A Complete Guide to Generating Content in Bulk
Think about how much content you consume on a daily or weekly basis. How many social media posts do you view? How many videos do you watch? How many blog posts or news articles do you read?
Content consumption rates have never been higher. In fact, the average person consumes 6 hours and 59 minutes worth of content every single day. That’s equal to roughly 34 gigabytes!
For businesses, this means the pressure to produce engaging content is at an historical level. Most studies show posting to social media at least once a day is ideal in terms of follower growth and engagement. Then there’s blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, case studies, webinars— is it even possible to keep up?
As a marketing consultant and copywriter who provides content for several brands at any given time, I’ve wondered this myself.
Until I began generating content in bulk, that is.
That’s when things seriously changed for my business.
Suddenly I was able to produce large batches of content without compromising quality or falling short of client expectations. The creation process went back to being the best part of my job as opposed to my greatest source of stress.
So, is it possible to keep up with the growing demands of content marketing? Absolutely! All you need is a bulk content creation strategy— and I’m going to help you put one in place.
Keep reading for all my best tips!
A Complete Guide to Generating Content in Bulk
You know you need to ramp up content production if you want to compete with the big players in your industry. The problem is you’re not a writer or social media mogul. You’re a business owner with a million-and-one other obligations.
The thought of using bulk content generation to your advantage sounds like the miracle solution you’ve been looking for. But to be honest? You have no idea where to begin.
Don’t worry— there are tools and techniques you can use, and I’m here to share them with you.
Let’s start with the basics.
What is Bulk Content?
Bulk content refers to multiple pieces of content (videos, graphics, captions, blogs, etc) that are created within a specific time frame, for the purpose of being shared across several different social media or content marketing channels in the future.
If a brand or business wanted to plan out an entire month’s worth of social media posts in advance, for instance, they would need to create bulk content prior to the beginning of that month in order to schedule it and ensure timely publication.
What are the Benefits of Bulk Content?
There are 3 main advantages of practicing bulk content creation:
1. EFFICIENCY
Generating bulk content is all about establishing a streamlined workflow so you can repeat that same process when creating content in the future. This eliminates the need to come up with topics on the fly, manually schedule individual posts, or conduct last-minute research— all of which bottleneck the creation process.
2. CONSISTENCY
By creating content in bulk, you can ensure a consistent style, tone, and message across all your content. This consistency not only helps you build trust with your audience but also makes it easier for you to identify topics or content styles that don’t align with your branding.
3. SCALABILITY
With a bank of pre-created content, businesses can easily scale their content efforts without sacrificing quality. Whether it’s increasing content output or expanding to new channels, having a large inventory of existing content allows them to scale without increasing their workload or sacrificing the quality of their content.
How to Generate Content in Bulk
Many business owners are overwhelmed by the concept of bulk content. They sit down and make a list of all the content they’ll need and suddenly become acutely aware of how much work is required to make it happen.
Let’s say, as an example, you’ll need to following content to meet your goals next month:
4 Blog Posts
30 Instagram Posts
4 YouTube Videos
8 Facebook Posts
15 Instagram Reels
That sounds like a TON of work, right?
That’s because it is! But it doesn’t have to feel that way. With the right tools and techniques, you can streamline the process of generating content in bulk and actually enjoy this aspect of marketing your business.
Here’s are my top tips:
1. CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR
Creating bulk content is always easiest when you have a single, shareable master document. Firstly, multiple team members can refer to and collaborate on the document, keeping everyone on the same page. But even more importantly, it provides a clear, overarching visual representation of all your content ideas— making it easier to maintain a bird’s eye view of your content.
TOOLS TO TRY
My favorite content calendar tool? That’s Airtable, hands down. It truly takes spreadsheets to another level. You can easily drag-and-drop content elements (like images or videos) into your spreadsheet, create color-coated tabs to organize your data, and view your calendar in different formats (kanban, ghantt, timeline, etc).
The feature I enjoy most, however, is Airtable Automations. You can set your Airtable to automatically send a slack message to a team member when a post is ready for review, set notifications to be sent if a specific action isn’t completed on time, and much more.
Here’s a great 2-minute video if you’re interested in learning more about what Airtable is and how it can benefit your business.
2. RESEARCH TRENDING CONTENT TOPICS
You’ve got a tool for creating your content calendar. Now you have to populate your calendar with engaging and relevant content.
This is where many of my clients hit a roadblock. They typically begin firing questions like:
How do we know what content our audience wants to see?
What content performs best?
Where do we find inspiration?
My response? There’s a tool for that! You no longer have to come up with each content idea on your own or poll your audience to find out what they’re interested in. You can use technology to your advantage and lighten the workload.
TOOLS TO TRY
Buzzsumo is by far one of the most useful tools for finding content inspiration. Not only will it generate content ideas based on a provided term or phrase, but it’ll tell you which content is performing best online, allowing you to identify trending topics.
You can also use Buzzsumo to track the performance of your competitors' content, and gain insight into what’s working for them, so you can differentiate your own strategy.
It’s a powerful tool for anyone looking to scale their online presence to the next level.
“You no longer have to come up with each content idea on your own or poll your audience to find out what they’re interested in. You can use technology to your advantage and lighten the workload.”
3. USE AI TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Copywriting is a time-consuming task. Fortunately, businesses can quickly and easily generate captions and other short form content with the help of AI tools. While AI copywriting cannot replace human creativity and emotion, it’s ideal for simple tasks such as creating basic outlines or filling in gaps in existing content— which still saves you a significant amount of time and effort.
AI tools are best used for brief, succinct pieces of content like:
Tweets
Instagram captions
Facebook ad text
Product descriptions
Taglines
TOOLS TO TRY
ChatGBT is the best AI copywriting tool on the market. It has many different features that make it an ideal choice for creating AI copy, like its natural language processing capabilities, advanced analytics tools, and customizable templates. Plus, Chat GBT’s free version is an attractive option for businesses of all sizes.
While I obviously don’t encourage using AI for all of your marketing copy (I am a copywriter, after all), I do think it serves a functional purpose when it comes to streamlining the content production process.
Just remember to use it sparingly and only as a supplementary tool. AI copywriting is limited in its ability to capture the nuances of human language, which are essential for creating compelling content, so you don’t want to rely on it too heavily. Readers will be able to tell and it’ll put your engagement rates at risk.
4. EDIT WITH EASE
Even the most passionate copywriters struggle when it comes to the editing process. It’s tedious, time-consuming, and even downright menacing for those without an eye for detail.
Thankfully, with the help of technology, identifying grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and awkward phrasing doesn’t have to be soul-crushing. There are plenty of apps that do a fantastic job of cleaning up copy, allowing you to improve the overall quality of your work without compromising your sanity.
TOOLS TO TRY
My favorite editing tool is the Hemingway app. It helps you simplify and clarify your writing by pointing out overly complex sentences, unnecessary adverbs, and the use of passive voice. The app even offers suggestions for alternative words and phrases, making it super easy to correct your mistakes.
I’m also a huge fan of the paid version of the Grammarly app. Yes, you’ve got to shell out a little extra. But the advanced grammar and punctuation checks are worth the investment. Plus it integrates with a range of commonly used programs like Google Docs, Slack, Gmail, LinkedIn, and Wordpress. It’s been a lifesaver in terms of cutting down the editing times on my larger copywriting projects.
5. PUBLISH YOUR CONTENT ON AUTO-PILOT
If you’re a business with multiple social media accounts, you know how challenging it can be to produce and publish individual posts on a daily basis. Automating this process eliminates the need to manually post content on each social media platform— and trust me, after you’ve given automation a try you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it! You’ll be amazed at how effortless it can be to schedule posts in advance and maintain a regular posting schedule.
TOOLS TO TRY
I’ve tried countless social media scheduling platforms throughout the course of my career. Each had its perks, but there were also pitfalls— scheduling glitches, limited customization options, expensive monthly fees. I wanted a tool that was reliable, secure, and capable of handling large amounts of content.
That’s when I found Social Pilot. I liked how it integrated with all the major platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google My Business) and the bulk scheduling feature that allows me to upload and schedule hundreds of posts in one go.
I haven’t looked back since discovering it! If you’re looking for a robust scheduling tool that makes automation a breeze, I highly encourage checking it out.
Partner With an Experienced Professional
Sure, you could develop a bulk content generation process from scratch. But here’s the thing— establishing a bulk content creation strategy requires research, money, and an in-depth understanding of content marketing best practices.
Ask yourself, do I really want to…
Invest in a suite of 5-10 different content generation tools? (You can expect to pay anywhere from $300-$800 per month in tools alone).
Dedicate an average of 2 hours per day to bulk content creation?
Complete the training required to master the various tools and techniques I’ll be using?
If not, hiring a marketing consultant might be the better option.
As a content marketing consultant, I handle all aspects of generating content in bulk for my clients, enhancing the consistency and scalability of their online presence.
Plus, I already have the tools required to get the job done, so you save on the cost of software programs and apps.
If you’ve been wanting to optimize your content distribution across multiple channels but haven’t known where to start, let’s chat. I’d be happy to discuss your options with you.