This week’s episode is an extension of last week, but I’m diving more specifically into the content plan or strategy. A lot of us are used to following other formulas and outlines for these, and that can make them feel rather stale. I explore how you can create a content plan through a mindful lens, and create a plan that works for you. And no, it does not have to be written out in a pretty slide deck or PDF!
Have any reflections on this episode and your experience with content plans? I invite you to share in the comments below. Enjoy the episode!
Below is a transcript of the episode for your reference—please excuse grammatical errors!
Hello creators. Welcome back and thanks for joining me for episode nine of the Mindful Content Creator Podcast. This week is a bit of an extension of last week, but I felt it needed its own episode. We're going to talk about content plans.
Content or communications plans or strategies are something I created a lot of in my corporate life, and I'll admit that the first time I was asked to make one, I was very confused. I gave them a calendar, which to me at the time was how I did all of my planning, but they wanted more. They wanted me to define and write out all the moving components of the project, which at the time just felt redundant to me. Why would we even need this document? Wouldn't we just review it once, then immediately get back to following the calendar, keeping up with the urgent needs?
A lot of times I think this is true, but content plans many times are reminders to everyone of where we're headed, who we're talking to, and why we're doing it. It's a place to refer back to as a guide to make sure we're staying on track, and that's why I'd prefer to consider a content plan, more of a guide or a guidebook, something you can keep alongside you as you progress and evolve. You can check in with it periodically to see if you're still aligned or if it still aligns with you.
Does every single creator need a pretty formal content plan written out for their brand on a slide deck or a P D F? Again, I return to Yin Yoga teacher Bernie Clark's response to questions, which is “Yes. No. Maybe. It depends.”
I personally don't think every solopreneur needs a super formal plan. I think people with bigger teams and companies can certainly benefit from one, because it is meant to keep everyone aligned. But when you're on your own, sometimes your content plan is just scribbled notes on a Word document or it might even be entirely in your head at this point. Overall though, I'd say it is a good exercise to write it out and it will help you get clear on your overall intentions.
Content plans can be both an overall plan for your brand or a guide for individual launches or promotions. For most solopreneurs, having the one overall plan or guide may be all you need, and then the rest you track on your calendar. But if you do have a big launch coming up that's important to you, you might want to create a separate content plan for that. And it's really just up to you and how you work.
I do have some words of caution, however, when it comes to creating plans. A lot of people get caught up in this beginning phase where they want to write out and plan all the things before they ever get started. And I've been guilty of doing this, at least until I realized that I do much better if I just start creating, then let the plans form shortly thereafter.
I've seen a lot of friends and clients spend a lot of time obsessing about the creation of the plan, only to get lost and frustrated along the way and abandon ship or switch gears before they even really start. This happens because we haven't created much yet. We haven't been able to see the thing live and breathe, and writing plans without knowing really what something is yet in real life is very hard. You're pretty much just speculating at that point, and if you do stick with it, you'll end up changing a lot of it later or perhaps locking yourself into something that doesn't really work or serve you. So please do not wait to create or do the thing just because you haven't written out a formal pretty plan on a slide deck or in a PDF.
Once you start doing, the plan will begin to form. I know it seems backwards, but if you're someone who often stalls out before starting, this might be the path to keeping you on track.
Okay, so now that I've given that little bit of a disclaimer, I'll share what I think are the components of a good content plan or guide and how to build one mindfully. This is another one where it could be really easy to follow another person's formula or their template for a plan, but content plans don't work unless they work for us as a unique individual with our own unique ideas and our own ways of creating.
First, a good mindful content plan has a solid why behind it, which we talked about in episode four. In traditional content strategy speak, this might be considered the mission statement or purpose or whatever business lingo you want to put on it, but really it's your why. Why are you creating?
Second, it paints a picture of who you are creating for. These are your community members, as I call them, but traditional plans refer to them as the audience, the client or the customer. Some people go deep and create client personas. This is all something we can get into in a whole separate episode, but I do think this part can be fun if you let it be.
You get to sit down and imagine who might be interacting with your content and what their stories are. I encourage my clients to give them names if they want to, calling them something they would personally resonate with, and all you really have to do is sit down and start journaling to the prompt of, “Who am I talking to?”Or even, “Who do I want in my community?”
Third, a mindful content plan has a good set of core values or principles that are meant to guide how you as the creator interact with your community through the content you create. I outlined mine for the mindful content creator in episode three, so you can always feel free to start off with those and then define some that are more specific to you. A prompt you could explore for this one is, “What do you value most in your relationship with your community, and how does that translate into your content?”
Four, a mindful content plan has clear intentions. I talked about setting intentions for specific pieces of content in episode five, but for a content plan, this is at a higher level and filters down to those individual pieces of content. A lot of people talk about defining content pillars, buckets, or categories, but these are what I want to reframe or rethink of as content intentions, because when you think about it, that's what they really are.
I think that most content falls into these pillars or buckets or categories:
One, educational or advisory.
Two, inspirational or motivational
Three, observational or commentary
And four, promotional.
It's easy to flip these into intentions:
To educate
To inspire
To provide commentary or insight
To promote
Then each of these would get more specific based on what you are talking about. For example, for me, an intention would be to educate creators on how to create mindfully in alignment with who they are. And then each podcast, episode, or post I create might have a more specific intention under that umbrella.
So I encourage you to move away from the concept of buckets or categories and focus on intention. What do you intend to do through your content?
Five, a mindful content plan maps out the types of content you're creating and where you'll be sharing these. We talked about this with your content creation style in episode six. Understanding what you love to create—videos, blogs, emails, podcasts, et cetera—and where you most enjoy sharing these is important to keeping yourself motivated to create.
It also takes into consideration how your community members will interact with you in these spaces. Meaning the people you're talking to are on these platforms and can easily find you there. so revisit the “Who are you talking to?” part and find the sweet spot of where they are and where you like to be. And also between the types of content they typically interact with and what you like to create.
For example, if you have community members who are always on the go and really love to take in content in podcast form as they're driving or working out or doing something else, and you love to create podcasts, then this would be that sweet spot.
It may take you time to figure this out, and that's okay. It's why it's important to create and not wait until you have a fully formed perfect plan. You need to see how things work. You need to experience creating content in order to see the path forward.
Our last piece, number six, a mindful content plan outlines how often you'll be creating and sharing. This is where the calendar comes in, and that calendar can be as formal or informal as you'd like, as I mentioned in episode eight. The important thing here is to create the cadence that works for you as a creator because otherwise you'll burn out and you won't create. How often can you create and still remain present with your creations? How often can you create and still feel excited and inspired? Where is that line when it becomes a chore or like it's homework? I always like to try and stay behind that line.
So those are all the components I typically had in the content plan, but redefined it a much more mindful way. Most content plans focus on audience connection and maximizing touchpoints, and that is absolutely valuable in its own way. But a mindful content plan considers also your capacity and your creative process.
I want you to find that sweet spot of connection and inspiration, cause if you aren't inspired or having fun, that connection gets a lot weaker, at least in my opinion. And that energy of frustration and obligation is one we just don't want to keep perpetuating and passing back and forth to one another through our content. There's way too much of that going on and so much content being consumed on a daily basis with that energy, and I think it's detrimental to all of us.
Finally, I want to emphasize that it's okay for plans to change and they absolutely should. We don't wanna create a plan and be so locked into it that we can't be free and creative. Again, this is a guide for you, not a prescription. A good plan is a flexible one in the sense that it shifts as the people involved learn and grow, and that goes for both you and your community. Assess your plan at least once a year and make any adjustments that you might need.
Have you created content plans before and have they worked for you? How have you made them work for you? Do you make them in the pretty PDF format or slide deck format, or are they just notes that you put in a Word Document or something else Please feel free to share over on Substack at themindfulcontentcreator.substack.com. The link will be in the show notes.
Thank you again for joining me this week. Happy creating!
EP 9: Create a Mindful Content Plan