The Content Creation Essentials
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
When creating content for brands, you need to have systems in place to keep things in order.
Without systems, you’re going to run out of ideas – especially if it’s an industry you’re not experienced with.
When I begin working with a new client, there are three systems I set up immediately.
Content Buckets
Sitting down to make content is difficult, especially when you don’t have an idea already. When you sit down to work on content, you should already have an idea ready to go.
A content bucket is – at its simplest level – an ongoing document with a list of ideas, concepts, and inspiration for new pieces of content.
Create a file where you keep a list of all your content ideas.
Organise the ideas, moving the highest priority ideas to the top.
Then when it's time to make content, or to flesh out a content calendar, you already have a list of topics ready to go.
Information Capture System
Inevitably, as you research more and more, you’re going to come across interesting ideas and information.
What you don’t want to happen is all this cool stuff getting lost in the ether. This is where a robust information capture system is essential.
Use a tool like Obsidian or Notion to organize your knowledge.
When you learn things (from books, websites, documentaries, etc) drop them into the system and apply appropriate tags you can search through.
Gradually build up a library of interesting and helpful information.
My personal knowledge base is in Obsidian, and it includes information from a wide range of industries. This cross pollination of resources allows me to use data, insights, and more across clients.
You’d be surprised how often something I’ve researched for Client A comes in handy for Client B. Having a linked and searchable knowledge system allows for the sharing of resources like this.
Template Library
The biggest learning curve when I first started making content for clients was realising that not every piece of content needs to be created from scratch each time.
In fact, actively starting from nothing really slows down the process.
When you create new content, layout, or styles, add it to your larger collection.
When you next make content, pull a good-to-go template and customise.
This dramatically reduces the start-up time when it comes to making new pieces of content. And more importantly, you can use the same approach for a wide range of content types: quote posts, carousels, videos, infographics, and even full-length SEO articles.
Once you have a collection of templates built up, working on content becomes infinitely smoother.