How to plan your social media content calendar
Planning your social media
content calendar
Start implementing these simple strategies in your social media planning to take it to the next level. And don’t forget to download the content calendar template at the end of the post.
Not sure where to begin when it comes to your social media strategy? Here, planning is the key.
We’ll be honest, creating compelling content for social media is hard work. It takes time and effort. But a little planning can go a long way to making the process a lot simpler and smoother.
CREATE A SCHEDULE OF HOW OFTEN TO POST
So, where do you start? First things first, you need to create a schedule of how often you should be posting and when.
Taking heed of your analytics is key. You need to know when your audience is online. Set up your content schedule to post at the key times/days they are online.
For some businesses this might be twice a week for feed posts, for others it might be five times per week.
IDENTIFY YOUR CONTENT PILLARS
Next, you need to identify your content pillars. Think of these as the blueprint for your content planning.
Once you are set on your content pillars, these will give you the base to create your content from.
Content pillars will help you plan and execute a social media strategy that resonates with your audience and helps to attract likeminded followers.
Some key content pillars are: to inspire, to educate, to entertain or to promote. Here are some ideas:
Inspire:
Highlight a social issue
Celebrate a key date
Share a podcast or playlist
Discuss your brand journey
Educate:
Share relevant information from other sources, like a news article
Highlight the benefits of a particular product or service you provide
Foster thought leadership by sharing a company blog post
Entertain:
Do a poll
Share a meme
Do a behind the scenes video of a day in the life
Do a meet the team video
Host a takeover from a collaborator
Promote:
Showcase a new client
Promote a sale
Encourage newsletter signups
Do a case study on a recent project
Show a new hire or promotion
Identifying your content pillars and utilising them in your social media strategy will allow you to plan and create your content more efficiently and keep you on brand and on message for your target audience.
EXPERIMENT WITH THE MEDIUM
From here you can experiment. If you’re on Instagram try reels, stories and posts and see what gets the most engagement. On LinkedIn you could try posts or writing an article. The options are endless.
The key here is to test and measure but always remember to have fun with a don’t get caught up in comparing yourself to others. Stay true to your brand and be authentic. This will resonate much more with your audience.
If you’d like to give content planning a go, click here to receive a social media content calendar template.
