How to Automate Your Content Schedule

The problem is the queue, not the writing

Small businesses do not stop posting because writing is hard. They stop because Tuesday arrives and there is nothing ready, and after that happens three times the whole thing quietly ends. The failure is one of supply, not of talent.

So do not automate the writing. Automate the queue. The job worth handing over is turning one thing you already know into eight scheduled slots with a rough draft sitting in each, so that Tuesday finds something waiting rather than finding you.

This changes what you are asking for. Not write me a post, which produces the beige paragraph everyone recognises, but take this idea I have already had and lay it out across a fortnight in usable pieces.

One idea, one fortnight

Start with something you have said out loud to a customer this month. A misconception you keep correcting, a question you answer weekly, a mistake you watch people make. That is a pillar, and it has enough in it for a fortnight.

Here is one idea I know well from my own work.
THE IDEA: [what you would say to a customer, in your words]
MY BUSINESS: [what you do, who for]
WHERE THIS GOES: [the two or three places you post]
Break it into 8 separate pieces. For each one give me:

a one line angle, saying why a reader would care
which of my places it suits, and why
the single point it makes, in one sentence
the first sentence, written properly
Rules:

Each piece must make a different point. If two overlap,
replace one and say which you replaced.
No piece may promise a result, a figure or a timescale.
Do not write the full posts. I am writing those.
Skip anything you would need facts from me to complete,
and list those separately at the end under NEEDS ME.

Notice what is not being asked for. Eight finished posts would be eight things you have to reject. Eight angles with a first sentence each is a fortnight of runway that still sounds like you when you finish it, and the finishing takes ten minutes a piece.

Repurposing without repeating yourself

The same words posted in three places is not repurposing, it is duplication, and people who follow you in two of those places notice immediately. Real repurposing changes the point, not just the length.

Below is something I have already published.
Rewrite it for [the other place you post], where readers
are [who they are and what they came for].
Change:

the opening, so it earns attention in that context
the length, to [n] words
which single point it makes, choosing the one that
matters most to this audience
Keep:

the facts exactly as they are
my voice, which you can see in the original
any specific example, since examples are the reason
people read this at all
Do not:

add a call to action I did not write
add statistics, percentages or research claims
open with a rhetorical question
use the words unlock, leverage, seamless or game changer
ORIGINAL:

Where automated content still reads as automated

Be honest about this, because your readers will be. Four things give it away every time.

Openings. The rhetorical question, the did you know, the in today's fast paced world. Ban these by name in the prompt, because they will otherwise appear in roughly every second draft.

Specificity. Automated content describes categories where you would name a case. You say the bakery on Wells Road that switched suppliers in February. It says businesses in the food sector. Every concrete detail you add is a detail nothing else could have produced.

Claims. Generated drafts reach for numbers to sound authoritative and the numbers come from nowhere. If a figure appears in a draft and you cannot name where it came from, delete it rather than checking it, because checking it takes longer than doing without.

Rhythm. Three sentences of similar length, three bullet points, a tidy closing line. Real writing is lumpier. Cutting one paragraph in half and leaving a four word sentence on its own does more for a post than any amount of rewriting.

ONCE A WEEK, IN THIS ORDER


Look at the queue. If it holds fewer than 8 dated slots,
run the pillar prompt on one idea from this week's work.


Read the three drafts due next. For each one:

delete the opening line and write your own
add one specific detail only you could know
remove any figure you cannot source
cut it by a quarter



Move anything you would not say out loud to the bin.
Not to next week. The bin.


Note which published piece got a real reply from a real
person. That is next week's pillar.

WHAT NOT TO DO
Do not top up the queue and skip step 2. A queue of
unedited drafts is a scheduled apology.