Having a well-planned and engaging social media presence is nowadays a core aspect of marketing. With 77% of consumers more likely to buy from brands they follow on social media, it is important to plan your content ahead of posting to maintain a successful social media campaign, avoid any mistakes and ensure posts will help you achieve your business goals. Creating an effective social media calendar will often involve four key areas that can help you make the most out of your social media presence.
Key information:
This is normally presented in a table format that provides details of what is being posted, such as the date and time for posting, content type, hashtags, the image and text to be posted and what platforms it is being shared on. It is also useful to integrate an evaluation section you can fill in after each post has been made that provides information such as reach, engagement, shares, comments, reaction, follower increase/decrease. This can be done on apps like excel, or specialised social media calendar templates online.
Social media audit:
Before planning out the rest of your content, look back on your current social media pages and see which posts and platforms are working the best, how often you're posting, what the goals of each network are, what should be changed or improved, and how people are responding to the content.
Plan content strategy:
It is a good idea to have a strategic content plan rather than just sharing whatever you feel like. This can involve determining which topics your content can cover and when, investigating the needs and wants of your audience and catering to them, and what order posts should be shared in.
Content check:
When planning future content, remember that posts that may be relevant now may not be so appropriate by the time you actually post them. Check if any of the content is out of date and whether it can be updated or should be deleted. For more variety, try planning posts around a special event or holiday that is coming up to make content more interesting.
