Creating content and managing time well are big tasks for anyone, especially for small business owners. When you're managing your business, these two things play a big part in its success. Good content helps you connect with your customers, while managing your time helps you stay organized and get more done.
The year 2023 brought a big helper for both these tasks: artificial intelligence (AI). Creating quality content has become much easier and smoother with AI. Tools powered by AI help break down the walls of writer's block and ensure your good ideas turn into great content. Which takes away a lot of the guesswork and saves you precious time.
You might wonder why Local AI Academy, a website geared towards local businesses, is talking about content creators.
When you market your business online, you step into the role of a content creator. It's not about starting a big YouTube channel and becoming an influencer but about making engaging content for your customers. And just like other content creators, you need to manage your time well to do a good job.
But here's the good news: AI is here to help. It can make the experience of content creation and time management smoother. In this article, we'll talk about how AI can improve your content, help you overcome common problems, and find the right tools to get started.
Trust me, this will be something you want to master sooner rather than later!
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AI's Impact on Your Content Creation Process
Think of AI in content creation, like having a helpful friend full of ideas. It gives suggestions, helps with structure, and even offers a starting point for your content. AI looks at lots of data to find what topics are popular or interesting, which can validate your ideas for potential content without spending much time.
Streamlining your content creation process isn't just about getting things done faster. It's also about finding good ideas quicker so your time on content marketing is impactful.
The Game-Changing Effects of Automated Content Generation
Automated content generation has revolutionized the content creation landscape. With AI-powered tools, content creators can now produce high-quality content in a fraction of the time it traditionally takes.
These tools utilize algorithms and machine learning to analyze data and generate content that aligns with your brand's tone and objectives. The result is a streamlined content creation process that saves time while maintaining the quality and authenticity of the content.
How AI Is Reducing Content Creation Time
Business owners can greatly benefit from incorporating AI into their content creation process. By leveraging generative AI tools, you can boost your productivity by expediting the content creation process.
A prime example of this is shifting the bulk of the content creation process from being a writing task into an editing job.
When you use AI to help you create your rough draft, you're primary focus is to work on editing the content piece it just created and supercharging it to resonate with your audience.
This means you can reduce the time spent on writing and more time cleaning up just a few words and sentences.
The time you save from no longer being a writer means you have more time to plan out your content calendar (more on that later 😉) and create a killer content strategy instead!
The Importance of Time Management for Content Creators
Time management plays a pivotal role in your success as a content creator. Effectively managing time allows you to work efficiently, prioritize tasks, and maintain a balanced workflow.
In the fast-paced world of content creation, where social media platforms demand constant updates and engagement, mastering time management is crucial for staying on top of content creation goals and reaching the target audience.
Understanding the Role of Time in Content Creation
Time is a finite resource that, for most business owners, is invaluable. You must manage it properly and ensure that any invested time produces high-quality content.
Producing a stellar piece of content isn't just about opening up a word processor and writing a blog post. There are quite a few steps involved in creating an effective content workflow.
Here's a quick look at your tasks to create exceptional content.
Brainstorming Ideas
Brainstorming is where the process starts. It’s about letting your imagination run wild and jotting down every idea that pops into your head. Be as creative as possible during this step, as you never know what could be slam-dunk. You might end up with a long list of ideas, some of which might be the seeds for compelling content.
Keyword Researching
Once you have many ideas, it’s time to see what people are searching for online. Keyword research helps find the right words or phrases that people search for when looking for information online. This information can help you shape the outline of your content later. This is the first step in validating if your content idea has an online audience that is searching for this content. You'll also learn about the competition for the keyword you're aiming for.
Validating Your Ideas
Not all ideas are gold. Validating your ideas means checking if they’re worth pursuing. You can look at what’s trending, see what competitors are doing, or even ask for feedback from potential readers. This step helps save time and energy by focusing on ideas that resonate with your audience.
Researching Content
Now, it’s time to dig deep and gather all the necessary information for your content. Researching helps to get facts right, understand different perspectives, and provide a well-rounded view of your topic. It’s about being thorough to ensure your content is both informative and accurate.
Drafting Your Content
With a good amount of research in hand, drafting is where you start putting words on paper. This is the first version of your content. Don’t worry about perfection; it’s more about organizing your ideas and forming a structure that makes sense.
Editing Your Content
Editing is your chance to polish your draft. Look for any grammar mistakes, check the flow of your content, and make sure your message is clear. This step is crucial for ensuring your content is easy to read and professional.
Publishing Your Content
Once edited, it’s time to share your content with the world. Publishing involves putting your content on your website, blog, or wherever your audience will see it. Ensure everything looks good, the formatting is right, and all the links work before hitting the publish button.
Promoting Your Content
Your content is live, but your job isn’t over yet. Promoting your content is about spreading the word across multiple platforms. Share it in social media posts, send it in an email, or use other channels to help your content reach as many people as possible. It’s all about getting your hard work noticed and appreciated.
As you can see, a lot is involved in preparing the content published for your business. Time management skills are important to content creators to ensure they're not wasting time.
Benefits of Effective Time Management for Content Creators
Effective time management brings many benefits to content creators. By managing time effectively, content creators can eliminate the stress of last-minute deadlines, enhance productivity, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Prioritizing tasks, setting realistic deadlines, and utilizing time-saving tools like content scheduling and management software can significantly improve time management. Which allows content creators to focus on creating successful content that engages their audience and drives results.
Time Management Tips for Content Creation
As you're starting to see, time management is a critical skill that content creators must master to succeed in this task. By effectively managing their time, they can streamline the content creation process and ensure it’s organized and productive.
Here are some valuable time management tips for content creators.
Time-Block Your Productive Hours
One effective method for managing time as a content creator is to time-block your productive hours. Identify the times of the day when you are most productive and focused, and dedicate those certain times solely to content creation.
This allows you to schedule specific time slots for content creation and build a routine. Once you've created your routine, you can proactively eliminate distractions from your workspace and optimize your productivity to the task at hand.
Break the Content Creation Process Into Stages
The content creation process can be overwhelming if tackled as a whole. As we covered earlier, there are essentially eight different stages to the content creation process.
To avoid feeling overwhelmed, break it down into smaller stages and treat each one or two as an independent task to tackle.
Here's what a typical timeline could look like if you break the eight different tasks into stages.
Stage #1 - Brainstorming
This is an ongoing stage that never actually finishes because you never know when you will have a great content idea pop into your head. This is why having a place to brain-dump is incredibly important. You should always attempt to add new ideas to your brain-dump list so that when you sit down to do the next stage, you have ample ideas to work with.
Stage #2 - Keyword Research & Idea Validation
This is the first real stage where you should have to sit down and do some planning. The goal of this session is to take the list of ideas from your brain dump and see which ones have potential. It starts by plugging in the most promising keywords into your research tool and seeing their potential.
Ideally, you want to find keywords with at least some search interest with low to moderate competition. You should also look for other potential secondary keywords to incorporate into the content outline.
Once you've found your keywords, you'll want to validate the intent of the keywords and if they work with your content idea. The last thing you want to do is find a great keyword, make some content for it, and then realize that the people searching for it are looking for something completely unrelated.
You can do both of these steps together with the help of a couple of tools, and by the end of the session, you should have filled your content calendar with loads of ideas weeks in advance of their publishing date.
Stage #3 - Researching & Drafting
This is the stage where you sit down, find all your sources, use your existing knowledge, and create your first draft. Typically, you should start with a content outline that breaks down the content into the different header levels (H2, H3, H4), then write out what you want to say.
The important thing here is that you don't have any editing tools open, grammar checkers, spell check, etc. You want your writing interface to be distraction-free and just get to typing.
Let the words flow out, whether they make sense or not. Just keep writing. You'll circle back to it later when you edit it, but that's for another time.
Stage #3 - Researching & Drafting
This is the stage where you sit down, find all your sources, use your existing knowledge, and create your first draft. Typically, you should start with a content outline that breaks down the content into the different header levels (H2, H3, H4), then write out what you want to say.
The important thing here is that you don't have any editing tools open, grammar checkers, spell check, etc. You want your writing interface to be distraction-free and just get to typing.
Let the words flow out, whether they make sense or not. Just keep writing. You'll circle back to it later when you edit it, but that's for another time.
Step #4 - Editing & Publishing
The goal of this stage is to go back to the content you wrote in the previous stage and clean it up. This is where you can turn on tools like spell check or Grammarly and clean up your writing.
You've had a break between these stages, which should have allowed you to collect your thoughts and think about how you want to phrase things better.
Once you're done editing, it's time to publish your work!
You need to export it from whatever document you wrote and paste it to whatever platform you publish it on, like a WordPress website. If you're aiming for high-quality content, it probably takes a bit of time to format your posts properly, optimize images, and embed your links.
After you've finished, you can schedule when you want your content to be published and build your pipeline.
Stage #5 - Promoting Your Content
The final stage is to promote your content to all the different platforms you're building a presence on. Let your audience and customers know what you've posted to draw those eyeballs in, and get those shares going.
The best practice here is to use scheduling tools to help automate when to post scheduled content on your profiles. They also encourage repurposing content when the opportunity strikes.
Most of the time, people will just post their content when they publish it and then move on, but if your online presence is growing, there are always new people who have yet to see the content you posted.
It's important to restrict your time spent online promoting your content, as social media is notorious for making time disappear if you're not careful!
So those are the four stages (not counting brainstorming) you should set aside time for banging out stellar content. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?
What if we could cut it down to just two shorter stages instead? Would that be a lot more attractive?
Thanks to new AI-powered tools, you can get your content creation strategy down to two productive sessions and still not feel overwhelmed by the work you need to complete each time.
Keep reading to see what tools we use to make this a reality.
Complete Each Stage in Batches
The next tip to increase productivity is batch-completing each stage. Instead of jumping between different stages of content creation, consider completing each stage in batches.
For example, dedicate a day solely to drafting three to five blog posts, then another day for editing those same three to five posts, and so on.
This batching approach lets you focus on one task at a time and maximize efficiency as you complete similar tasks consecutively. It only takes a few minutes to open up the one or two tools you'll focus on instead of trying to multitask between different windows.
Even if you've got the multi-monitor setup (I'm guilty of this with three different displays), you only want to keep one or two windows open to stay focused on the task at hand.
Recognize When Your Productivity Is Shot
Productivity levels can fluctuate throughout the day. It's important to recognize when your productivity is low and adjust your schedule accordingly.
There's nothing worse than trying to push through a slump when taking a break, and coming back later means you can complete the job in half the time when you're fully energized and focused again.
If you feel sluggish or struggle to focus, take a break and recharge in a different activity. Returning to content creation when you are in a better state of mind will improve the quality of your work.
Suppose you struggle to find a good cadence between focus sessions and regularly feel burnt out. You might want to explore productivity systems such as the Pomodoro technique or my personal favorite, The F90 Protocol.
Set Realistic Milestones
The final tip to improve your time management as a content creator is to set realistic milestones.
Break down larger projects into smaller, achievable tasks with specific deadlines. This approach helps you stay motivated, track your progress, and consistently progress toward your content creation goals.
If you're just getting started with content creation, learning how to use different tools, and figuring out your workflow, it isn't realistic for you to set a goal that you're going to crush three to five posts in a single sitting.
Start with smaller goals first, and after a couple of cycles, if you find them too easy, then raise them during the next cycle and give it some time again.
When you're just starting, I know the feeling or sense of urgency of needing to create content quickly puts pressure on you, but it's better to be realistic and set smaller milestones at first.
Strategies to Optimize Time as a Content Creator
In addition to time management tips, there are various strategies you can use to optimize your time.
Here are a few of the ones I use to help speed up my sessions when I'm producing content:
Create a Spot to Brain Dump Potential Blog Post Ideas
Having a designated spot, such as a notepad or digital document, to brain-dump potential blog post ideas can save you valuable time.
There's nothing worse than having a great content idea and thinking I'll remember that later, only for later to come around, and you've forgotten that killer idea.
Don't let those ideas take up valuable brain space; put them into your brain dump and move on with your day.
Later, when creating content, refer to these ideas for inspiration and guidance. This eliminates the need to brainstorm from scratch each time you write.
Validate Which Ideas Will Provide The Best ROI
Before investing time and effort into creating content, it's important to validate which ideas will provide the best return on investment (ROI).
Research keywords, analyze competitors, and determine if the topic aligns with your target audience's interests and needs. This step ensures that you dedicate your time to creating content that will resonate with your audience and yield positive results.
The ideal KPIs you want to aim for here are keywords with at least 100 monthly searches and low to moderate competition.
Unless you're a well-established website, you're not going to rank for those difficult keywords anytime soon, so stay on track and invest your efforts elsewhere.
Creating A Content Calendar
A content calendar is invaluable for content creators. By planning your content weeks in advance and mapping it out on a calendar, you can effectively manage your time and ensure a consistent flow of content.
A content calendar allows you to visualize to-do lists, upcoming tasks, deadlines, and promotions, enabling you to stay organized and meet your content creation goals.
Use AI To Create Your Rough Draft
Consider using AI-powered software to generate rough drafts of your content. These tools can analyze data, suggest insights, and write initial drafts.
While human creativity is still essential, leveraging AI can significantly speed up content creation, allowing you to focus on refining and enhancing the content.
Navigating Time Management Challenges in Content Creation
Dealing with Writer's Block and Creative Slumps
Every content creator experiences writer's block and creative slumps at some point. These challenges can hinder productivity and delay content creation.
To overcome writer's block, try brainstorming ideas, taking short breaks to refresh your mind, or experimenting with different writing techniques. Engaging in activities that inspire creativity, such as reading or listening to music, can also help overcome creative slumps.
Remember, it's important to be patient with yourself and find what works best to kickstart your creativity.
Overcoming Procrastination and Time Waster
Procrastination can be a major obstacle in effective time management. To overcome it, start by identifying the root causes of your procrastination.
Are you overwhelmed by a particular task? Do you lack motivation? By addressing these underlying issues, you can develop strategies to increase productivity.
Set tangible goals, break down tasks into smaller workloads, and use productivity tools to stay focused. Minimize distractions and time wasters by setting boundaries, turning off notifications, and creating a dedicated place to work that promotes concentration. (Try to avoid those busy coffee shops if you can 😄)
Defeating Analysis Paralysis and Perfectionism
Analysis Paralysis and perfectionism can significantly slow down the content creation process. It's important to strike a balance between quality and efficiency.
Set realistic expectations for yourself and prioritize progress over perfection. Break free from over analyzing by establishing a structured workflow and sticking to it. Using templates, checklists, and content planning tools are sure-fire ways to streamline your processes.
Remember, getting it done is better than waiting to get it perfect!
You can always refine and improve your content later. That's what the update button is for. Plus, search engines love it when you update existing content.
AI Tools to Help Speed up the Content Creation Process
As I mentioned earlier, traditionally, creating content takes around four steps: validating, drafting, editing, and sharing it with the world. But what if we could cut the steps in half and still end up with great content? That's where AI tools come in.
They help cut down each step's complexity and time intensiveness, meaning you can finish the process in just two steps: validating & drafting and editing & promoting the content.
I use tools like Notion, Squirrly SEO, ChatGPT, Content at Scale, and Missinglettr to speed up this process. Each tool has its special way of making content creation faster and easier. Let's take a quick look at how these tools help speed up the process and make content creation and time management a breeze.
Notion
Notion is a versatile productivity tool that can greatly enhance content creation. It allows you to create a centralized workspace to brainstorm ideas, organize research, and outline your content.
With its intuitive interface and collaboration features, Notion keeps you organized and ensures seamless workflow management. Recently, they incorporated AI into their app with the introduction of Notion AI, which can help speed up your time on tedious tasks.
It's also a fantastic tool to create your content calendar with, and they have a free template to get you started instantly!
Squirrly SEO
Squirrly SEO is an AI-powered plugin that optimizes your content for search engines. It provides real-time suggestions and insights to help you create SEO-friendly content that ranks higher in search results.
It also has an incredible AI-powered keyword research tool to help you discover new keywords, search volume, and keyword difficulty. In just a few minutes, you can see all the information you need to know if your next idea is a winner or a stinker.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI, is an AI tool that assists with content creation. It can generate ideas, offer writing prompts, and suggest different writing styles. ChatGPT acts as a virtual writing assistant, helping you overcome writer's block and sparking your creativity when you're stuck. It can be a valuable resource for content creators looking to generate fresh ideas and improve their writing process.
Now that ChatGPT Plus offers the ability to search the web, you can quickly ask it to give you search intent for the keywords you're zeroing in on. You can then follow up by asking it to validate if your idea for your next content piece would work and if there are any potential things you might want to add based on the competition.
Content at Scale
Content at Scale is a handy tool during the content researching and drafting phase of creating content. It uses AI to find top-ranking content for your target keywords and then writes new content based on that. Instantly, it will create an outline for your chosen keyword based on the information it has researched. You also have the opportunity to include headers based on the secondary keywords you discovered earlier.
Once you're happy with your content outline, Content at Scale creates an entire draft for you in minutes. We're talking between 2,000 to 3,000 words in just a few minutes.
All you need to do is edit it to fit your original vision for the content and match your brand's style. This cuts down the time usually spent on drafting, letting you focus more on editing to ensure the content is just right before publishing.
Quick Overview Content at Scale
Quick Overview - Content at Scale
AI Tool Type
Text Generation
Starting Price
$49 Per Month
Learning Curve
Intermediate
Primary Use
Blog Post Creation
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Missinglettr
Missinglettr is a great tool for the last step of content creation: promotion. It helps you spread the word on social media without wasting time. Creators use Missinglettr to turn their content into a year's worth of social media posts. It's like having a personal assistant for social media management.
With Missinglettr, you can auto-post your content on different days of the week. It creates a posting schedule for you, making it easy to have a steady online presence. This tool even suggests the best times to post to get more views. It’s designed to help you schedule and manage your social media content efficiently, keeping your audience engaged with fresh updates from your blog or website.
Harnessing Content Creation and Time Management for Success
Mastering time management is crucial for content creators with growing businesses.
By overcoming writer's block and procrastination and using AI tools to streamline the content creation process, you can maximize productivity and efficiently create high-quality content.
With the right time management strategies and the assistance of AI tools, you can stay ahead in the fast-paced world of content creation, meet deadlines, and effectively engage your target audience.