How to Develop a System for Creating and Organizing Content

by | Nov 13, 2019 | Author Marketing, Digital Marketing, Jeniffer Thompson, Personal Branding

woman taking notes on a train

Content development is such a critical part of building and maintaining a loyal following, and yet, so many authors and entrepreneurs are overwhelmed by the idea of creating a steady flow of consistent content that attracts and resonates with their target audience.

That’s why I include Content as one of the three pillars of successful tribe building, along with Audience, and Loyalty. If you know your audience you will then know what content to create in order to build a loyal tribe of followers. Simple right? Well, it can be if you follow some basic guidelines. 

First, Get Organized

I created a series of steps to ensure that you always have something pertinent to write about and that your content resonates with your audience and builds loyalty. 

    1. Research
    2. Data Collection
    3. Content planning

The Research Part

As an author and entrepreneur, it’s essential that you continuously research your niche and stay on top of what people are reading, sharing, and asking for. 

What’s hot? What’s new? What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? How can you say it differently? How can you join the conversation?

This helps you develop an action plan, but it also helps you determine who, exactly, your audience is, and the people who influence them.

    1. Start by making a list of five comparable book titles.
    2. Research those books and the authors who write them. 
    3. Follow those authors on social, subscribe to their blogs, watch their videos, listen to their podcasts. 
    4. Pay attention to their content: If you feel inspired to write something, jot down your ideas in a notebook, or record a quick voice memo on your phone. When you disagree with content, write that down too. These are opportunities to write something different with a fresh spin in your brand voice. 
    5. Notice who else follows these people on social. Many of these followers will be your audience too.
    6. Pay attention to who these authors follow: these are the people who influence your audience. Follow them too.
    7. Read all the comments posted to their content, pay attention to what people like and dislike: These comments tell you what people are looking for. 
    8. Pay attention to where they contribute content: newsletters, podcasts, articles they write on other websites, magazines, etc. Jot it all down so that you can go back to these later and submit your own content.
    9. Find out where they speak and who attends those conferences: These could be potential speaking opportunities for you.

Gathering Data

Develop a system for data collection—meaning the information and ideas that inspire you. You never know where it may come from. I’m inspired by all sorts of interesting things during the week. Things like:

    • billboards as I fly by at 70 miles an hour
    • NPR interviews I listen to when I’m driving
    • podcasts I listen to when I workout
    • conversations I overhear at the grocery store
    • questions clients ask me
    • movies I watch
    • books I read
    • articles I read
    • Google Alerts for the top keyword phrases in my industry (I track my name and my book titles too)

There’s no shortage of inspiration for content. The key is to remember those ideas when it comes time to write your content. I have five ways I capture ideas: 

    1. A small notebook I carry in my purse.
    2. A voice recorder.
    3. A note taker in my phone.
    4. A Google spreadsheet where I track URLs of interesting content.
    5. Flipboard. This is an App on myiPhone that I use to keep track of what’s happening in my industry. When I read an interesting article that inspires me, I save it to my favorites and go back to it later.

Whenever you find something that might serve as good content fodder, be sure to record the following: 

    • The topic idea (a brief description, enough that you won’t forget what it is later)
    • A possible title
    • Why it will matter to your audience
    • Where you heard it and when (original source)

Planning Your Content Creation  

To create consistent content you’ll need to find a time every week that you can dedicate just to that. I like to write my blog content and articles on Sundays. I usually set aside a three-hour block for this purpose. Then I’ll go back to it a few days later to clean it up and finalize it. By the way—I highly recommend that you hire an editor to help ensure that your work is clean and typo-free. Sloppy work reads as unprofessional and can hurt your brand. 

I not only have a day for content creation, I also have a process. 

    • First, I sit down and review my sources. Then I organize them into a spreadsheet and cross off or purge my voice memos/lists. I don’t always use these ideas by the way. Not every random idea is a winner, and that’s okay. But many of those ideas turn into books and coursework, so it’s worth the effort.
    • Next, I utilize a content idea and note that I’ve used it already. 
    • Then I track my published content in a different spreadsheet created for this purpose. This is what I track: 
  1. Where I got the idea
  2. When and where I posted it      
  3. How much engagement it received, and the types of comments left

I also like to have a column for how much joy I get out of writing that piece of content. It’s nice to remind myself that my success will only be sustainable if I continue to enjoy my work and attract the people I enjoy working with. The same is true for you!

Remember, staying on top of your content planning helps you remain on target and ensures that your content continues to builds loyalty, readership, and income. Continuing this pattern safeguards your relevance. 

So do your research, collect that data, and start creating consistent content!

Do you have a method for tracking content ideas? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment in the space below.

Happy writing!