Every year, as I eagerly anticipate the first glorious days of summer, the temptation to take a break from—well, everything, including my usual routine—is ridiculously strong. But for business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketing leaders, I know very well that maintaining an active presence on blogs and social media is crucial. High-quality, consistent content marketing keeps your brand top-of-mind, engages your audience, and continues to drive traffic to our business content … yep, even when we’re out enjoying the sun.

So in the spirit of paying it forward I offer you a few of the lessons that we’ve learned as an agency over the years about how to keep our content and social media marketing rolling without breaking a sweat.

7 Tips for Efficient and Effective Content Marketing … Even in the Summer

1. Plan Ahead … Two Months at a Time

Yeah, yeah. You know about planning ahead. But do you actually do it? It is THE key for us – and for our clients – to think about content at least two months in advance. The foundation of stress-free summer content marketing is advanced planning. Set aside time to brainstorm, create, and schedule content for the upcoming two months. Go lighter than usual, by all means. But be present. Use a content calendar to organize your ideas and ensure a consistent posting schedule. Believe me: this proactive approach will save you from scrambling to produce content at the last minute and allow you to fully enjoy your time off

2. Get A Little Light

You’ve heard of beach reads, right? Consider something equivalent for your content. If your brand favours seriously informative stuff, Summer could be a good time to experiment with lightening it up a little. Consider content that’s engaging  and helpful, but not overwhelming. Content like: productivity tips, vacation-ready business strategies, and seasonal trends for your industry (ahem, articles like this one) can do really well in summer months, when your audience is in a sunny mindset. And don’t forget about the human content: behind-the-scenes stories showcasing your team or company outings and humanizing your brand; success stories and case studies involving clients; and testimonials about how lovely you are are always in season.

3. Repurpose!

Oh yes. Don’t forget the old stuff. Chances are, you’ve got valuable content in your archives. Dust it off! Take a look at your analytics to see what’s performed well in the past. Include a fresh intro, update the information, add new insights, and tweak the SEO to align with current trends. And voila. You’ve got new content, saving you from creating a brand new piece while giving your audience fresh content that still delivers value.

4. Repurpose Your Content: The Video Edition

Don’t stop with JUST updating a blog post. Do that, yes. But after you’ve refamiliarized yourself with the content, you might also consider shooting a quick video version of that same refreshed post. You might simply provide a short synopsis, in your own words, directing your viewers to read the full blog post. Or you might offer personal insights, or a story, that’s related to the post. Your call. Either way, you’ll be offering variety in your content, perhaps speaking to different audience preferences. Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are perfect platforms for these kinds of short, engaging videos.

5. Repurpose Your Content: Let’s Not Forget the Social

Your social media analytics will tell you exactly which past posts resonated best with your audience. Your next ste;: take these high-performing posts and give them a new twist. Update the visuals, add a new caption, or expand on the topic in a series of posts. This strategy keeps your content fresh without the need to start from scratch.

6. Batch It Up

This post sprang out of the introduction to our June newsletter. I had blocked out the time to write it, and while doing so, felt like there was more to the idea than just a short note. So I drafted this post and started envisioning associated social media posts, too—which are now in the works. I’m also editing the video post to accompany this blog (see Tip 4). So one little idea—based on a challenge I share with many of my clients, which I feel I have experience to help with— our clients has so far yielded a newsletter, this blog post, a video, and a cluster of social posts. Not too shabby. 

7. Automation for the People

Scheduling tools like Sprout Social (our fave), Flick (amazing! We’re exploring!), Later, Buffer, or Hootsuite, are a godsend in helping to map out and schedule / automate your posts. Give one a whirl to ensure consistent posting even when you’re away.

Nobody need ever know you’re gone. 

Oh, and enjoy the summer! 

By devoting even a small amount of time to planning ahead, you really can maintain an effective content marketing presence without compromising your summer enjoyment. The goal is to keep your audience engaged with valuable, relevant content while allowing yourself the freedom to recharge. Here’s to a hot content summer for you … without you breaking a sweat! 😅

Need a hand with your summer (or anytime) content marketing? Reach out. We’d love a chat.