Where's your freelance content sweet spot?
To plan or not to plan...
Confession time: I don’t plan all my content.
I often post things that just pop into my head, or I’ll react to something that’s happening in real time.
I know that for many of you that will draw gasps - how can I not plan my content?!
And I know, I know, that planning content is really important. There will be some of you who plan every inch, moment, caption and element of your social media. You might even use the C word (Content Pillars).
But, you see, I’ve been conditioned to think on my feet when it comes to ideas and content. And it’s a habit I’m not sure I want to break.
As a journalist, it was part of my job to come up with ideas for ‘reactive’ stories. That is, reacting to the news. In some of my freelance roles (for example, at BBC Three and PA), I needed to file ideas around 8am for that day’s content.
So, we’d have a long-term content plan, for longer features and ideas, and we’d plan some things way in advance (eg ideas hooked to the coronation) but then would come the ideas that were part of the current goings on.
Some we could anticipate, others would come at us like curve balls.
Take the Met Gala. As I write this, the news in the UK is filling up with pictures of outfits, comments, behaviour…
As a journalist, I’d plan content three ways:
Plan in advance - a round up of ‘best and/or worst’, or perhaps a look at the theme, which is announced in advance. A piece on ‘what is the Met Gala’, for example, too.
Reactive on the day - pieces about the things people wore, or perhaps the things they say or do on the red carpet. I’d be ready to look at what was going on and come up with ideas around the breaking news.
The curve ball content. You see, something unusual always happens that throws the content plan upside down. For example, this morning, I’ve just seen pics of Florence Pugh’s shaven head. When something like that happens, all content plan bets are off. The content plan goes out the window. The plan is re-written, and suddenly we’d be looking for a writer who either a) has a shaved head b) did have a shaved head or c) is prepared to shave their head RIGHT NOW and write about it by 3pm.
So, for me, planning content is all very well, but it can be thrown asunder at a moment’s notice by the barber’s clippers.
Moving from that ‘reactive’ world to one where I have a bit more time to plan has put me in a bit of a quandry. Should I be planning all my content?
For me, the sweet spot is a bit of both. A skeleton of planned content, around which I add in different elements of ‘on the go’ content. It keeps that part of my brain that’s always coming up with ideas happy, and it can often be the posts we think about less that actually do well.
Saying all of that, I know it’s time to change, even if it’s a little. After all, the more people I work with as a coach who DO want to plan content, I can’t really sit there and encourage them to do a plan and not have one myself.
The other reason I’m considering more of a plan is that I want to gain more followers. Not just for my ego, but, after meeting with a literary agent at the weekend, I want to see if curating and planning my content more leads to an increase in visibility and followers - because that’s what publishers want to see.
So I am going to test it out in May by planning things just a little bit more. I know this’ll be a challenge! But we’ll see how it goes and I’ll report back next month.
How do you plan your content? A full-on plan, seat of your pants, or a bit of both?
Coming up this month and what I’m up to:
CV workshop for freelance writers, journalists and copywriters: May 3rd (tomorrow!) 11.30am to 1pm. Tickets are £35.
Visibility and social media confidence workshop for Cotswolds small businesses: May 10th, 10.30-12. Tickets £35
I’m dabbling in TikTok as TheMidlifeFreelancer
Great content ideas from Insta gurus:
See you in JUNE! (Caps, because where is the year going?!)
Jenny x
I'm the same way! I'm a content strategist for my clients. I help them create a plan and execute on it. But when it comes to my own writing... it's driven mostly by what ideas I'm feeling particularly passionate about at the moment (usually inspired by podcasts I listen to on my walks or conversations with other people). So, I basically do what I don't recommend for my clients. 😅 I will say it's given me more empathy for my clients; it can be really hard to get excited about new content when you're not deep in a moment of inspiration or creativity.