If you’re a social media manager, chances are you’ve thought about creating a content calendar for your brand. Or maybe you’ve already created one, but it’s not working as well as it should be. If that sounds like you, I’m here to help.
1. Know your audience
The first step in creating a content calendar is to know your audience. You need to understand their needs and interests, as well as what they like, dislike, and are likely to share. You also need to know what type of content resonates with them, how often they engage with it, and so on.
3. Plan your content types
Before you start creating content, it’s important to plan what types of content you’ll be posting. Here are some ideas:
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Social posts (images, GIFs, and videos)
- Photos/infographics/visuals as part of a larger piece of content (e.g., blog post)
- Podcasts (and/or transcriptions for those who prefer to read instead of listening and for inclusion purposes)
- Events like webinars or workshops that you can promote with social media marketing tools like Buffer and Meet Edgar.
You should also consider how much time it takes to create each type of content—and whether the ROI makes sense for your business. For example, if it takes hours for someone on your team to create an infographic in Photoshop or Illustrator but then only gets shared on Twitter by 3 people who don’t actually follow you back… maybe investing all those hours isn’t worth it.
4. Set your frequency
Social media channels, like Facebook and Twitter, have different audiences. If you have a small audience on Facebook, it’s probably not worth it to post too often because your post will get lost in their friend feeds.
In addition to taking into account the size of your following and which social media platforms you are using, you should also think about what kind of content works best for each platform.
5. Write the content
Ok, so you’ve got your social media calendar set up, and you’re ready to start scheduling content. But how do you actually write the stuff?
Well, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration when writing social media posts:
- Your content needs to be interesting and relevant for your audience. It should also be easy to read and understand without being too long or boring.
- Try to keep all of your social media posts short and engaging. Don’t get into too much detail on one post—if people want more info about what’s happening in their industry, they’ll visit your website or blog post instead of reading an article on LinkedIn (where they might not have time).
- Make sure that the content is consistent with both the brand image that you have established as well as its tone (e.g., if it’s sarcastic then all sarcasm must stay within the context of each individual piece; don’t use sarcasm when writing sales copy).
6. Test and tweak the calendar
Now that you have a calendar, it’s time to test it. Pick a few posts from the calendar and post them as usual. Then pay attention to how your followers respond—was their reaction positive or negative? Was their engagement high or low?
Check if the content on your social media channels is relevant and engaging by doing this test-and-tweak process with each new post you plan on sharing during those days. If something doesn’t perform well, don’t be afraid to modify your calendar accordingly! Keep track of what works and what doesn’t so that next month’s marketing efforts are even better than before.
With a little planning, you can create a calendar that makes managing social media quite easy.
The first step is to figure out what your goals are for each social media channel. Are you trying to drive traffic to your website? Increase brand awareness? Build engagement with customers? Once you know what your goal is, it’s time to put together a content calendar based on those goals.
Conclusion
Creating a content calendar for social media doesn’t have to be difficult. I hope this post has helped you understand the basics of how to create one and given you some ideas for how to use it. Download your content calendar Notion template here.
