New month, new goals, new priorities. I love starting each month feeling ready and prepared to accomplish all of my goals. But being a content creator can be overwhelming when you have no structure. There are so many things to do each day that every hour counts. I reached a point where I felt like I was doing so much but was really getting nothing done. Have you ever felt like that? To make each month start smoothly and with some sort of structure, I am sharing 6 monthly tasks every content creator should do at the start of the month.
Actually, Plan Your Content Calendar
I used to wing it. No goals, no plan. Each month would come and I would just plan as the days went by. Plan your month out at the beginning of the month so you are prepared for the days that are ahead. Instead of waking up each day contemplating what to post, create a content bank with things you want to post. I know that deadlines for projects always change, so if you want to break this down even further, I would even just plan your content calendar for each week. So instead of planning at the beginning of each month, plan the content for the coming week on a Sunday afternoon. I also love using an actual planner instead of a digital one for writing down deadlines so I have an idea of how to manage my time and days as they roll in.
Set Your Monthly Mini Goals
Write down 3-5 goals you want to accomplish this month and keep it simple. These are your short term goals that will get the month going and keep your motivation in check. I usually set these goals while keeping in mind my yearly overall goals. So if my yearly goal is to grow my Pinterest account a monthly goal would be to post on Pinterest 10 pins per day.
Evaluate and Understand your KPIs
If you had to choose of one of the monhtly tasks to do at the start of every month, understanding your KPIS is definitely a priority. Focus on key performance indicator (KPI), and optimize your content for it. A KPI is a specific metric you chose to measure how well your content is doing against your expectations. Track your KPIs to understand better what is working and what is not. When you publish content each month you are not necessarily posting just for the sake of posting. You want your audience to see your content, you want your audience to engage with your content, you want to grow your following, you want campaigns to perform well. You want to be looking at your direct blog traffic, social media traffic, organic traffic. Also, pay attention to those “SAVE” posts on your static posts on Instagram as that is always a great indicator of content your audience wants to keep seeing.
Create a List of Brands You Want To Pitch To This Month
If you are not regularly pitching to brands, then it is something you need to start doing. Especially if you have a content calendar with specific projects you have in mind either for your website or your Instagram account. As content creators we are constantly creating and are always looking for fresh content to share with our audience. Obviously, you want to turn pitches into paid collaborations, but do not underestimate the power of pitching just for product samples. Often in times, I have an idea for a project and need a product, but I do not necessarily want “brand control”. If this is the case, I usually reach out to the brand and ask for the product sample for content I am working on. Yes, you are telling the brand you will create a post with their product but you are NOT:
- Committing to specific deliverables
- Committing to exclusivity
- Committing to specific performance metrics
- Committing to your content being approved by the brand
I started blogging as a hobby and my creative outlet. So sometimes it is really comforting to create content with no expectations from the brand side.
Have a “File Day” to Delete Unused Apps, Photos and Documents
We have SO MUCH Content. My phone and my laptop files contain so many photos. Do not let photos pile up. Set one day at the beginning of the month to evaluate what photos you are going to keep and which ones you are going to delete forever.A digital clean feels so good because over the course of 30 days you can accumulate in your phone so much digital junk. Also, delete any downloaded apps you are no longer using.
A list of some things I organize at the beginning of each month:
- deleting photos off my phone
- deleting emails I don’t need
- deleting unused apps
- organizing my photo folders
- organizing my digital files
Organize Your Expenses From The Previous Month
I hate leaving tax season and gathering receipts and invoices till the last minute. One strategy I implemented to be ready to submit my taxes without stressing over it, is to stay on top of it month by month. A monthly task I implemented as a content creator is to stay organized for tax season ahead of time. Some content creators use 3rd party apps to upload all of their receipts. I personally keep a folder on my laptop where I import all of my receipts and invoices as I do have an accountant and I don’t use a 3rd party accounting app.
Also, read my blog post about things I am changing as a blogger this year.
