Build a Sustainable Content Calendar for YouTube (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Welcome back to my Creator Brew Camp. Welcome back... ...to it. And congratulations. After all these episodes, finally your first video is now posted. So sit back and enjoy that wave of accomplishment and pride. You just made a video. You made something. There's something in the world that now exists directly because of you that didn't before. That's awesome. And it's something you should recognize. There's not a lot of people that know how to make a video. So go ahead and enjoy that feeling. Sigh. Okay, now it's time to do it all over again. So today we're going to be talking about content schedules and creating a content calendar. Because if you are looking to grow an audience, you can't really have a I'll post when I feel like it attitude. You need to have some sort of structure so that your audience can know when to expect new content. Because if they don't know when to expect new content, they kind of stop anticipating new content. Which, as you can imagine, is no bueno. Now, there's no golden cadence for when you should be making videos. And there's a common misconception that you should be making videos every week. Or even every couple days in order to maintain an audience. Now, obviously posting more often is better than posting less often. But it's not really a make-or-break thing when trying to grow your channel. See, the most important thing when trying to build a content schedule is not frequency, but consistency. You want to stick to something that, first and foremost, you can consistently do. If you can realistically only make a video, like, once a month, that's totally fine. You just need to stick to that cadence. As a matter of fact, for my personal YouTube channel, once a month is about how often I post on there. And I'll show you exactly how I go about keeping that schedule. Now, we already went through the notion doc I use to keep track of my videos and content ideas. But this is where I keep myself organized and on track every single month. Yeah, that's right. It's a calendar. Ever heard of one? Now, we already know in the video creation process there are five stages. Choosing an idea, writing, filming, editing, and posting. So all we're trying to do is fit all those stages into the specific cadence that we chose, which for me is once a month. So the first thing you want to do is look at the type of video you want to make and figure out which of the five stages you need the most time in. For example, if I'm planning on making a commentary video on a bad movie I saw, I can estimate that I'm going to need the most amount of time in the writing and editing stages. As opposed to something unscripted where I might need more time in the filming and editing stages. So I'll go to my calendar and I'll map out all the stages. So for choosing an idea, which is this, what is this color? Fuchsia? Pink? It's one of those, I don't know. Choosing an idea usually takes me about one to two days. So let's just go ahead and mark the first two days as choosing an idea. And I'll write that on the second day we will have our idea chosen. Boom. And I know my handwriting isn't the best. Okay, just, you know, be quiet. Now writing usually takes me the most time in the video creation process because it's when I get the most in my head and I don't think the video is good and I have to come up with jokes that I think are funny and then I don't think they're funny and I have to rewrite them and it's just a lot of crappy stuff. So if I want my video to be posted by this day, I'll give myself maybe to the 17th to have a finished script. So I'll circle all these other days to signify that those are writing days. So by the 17th, I should have a finished script. Done. Now, am I going to be literally writing on every single one of these days? Probably not. But this stage is what takes me the most time, the most brain power. So I'm giving myself the most time, the biggest grace period here to have it done. Now, moving on to shooting. Shooting usually only takes me about a couple hours. So I really shouldn't need more than a day on this unless I'm doing something that's big and elaborate. So I will mark these two days, Saturday and Sunday for shooting. And if I don't need Sunday, that's fine. I can just use that as a rest day where I don't have to do anything, but it's scheduled for me on there if I need it. So I will circle the 18th and the 19th. Those are shooting days. And I will put on the 19th shooting. Oh, that's I wrote that really ugly shooting done. So by this point, I should have my video completely filmed and completely ready to be edited. Now, we want our video to be posted on the 30th. So I will circle that in green posted, which means we want our video done on the 29th. If I really wanted to, I could have my video to be done on the 30th and then posted on the same day at the 30th. I don't like doing that. I don't think that's a good habit to pick up. I think your video should always be done at least a day before you plan on posting it. 30th will be posted, which means that all these days, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. I have 10 days to completely edit my video, which means on the 29th, my video is completely done. So this is my calendar for the upcoming month for my next video. I have two days to choose an idea. I have about two weeks to have a finished script because that's what takes me the most time. I have two days to shoot. If I need two days, usually I can get it done in one. And I have about a week and a half to edit the video to be ready to be posted on the last day of the month on the 30th. Now again, am I going to be literally working every single one of these days? Most likely not. Actually, I don't even have to say most likely. Definitely not. I might have some social events on the weekends. I might have some social events on the weekdays. Or my day just might be really busy and I just don't have time to work on it on certain days. Those are all things that I'm thinking about and accounting for as I'm making this schedule. Again, to go back to the writing portion, which is the biggest amount of time on my calendar, I know myself. I know that there are a lot of days that I'm just going to kind of put it off because I don't really want to work on it. So there's probably like three or four days here where I'm not even going to think about the script because I don't want to. I have those days accounted for. These are all things you should be thinking about when you're creating your content calendar. So this is my roadmap. And theoretically, by this day, I should have a new video on my channel. So this this is great. This is awesome. This is perfect. But let's be honest here, creating your content calendar, that's the easy part, you know, but actually sticking to it, that is a lot harder to do. So because of that, it is essential that you pick a realistic cadence for you because this whole system only works if it's something that you can actually maintain. This calendar is obviously very important to make sure you're posting consistently, but even more so, it ensures that you don't burn out. So if you find yourself having to sacrifice all of your social life or free time in order to make your calendar work, that's a sign that it's just too condensed. And sure, that might work for two or three videos, but eventually you're going to burn out. And next thing you know, it's been six months and you haven't even touched your channel. So when you're building your calendar, again, be realistic with yourself. Take into account any social events, any off days, any days that you just don't want to do anything. And if you have to post less frequently to do so, that's not only fine, but encourage. And this next part is equally important. This thing only works if you give yourself real deadlines. Not I'll try to get to it or I'll shuffle some things around later. I mean specific real dates that you have to have things done by. It's not to sound too pretentious or self-serious, but you do have to kind of treat this like a job. This calendar should be treated as drop dead deadlines instead of just suggestions. Because if not, you know, I will push off choosing an idea till the 6th. And I'll push off finishing my script till like the 20th. Next thing you know, it's the 29th and my video is not even close to done. That's why I stress realistic cadences and building in grace periods for yourself. Because once these dates are set, they are set in stone and shouldn't be adjusted until the video is posted. So at the end of the day, it's pretty simple. Consistency over frequency. And all we're trying to do here is maximize our consistency while minimizing our burnt out-edness. That's how you build trust and momentum with your audience while still keeping all this YouTube stuff sustainable for you. So your homework for this week is to take some time, figure out a good cadence for you, build out your calendar for your next video, and then commit to it. And throughout it all, remember to keep your love and passion for creating videos at the forefront. And now I'm going to get started on my next Trust Me I Think video where I fight a professional boxer for the first time. With no safety equipment because, you know, I won't need it. Alright, good luck on your next video. See you guys in the next one. Bye.