In the fast-paced realm of social media, staying ahead of the game can often feel like an uphill battle. Juggling multiple accounts, brainstorming engaging content, and ensuring your posts are timely can become overwhelming. But there’s a savvy solution that many marketers swear by: the social media content calendar. Don’t have one? Have one but it’s not been useful? Let’s dive into why they are so valuable and how you can craft an effective calendar in five simple steps.
What is a social media content calendar?
Also known as a social media calendar, it is a roadmap that outlines the details of your upcoming posts. For marketing teams, it’s the go-to guide for planning, scheduling, and executing your organisation’s social media strategy with precision and ease. By investing time to set it up now, you’ll reap rewards down the track.Here are some of the benefits of having a social media content calendar:
- Save time and boost efficiency: planning your posts frees up valuable time and avoids the last-minute scramble.
- Maintain consistency: regularly engaging with your audience/s and publishing content that aligns with your strategy is essential for a strong brand presence.
- Ensures quality: review posts before they go live to identify any inconsistencies and help safeguard your brand’s reputation.
- Streamlines collaboration: teams have visibility across upcoming content, ensuring your messaging is aligned.
How to create a social media content calendar: your step-by-step guide
- Conduct a social media audit
Before diving into your calendar, take stock of your current social presence. Access the key social media performance metrics (think reach, video views, click-through rate, etc) and look at your top-performing posts – why did these attract such high engagement? Look at your competitors too. What content types are they using and how often are they posting? Analysing this data will help you benchmark, identify what’s working, and where you can improve.
- Choose your social channels and content mix
Not all social channels are created equal. Your audit may show that you’ve been most active on Facebook, yet your target audience is on LinkedIn. Choose which platforms are most relevant to your audience/s and tailor your content mix accordingly. Does your audience like educational blogs, engaging animations, or insightful case studies? Select the content types that resonate best and speak your brand’s language. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different content types – be creative – but ensure they align with your content strategy.
- Decide what’s included in your calendar
Customise your social media content calendar to suit your specific objectives. Start with basic details like platform, date, format/type, and copy. Consider adding more advanced elements like the creative, approval status, and time for publishing. When setting your posting schedule, you need to find the sweet spot based on your audience’s preferences and engagement patterns – there is no one-time-fits-all approach. Experiment with times and days to optimise your reach.You might want to add the link to the published post. Note that if you use a social media archiving tool like Brolly, the post, its comments and metadata are all recorded for you, making recordkeeping easier and reporting more convenient.Whether you opt for a simple spreadsheet or a robust management tool, ensure you find the perfect fit for your team’s needs.
- Collaborate and iterate
Involve key stakeholders and gather their feedback to improve your social media calendar. It’s only valuable if it’s meeting your team’s needs, so foster collaboration and make adaptations. Do you need more detail, or make it more streamlined? Your calendar should be a living document that evolves.
- Analyse and optimise for social media success
Your calendar isn’t just a plan; it’s your key to unlocking social success. Track your posts, analyse their performance, and use those social media insights to fine-tune your strategy. You may find that you can optimise high-performing content, or pivot based on audience engagement. Either way, let data be your guide.
Why your organisation needs a social media content calendar: the bottom line
A content calendar helps you stay organised, consistent, and ahead of the curve. By following these five steps, you can be less reactive and more proactive to unlock the full potential of your online presence.
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Government
Schools and colleges
Banking and financial services
Health providers
