You don’t need to tell us how hard content creators work.
From shooting and editing content, constantly sourcing and securing collaborations and engaging with their audience, while possibly working full-time or managing a family – creators have their hands full.
In fact, staying organised is considered by many in the industry to be one of the hardest things about the job. That’s according to 43% of creators we recently surveyed.
Staying as organised as possible is imperative for creators to avoid losing opportunities, missing deadlines and mentally imploding from high levels of stress and anxiety. So here are our top tips to help you manage your busy creator schedule, without burning out.
Tip #1: Use a content calendar to map out monthly content ideas
Using a content calendar to plan your social feed for the month ahead is a great way to pre-plan and stay organised. That’s why we recommend setting aside some time at the beginning of each month to look through Vamp’s 2022 content calendar and map out your content ideas for the next four weeks.
This calendar will also help you keep track of popular holidays to tie your content to. And by doing so, you’ll ensure you’re always serving your audience the most relevant content. Plus, it can help you join a trending social conversation, which will help boost your discoverability.
Trust us when we say you’ll be thanking yourself later when you’re not scrambling for a new post for International Self Care day or missing out on the perfect social media moment to celebrate World Photography Day.
Tip #2: Schedule your content in advance
Life as a creator is as fast-paced as it can get. You’ll often have a million things running through your mind, all while having shoot days to coordinate and events to attend. Having to constantly be switched on and prepared for anything means it’s very easy to lose track of what’s on your to-do list. Completing a simple task, such as uploading a new post, can get lost in the long list of things to get done.
This is where technology can really assist with keeping you organised. Social media management platforms, such as Hootsuite, are super handy tools that will help you schedule your posts in advance. Within an hour, you can have a week’s worth of content scheduled, including your captions, ready for automatic publishing on the date and time you desire.
And don’t worry, Hootsuite can also schedule Instagram carousel posts. Just download the app to your mobile, login to your account and the app will send you a notification to remind you it’s posting time. Within a couple of clicks, your carousel post will be live!
Tip #3: Prioritise deadlines with a campaign schedule
When you have a million and one things to do, it can be stressful to figure out how to manage your time to get it all done. The best way to organise your thoughts, and your to-do list, is to prioritise your deadlines.
This means listing the tasks you need to get done in order of importance, then scheduling out your day accordingly. This strategy is highly effective when you have multiple campaign deadlines to hit within a certain timeframe.
One of the best tools that will help you prioritise is Vamp’s Creator Dashboard. It’s essentially the desktop view of your Vamp mobile app, with a few differences. One is the big, beautiful desktop view of all your current campaigns and their timelines. This gives you a clear overview of what deadlines are coming up first, giving you a better idea of how to plan out your day and smash out your content approvals.
Tip #4: Build a brief and timetable for your weekly ‘shoot day’
Allocating one day of the week to smash out your content shoots is a great way to condense your time into one session and create a bank of content that’s ready for approval or for posting.
In doing so, you need to have a clear idea of how your day will look to ensure no time is wasted. This means building a brief for each shoot so you know exactly what you need to capture, and a timetable so you know when and where you need to be at all hours of the day. Here’s how to create both for a smooth-running and stress-free ‘shoot day’.
Build a brief
Building your briefs will be easy, thanks to Vamp’s briefing form. We require all of our clients to fill out a brief for you to view when opting into a campaign. This is so you know what’s required upfront and helps you decide if the collaboration is right for you.
It’s also a handy tool to help you select your location, outfit, props and aesthetic for that particular campaign. This is because the brand will provide details about what type of content they’d like you to create. Just make sure you have all of this ironed out before your ‘shoot day’ to avoid burning time while on the road.
Create a timetable
When creating your ‘shoot day’ timetable, you need to consider the time of the day you’ll be shooting each campaign for lighting purposes. Shooting first thing in the morning will capture that beautiful natural light, golden hour will give you that golden glow and the evening will portray a moody, low-exposure vibe.
And don’t forget to schedule in coffee and lunch breaks. You’ll need this time to re-energise and make it through your busy day.
Learn more about how to use the Vamp app to your advantage here, find out how to boost your productivity with a digital cleanse here, and discover why a mindful social media break can be beneficial for your overall wellbeing here.
Want to join Vamp’s global community of creators? Download our app to apply.
