A Content Production Strategy

This is my system (the how) for producing social media content in minimal time.

I have three sources of content production:

1. I read books and long articles and listen to audiobooks. I take notes or write down any ideas that occur to me as I work through them. I then save those notes in a searchable database using the Notes app on my Apple devices (I have 3,385 notes at the moment).

2. I write out 95% of my sermons, Sunday school lessons, pastoral prayers, and exhortations from the pulpit. I’ve been doing this since ’04. All of these manuscripts and notes are saved in Pages and backed up to an external hard drive.

Any lengthy email reply heavy on doctrine or instruction is first written in Pages and then saved. I have been doing this since ’04.

3. I have over 3,385 notes, a couple of hundred sermons and Sunday school lessons, and numerous miscellaneous writings. This post is being saved in Pages under “Content Production.”

Most of my social media content is drawn from these materials by searching Notes or Pages directly for a keyword. For example, I’ve attached a screenshot of me searching for the word “localism” in Notes. If I’m working through “localism” personally or pastorally, I’ll search my database to see what notes I have on that particular topic. A lot of these notes are simply copied, pasted, and slightly reformatted for the particular platform. It takes 30 seconds.

I'm dyslexic, and it can show in my writing. So, I've started using three apps to improve grammar and syntax and to catch typos: Grammarly Premium, ChatGPT, and Hemingway App. A word of caution on ChatGPT: the prompt I use is "correct grammar and syntax." While it does this, it has a tendency to weaken writing by, among other things, inserting adverbs.

Three concluding points:

First, I probably spend less time on social media than you imagine. Producing content and consuming content are two different things. I focus on producing.

Second, I follow very few of the people who follow me on social media. I stick to following real-world connections or, perhaps, someone in a content area that I find insightful. I’m not interested in everyone’s thoughts. Who has the time? So, I will accept friend requests on Facebook from people I don’t know, but I immediately unfollow them.

Third, I keep my social media interactions to likes/hearts, GIFs, and short responses. I avoid lengthy arguments. I hide or delete weird or unhelpful comments. Also, I don’t check all my notifications. I usually pop in for a moment and go through and like, hide, or respond to interactions on a popular post all at once. You can get through 50+ comments in 3-4 minutes.

Hence, social media for me is more about the media side of things than the social. It’s primarily a channel or platform to deliver content. I’m stirring up thoughts and sending out flares. I want people to know they aren’t alone or crazy. I want to encourage people in godly thinking and pursuits. And I want to undermine and frustrate the enemies of God and the Church.

That's the "why" of my social media content.