How to Create a Strategic Content Calendar From Scratch

There's always a bigger picture at play when I post a video to YouTube (hint hint: it's not just to hear the sound of my own voice). The why and when behind my videos play into a bigger strategic plan for my business. 

They help ensure that every piece of content I publish gets me closer to my goal, whether that's more course sales, more members in my Video Strategy Academy, more email subscribers through an opt-in, or more discovery calls.

I create content every week for my YouTube channel, podcast, Instagram, and Pinterest, and guess what? None of those topic ideas are random either. Being strategic with my content ideas helps ensure that the time and effort I'm putting into everything helps me increase revenue.

If you're tired of throwing spaghetti noodles at a wall to see what'll stick — you NEED a content plan.

You don't have to show up everywhere and do everything. You can post where you feel comfortable showing up. Otherwise, you'll quickly become burnt out. 

But wherever you show up, make sure you have a plan.

Choose One Long-Form Searchable Content

Long-form content are bigger pieces of content that can be picked up by search engines and have pretty long shelf lives. I have a video from 2019 that STILL drives a good chunk of my traffic. 

Pick one — like YouTube or a podcast — that you can put most of your time and energy into since it will be the biggest chunk of your content. Start there and add layers with other platforms like Instagram or Pinterest. 

Keep in mind that Google owns YouTube, so those videos are much more likely to show up on Google searches and stay relevant for longer. The average lifespan of a YouTube video is 20+ days, while Instagram and Facebook content only lasts a few hours.

Repurposing Content With a Secondary Platform

Secondary platforms — Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn — build off the content that you created in your YouTube videos. They're a way to multiply the work you've already done to make your videos last even longer.

Repurposing for Secondary Video Content

Every social media platform prefers videos, so you can't go wrong with repurposing your content. 

I film alternate endings that fit each platform. For example, on Facebook, I'll film an ending that says, go to my page, like this post, share this post, etc.

When posting Reels and Stories over on Instagram, I use my main video to serve as my content base. While you can use clips from your video on Instagram, I found that re-filming and making your own videos for Reels and Stories work much better. 

Now, before you break out into a cold sweat, no — I don't mean you have to re-film hours of footage. 

When I film, no matter if it's for YouTube videos, Reels, TikToks, etc., I film them all in one day in a process I like to call batching. Batch creating is one of my most used strategies for creating an efficient content creation process. 

Plus, when I film content for those secondary platforms, my mind is already fresh with the info in the main video. Film your Reels or Stories in a series — take one of the main points and dig just a little bit deeper with a call to action to watch the full scope over on YouTube.

Repurposing for Non-Video Content

Repurposing your content isn't just for videos either. It's also made creating blogs and feed posts a million times easier. I can pull quotes or statements from my YouTube videos to make an IG post. I turn all my YouTube videos into blog posts. 

All of this helps me keep my content on all platforms that align with each other and point back to the same goal without putting any extra stress on me.

What You Can Use to Repurpose Your Content

After I post a video, I repurpose it into content for all of my other social media platforms. One YouTube video gets me:

• A blog post 

• A newsletter

• IG carousel posts and other feed posts

• IG Stories

• IGTV

• IG quote card

• Multiple Reels

• Pinterest posts

• Facebook video

• Facebook carousels and posts

• LinkedIn Posts

And If you're worried your audience will get annoyed with all this posting, don't be. No one sees everything you post. Most people aren't following you on every single platform, and besides, the algorithm for each is so intricate and complex that even if someone spends all their free time on Instagram (wouldn't that be nice!), it is very likely that they'll still miss your post.

Find what works best for your biz. You may not want to post on Facebook or Pinterest, and that's okay. You don't have to. Just make the most of the content you do decide to publish.

Content Pillars

Now how to figure out how to do all this…

I suggest content pillars. They're simple ways to keep your ideas organized, that way, you're only covering a few topics instead of 500. You don't need to talk about everything to have a successful YouTube channel or social media presence, but you do need to be well-rounded. 

To find out what you should be talking about, utilize each analytics feature on YouTube and see what people are coming to your channel for. Most people have 3-4 topics they discuss, where all their content comes from. 

Other questions to ask yourself:

• What are you promoting? 

• What are you selling? What services are you offering? 

• What do you want to be known for?

Having a small but somewhat varied list of topics keeps you from boring your audience by talking about the same topics over and over (a mistake I made for the first five years of my business…yikes!).

One way I make sure that all my videos, and ultimately all my content on my other social media platforms, feed off of each other and fit together in a strategic sense is to use the Firework Approach.

This means that one core video is the basis of all your other videos (four to six spark videos). Why is this effective?

Well, YouTube LOVES it when people binge-watch videos because it keeps them on their platform longer. When a viewer watches one of your spark videos, your core video will pop up as a suggested video. From there, they'll hear your CTA and be more likely to take a look at your website/Instagram/offers/etc.

You'll turn your channel and social media platforms into a well-rounded brand so you can, in turn, strategically make more money!

More YouTube views = more sales page/offer views = more money in your bank account

Putting it All Together

There are many project management tools out there like Trello, Monday, or Airtable, but I LOVE to use Asana. It's one that my team and I have been using for a while, and it's been a game-changer for the way we plan content and stay on track. It's also F-R-E-E.

If you are attached to your paper planner, it's okay, me too. I still work inside my Full Focus Planner every single day. I even have HUGE post-it notes where I brainstorm and think through my ideas. But going digital keeps everything so much more organized.

Going digital also makes it easier to outsource help. Do you know why employers say it's so expensive to hire a new employee? It's because it takes so much TIME and MONEY to get them up to speed. 

I know outsourcing is a little different, but I want to put it into perspective for you — with the right system in place, you're going to make any onboarding process much faster. All the need-to-know will be easily accessible in one platform, saving you time and money. Those are two things you can't afford to waste as a business owner, friend. 

If you want to see how I use Asana to plan out my content, check out this video.

I walk you through how to use Asana to plan out your video content, how to use your content to gear up for a launch, and how to stay focused when you're posting to multiple platforms.

Simplify Your Content Creation Process

Inside my P.R.E.P System, I'll cover everything we just talked about and how to upload it to Asana (with more training videos on how to use it), including finding your content pillars and building your content around them. 

If you're serious about getting strategic with your content this year, the P.R.E.P System to Video Success will give you the push you need!