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When we wrote about social media marketing, we mentioned that consistency is the spice of social media. However, it can be hard to stay consistent if you are not organized. This is where social media calendars come in. They help ensure that you are at the top of your game.
In this article, you will learn what a social media calendar is, why your business needs one, how to create one, and some tools you can use to enhance your current marketing strategy.
What Is a Social Media Calendar?
A social media calendar is a tool or schedule that details a brand’s upcoming social media posts. It is used to track, organize, and plan social media posts. Besides the content of each post, a social media calendar should also contain the date and time each post is expected to go live. This ensures you do not miss deadlines and are not left scrambling for content.
Why Use a Social Media Calendar?
It might seem exhausting to create a schedule for an entire month or even a week. However, everything's better when you plan. Having a social media calendar has several benefits ranging from saving time to tracking the progress of your marketing strategy. Here are some of the reasons you should have and use a social media calendar:
Easier to Maintain Consistency
Being inconsistent on social media will not bring you the incredible brand growth you are seeking. Being consistent can be difficult, but it is important for any kind of success. This is why having a social media calendar is important. Rather than posting whenever an idea pops up in your head, you have a set time and date, and dozens of ideas already lined up. All of these will make it easier to keep up your social media presence.
Saves Time
Think of creating a social media calendar as a way to get the bulk of your work done at once so you have more time later. You can dedicate a few hours at the beginning of each month to plan out your content for the coming weeks. This helps you stay in control of tasks and saves you time. You can also utilize the ‘schedule post’ feature that most social media platforms have. This prevents you from having to log in on each platform each time you need to post something.
Helps You Build a Brand Identity
This relates to the consistency that having a schedule helps you with. You do not necessarily need to put out content every single day. However, you need to avoid having several weeks or months between your posts. When you are consistent with social media, you start to build a presence online. Gradually, users will start to connect with your posts and in some cases, even look forward to them. This helps you solidify your brand’s identity.
Helps You Keep Track of Important Social Media Events
Quite a bit of research goes into creating a social media calendar. Doing this research early enough will help you note any social media events or holidays that you can leverage to boost your visibility.
Reduces Mistakes and Helps Create High-Quality Content
The possibility of making errors or blunders on your social media posts reduces significantly when you prepare them ahead of time. Seeing as you are creating this plan weeks in advance, you can properly proofread and double-check for any issues. Furthermore, you can ensure your content is of the highest possible quality when you do not have an imminent deadline breathing down your neck.
Helps You Track and Analyze What Works
A social media calendar helps you keep track of your marketing strategy’s progress. Because you have all the posts you plan to make within a specified timeframe in one place, you will find it easier to discover and ditch any stagnant techniques. You can also employ the built-in analytics tools most social media platforms provide.
How to Create a Social Media Calendar
You are now aware of what you stand to gain by having a social media calendar. The next logical question is how to create one. Here are the steps you should follow to create a social media calendar:
1. Select Your Preferred Calendar Type
It is important to determine what form you want your social media calendar to take. This will influence the structure and content of the calendar. A social media calendar can take the form of a spreadsheet or an actual calendar. You can also use a social media management tool.
The way your calendar looks will depend on your needs. If you are using a template, do not follow the template blindly. Determine what you need in your calendar. You can add the platforms you want to post on, the date and time for posting, who is in charge of what, upcoming holidays, the content to be posted and what copy or caption will be posted alongside it, etc.
2. Conduct an Audit of Your Social Media Accounts
You need to know where you are before you decide where you are headed. Before delving into the herculean task of curating your content beforehand, you need to analyze your current social media accounts. Here are some things you can look out for when auditing your accounts:
- The number of accounts you have on the different social media platforms, their passwords, and which team member is in charge of them
- Which accounts are doing better than others (you can use this information to prioritize certain accounts)
- Places for improvement or any lapses in your marketing technique
- Your target audience and demographic
- Your goals for the month
Using the analytics provided on each social media platform can speed up your auditing process. This is because the analytics usually contains information regarding your best and worst performing posts, and this will help you pinpoint any areas of weakness faster.
3. Choose Your Social Media Channels and Content
Once you have a good grasp of the state of your social media accounts, it is time to brainstorm. What social media platforms are you focusing on? What type of content do you want to put out there? You can choose your preferred social media platforms in various ways. You can focus on the social media platforms with the highest interactions or conversion rates. You can also prioritize the platform your demographic uses the most. It all boils down to the end goal of your marketing strategy.
Try to not be monotonous when choosing your preferred content. Don’t be afraid to mix up your content for a little variety; try using text-based posts, videos, live streams, and even user-generated content. You can also employ the rule of thirds which states that one-third of your content should be dedicated to the promotion of your products or services, interaction with your followers, and content you create from your followers.
Note that every social media platform has its algorithm and preferred content type. For example, Instagram’s algorithm favors reels and LinkedIn’s algorithm frowns on external links. Keep this in mind when curating your content calendar.
4. Choose Your Frequency and Time of Posting
Now that you have all the content you plan to publish, you need to determine how often you’ll post them. It is important to figure out your target audience’s preferred frequency because posting too often or rarely posting can affect their interest in your brand. Additionally, you should aim for a feasible number of posts per week. Stick to a schedule you are sure you can keep up with no matter what.
You can also use the information from your account’s audit to determine your preferred time of posting. From the report, you should be able to tell when your target audience is most active and use that to your advantage.
Alternatively, if you are just starting out, you can use this survey from HubSpot which lists the best times and days to post for each social media platform. For example, the survey says the best day to post on Instagram is Saturday while the best times are mid- to late-afternoon and mid- to late-evening.
Fill Out Your Calendar
At this stage, you should have all the information you need to curate your social media calendar. All you have to do is fill in the gaps. This process will vary depending on what type of calendar you have chosen. This is why choosing your preferred calendar is the very first step as it sets the tone for the rest of the calendar creation process.
Schedule Your Posts
Most social media platforms allow you to schedule your posts. This means that you can set the date and time your post should go live. Scheduling your posts is especially helpful because it takes out the chances of forgetting to post and ensures the timing of your posts is pinpoint accurate. However, try to not abandon the post once it has gone live. You should check in to see if there are any engagements, and if there aren’t, try to come up with ways to drive conversations around the post.
Top 5 Social Media Calendar Tools
If you have no idea where to start with creating your content calendar, we are here for you. Here are our top five social media calendar tools:
1. Buffer
Buffer is a social media content calendar that makes scheduling social media posts easy. It is integrated with most social media platforms so you do not have to worry about manually uploading posts. It also has an AI assistant that can help reword and crosscheck your content before publication. It offers a free version but comes at a price if you want to use it as a team. Buffer has one small downside, which is its lack of live support. Its functions are also limited on some platforms.
2. Google Sheets & Calendar
It is rare to find someone who does not use at least one Google product. Google Sheets is a free and accessible tool that’s perfect for beginners. Although it’s not primarily a social media calendar tool, it gets the job done. Google Calendar is also great for assigning tasks and setting up reminders. Both tools are easy to share with team members and have a user-friendly interface. Unfortunately, they do not connect to social media platforms so you cannot schedule posts with them, but they are great for planning and organizing your content.
3. Sendible
Sendible has both calendar and scheduling features. Its calendar gives you an overview of all scheduled posts and even has a preview option for you to view your posts before publishing them. Sendible’s scheduling function works for both bulk and individual scheduling. It is also compatible with the major social media platforms which allows for ease of social media management. However, some people report that the mobile app can be a little frustrating to deal with sometimes.
4. Loomly
Formerly called Calendy, Loomly is a content management tool that helps you create, organize, and schedule social media content. It provides an approval workflow like most of the tools on this list and integrates with popular social media platforms. It also supplies you with ideas and tips to enhance your current strategy. Nevertheless, its functions are limited with some applications like Instagram stories and LinkedIn.
5. CoSchedule Marketing Calendar
CoSchedule offers a free marketing calendar to all its users where you can add all the elements of your marketing strategy to one tool. You can add any tasks, ideas, or projects to the calendar. It is incredibly flexible, as you can simply drag and drop activities on different days or time slots. However, some customers have complained about the customer service and user experience.
Now, you are ready to organize your ideas, and plan and schedule your content accordingly. This way, you can ensure the consistency and growth of your brand. You can also create a failsafe for when you forget to publish planned content. It might seem daunting at first but with the tips and recommended tools we’ve discussed, creating a social media calendar should be a breeze for you.
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