It’s no secret that most of us in the nonprofit industry wear many hats throughout the day. Often, that means we’re pressed for time. That also means that we’re likely to devote less time to things that feel like they’re not directly contributing to your nonprofit’s bottom line.
If that’s how you’re approaching the content you’re sharing on social media or in your newsletters, this blog post is for you.
Keep reading for three content creation tips to use when you’re short on time, as well as a few examples I’ve brainstormed just for you.
Tip 1: Batch your content.
You’ve likely heard that multitasking actually makes us less productive. So, instead of trying to do multiple things at once, sit down with the purpose of focusing solely on your content. And when you do sit down to work on that content, batch it.
What does it mean to batch your content? Batching content means setting aside a specific amount of time to create multiple pieces of content all at once.
How does this save you time? For starters, you won’t be rushing to brainstorm or struggling to create content an hour before you need it. You get that time back in your day, which can go to those other revenue-generating tasks.
Here’s how you can batch your content:
- Create a content calendar. Before you start batching content, create a calendar based on your goals for how often you want to post, when you want to post, and what you want your posts to achieve. Remember, you’re going to work on multiple pieces of content at once. So before you sit down to write the content, figure out how much content you need and how much content you want to batch at one time.
- Schedule a few hours—or however long it takes—once a week, biweekly, or monthly to brainstorm content ideas. Then make time to execute them.
- Figure out what you need to create each piece of content. This should include your ideas for topics, the stories you need to communicate effectively and inspire supporters to take a desired action, and any assets you’ll need to support the content pieces.
- Create your content. Take everything you’ve gathered and create the content in one sitting. As I mentioned above, multitasking can be counterproductive. When you write all of your content at one time, it helps your brain switch into that gear. That means you’ll end up working more efficiently and effectively.
Tip 2: Repurpose your content.
Just because you share a story or photo once doesn’t mean you can’t use it ever again. Once you’ve created a piece of content, consider how you could change or tweak it slightly to share it on another platform.
For example, if you shared a longer piece of content in an email or on your website, think about how you could shorten it to use it on one of your social media platforms. This saves you work because you don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel and creating more content than you actually need!
3. Stretch your content.
Similar to the idea above, figure out how you can break up your stories into segments to create multiple pieces of content.
As you’ve likely experienced in your life, our attention spans are fairly short. When you send long pieces of communications, you’re risking the chance that your supporters won’t read all of your content or, worse, they won’t make it to your call to action at the end of that content piece.
One way to avoid that is to create shorter pieces of content. When you tell a story or continue a narrative over several pieces of content, your audience will likely stay engaged with your posts or other communications to see how the story plays out. This holds their attention longer than normal and, you guessed it, saves you time by saving you from creating more content.
Bonus: Here are some content creation tips and ideas for you!
In need of some content ideas? Here are a few to get you started:
- Pick a quote and use a tool like Canva to make it visually appealing. These quotes can be related to your mission, a testimonial from someone you serve, or even just a quote about generosity that might inspire your supporters to give.
- Share statistics about your impact or to educate your supporters about the urgency surrounding your work. Attention-grabbing statistics such as “1 in 4 kids in the United States don’t know where their next meal comes from” make people stop scrolling through their feed. They’ll also create a sense of urgency and motivate them to help your nonprofit address the problem at hand.
- Give them a look behind the scenes. If possible, share photos of your desk or workspace or one of your team working to carry out your mission. As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This will help humanize your nonprofit and remind your supporters that it’s people like them who are doing this important work.
- Share other organizations’ content. This might seem counterintuitive. After all, why would you want to direct the focus away from your work? Let go of that way of thinking! Trust me, this is a great way to share content. For starters, you don’t have to create it. It’s also a great way to engage with your community and showcase that your organization is collaborating with others to be even more effective in solving the problem your nonprofit is addressing. Just make sure you give proper credit—and, if necessary, get permission before sharing—to the person or organization that created the content.
I hope these content creation tips save you time and help you get back to other pressing needs on your to-do list!
Are you ready to give your donors the content they deserve? Here’s a Donor-Centered Content Marketing worksheet you can use as a template to enhance your donor communication efforts.
The post 3 Content Creation Tips For When You’re Short On Time appeared first on Bloomerang.
This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.
