June 1, 2023

One of the first things you’ll learn as you explore the world of social media marketing is how important it is to show up consistently. What’s the best way to ensure that? By creating a social media content calendar. Here’s how…

 

What is a social media content calendar?

 

Simply put, a social media content calendar is a schedule for all your pre-planned social posts on the various channels that you are using. It’s not so dissimilar to a scheduling app for students.

 

It helps you to deliver your strategy, maintain consistency, and post high-value content across a multitude of platforms with ease.

 

Sounds good, right?

 

You need to use the right tools

 

Of course, if you wish to create a social media content calendar, you need to use the right tools.

 

Yes, you could write down a schedule manually in an Excel sheet and follow that, but the key is automation, which is where using the right tools comes in.

 

The best tools allow you to create a similar framework to the following example:

 

  • Platform type.
  • Content type.

 

With that in mind, you can easily plan out and schedule your posts for maximum engagement and efficiency.

 

Here are some recommended tools to check out:

 

  • Sprout Social.

 

There are many, many different tools at your disposal, but the above 5 are quite highly rated and worth exploring.

 

Why bother with a social media content calendar?

 

The fact is, creating, scheduling and posting quality social media content consistently is incredibly time and resource intensive. Using a social media content calendar / delivery system can help you:

 

  • Save time.
  • Schedule posts with ease.
  • Reduce errors.
  • Create a more comprehensive social campaign.
  • Build a stronger brand identity.
  • Run timely campaigns, especially during seasonal holidays, etc.
  • Track your performance with great accuracy.

 

How to create an awesome social media content calendar?

  1. Define your social media goals: what do you wish to achieve through social media? Is it brand awareness? Are you pushing a specific product or service? When you understand your goals and key KPIs, you’ll have a much easier time measuring your success.
  2. Audit all of your current accounts: your need to go through each account and assess the situation. Are they all synced up and branded with the appropriate logo, NAP details, links, and messaging? Do you have all of your account details to hand? Do you understand your audience demographic on each platform? The more data you can gather, the better prepared you’ll be to create an awesome calendar.
  3. Choose the appropriate social platforms: you also need to think about which platforms can bring the most value to your brand. Where does your target audience spend most of their time? Which platforms are best suited to your industry? Understanding your audience better will help tremendously in this regard.
  4. Decide how often you’ll post: you need to research where your audience is at, when they are online, and how often they are active. This can help you decide which days and times will likely get you the most engagement. Stick to this plan consistently and you’ll notice a huge change in your results.
  5. What will you post about: next you need to decide what type of posts are best suited to your product / service, and how well such posts will resonate with your audience. Remember the 80/20 rule; 80% educational and entertaining, 20% promotion.

 

Consider hiring the professionals

 

Bear in mind, even with a social media content calendar with relative automation, you still need to strategize a campaign and create awesome content as often as possible. As such, it may be worth hiring the professionals to accommodate your needs. Time is precious and a social media marketing agency can help you spend yours wisely.

 

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}