Design Process — PowerContent Social Media Planning Companion

Designing a Notion system to plan social media content ahead of time; one step closer to consistency.

First, I was a ghost. And then I was consistently inconsistent for months — it felt like baby steps in adult life.

After pausing my social media activities a few years ago (due to personal reasons), I struggled to get back even though everyone was talking about how important it was to show up every day to succeed as a solo creator or freelancer. When someone mentioned people being inconsistent on social media, I felt as if it was directed at me — until recently.

While scrolling through my feed last month, I came across the Content Creation System by Monet. I thought the guide might be worth a try.

I downloaded and read the guide, found it rather actionable, and put some notes on the side. I recommend it as a starting point to anyone who needs direction and inspiration to create content as a solo creator.

But I needed more than just reading. I needed to write more and post more — and when I say more, I mean doing anything other than nothing.

I know I’m a flight risk unless I have a plan or a moral obligation. I needed something to hold onto — a system to write down ideas and plan a posting schedule. I could learn to be as consistent as the sun by gradually improving. So I turned to Notion.

Based on the content pillars mentioned in the guide, I created a content planning system called PowerContent and shared the design process step-by-step on Twitter; in other words, built it in public.

The Design Process

Below, I share the steps so you can build your own. If you want a copy of it to start planning your content straight away, there’s a download link at the end of this post. You can get it for free.

Step 1: Defining goals and features

As in all systems I build, the first step was the discovery stage, where I focused on what I needed. I asked myself:

• Why do I need this system?
• What do I need to do with it?
• How am I going to use it?

My answers started to shape the features:

• Note-taking for future posts for various platforms
• A calendar to view post schedules
• Post categories to balance out content
• Contact database to keep a directory of my online friends

Step 2: Databases

Based on the defined goals, I created two connected databases: one for posts and one for contacts. I only planned to post on 3–4 platforms max, so I didn’t need a Platforms database; I used tags instead.

Database properties

Step 3: Forming the views

Back to the goals. I needed a system to:

• Easily take notes
• See scheduled posts on a calendar view
• Display posts for each platform
• Display contacts (can be grouped by tags)

Notion State’s Perspective Method is an excellent solution for displaying various views with links to others. So I used that linking approach to set the database views. I like how neatly Josh Redd (Notion State) designed it. As they say, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

Step 4: Building the perspectives

First, I created the perspective pack. My focus dashboard is called “Powerboard”, so I named this pack “PowerContent”.

I created a slightly different layout than Josh’s method, with the navigation menu on top to use the entire page width for content.

Navigation Layout

The featured view of PowerContent focuses on posts. Unscheduled ideas are on the left; the calendar view is on the right. So it is easy to move an unscheduled post to the calendar with drag and drop.

Featured view with unscheduled ideas on the left and calendar on the right

This view works well with scheduling but could be improved for note-taking. So I created another view called Content Ideas. The page contains a linked view of the Posts Database and displays unscheduled posts on a board view, grouped by category, aka content pillars.

Content Ideas grouped by category for note-taking

I also needed a set of views to see posts for each platform, scheduled and unscheduled. So I duplicated the featured view and filtered the database to display posts only for the selected platform. I repeated this step to create dedicated pages for each platform.

Content by platform

Lastly, I wanted a view for Contacts, the people I admire or become friends with on social media, with URL properties to link to their profiles on multiple platforms. I thought keeping them ready to connect to my posts might encourage me for more engagements. (Spoiler alert: it did. I now use DMs and public posts to engage them more often than before.)

Contacts

I also added a rollup property to my Contact database to count linked posts and a formula property to display the information, e.g. “2 recorded engagements”. Here is the formula if you’re new to Notion formulas:

if(
  prop("Post Count") == 0, 
  "", 
  if(
    prop("Post Count") == 1, 
    concat(format(prop("Post Count")), " recorded engagement"), 
    concat(format(prop("Post Count")), " recorded engagements")
  )
)

Overall, it was a half-day of work, including writing the build-in-public posts and jotting down some content ideas.

After I posted the design process on Twitter, Monet encouraged me to publish it as a template. After a couple of minor tweaks, it was on Gumroad. So far, 100+ people downloaded the PowerContent template.

Let’s wrap it up with the system features.

PowerContent is designed to plan content ahead of time and be consistent on social media. It helps you to:

• Capture your creative ideas and inspirations.
• Visualise your content schedule at a glance.
• Display posts for each platform.
• Maintain a balanced and diverse content strategy.
• Develop meaningful connections with your friends and audience.

Get the PowerContent template for free and customise it to suit your needs.

I help solopreneurs and small businesses to manage their work lives easily and efficiently by designing custom systems focused on workflows, objectives, and priorities.

If you want to improve your workspace with some TLC or a complete overhaul, connect with me on LinkedIn.

If you don’t have a Notion account yet, you can sign up on notion.so.
Free for individual use.