How much content should you produce and how often should you publish?
- Every week, I publish two blog posts; one on Monday, and one on Thursday.
It takes me about one hour to write a blog post.
- Every week, I publish at least one episode of Shareable; one on Wednesday, and occasionally shorter episodes on Thursday and Friday.
It takes about 45 minutes to record an episode of Shareable, and another 15-20 to edit the audio and publish the content. Add up to an hour more if I publish mic swap and think fast episodes.
- Every week, I livestream an episode of Heroic Council with my three co-hosts on Mondays at 2:00pm.
The show is about one hour. It streams to Facebook, Youtube, Periscope/Twitter, and Linkedin. Publishing it as a podcast requires about 20 minutes for editing and posting.
- Sometimes, when I find a guest, I publish an episode of Rogue on Tuesdays.
The show takes about 30 minutes, the editing and publishing take another 20 minutes. Let’s call it one hour to be safe.
- I autopost my blogs, podcasts, and videos to Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. Aside from that, I don’t post much on social media anymore.
I generally don’t spend more than 30 minutes posting to social media channels.
Today’s Questions
You’ve probably thought this or you’ve asked me these questions before.
- How much content should I produce?
- How often should I publish content?
- What type of content should I create?
Permission & Suggestions
First, I want to give you permission to do absolutely nothing. I also give you permission to go totally wild. There is a value to publishing your ideas, perspectives, and insights. There is also a liability in publishing your ideas, perspectives, and insights. Look for the various ways you can contribute and extract value from your content marketing strategy. Do it your way.
Second, I absolve you from worrying about what your competition is doing. It matters what they do but you can also just focus on your own strategy and play to your unique strengths.
Third, you have permission to stop trying to keep up with social media. Unless you plan to be an influencer and make a significant portion of every day about your social media content, I suggest you just relax.
Now, here are my high level recommendations…
If you run a business, you should produce as much high quality content as you can. Or don’t. It’s really up to you. The world will keep spinning even if you don’t blog.
You should publish content at whatever pace you can reasonably sustain. This is fluid and ever-changing as the conditions you operate within may change. Your volume and cadence will ebb and flow. Don’t sweat it. There are no unbreakable rules in this.
You should probably create content that is thoughtful and is published on channels without newsfeeds. You want your audience to pay attention to you instead of swiping to the next option the moment they get bored.
Stop worrying what you should be doing. Instead, do what you want to do and do it well.
To some, I am a “contact machine.” To others, it’s clear that I’ll never publish enough to be noticed. Both can be true.
Here’s what I’ve learned after 13 years working in digital marketing and content. Less than 10% of all organizations have their act together enough for a well-executed content strategy. Most organizations instead spend 6 months debating volume, cadence, and channels before producing anything. They do this because their afraid to start and get it won’t. They do this because they think there is some way they’re supposed to operate.
In that time, they could’ve gotten started. They could’ve produced assets. They could’ve gotten better.
Work out the plan today and then execute it for the next 3 months. Then reassess.
Stop putting yourself in someone else’s box because there are no right answers except that which fits your goals, timeline, budget, and audience.
