How to Batch Shoot Content!

How to plan for a batch shoot!

Batch shooting is a game changer in the “influencer/blogger” world when it comes to maximizing your time and resources for your content. I batch my content monthly, now shooting all base content for the month.

My base content consists on the direction I want my story to tell for the month. This includes my color story, mood and aesthetic.

I believe that each month can reset for a new tone especially with new seasons approaching. For example you can start to introduce fall tones and colors in august to lead into September… you can implement spring colors in March to translate in April. Yes it’s that much strategy behind this, but knowing and understanding it will make you successful.

I’m very keen on ensuring that I pour into the aesthetic and appearance of my content for many reasons. I want my audience and future partnerships to take me serious. The work that I put out reflects my commitment to making this work.

Batch Shooting Key essentials.

• Choose your color story! This is soooo important because ideally when batch shooting you want to capture at minimum 4-5 looks. This is the goal because that gives you at least a look a week for your monthly content calendar. You want to make sure that the colors and aesthetic reads cohesive. If you struggle with this you can google or Pinterest “trend” color schemes for fashion, decor, etc. This step leads you to finding a location.

• Picking a location is a strategy as well. I’d recommend indoor for batch shooting as a “lifestyle content creator”. I prefer indoor because if you can find a space with different areas to shoot you can cram a lot in at a time. Eliminate unforeseen weather issues and you have privacy. There are so many gate keepers to information in space and I want to give you guys play by play on how I make things happen especially on a budget. For a while I used to rent out air bnb’s to shoot my batch content and although this works often times I finish early and now have to spend the night because I paid for the room. You’re also limited because some Airbnb rentals have a minimum 2-3 night stay. I’m working, not on vacation. Then a good friend of mine told me about Peerspace! Listen you guys this is a GAME CHANGER! It’s an app that host tons of hourly rental spaces ideal for photoshoots, video shoots and creative production. If you properly plan you should be able to knock out your shoot in 1-2 hours. I literally completed 6 looks in 1.5 hours! Planning is KEY! I knew exactly what I wanted, what I needed to do and in what sequence.

• Map out use of your time and organize the shoot. When I batch shoot I use my photographer to ensure the quality I need. The mission is to create my base content for the month but I also plan to fit in my sponsored content for the month into this slot as well. This allows me to keep the same level of quality for my core content and collabs. The brands LOVE it and it’s easier to pull engagement from my following. As a lifestyle influencer my niche includes a variety of avenues. I create content in the food realm, fashion, fitness, motivational, motherhood, marriage and more. Renting out a space with all living areas sets me up to be successfully for my messaging.

• To maximize your time keep it simple and clean when it comes to make up and hair. You don’t want to have dramatic makeup that will take more time to change for the next look. I keep a neutral pallet that can translate through all of my looks. If I change a lip it will be for the last look to avoid any staining issues. You can create variety of your look by changing out accessories to enhance the story of each scene. It gives the shoot a real time effect and I promise it won’t be repetitive, it’s efficient.

• I am a music lover and to get my comfortable and relaxed I always keep a playlist with some of my favorites to set my mood… give me a little Erykah, Jill, Jazmine and more.

• Make sure you have all of your props! This is important and you can even plan prior to the shoot exactly what stories you’d like to tell from the shoot. For example I knew my upcoming blog posts for the month and made sure to bring props to support to give me imagery to support the entries. I knew I did a black history month blog showcasing must read books. I brought the books to the shoot and had my photographer take item shots of them as well to use as my own stock photos for fillers on my feed. I brought the cooking items to shoot the promotional content for my new cookbook! I wanted Valentine’s Day content so I had chocolates, candles and champagne with flutes I received from my wedding! I also created tasteful intimate content for an upcoming post and bought perfume to plan out a call of engagement post about it! It’s really simple once you train you mind to think from a storytelling space.

These are a few tips that I live by to ensure a successful batching shoot. It feels so good to be over prepared in this spaces especially when motivation and drive can fluctuate in such a competitive industry. I plug my content into Planoly and mock up a few captions to tie in direction and I leave spaces to plug in real time images as well. You never want to be too curated but your page can have brand identity with close to 75% curated content.

I already have my space booked out for the next 3 months and I’m excited to create and see how far I can take the brand that is NlovewithJasmine. Have fun with creating your brand and set your own pace and focus on the lane paved for you! Keep in mind, you don’t have to batch monthly, this is what my brand has elevated to. You can certainly batch quarterly or as you see fit.