Nicky LeBlanc

What is content batching?

In the most basic terms, it creating and managing your online content in advance, specifically in a large grouping or batch.

I’d say it’s the best way to ease off the stress that comes with creating content, especially for social media. Content batching has helped me so much as a Social Media Manager and I always feel more organized and prepared after.

Here is my three step process to content batching:

Step 1: Planning
When it comes to planning out content for the month, I always try to look at what is happening during the month I’m planning for, like events or holidays that occur annually, or even typical weather for the season (although the weather is unpredictable). For example, if I’m looking at planning for May, Mother’s Day might be something I’ll consider, and at that time the weather in Vancouver is typically sunny and warm. From there, I’ll start doing research on any upcoming trends and, depending on the client, I’ll bring those up for discussion.

Step 2: Content Creation
Once the planning is done, it’s time to create! I love using Canva Pro to create all my digital content. I’m not a graphic designer and Canva makes it so simple for me to create designs and templates for all social media platforms. If I can create great content with Canva, so can you.

Step 3: Scheduling
Now comes the scheduling. I use Later, a social media scheduling platform, for all my clients’ social media calendars. I just upload the images I created on Canva into Later and then schedule them at the appropriate times throughout the month. There are other scheduling platforms out there, but I’ve always just used Later.

I can tell you right now that it’s so much easier spending one day scheduling content, instead of worrying about getting it up on time every day. Planning in advance also gives me more time to come up with new ideas or relevant captions and hashtags, instead of trying to quickly come up with something day of.

You DO NOT have to schedule everything. Batching your content does not mean you need to stick to this one schedule all month. You can still post things in between your scheduled content, in real-time. You want your social media to look and feel approachable for your followers and customers, but you don’t need the added stress of posting to Instagram everyday, so that’s why batching helps.

I hope you try this out and that it helps you as much as it did me!