Ep. 027 The Exact Process I Use to Batch and Repurpose Content (and Why Every Virtual Assistant Should Have a Blog!)

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Creating content can seem really overwhelming, right?

With so many platforms out there...Instagram, Facebook, blogging, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. it can seem impossible to be putting valuable content into the world without working on it 24/7.

I promise you, there is a way! In this episode of The Support Squad Podcast, I’m sharing why I believe that every virtual assistant should be creating consistent content and my exact process for repurposing content so that I can stay active across multiple platforms without getting burned out and overwhelmed.

I’ve come up with a pretty amazing system that allows me to create content ONCE and then use it again and again for months to come by repurposing it for multiple platforms. I am so excited to share that system with you today!

Step 1: Writing My Weekly Podcast Script

The foundation of my content creation plan is my weekly podcast. Once a month, I sit down and write out a script for 3 podcast episodes. Now, if you’re not interested in creating a podcast, I totally understand, it’s a ton of work. But one way to simplify this step and still create a long-form weekly block of content that you can work with is to have a blog on your website. 

I make sure to format my script like a blog, because I then post the entire script of the podcast as a blog on my website. So I break it up, create headings, and bulletpoints, to make sure that it’s readable.

I keep all of my podcast scripts in one long Google Doc. Then in a separate Google Doc, I create a “Content Library.” 

Step 2: Publishing My Podcast

I use Libsyn to publish my podcast on all the major podcasting platforms, as well as on YouTube and my website. I absolutely love Libsyn because I can do all of this in one step. 

Step 3: Creating Pins for the Podcast Blog

Since each podcast is also a blog on my website, I create 3-4 pins for each blog post that I then schedule on Pinterest through the Tailwind app. Since I add in a relevant freebie pop-up opt-in form to each of my blog posts, this strategy has allowed me to grow my email list at an incredible rate! By the way: if you’re not familiar with how you can be utilizing Pinterest to grow your email list and find new clients, make sure to listen to next week’s podcast episode with Adrienne McDermott. She’s our featured guest expert for August and is sharing an incredible Pinterest training with Support Squad members!

Step 4: Building My Content Library

Here’s my biggest secret: I rarely write any new content other than the long-form podcast scripts, because there is always so much copy inside those scripts that I can break-up and repurpose for social media and my email newsletter.

So each time I write a script in my podcast Google Doc, I then open a second Google Doc which contains my Content Library. I’ll then copy and paste sections from the script that can stand alone as a social media post. From those standalone sections, I also create a list of topics that I can use for Facebook lives and Instagram stories.

So from one podcast script, I can usually come up with 1-2 newsletters, 3-5 social media posts, 3-5 topics for Facebook lives, 3-5 Instagram stories, 3-5 quote graphics, and countless engagement questions for my Facebook group. Pretty amazing, right?

Step 4: Scheduling My Social Media

I absolutely love using Planoly for scheduling posts for Instagram and Facebook. It’s very visual, it allows me to plan out my grid, plan out my hashtags, and even schedule the first comment so that I can keep my hashtags in the comment section (that’s just a personal preference of mine, it’s not necessarily important for Instagram strategy). 

And since I already have that content library with months and months of backlogged copy, all I have to do to schedule a month’s worth of social media, is upload 30 photos and graphics, copy and paste text from the content library, add some emojis to make it more engaging, and schedule it. And I only have to do this once in Planoly and the content will post on Instagram and Facebook! It typically only takes me 1-2 hours to schedule an entire month’s worth of daily social media posts. And then for the rest of the month, all I have to do is pop in every now and then and reply to comments. Boom!

Step 5: Planning My Instagram Stories

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I’ve been making a real effort to show up more consistently in my stories. And the results have been incredible: views of my stories have skyrocketed, I’ve gotten a huge increase in engagement, more and more people are joining The Support Squad Hangout on Facebook everyday, and my follower count has been steadily rising.

So here’s what I’ve done to go from very reluctant IG story poster to very consistent and engaging IG story poster: I used the list of topics that I grabbed from my podcast scripts to create a Instagram story calendar in Trello. So for each day, Monday-Friday, I create a card with the topic and then on the card I include some of the copy from the podcast script to use as a prompt to get started in my stories. Now, the beauty is, that even though these topics come from my podcast, I usually spin them a little bit differently or add some new reflections when I discuss the topic in my IG stories, so it’s never word for word from the podcast. But having those prompts keeps me from freezing and blanking out when I start recording the stories.

Step 6: Planning and Repurposing My Facebook Lives

I use the same process with the Trello board to plan my Facebook lives in The Support Squad Hangout. And then I take it a step further by downloading those lives and uploading them to my YouTube Channel and IGTV. That’s a whole lot of content and a whole lot of use out of just one little video.

So at this point, you might be wondering: do I really need to be creating that much content? And the answer is probably no, you don’t. If you’re a virtual assistant hoping to gain a few clients and work consistently, it’s really only important to market yourself on the platforms where you find your ideal clients.

However, I do believe that creating weekly longform content like a blog or podcast is an investment in your business. Having a value-filled content library that you can use to attract clients takes all of the stress out of managing your social media.

And even if you don’t create content like this for your own business, you can use a similar system to help your clients make the most out of their content. I have a client that has had a weekly blog for the past 5 years. So when she started talking about branching out to different platforms to find clients for her life coaching business, all we had to do was pull from the already created blog posts to start promoting her on Pinterest, Instagram, etc. I saved her so much stress and expense because I knew how to utilize what she had already created to attract a whole new group of potential clients. Absolute gold.

So I hope this episode inspires you to start that weekly blog or weekly YouTube video. If you want to jam on this some more, you know you can always find me in The Support Squad Hangout on Facebook. And if you really want to show your love, make sure to leave a review on iTunes. Keep rocking your virtual assistant business and until next time boss babe. 

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