Why I Don’t Want to Schedule My Posts!
Having a proper content creation schedule is essential. It allows you to stay organized and prepare posts in advance.
I know all these. But lately (especially this past month), I’ve given up on the idea. Before I sort of slowed down in releasing content on Medium, I wrote several posts. During that time, I got some advice — “Schedule them. It’s better to release consistently rather than releasing different articles at once and disappearing for the next 3 months!”
(Not quite in the exact words but that’s the idea).
That was really great advice. I didn’t follow it though. And like a prophecy (while I didn’t disappear), I slowed down. I got busy with other things — designing my website, generating content ideas for my channel, etc.
Though I shifted my focus on engagement which really helped, my Medium content creation slowed.
I can feel your “they told you so” eyes. It’s not helping.
But if I was given the chance to do it again, I’ll probably have done the same. Now, here’s why:
1. You start seeing the results!
Two major things have helped me since last month on Medium:
➔ The engagement I’ve made, and
➔ One crazy week of creating content like crazy (my highest record! — forgive me, I’m too lazy right now to go back and count)
If I had scheduled some of those posts, they probably wouldn’t yet have gotten the views they have now. And this made me further realize something on Medium:
The algorithm favors those constantly publishing content.
I’ve seen it — authors releasing several articles with only an hour or two differentiating their time. And these are some of the top authors on the platform. I was shocked, so I decided to try it for myself and yeah, it worked quite well (though probably not on the same scale it did for them).
2. Allows you to start thinking about new things to write
When you know you’ve exhausted your current topic ideas, what do you do?
You look for more.
When you have none scheduled, this moves you to act faster and start generating more ideas. It’s quite simple!
3. I just want to see my article published!
Ok, I guess that might be a little childish. But that’s really it most of the time.
I guess you can say it allows me to move on and create other content. Otherwise, I’ll just go back and keep staring at the scheduled post till it goes live! Yeah, I’m that type.
But let me clarify something — while I gave up on the idea of scheduling posts, it doesn’t mean I slacked off. In fact, during my “slowed-down period,” I didn’t fail to update my weekly blog series.
Anyway, there are several benefits to scheduling your posts, and from my viewpoint, there are also benefits of just “hitting” publish immediately.
If you schedule posts out of fear of running out of articles, it’s just the wrong move. The truth is there’ll always be something for you to write. I mean, here I am — still writing and determined to make that “crazy week” a “regular week!”
Schedule Posts or Not: What’s your take?
All that said, I’ll probably schedule posts, especially for my site’s blog. At the end of the day, I can’t deny the benefits of posting in advance to give you time to breathe.
What’s your take? Which team are you on? Or are you on the fence like me? Let me know your opinion…
Wait, if you’re reading my work for the first time, I’m usually not talking about things like this (🤔or am I?).
Anyway, check out my profile if you’re interested in quality tips to improve your writing skills. I’ve got consistent series going on that I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading. Till next time!
