4 Tips on How to Organize Content

We’ve talked time and time again about the importance of content marketing and why consistently producing strong content is an ideal marketing strategy. That being said, we know it can be easier said than done. 

Managing content on an ongoing basis can be complicated and overwhelming. Especially if you’re doing so over a series of various platforms such as your own on-site blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and so on and so forth. 

One of the most challenging aspects of managing a content marketing strategy is keeping things organized and timely to ensure that your posts are going out when you want them to be (don’t let yourself be that brand whose Merry Christmas post goes out the day after Christmas … ) and your viewers aren’t left high and dry with no content wondering where you went. 

Our team has it down to a pretty good science when it comes to managing and maintaining our content marketing initiatives. Now we wouldn’t be who we are without sharing the secret sauce with our viewers … so we’re doing exactly that. Keep reading for tips and tricks on how to keep your content organized. 

Use a Content Calendar 

We LOVE a good content calendar. Content calendars are used to plan out content in advance and prepare it prior to scheduling or posting it. 

At Digital Storyteller, we like to work a month ahead of schedule. That Fourth of July post that we posted a couple of weeks ago? We designed that at the beginning of June. 

Preparing content in advance doesn’t necessarily mean that it makes posts insincere or ingenuine. It just means that you have to think and plan ahead about what you’ll be celebrating, recognizing, or talking about. A huge part of making this happen is having a strategy laid out ahead of time (see #2 below). 

A content calendar should include any and all posts and content that you plan to push out over a given time period. It should serve as a central place for all content to be stored, regardless of which platform you intend to publish it on. 

If you’re anything like me, creating charts and tables in Excel brings you joy comparable to that of Christmas morning. Ok, maybe that’s a slight over-exaggeration. But regardless, it’s pretty satisfying to work hard to develop content and see it all organized and ready in one central spot waiting for its time to be published. 

Still not convinced? Here’s our last-ditch effort to convince you that using a content calendar is key: we made one for you. Click the link below to download our full content calendar template! Try it out for yourself and see how organized content can help your strategy thrive.

Quarterly Marketing Initiatives 

Another important factor to consider in organizing your content marketing strategy is implementing quarterly marketing initiatives. 

What do we mean by quarterly marketing initiatives? A challenge that many marketers face when pursuing content marketing strategies is determining what topics to create content for. It may seem easy at first but we’re willing to bet it won’t be long before you feel your creative juices begin to run dry. 

Determining an overall theme for the quarter can help you develop topics over time that relate to one another but aren’t overly repetitive. Need an example? In Q1 2021, we focused our content on the initiative “content is king.” 

For us, this meant that 50% of new blog content focused directly on content marketing in one way or another. Additionally, any email workflows that we invested in focused on content as the overall theme. The remaining content was filled in featuring topics such as SEO, social media, financial services, etc. but our overall initiative for the quarter focused on content marketing specifically. 

Implementing quarterly initiatives can help organize, direct, and streamline your thoughts. The creative universe is vast and can make it difficult to streamline your content in a specific direction. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be. 

Instagram Template Grids

Like we said above ^^, there’s no need to make things harder than they need to be. A great way to streamline your content is by implementing Instagram template grids. An Instagram template grid involves pre-determining a pattern for your brand’s Instagram posts over time. 

There are multiple benefits to implementing an Instagram template. First, having a streamlined template gives off a clean, professional, well-curated vibe. While implementing creativity and diversity into your social media is a great option, it’s simple to do so within the guidelines of a template grid. 

Additionally, having a consistent template simplifies the work that your team has to do when it comes time to create new content. Rather than starting from scratch for each individual post, story, etc., a template grid provides a starting point for your team to utilize and customize to fit the given needs of each post. 

While it may seem like more work up front (and it is … shout out to our graphic designer Magdi), putting in the effort up front to create a simplified strategy that looks amazing is sure to pay off in the long run. 

As always, we’re happy to clarify what we mean with an example. Below is a screenshot of our own Instagram grid. As you can see, each horizontal row of 3 posts corresponds to a specific pattern. Furthermore, when coupled with the row above or below it, the 2 rows of 6 posts total couple together to create a continuous pattern. 

Automated Scheduling Tools 

Last, but certainly not least, scheduling tools. We certainly couldn’t live without them. Tools like HubSpot and Metricool offer the ability to schedule posts in advance so that you don’t end up in the pickle of scheduling your holiday posts a day late. 

Once your content calendar is complete and filled out for an upcoming period of time, you can input captions, hashtags, links, and visuals into your scheduling tool. Tell it what time and date you want your post published on which platforms and voila! Sit back and relax and watch your posts populate without the need for setting countless calendar reminds and trying to remember to post on your day off. 

On top of that, various scheduling tools offer users the ability to review and assess optimal posting times to accurately cater to the platform usage of their followers. This is an extremely helpful tool when attempting to predict the optimal times to share content for the greatest success. 

Overall, pursuing a content marketing strategy doesn’t need to be as hard as many people might assume it is. Pursuing an organized strategy can help streamline and simplify your content creation in a way that makes your strategy more realistic to implement. 

If you’re still looking to pursue a content marketing strategy and don’t know where to start or how to do it yourself, give us a call or contact us today. Our team at Digital Storyteller has significant experience in implementing unique content marketing strategies for our existing clients and is eager to help do the same for you!