The Content Lab: Consistency As A Creative Habit

Curriculum
Written By Allison Wetig

This post is a class syllabus and progress tracker for part of my “adult-school” curriculum. Overview here.

Subject: Technology & Media

Course Title: The Content Lab: Consistency As A Creative Habit

Dates: Monday September 1st to December 22nd.

Learning Objective: Determine social media goals and build a framework for creating content that sustainably supports weekly publishing across various channels.

Requirements for A+ Grade:

  • Attendance / Practice

    • Create a log of content published throughout the semester to have data to reflect on how consistent / inconsistent I am

    • Sync 1404 Collective Instagram and Facebook accounts so that the daily stories automatically share to both ✓

  • Research, Study and Media Consumption

    • Read excerpts from Atomic Habits by James Clear

  • Final Capstone Project: Printed Binder

    • Identify 3 to 5 pillars for each channel so I always know what kind of content belongs where

    • Create a posting schedule that allows for long-term consistency, that also prioritizes the most-aligned channels for personal brand and business accounts

$300 Grant:

  • Neutral Colored Headphones $30

  • CapCut $9.99/month, Unfold $2.99/month, Tezza $19.99/month

  • Additional iCloud storage $9.99/month

Week 1: Identify All Of My Social Media Channels

Week 2: Identify Hurdles & Solutions

  • Juggling All Channels

    • It’s really challenging to stay active across all of these channels

    • Some channels have bigger audiences so it’s easy to default there but then I forget the potential that other channels could have if effort was put into them

    • Solution = determine tiers of channel priority (most valuable, mid, and low) and assign each channel to a tier, then identify a posting volume for each on a weekly basis.

  • Lack Of Identity

    • Almost all of the channels lack defined content pillars and purpose which allows my brain to think I could post ANYTHING on them, but it’s too overwhelming so then I post NOTHING

    • Solution = content pillars that can act as creative guardrails. If I know the role of each brand/channel in your bigger ecosystem, then each one has its own voice and I’m not trying to do everything everywhere.

  • Screen Time Burn Out:

    • Even though an obvious solution is just to sit down, plan, edit and post… the screen time fatigue and content burn out is real

    • Solution # 1 = determine if any channels can be outsourced

    • Solution # 2 = develop a posting schedule that is sustainable and spread out throughout the week to avoid excessive chunks of screen time that can feel very draining

  • Uncertain ROI:

    • With my own personal channels, I know I am not monetizing my reach like I could / should be. It’s not that my community doesn’t convert… it’s that I rarely ever promote or try to sell anything. (I make a little bit from affiliate links but nothing life changing). Although, I do really appreciate how many gifted products and opportunities I’ve received.

    • With 1404 Collective, I know our channels bring in a lot of customers so I do feel very justified putting in effort there… which makes me realize it’s because I have something to actually sell them! This brand has the clearest ROI, which is good since I want to launch the “1404 Community Content Program.”

    • With Already Friends, I am grateful that we have a loyal and engaged community. This was proven when we sold out our Costa Rica trip. However, the only consistent revenue streams we have are Patreon, The Podcast Bible and some sponsors (based on listens). Without doing an annual trip or having a “big ticket” item for sale, the amount we’re making from our regular income streams barely covers editing, equipment upgrades, studio time, software subscriptions, etc. There is a lot of room to grow here.

    • With New Wave, there’s huge potential. I haven’t been active on those channels in about two years but the audience proved to heavily convert when the shop was open. The brand identity and aesthetic was really locked in. I loved having such a vision for what to post on New Wave’s channels because it made it really easy, enjoyable and rewarding to execute. I also built up the email and text subscribers to over 1,000, so having those direct points of contact is great. If I developed a new offer / business, I’m certain I could re-activate these channels and see success.

Week 3: Actionable Steps Brain Dump

  • Allison Wetig Personal

    • Instagram Feed: My feed posts have been performing well and getting solid engagement. I feel good about the amount I’m published. I’ve posted 88 feed posts (photo albums and reels) since January 1st. There’s been 38 weeks this year so that’s an average of 2.5 posts per week which is exactly what I’m going for (between 2 to 3 per week).

    • Instagram Stories: I stopped posting Instagram stories around February 2025. This was partially a strategy to see how it increased engagement on my feed posts and I do think it has helped. I used to get so many DMs but now I’ve channeled that into comments. Experts say you could make money by selling on stories, which I’m open to but not sure how to do that without being salesy.

    • TikTok: Although I rarely post, my older content still gets so many views daily. My videos “face talking to camera” and “show and tell tutorials” perform significantly better than cutesy aesthetic videos. I have such a hard time filming these but when I do, it’s usually rewarding so if I could identify a niche to talk about then I’d feel more conviction to follow through (for example: the circumcision video took a 2 hours of research, 30 minutes to film and 2 hours to edit but it’s received 140k+ views, 5k+ shares, 2k+ saves and hundreds of comments. The time investment was well worth the results). I also feel most comfortable posting these when I’m in a t-shirt or sweatshirt so that I don’t have to overthink my outfit. I prefer to film these from the waist up. However, I’ve never made proper money from my personal TikTok (only like a $100 from the creator rewards in a year) so it’s hard to stay motivated because I’m like what is this for and what do I gain from this?

    • Lemon8: I was in the creator program for 2+ years so I got paid $30 per post but eventually, the pay wasn’t enough to justify the added requirements and limited freedom of each piece of content. I am really proud of growing the channel to over 8,000 followers. I’d really like to post on here again but in a way that I can monetize.

Week 4: X

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