As a business owner, you wear all the hats: you’re the photographer, the social media strategist, the receptionist, the blogger, and the HR representative - all at the same time. Needless to say, things can get pretty crazy for you, especially during peak season! So, how do you keep up with it all? Optimize your business by batching and scheduling your blog and social media posts. In today’s article we will share some tips on how to optimize your content and have more time to focus on other aspects of your business.
How batching your content benefits your photography business
image credits: Meet the Bryants
This is a guest post by Jason & Alejandra Bryant, aka Meet the Bryants, an incredible husband and wife photography team based in San Antonio, Texas. They specialize in Family, Portrait, and Branding Photography, and oh boy, do they have some golden insights on content batching! Not only they built a strong blog from the ground up on their own website, but they are also big fans of process optimization. Keep reading to learn how they come up with content ideas, how they plan, schedule, and batch work on their posts, especially when the season is slow.
What is batching and how to apply it to your photography business
While every creative is different, here is how we go about our content creation. Up until last fall, we used to write 100% of the blog posts on our site. Since the birth of our daughter, outsourcing our blog has been the best way to optimize our time and get the most out of our blog. If you don’t feel like blogging or social media management isn’t your strong suit(or even the best use of your time) outsourcing can be a huge help for small business owners! However, if you can't afford to outsource, you can try batching the content and planning it for some time ahead.
Batching just means that you are completing a series of similar tasks in one sitting. Think about what might work best for you. Should you sit down one day a month and knock out all of your blog posts for that month? Maybe once a quarter? What about social media? 2 weeks at a time? One month at a time? It’s all up to you! It lets you focus your energy on what you do best. After batching content for the month, you’ll spend less time per week worrying about getting your marketing content out and more time perfecting your craft and keeping your customers happy! And to top it all off, batching content during a slow season lets you take the time off that you truly deserve as a hard-working business owner.
Check out this quick reference guide for content batching for more content creation ideas.
Why the best season to do batching is the slow season
Not sure if batching is right for you? Here are 3 reasons why batching content during a slow season will benefit your business. #OnceYouBatchYouWillNeverGoBack
1. Sometimes life happens - batching helps
As much as we all wish we could, we just can’t control everything. Picture this:
Scenario #1: You’re in the midst of a peak season and there is just not enough time to finish that blog post. So, you decide to put it off another week.
Scenario #2: Your old friend, “burnout”, pays you a visit. Your client meetings can’t be put on hold, but you can pause some of your marketing efforts for now.
Scenario #3: Life happens. A family member gets sick or hurt, and everything else on your plate automatically gets pushed to the side.
Even in the worst-case scenario, batching content helps to ensure that your content is always delivered on time. Batching helps you plan ahead, and better yet, adapt when things go wrong. You can finally take that well-deserved time off, knowing your business is still taken care of. Peak season is no longer a huge source of stress for you - it’s a source of pride! You get to go out and do what you love most, and then come home and push the “post” button.
Burnout is no longer a point of major guilt for you. It’s a time when you can truly listen to your body and give it what it needs to heal. Batching content during the slow season allows you to rest and still enjoy the days off during a busy period that you truly need to succeed. And when life happens, it happens. Because you batched content in advance, you can take that time off without hesitation and focus on what really matters. Business can wait. Batching allows you and your business to continue thriving even when things aren’t going according to plan.
2. Finally - more time for your passion
We all got into this for a reason - because we love what we do. But when the marketing monkey came around and started assigning us tasks like bookkeeping and lead generation, things got… less passionate. That’s where batching comes in. You could spend one day a month knocking out all of those tasks at once and then, boom! Look at all of this extra time in your day to spend doing what you love! Additionally, batching helps to not slip up and fall behind when business is doing well. Even better - it leaves you with more time to spend with your family at the end of the day. And let’s face it: passionate you is a happier you. A happier you is a more productive you. And a more productive you builds a better business. Therefore, batching content leads to a better business. #YouAreWelcome
3. Thanks to batching, the slow season becomes your season
Before batching, a slow season meant even more stress on your shoulders than normal. Sometimes that even meant doing whatever was necessary to keep things running smoothly until business picked up. That kind of hustle takes a toll on you. Rather than waiting in fear for a slow season, spend your extra time preparing content. Not only does this help you pass the time, but it also allows you to create content for the busy season when you’re normally just too busy to do it.
Shoot, no one is stopping you from writing an entire year’s worth of content right now. Go for it! Write an entire course while you’re at it. Schedule out a month’s worth of social media posts. Do that thing you’ve been putting off for so long. Take advantage of this slow season and make it a productive one. Knock out the tasks that you can never finish during peak season. Make this slow season YOUR season.
And here’s something you should know about your audience: even when they aren’t paying, they’re still searching! Did you know Google grades you on the consistency of your posts, too? This is why it’s so important to keep your content rolling. Use this precious time to establish your expertise, offer resources, and stand out amongst your competitors so that when they are ready to pay up, they’ll think of you first.
Blog and Social Media Content Ideas for photographers
Not sure what to write about? When deciding on topics, we feel that the most obvious ones are ultimately the best choice. For example, this year we have been getting more requests for branding, so it only made sense that we adapt our content strategy to reflect those inquiries. We also consider whether or not the topic can easily be used as evergreen content since that usually provides us with the most bang for the buck.
Here are a few content ideas to help you attract your ideal client:
Introduce or reintroduce yourself to your audience.
Explain why you don’t do _____________ (wedding photography, newborn photography, etc.) In other words, explain why you choose your niche and what makes you the perfect choice for someone looking for that service.
Do an FAQ. You probably have clients asking the same ol’ questions again and again. Save yourself some time and energy and send them your FAQ blog beforehand.
Share your why (it never fails!).
Have fun with it: ”10 Things You Don’t Know About Me” posts like this allow your audience to get to know you and your personality and decide whether or not you would be a good fit for them.
Educate your clients on something you offer.
Share tips on how your clients can prepare for a session.
Blog about your shooting style.
Share 5 things your clients should know before booking their photographer.
Talk about the work you admire.
We believe that any content you provide on your website or social media should also set proper expectations with your clients and give further insight into who you are. Not only does having client-focused content attract and assist your future and current clientele, but it also helps establish you as an expert in your field.
Content-scheduling tools for photographers
We use tools like Google Search Console, Ubersuggest, Google Analytics, and Hotjar to help with our decision-making, and Squarespace to schedule our blogs. Planoly, on the other hand, is our top choice for social media scheduling and publication. In addition, it can be extremely beneficial for you to optimize your imagery by the platform. In our experience, Lightroom and Spacesaver have been great tools for this. Optimizing your content for the platform it is on provides an overall higher-end experience for your digital visitors, further establishing you as an expert.
At the end of the day, batching gives you the time, energy, and freedom to focus on perfecting your craft. It allows you to keep your marketing consistent and high-quality, and more importantly— it helps you to avoid going crazy! What more can you ask for?!
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So that’s how a slow (and scary) season can turn into a super productive one, folks! Did you enjoy these tips on how to improve and optimize your photography business? Make sure to follow Meet the Bryants on Instagram for more business and marketing tips for photographers, and check out their beautiful website built with our Lyra Design Kit.
Creatively yours,
Squaremuse Team.