How I Planned Digital Content For One Month of Travel
As you read this blog, I’m off for a month of travel to five countries around Europe. While my remote business gives me the incredible flexibility to travel, I knew I wanted to prepare for a partial break during my travels. To lessen my stress to work while I’m abroad, I created a digital content plan to give me the time I need to get way ahead on client content while also allowing for flexible content on my own feeds.
If you’re wondering how you can prepare tons of content for a long period of travel, creating a plan with a timeline and to-dos before your trip can ensure you’re stress-free during your travels. These tips can easily be adapted for a full sabbatical or vacation from your online business.
Created a content plan in Airtable.
Over a month before my trip, I created a workspace in Airtable to help me stay on top of the content I wanted to create. I also set a timeline to keep me on track and organized. This step is the most important for keeping you focused when creating tons of content instead of overwhelmed. I tweaked my newsletter, blog, and Instagram content calendars specifically for this workspace.
Lessened my content by using repurposed content.
As a solo team, I knew I had to prioritize client content which meant lessening my workload for Sol Studio’s blog and newsletter. The best way for me to create awesome content while not sacrificing quality way to repurpose content on my blog. I simply refreshed 3 of the 5 blogs I needed to be scheduled for while I was gone which took half the time of writing a new blog. Refreshing content is not only a great way to save time, but it also ensures your content stays current and up to date. Unsure of what to repurpose? Take a look back to see what performed well or see what content could use some new information.
Bulked up on captions and content.
To ensure I was ahead of my content for my trip, I created a lot of content. I created weeks worth of my signature yellow graphics, styled stock photos and stop motions to mix in my feed, and ready-to-go Instagram captions. Once I zoned into my content creation zone, I focused on jotting down captions I could easily post with a travel related photo to ensure my content remained valuable and consistent. I wanted my Instagram schedule to remain flexible, but to avoid posting on the spot, I opted for a library of captions ready to be used. This is another great place to include repurposed content from captions that may have performed well in the past. Simply add a new flare and photo to freshen up valuable content your audience will enjoy.
Hello, Kristof in Lisbon, Portugal
Planned content for first and last week of my trip.
The key to remaining flexible with my Instagram schedule for this trip specifically was staying one week ahead of my posting schedule. For example, the first week where I’ll be in London is already scheduled content. So this makes it easy for me to schedule posts from my London trip while I’m headed to the next destination instead of posting in the moment. An important thing to note your audience doesn’t KNOW that you’re not posting in the moment so you don’t have to stress about posting timely content.
If I hadn’t planned to post while I was on vacation or sabbatical, I would schedule posts for the week before, during, and after my trip. The perks of using an auto-posting scheduler like Later is that your posts will go live while you’re on the beach or at the spa.
Scheduled ahead for clients and set aside time for management.
As a social media manager, I schedule content that I create for my clients and manage their accounts directly through engagement. While I’ll still be working during my trip, I wanted to ensure I scheduled through both months I was going to be gone. And yes, it’s as tiring as it sounds. My trick to scheduling 2 months of content in less than one month? Getting in my content creation groove and sufficient time to get ahead.
As for while I’m traveling, I set aside 1-2 hours minimum each day to tend to this checklist:
Check emails, Slack messages, and Instagram DM’s
Log-in to each client account, tend to notifications and engage
Post any scheduled stories using Later
Simply doing these task each day ensure my clients feel like I’ve never left, while still giving me the time to explore and enjoy each city I’ll be visiting. I set up this daily to-do for weekdays within the Things app.
Set away dates for my Calendly.
Calendly is my calendar scheduling tool of choice for my strategy sessions, coffee chats, and discovery calls. Before I left, I limited my availability to end 2 weeks before I left to ensure I wasn’t overwhelmed with calls. I also made sure that my books were closed during my travels and resumed a week after I returned. Limiting my calls was something I knew would help me focus on running my business and caring for my clients. This also makes it easy for people wanting to book time with you simple instead of playing email tag to see when everyone’s availability aligns.
Gave myself grace and time.
The hardest thing of planning for this time off was not stressing myself out over getting everything done before I left. While I was able to check off most of my to-do’s, I gave myself grace with knowing I’d be able to effortlessly run my business and tend to everything during my travels. Also, I made sure to give myself sufficient time before and after my trip to stay up to date on all of my tasks.
And I’m off! These steps have helped me create a travel-work balance to ensure I’m able to effectively run my online business while abroad. Do you need help creating a content calendar in preparation for time off? Book a discovery call to learn more about our vacation packages!
