The basis of a great social media plan is content. You can have the perfect profile picture. You can have 10,000 followers on Twitter. You can post at optimal times on the right platforms. However, if you do not have relevant, shareable content to back all of that up… you’ve pretty much got nothing.
Planning and scheduling content can seem overwhelming, but building an effective and useful social media content calendar is easier than you may think! Follow our three tips below to make managing any social media account much easier.
Tip #1: Start Big
Before starting with the specifics for the calendar (blog posts back to your site, promotions, etc.), it’s important to remember upcoming notable events and potential trending topics. What big holidays are coming up? Any giant sporting events? The election, perhaps? These things matter. Even if they are not directly related to your business, they will be trending on social media. In the world of organic social media, following along with trending topics is very important. Be part of the conversation! Stay relevant!
One way to help keep track of all the bigger trends of the month is to create a separate calendar. See below for an example:
Tip #2: Organize and Customize
Once you’ve planned out the big points of the month, it’s time to get into the details. From the time of day you want to post to the platform you want to post to, it should all be organized in your content calendar.
First, break down your calendar by platform. Facebook will have different content than Twitter. Instagram will have a different photograph than what you’re posting on LinkedIn. It should all be customized and optimized to fit each individual platform. Next, set dates and times for all content. Thoroughly planning your content will help with organic reach and also avoid a spam-like posting schedule that could lose followers. Be sure to include the text you’re going to use, the image you may be posting and a link, if necessary.
Pro tip: One of the most important add-ons to a social media content calendar is a space for client feedback. Clients may want to approve their social media content before it goes live. We’ve found a client feedback space is the most efficient and effective way for clients to let us know what they’d like to change or what they think is working great!
Tip #3: Observe and Adjust Accordingly
At the end of the month, analyze what content your audience positively or negatively interacted with or ignored. Make notes and adjust! As you experiment and adjust accordingly, you’ll get a better feel for your audience and what content helps establish your brand’s relevance and credibility.
