Why You Need a Content Creation Strategy (Even If You Have Plenty of Ideas)

Why You Need a Content Creation Strategy (Even If You Have Plenty of Ideas)

I used to think having a content strategy meant knowing exactly what I was going to post, where I was going to post it, and when. And preferably several weeks in advance.

Except every time I tried to plan content that way, I somehow ended up more overwhelmed than when I started. Because my problem was never that I didn't have enough ideas. I had ideas coming out my ears.

Ideas in Trello, in notebooks, saved on Instagram, even scribbled on random pieces of paper. Half-written blog posts and videos I wanted to make, but never did. Things I'd had already created and completely forgotten about.

And yet I'd still sit down to create something and wonder: What the hell should I post today?

That's why I've started looking at content strategy differently.

I don't need a system that constantly feeds me more ideas. I need one that helps me make better use of the ideas I already have.

And if you're also sitting on approximately 900 content ideas while somehow still feeling behind, you might need the same thing.

Here are three reasons having a simple content creation strategy can make creating content a whole lot easier.

1. A Content Strategy Reduces the Number of Decisions You Have to Make

One of the most exhausting parts of content creation isn't necessarily creating the content. It's everything you have to decide before you even start.

What should I talk about? Should this be a Reel or a carousel post? Can I send this to my email list or should it just be a blog post? Do I need to create some pins to go along with it?

What hook should I use? This is how you can spend an hour “working on content” without actually creating a damn thing. A good content creation strategy removes some of those decisions ahead of time.

Not by scheduling every post for the next six months. By giving yourself a few simple boundaries.

Boundaries such as focusing primarily on one platform right now, or what kind of content you're creating. You might even know what the primary job or outcome that content should be. Do you start with a new idea or look at taking something you've already created in a different direction?

Every boundary you create ahead is one less decision you have to make every time you sit down to create.

And that matters when you're trying to stay consistent without allowing content creation to take over your entire life.

2. A Content Strategy Helps You Get More From Your Best Ideas

This is probably the biggest change I've made in how I think about content. I used to create something, publish it, and move on to the next one.

Which meant I constantly needed another idea. And another. And another.

That's a pretty crappy system when you're already overwhelmed.

Now I'm trying to slow down before moving on and ask: What else can I do with this idea?

Maybe a blog post becomes three short videos. Then one of those videos becomes an email and a carousel post. Maybe an older piece of content is still perfectly useful and just needs a new hook or angle.

Suddenly one idea isn't responsible for filling one little square on a content calendar. It becomes something I can build from.

That's what I want my content strategy to help me do. Not generate an endless supply of new ideas. But instead, require fewer new ideas in the first place.

3. A Content Strategy Makes Consistency More Realistic

Let's talk about consistency because this word gets thrown around constantly in the creator world. “You've just got to be consistent!”

Cool. Consistent with WHAT?

Do you have to post once every day or multiple times a day? Does that mean you need to be on every platform or just a few? Do you really have to post to your stories 5 times every day to please the algorithm, or is that just a myth?

And don't forget we're also supposed to spend thirty minutes “engaging” after every post so the algorithm knows we're good little content creators.

No wonder people burn out.

I don't think consistency should mean producing content at maximum capacity forever. I think it should mean finding a way of creating that you can actually keep doing.

That's where having a strategy helps.

When you're making fewer decisions and getting more mileage from what you've already created, staying visible doesn't require constantly feeding the content machine something brand new. You can create at a pace that actually fits your life.

And if you have a busy week? You have existing ideas and content to pull from instead of starting at zero.

That kind of consistency feels a whole lot more sustainable to me.

Your Content Strategy Doesn't Need to Be Complicated

You don't need to completely overhaul your content strategy today. Start with something much smaller.

Go through the ideas and content you already have and choose one.

Not the perfect one or the one most likely to go viral.

Just one good idea that's relevant to what you're trying to accomplish right now.

Then ask: What else could this become?

Maybe that's where your content strategy starts. Not with more ideas. With making better use of one you've already got.

If choosing that ONE IDEA is exactly where you get stuck, I made something for that, because I struggle with this too. Grab my super simple Pick One Idea tool to help you choose one really good idea in less than 5-minutes.

Start With One Idea

This is another thing I'm actively trying to unlearn. A content strategy does not have to be a 37-tab spreadsheet containing every post you'll publish between now and 2029.

You really just need a way to answer a few questions:

• What am I trying to accomplish?

• Where am I focusing my attention?

• What ideas do I already have that support that goal?

• How can I get more than one use out of the best ones?

That's a strategy.

You can make it more sophisticated later if you need to. But adding more systems, tools, platforms, content pillars, templates, calendars, and ideas isn't automatically going to make content creation easier.

Sometimes the solution is removing things instead of adding them.

You Probably Don't Need More Content Ideas

This is the part I wish I'd figured out sooner.

If you have notes filled with ideas, half-finished drafts, old blog posts, videos, emails, saved posts, and approximately eleven notebooks you were definitely going to organize someday...

You probably don't have an idea problem.

You have a what-do-I-do-with-all-this-stuff problem. That's the problem I'm working on solving for myself too.

Instead of asking myself to continually come up with something new, I'm building a simpler system for choosing the right idea, deciding what I want it to do, and finding more ways to use it before I move on. Because I don't want content creation to be my whole job.

And I'm guessing you probably don't either.

Elevate Your Content Strategy!

I'm Cheryl, the creator behind Creator Elevator

I help overwhelmed content creators make better use of their best ideas so they can stay consistent and reach more people without burning themselves out trying to keep up.

Let's soar to new heights together.