How to Build a Month of Social Content in One Afternoon (Without Losing Your Mind)
Raise your hand if your content strategy is currently:
✨ Posting on the fly ✨ Panicking on a Tuesday ✨ Recycling a meme from 2021
…Or worse, not posting at all because you’re too busy actually running your business.
We get it. Planning content can feel like a full-time job—one you didn’t sign up for. But here’s the good news: you don’t need a 12-tab spreadsheet and a decade of free time to create a month of content.
You just need a strategy, a system, and a tiny bit of structure (don’t worry, this isn’t corporate—this is Ivy House).
Let’s break down exactly how to plan, prep, and batch a full month of strategic, on-brand, don’t-hate-myself-after-posting social content—in just one focused afternoon.
Step 1: Know WTF You’re Promoting
Before you post a single thing, ask yourself:
“What’s the point of this month’s content?”
You’re not just posting for vibes. You’re building momentum toward a goal.
That goal might be:
Booking out your service
Promoting a product or event
Growing your email list
Building brand awareness
Launching a new offer
👉 Pick 1–2 priorities. Everything you post should point back to them.
Otherwise, you’re just throwing glitter into the wind and calling it marketing.
Step 2: Pick 3–4 Content Pillars
Content pillars are themes you consistently post about. They keep your feed cohesive and your audience engaged (without you reinventing the wheel every time).
Examples:
Educational (Tips, how-tos, myth-busting)
Behind the Scenes (Process, tools, workspace)
Social Proof (Testimonials, transformations, client wins)
Promotional (Services, launches, offers, CTAs)
Personality-Driven (Hot takes, memes, personal stories)
Choose 3–4 that align with your brand. Every post you create will fit into one of these categories. Simple, effective, done.
Step 3: Map Out Your Content Skeleton
We’re not asking you to plan your entire life. Just outline what kind of post goes on what day.
Try this light and breezy weekly breakdown:
Monday – Quick tip or myth-buster
Tuesday – Behind-the-scenes or personal story
Wednesday – Testimonial or transformation
Thursday – Promotional CTA
Friday – Reel or relatable post
Weekend – Optional or engagement-style post (poll, question, etc.)
Boom. Now you’ve got your structure. You can freestyle within it, but it keeps your brain from spiraling into “what do I even post??” mode every damn day.
Step 4: Start with Captions, Not Graphics
Hot take: writing your captions first is the move.
Why?
You clarify the point of the post
You’ll spend way less time designing because you know what needs to be visualized
You avoid creating a beautiful graphic that says… literally nothing
Start by writing 10–15 caption drafts. Don’t overthink the language. Just talk like you would in a conversation with your ideal client. Hook, value, call-to-action. Done.
Step 5: Batch Create Visuals
Once your captions are drafted, now it’s time to design.
Use Canva, hire your VA, or (better yet) let Ivy House handle it—but whatever you do, keep it on-brand and consistent.
Tips for batching visuals like a pro:
Use one or two templates and stick to them
Swap in your brand colors and fonts
Add text overlays that match your hook
Don’t crowd every post with info—let the caption do the heavy lifting
Use high-quality photos (stock if you must, but bonus points for custom content)
This is also when you record Reels. Set aside 45 minutes, wear something cute, and film 3–5 short Reels back-to-back. You'll thank yourself later.
Step 6: Schedule and Walk Away
Upload everything into a scheduler (we love Loomly, but Later, Planoly, and Metricool work too).
Schedule posts at least 3x/week to start. If you want to post daily? Great. But remember: consistency matters more than frequency.
And then? Log off. Take a nap. Go outside. Bake banana bread. Your content is handled.
Pro Tips from the Ivy House Vault:
💡 Repurpose like a rebel. That blog post you wrote last year? Break it into 3 posts.
💡 Set a timer. 90 minutes for captions, 60 for visuals, 30 for scheduling. Done.
💡 Don’t aim for perfection. Aim for done with intention.
💡 Add engagement time to your calendar—15 minutes, 3x/week, just responding to DMs and comments. That’s it.
TL;DR
Planning a month of content doesn’t have to feel like running a damn marathon.
You need:
✅ One clear goal
✅ 3–4 solid content pillars
✅ A simple content skeleton
✅ Captions written first
✅ Visuals that support your messaging
✅ A scheduling tool that frees your brain
Still overwhelmed? Don’t worry—we do this for our clients every month. We don’t just create content—we build systems that make marketing feel easy (and a little sexy, if we’re being honest).
Book a discovery call and let Ivy House take content creation off your plate—for good.
