One challenge I often hear from my clients, especially women just starting their businesses or scaling up, is how to manage it all: You’re the visionary, the project manager, the marketer, the product developer, and the face of your brand. And if content creation is sucking up your time, you’re not alone.
Here’s the truth: creating content can be a huge energy and time drain if you’re not strategic about it. The solution? Build an evergreen content library—a collection of valuable, relevant, and timeless pieces of content that you can repurpose, tweak, and reshare over and over again. This library won’t just save you time; it’ll streamline your marketing efforts, empower you to scale faster, and allow you to focus on the bigger picture—like growing your business.
In this post, I’m going to break down how to:
- Build a reusable evergreen content library.
- Streamline content creation for future launches.
- Organize your content for easy access and scalability.
By the end, you’ll have a roadmap to create a sustainable content strategy that fuels your business for years to come.
Why an Evergreen Content Library Is a Game Changer
Before we dive into the how, let’s talk about the why. What makes an evergreen content library so valuable, and why should you, as a busy entrepreneur, invest the time upfront to create one?
- Maximize Your Time: Instead of reinventing the wheel with every social media post, email campaign, or blog article, an evergreen library allows you to reuse and repurpose content. This minimizes the time you spend on ideation and creation.
- Boost Your Brand Consistency: By developing a library of core content pieces, you ensure that your message remains consistent across all platforms. Your audience will get to know your brand voice, mission, and values, which builds trust and loyalty.
- Drive Long-Term Results: Evergreen content is designed to stand the test of time. Unlike trendy topics that fade quickly, evergreen pieces remain relevant, allowing you to continuously attract new leads and grow your audience.
- Fuel Your Launches: As your business grows, you’ll launch new products or services. A well-stocked evergreen content library provides a foundation for your launch strategy, so you’re not scrambling to create new content under pressure.
- Reduce Overwhelm: Having a content library means you won’t feel the constant pressure of “What should I post today?” Instead, you’ll have a treasure trove of resources to pull from, giving you freedom and peace of mind.
Step 1: Understanding Evergreen Content
Let’s start with the basics: what exactly is evergreen content? And how is it different from other types of content you create?
Evergreen content refers to material that remains relevant, valuable, and useful over time. It’s the opposite of content based on trends, news, or seasonal topics, which have a limited shelf life.
Examples of Evergreen Content:
- How-to Guides: Instructions or tutorials that solve a problem or teach a skill your audience will always need.
- Educational Blog Posts: In-depth articles explaining key concepts, methods, or industry best practices.
- Listicles of Resources or Tools: Useful, curated lists that remain relevant as long as the resources remain up-to-date.
- FAQs: Frequently asked questions and their answers are always in demand and can be repurposed across multiple platforms.
- Foundational Thought Leadership Pieces: Explaining your business philosophy, why you do what you do, and the problems your products or services solve.
Now that you know what qualifies as evergreen content, let’s talk about how to create your own library of this kind of material.
Step 2: Building Your Evergreen Content Library
Building your content library may seem overwhelming at first, but trust me—it’s a process that pays off in spades. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating an evergreen content library that will serve you for years to come.
1. Start with Pillar Content
Begin by identifying three to five core topics that align with your brand and target audience. These topics should be broad enough to branch into multiple subtopics but specific enough to relate directly to your audience’s pain points.
For example, if you’re a business coach helping female entrepreneurs:
- Topic 1: Personal productivity for women in business.
- Topic 2: Strategies for scaling a service-based business.
- Topic 3: Work-life balance and managing family while running a business.
Once you have your core topics, create in-depth pillar content for each. These could be long-form blog posts, downloadable guides, or video tutorials. Your pillar content should act as the foundation of your library, around which smaller, more specific pieces of content will be built.
2. Create Subcontent from Your Pillar Pieces
Repurposing is where the magic happens. Once you’ve created your pillar content, break it down into smaller chunks that can be used across different platforms. Here’s an example of how to repurpose a blog post into multiple formats:
- Blog Post: Write a detailed guide on scaling a service-based business.
- Social Media Posts: Pull key tips from the post and create a series of Instagram or LinkedIn posts.
- Infographic: Turn data or steps from your post into an eye-catching graphic.
- Email Newsletter: Share a condensed version of your post in your email list, with a link to the full article.
- Video Content: Film yourself explaining the main points of the post for your YouTube channel or IGTV.
- Quotes or Tips: Highlight the most valuable tips from your post for Twitter or Facebook.
Repurposing content allows you to leverage a single piece of work in multiple ways, stretching its lifespan and reach.
3. Batch Your Content Creation
If you find yourself spending hours each week writing new content, it’s time to streamline the process by batching. Dedicate a day or two each month to create a batch of content for your library. This will help you stay focused and produce more in less time.
- Tip: Set a timer for focused content creation sprints (e.g., 60 minutes) to increase productivity.
Once your batch is complete, schedule it out using tools like Trello or Asana for project management, and content-scheduling tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to automatically distribute it over time.
4. Add Regular Updates
While evergreen content doesn’t need to be constantly reworked, it’s important to revisit and refresh it periodically. Outdated statistics, changes in industry best practices, or product updates may require you to tweak certain posts. Regularly review your library to ensure your content stays accurate and valuable.
Step 3: Streamlining Content Creation for Future Launches
Once you’ve built a solid evergreen content library, it’s time to make it work for you during launches and other time-sensitive events.
1. Repurpose Library Content for Launch Campaigns
When launching a new product or service, you don’t need to create all-new content from scratch. Instead, revisit your evergreen library and identify content that aligns with your launch. For example:
- Repurpose a popular blog post by tweaking the intro to relate to your new offering.
- Use snippets from existing content in your sales emails or launch sequence.
- Schedule social media posts that tie back to relevant evergreen articles, directing traffic to your site during the launch.
2. Create a Launch Content Folder
As you approach a launch, save time by creating a dedicated content folder in your library. This folder will house all the emails, posts, and graphics you’ll need for the launch. Include:
- Email sequences for nurturing and converting leads.
- Sales page copy and FAQs.
- Social media posts to promote the launch.
Having a launch folder ready to go not only saves time but also reduces last-minute stress.
Step 4: Organizing Your Evergreen Content Library
Creating great content is one thing. But without a system to organize it, you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed when it comes time to actually use it. Here’s how to set up a system that works:
1. Use a Project Management Tool
Tools like Trello, Notion, or Asana are perfect for organizing your content library. Create boards or folders for each core topic, and within those, organize your subcontent (blog posts, social media posts, videos, etc.).
- Pro Tip: Include keywords, categories, and tags for each piece of content so you can quickly locate relevant material when you need it.
2. Categorize by Format and Platform
Organize your library by both content format (e.g., blog post, social media, email) and platform (e.g., Instagram, YouTube, Facebook). This ensures you can quickly find the content you need, no matter which platform you’re posting on.
3. Create a Content Calendar
A content calendar allows you to plan your content in advance, ensuring you’re consistent across platforms. It also helps you stay strategic, timing posts around promotions, launches, or seasonal events. Your calendar should include:
- Posting dates for blog articles, social media, and emails.
- Key themes or topics you’ll focus on each week or month.
- Launch schedules for new products or services.
Building a Sustainable Content Strategy
By creating an evergreen content library, you’re investing in your business’s future. You’re setting yourself up for success, reducing stress, and freeing up time to focus on what matters most—growing your business, connecting with your audience, and achieving your vision.
Building your library may take time initially, but once it’s in place, you’ll reap the rewards for years to come. You’ll be able to repurpose, refresh, and reuse content, creating a sustainable content strategy that supports your business growth and empowers you to scale with ease.
FAQs:
1. What is evergreen content?
Evergreen content is material that remains relevant, valuable, and useful over time, unlike trend-based or seasonal content.
2. How can an evergreen content library help my business?
An evergreen content library saves time, increases consistency, drives long-term results, and supports future product or service launches.
3. How do I start building my content library?
Start by creating pillar content around three to five core topics, then repurpose that content across multiple platforms and formats.
4. How often should I update my evergreen content?
While evergreen content doesn’t need frequent updates, it’s important to review it periodically for accuracy, particularly if industry best practices or product details change.
5. What tools can I use to organize my content library?
Project management tools like Trello, Asana, or Notion are excellent for organizing your content by format, topic, and platform.
