in this context? Look around, be inspired by others and use their contents with adding your cover sentences, extra comments, own view points (of course referring and linking to the original authors). It is useful for the original publishers as well, since you increase also their reach with your repost. All of us know, that many times there is nothing new under the sun, there are just different approaches, meanings, situations or goals. The key is how to adjust those contents to yourself, to your messages and how to deliver them.
4. ‘SHARE’
Sharing is caring. It is not a coincidence that sharing economy is so popular recently. Do it in content management as well. Collaborate with others and share the efforts of content generation. Do it together. Schedule who when and what will publish, then share each others’ posts. Thus you can not only save time for yourself and have extra content, but you can also increase your visibility by being on other platforms.
+1. ‘LESS IS MORE’
I know, that GaryVee says that if you are fast enough, you can create even 64+ contents per day and he encourages everybody to do as many contents as possible in order to increase the online presence. However, I say, less is often much more – especially if you are not experienced in content management or don’t have time/capacity. In this case content quality is more important than quantity. So rather temporarily decrease the post frequency a little bit to keep up your content quality.
As a sum-up, let me emphasize one important thing:
You don’t have to always ‘invent’ new things! You don’t have to always figure out new contents and share totally out of the box ideas or innovative messages. Keep a close eye on sustainability: sustainability of your energy, of your time, of your messages and of all contents. Think of eco-friendly approaches, they are relevant to your online communication as well: reuse, recycle, go for second-hand and share.
And what am I using from these above tips? Recently “re-purpose” and “recycle” are my favourites, but I remember the time, when “less is more” was on the table, too.
What about you? Which one(s) do you like the most? What another extra tips do you have?
