Social Media Content Calendars – 5 Steps to Getting Started

Managing social media posts can be stressful, especially when you don’t have a best-in-class software tool that can concisely manage this for you. Many business owners and organizations lack engagement from their social channels because there is no clear strategy developed for their platforms in advance.

That’s where a content calendar comes in! These can be as simple or detailed as you like, but how do you start?

Commit One Hour — a thoughtful approach to your strategy will thank you! Sit down with a warm cup of coffee and a clear mindset to focus on the month ahead. This planning session will solidify all the content you create on your social channels, and who doesn’t love to feel organized and accomplished?

Choose Your Channels — not all content belongs on the same platform. It is important to pick and choose which posts will live on Facebook vs. Twitter or Instagram. Posting a trendy article to Instagram wouldn’t be the best decision, because the URLs aren’t clickable in the post — so instead just stick to Facebook and Twitter for this article.

Place the Content that Matters — easier said than done, right? Content is made up of so many things — graphics, videos, animations, blog posts, articles, etc., so be sure to read your audience and find out the content they respond well to. A great way to decipher this is through analytics on social platforms where you can see which posts gathered more attention through the impressions (reach) and engagement (actual likes/reactions/comments/shares). Each month, highlight those takeaways and keep them in mind for the next content calendar building session.

Create that Content — now, thanks to graphic design templates, creating content has never been easier. Sliding in pictures and text to a template with your logo is all it takes. Remember, people scroll and you want to create something that catches their eye.

Stay Consistent & Cycle Appropriately — consistency is key. You want to avoid being active on social media one week and dropping off the next. A good rule of thumb for businesses is to post 3x per week. Now, one post could be a share from another page or retweet from a business or organization in your industry. Aim to be noticed enough in people’s feeds with consistent branding and postings but not too much to the point where people don’t associate good feelings with your brand.

Social media is all about balance, and though it may seem overwhelming at times, a well thought out strategy one month in advance will ensure your brand is being heard in the best way possible; because you are the one putting in the work and it will show.