Cassie DeNisco

As many of you know, I am a freelance social media manager on top of blogger and dance teacher. I feel like because of this, I know a little more than the average blogger. This helps me utilize these content creation tips to keep me consistent.

A lot of people will say just be a content creator but they don’t realize how much actually goes into it. I didn’t start to see a real amount of money from my blog until about 3 years in after being consistent. This post is all about how and why I follow the content schedule I do and why you need to have one.

Honestly, I would say a content schedule that you can stick to is probably the most important key to growing any brand. A content schedule is not only when you’ll post on social but also when you’ll create that content. You need to have the content to post so it’s crucial that you stay on schedule and have content prepared.

Establishing a Schedule

I’ve found that I am best able to promote and spend time answering comments on a blog post on a Monday morning, which is why all of my blog posts are then at 9am. I decided this year to up my posts so I added two others during the month on Wednesdays. I average about 6 posts a month on the blog which is a lot.

In addition to the posts, I have to post on IG, Pinterest, Tik Tok to promote the post after it’s live which also is why Mondays are best for me. Establishing when you are going to post not only keeps you accountable but people come to expect content from you on those days. This easy transition helps you create a community that knows when to come back for more.

Content Ideas

In addition to a schedule, I like to start a running list of dates throughout the year I’m going to post. This helps me see what content would do best during those months and gives me a spot to write down my ideas.

I honestly just googled Mondays in 2022 and copy/pasted it into a Google Doc. I can access this whenever I get an idea and it helps me always have ideas when maybe I’m in a crunch to post. Visually, this also helps me cross off what I’ve already created for the month to know what I still need to do.

I recently just started this for my other socials which seriously has changed the game for me. I can plan out all of my content for the month and then I just need to write/record/create.

Creation

Once you figure out step one and two, creation really shouldn’t be too hard for you. Obviously you need to create it but if you already have the idea and when it needs to go live, you can just jump in.

I like to create my blog posts at least a month in advance just in case I have something come up one week. This buffer ensures I’ll always have a post go live. Sometimes I will post randomly if it’s time sensitive but for the most part I like to be ahead.

As for socials, I like to post in real time if I can. This means that I’ll create then post right away. I feel like my posts are usually more informal so it’s good for me to just get it out.

Creation Days

I like to set each day a week as a different platform. I’m almost always creating blog posts on Mondays and Tuesdays. I’ve been trying to create Tik Toks on Wednesdays and then I usually take my IG pictures on the weekends.

I like to batch create content so that I only have to get fully ready once in awhile and I can just get whatever I need done. This is probably my biggest tip to stay accountable because by setting a day aside for one platform, you don’t have the ability to not get it done if you have other days that are for other platforms.

I hope this post was informative for you in creating your content schedule and with content creation tips. Honestly, I wish I knew this back in the beginning because it would’ve saved me so much time. I used to create whenever I felt like it, which is of course great but not when you’re having an off week and don’t want to create anything.

Let me know if setting up a content schedule helped you to level up your content or if you liked these content creation tips! To read more social media posts like this click here! Don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list here so you never miss a post!

As many of you know, I also am a social media manager. I use a lot of the tricks for my own blog that I use for my clients. One of my biggest secrets that will change your life is www.Canva.com. Not a day goes by that I am scheduling posts, creating graphics, or needing to share ideas with other people. I can do all of that through Canva and I thought it would be so helpful to share some of my favorite ways to use Canva for beginners with you!

Content Creation

I Initially discovered Canva when I was looking for something easy to use for blog graphics. I wanted a place to start making everything look the same. Canva stuck out to me because of the “brand kit” section. I was able to go in and pick colors and fonts that I would use every time. As you can see, all of my cassiedenisco.com stuff has the same fonts and is black, pink and white. This saves so much time because it all pops up right when you’re in the design section.

Another part of Canva I love is that there are so many templates. It did take a while to find something I liked because there were so many options. If you look at my IG story blog annoucements or Pinterest pins, I used Canva templates and tweaked them to make it my own. I love that Canva automatically saves all your work because I just go back in and edit the same template for my next posts. This saves me so much time and helps to make all of my stuff look cohesive.

Content Scheduling

This is definitely a newer aspect of Canva that I just started using. I previously used Tailwind to schedule my Pinterest pins but I found that it was becoming too tedious to sit, download, and then reupload my pin to that scheduler. With Canva, you just click a button and write in all your details and it schedules it for you. I already am paying for Canva so I can save money here by getting rid of Tailwind. You can also schedule to Facebook and other platforms but so far I have only really used it for Pinterest.

Instagram Bio Links

If you click this link here, you’ll actually be sent to a mini website that has all of my Instagram bio links. This is super helpful if you’re like me and have a lot of different links for different things. I used to use Tailwind for this as well but I recently switched over to Canva because this just looks so much more professional. You can click on everything and be taken to the link I set up for it. This hack helps to have all of your important links in one place so people visiting your social profiles will be able to see all you have to offer. I found this through a Canva template that made it so easy to design and add my links!

Organized Content

This is probably my favorite part of Canva. It keeps me so organized. I manage a lot of different accounts but it has a feature to put everything in different folders. Once I create a template I love, I pop it in the folder for that brand and just go back to it whenever I need. I used to use a million other apps but everything can be done in one place.

Easy to Share with Others

When I was an intern, I was introduced to Canva and I haven’t looked back since. It really opened my eyes to how easy it is to collaborate with. You can add people to your team or just share the content during it’s draft stages. This is helpful because I like to have clients double check what I post before I post it. The best way for me to describe Canva is like Google Docs. It gives you links to share and makes it easy to work with other people to get whatever you need to get done.

Pro vs Free

This is where I think you just need to assess what you need Canva for. I initially started out on the free plan because I really didn’t need the Pro. For just the basics of content creation, Canva is perfect for you on the free plan. I only upgraded when I started getting more clients. The features that pro offered like being able to resize something easily and the brand kits was something I really wanted. I would start out using it for free and then if you feel like you need more, switch to pro. It’s also so affordable at around $119 for the whole year and in my opinion, that is so worth it.

I could literally go on and on about just how much I love and use Canva. Canva for beginners is definitely the easiest way to get started in content creation. For content creators and social media managers, this is a dream program. It does so many things for you and helps you to stay on top of all of your things. Like I previously mentioned, I was using the free version for awhile before I decided to make the switch to pro when I started taking on more clients.

Let me know if you liked this post on how to use Canva for Beginners and if there are other apps like this that you love!