Using Notion as a Content Management System
The 9-9-1 principle of the internet or of communities in general is that 90% of people are basically just lurkers or content consumers. Around 9% interact in some way, likes comments etc. and only 1% actively create new content.
In the past, I’ve always fallen under the former most group. A passive consumer. Consuming without contribution. I’ve spoken about this previously in Building a Personal Knowledge Management Systsem but I found myself saving content that I found interesting without ever really doing anything with it or applying it to anything. My goal was to become a more active participant in that 1%. Contribute and add value to communities I am a part of. Put the resources I had spent time collating, to work. At one end of that spectrum is my knowledge management system which I’ve written about at length. At the other end is my content management system. This system has removed a lot of the friction I run into when trying to write and publish something. I think some of the concepts are worth sharing, whether you’re looking to start with a template or build something yourself from scratch.
The focus of this post will be on the content management side of things but the true potential of a system like this, is how it interacts with your knowledge management system. So before we dive into the weeds of managing a content calendar let’s look at how these systems interconnect. Take the quote I mentioned at the beginning, on the The 9-1-1 Principle of the Internet as an example. I came across that concept months ago, in a video called How to Start Creating in 2024 With the Curation Method by Tiago Forte. I took a note of it, because I thought it was interesting but didn’t necessarily know what I was going to use it for. When it came to researching for this post, I was able to dive into my notes, filter my tags and keywords related to content management etc. and this one surfaced to the top. I can click on the note content contained within a synced block and see where it’s sourced from and where else I’ve used it, at any time. This let’s me see those connections at a block level as well as at a database level.
Content Hub
The content hub gives a high level overview of all aspects of your content system. You have quick access to your content channel pages, any content currently in development as well as views of content published. You can also access the content related dashboards; Process; Analytcis & Brainstrom. These all offer a more focused view of the different aspects of content management.
Process
The process dashboards guides you through the workflow of taking an idea from that ideation phase to published. Each stage of the dashboard is designed to work with content in it’s specific phase and progress it to the next stage. For example the first stage is that initial ideation phase. You have just captured a new idea. The inbox showcases the tags and metadata properties so you can organise the content ida before adding it to your system.
Whereas the validation section showcases completely different properties.
Items with a Phase of Validation and Status of In Progress will appear in the Validation view. The validation view contains a number of simple checks to help you make a decision on what ideas you want to pursue and how you may want to prioritize them. You can use the Audience Requested, Searchability, Competition and Angle checkboxes as some simple pulse checks to see if you want to move forward with an idea. After checking the appropriate boxes, you can change the status from In Progress to Done. A built-in automation will change the Phase from Validation to Prioritization and change Status to To Do.
These automations are present throughout the system and help you progress your content through those initial phases of development.
Brainstorming
The Brainstorm dashboard is intended to help inspire new content ideas by revisiting old ones and leveraging the resources in your knowledge management system.
Re-Purpose
The re-purpose section shows content that has not been repurposed (the re-purpose property is empty). The re-purpose section can be used to encourage cross-posting where appropriate. For example a successful post on your blog could be the foundations for a script for a video on a YouTube channel. A tweet or forum post that gained a lot of traction could be expanded on in an accompanying blog post.
Parked Ideas
Ideas with the Phase Parked display here. A content idea with the phase Parked can be used to indicate that an idea is not worth pursuing further at that time for example. At a point, where you’re looking for content to develop and are short on new ideas you can revisit parked one and see if any are worth further exploring
PKM Connections
If your content system is connected to your knowledge management system as in the Content Knowledge Bundle you will also library resources and notes that have not yet been connected to a content idea. In my knowledge management series; How I Use Notion for Personal Knowledge Management: Capture I focus on this theme of orientating around action. The idea being that content captured in your PKM should be looked at under the lens of your own output. Will this resource help me write a future blog post? Complete a project? This section of the brainstorming dashboard, surfaces knowledge you have captured that you may not have utilized and helps you make those connections to your own creative output.
Analytics
The Analytics dashboard uses Notion’s chart feature to visualize data from the associated databases. It’s a create way to track the amount of content you are publishing but could also be used to capture more channel specific statistics.
Using the Content Template
Tasks
The add content tasks button can be used to add some basic tasks that can be used for every piece of content
Research: Creates a parent task to complete project related research. Different research areas can be added as sub-tasks.
Writing: Creates a parent task to complete the content writing. Writing can be further divided into sub-tasks.
Finalize: Creates a parent task to finalize the content. Checkllist items like adding a title, thumbnail, SEO keywords etc. could be added as sub-tasks
Writing
The writing section is where you can actually create your content. Here, you can draft your article, blog post, or other written material. You can also use this space to organize your thoughts, create outlines, and refine your writing before moving on to the finalization stage. If the system is connect to your PKM, you can show your related notes and resources here for easy reference. Here’s an example of how that looks in my own system, when writing this post:
Finalize
The finalization stage includes a template checklist to ensure your content is polished and ready for publication. This checklist typically covers aspects such as:
Proofreading for grammar and spelling errors
Checking formatting and layout
Verifying all links and references
Optimizing for SEO
Adding appropriate tags and categories
Creating a compelling meta description
This systematic approach helps maintain consistency and quality across all your published content.
Promotion/Re-purposing
The promotion/re-purposing section is a strategic area for content amplification. Here, you can:
Generate ideas for new content that promotes your current work (e.g., social media posts, infographics, or video summaries)
Identify existing content that can be linked to or referenced in your current work
Plan for cross-platform sharing to reach diverse audiences
Develop strategies for building backlinks to improve SEO
This approach maximizes the reach and impact of your content across multiple channels, enhancing visibility and engagement.
Report
The report section pulls in related analytics reports to your content. A review of these reports can be conducted periodically after the content is published to see how it performs.c. By taking a look at these reports every now and then after you've published, you can learn a lot. You'll see how many people are viewing your content, how they're interacting with it, and whether it's actually converting. This helps you get a feel for what your audience likes and how they behave. You can also keep an eye on how well you're doing in search rankings and tweak your SEO strategy accordingly. Plus, you might spot areas where your content could use a bit of polish or expansion. And of course, you can figure out if all your hard work creating content is paying off in terms of ROI. For example if you’re using blog posts to promote a product you sell, it’s important to measure if your blog post is leading to clicks on your project page. Building a reporting framework and checking it periodically can help you make smarter decisions about your content strategy, find better ways to connect with your audience, and ultimately get more mileage from your content marketing efforts.
A comprehensive content or knowledge management system is definitely not a requirement to outputting good quality work. Ultimately, it will always come down to putting in the time and doing the actual thing. Creating the perfect system should never be a barrier to actually getting started. Your system should develop over time as you refine your own process. While I have template of my own system available, note that it’s just that; a template of my own system. It won’t 100% suit your needs. It could get Whether you want to try it out and tweak it as needed to your own requirements or just apply some of the principles here to your own existing system I hope you found this post helpful.