Social Media

Timing Is Everything. How To Create A Social Media Content Calendar With This Free Template.

~ K. Quesenberry ~ 1 Comment

You know social media is important. Most businesses and organizations are active in social media to achieve multiple marketing and communications objectives. But how do you decide when and where to post your social media content? Content calendars traditionally come from the journalism and publishing field, but they also benefit brands publishing in social media.

When and where should brand social media content appear?

A main tool for social media planning is a social media content calendar. A content calendar is a way to plan and visualize how content will be distributed during a specified period. Scheduling your content ahead of time makes it more efficient and effective.

This template is a simple calendar table for strategic planning. It can be kept in an online Word or Google doc or as an Excel or Google spreadsheet and shared with team members. Content calendars can also be built into social media management software tools for easy auto-scheduling and collaboration.

(Click on the template image to download a PDF)

Social Media Content Calendar Template.

Plan Your Content With A Content Calendar.

On the left side of the social media content template place each social media platform and list the target audience and/or persona. If the social media strategy calls for multiple target audiences, include each individually and list all social platforms used to communicate with that target audience.

Note that one social platform may be used to communicate with multiple target audiences. For example, a university may use Facebook to communicate with both prospective students and their parents, so it would plan different content accordingly.

Next on the calendar, indicate which content will be distributed on which day, and at what time. Also, identify the title or theme such as Liquid Plumr®’s Will It Clog? or Heinz’s Adulting Sucks. These were the themes for two successful social media campaigns.

Specify any assets needed such as specific images, videos, or links for each post. Then indicate the hashtags and keywords that need to be included, from campaign and brand hashtags to trending topics.

Determine Posting Times And Posting Frequency By Social Platform.

Engagement varies by the day and time you post which varies per platform. Frequency is also important as some platforms require more posting per day or week than others to increase organic reach. To get started with posting times use data from online resources such as Sprout Social’s Best Times To Post or HubSpot’s Best Times To Post.

To get started with posting frequencies consider data from guides such as Hootsuite’s How Often To Post or HubSpot’s How Often To Publish. As you run your social media schedule and measure results, you’ll discover your own best times and frequencies customized to your brand, market, and target audience.

The template is set for one week but can be easily expanded to cover longer periods such as a month or quarter. By researching best practices and tracking brand results for days, times, themes, assets, hashtags, keywords, and repetition, content should be optimized for the greatest response.

Questions to consider when developing a content calendar:

  • What content is the target audience looking for in each platform?
  • When are they most likely looking for it?
  • What questions are they asking that the brand can answer?
  • Which content will be brand-generated versus consumer-generated?
  • What relevant third-party sources can be used for content curation?
  • Where will each type of content be best delivered and how often?

Plan Ahead But Also Plan For Spontaneity and Engagement.

Content calendars plan messages ahead of time, but you also must be flexible to take advantage of trending topics. You also want to fit in live, unscripted interactions with individual customers.

Oreo’s Super Bowl Blackout post could not have been planned ahead of time but became one of the most successful brand tweets by creating content in real-time.

Remember that brands shouldn’t create all social content on their own. Curation and user-generated content are important components of content creation. Always be looking for relevant third-party content to share. And look for brand fan posts to reshare and boost (with permission).

Don’t Forget Larger Pieces of Digital Marketing Content.

Be sure to repurpose your larger content marketing into the social media content calendar. Indicate when key pieces of other digital marketing content are being published for promotion. Note upcoming blog posts, articles, research reports, case studies, white papers, eBooks, presentations, webinars, and email newsletters.

Break down larger content into smaller posts, images, infographics, and videos over time. Mine that bigger content for small insights that will make engaging, entertaining, and educational social media. Plan for a mix of real-time relevant content, seasonal or promotional content, and longer-term evergreen content.

With a little planning and a social media content calendar time can be on your side. How could you use a content calendar?

This Was Human Created Content!

Does The Shoe Fit? How To Make Your Social Media Marketing More Strategic.

~ K. Quesenberry ~ 1 Comment

In the CMO survey, 17% of marketing budgets are spent on social media and this is expected to increase to 20% this year. With increased spending, it is more important than ever to ensure you are spending that money effectively and efficiently. Placing the wrong content on the wrong platforms can be like showing up to a track meet with dress shoes or a wedding in track spikes.

What does the wrong content look like?

Let’s say you’re an apparel company and your audience believes your brand is out of style. You won’t convince them with Tweets about quality materials. High quality images of your new styles on Instagram and collabs with fashion influencers on TikTok would be a better fit. Yet a Twitter post sharing stats and facts about climate change could be good for a nonprofit cause that supports the environment.

When considering social media platforms, think about the kinds of content that will work best and the platforms ideal for that type of content. A good way to think this through is to first answer these three key questions about your target audience:

  1. What does the target audience currently think?
  2. What would we like the target audience to think?
  3. What visual/verbal message will move them from one to the other?

Why is the right place, for the right people important?

Getting the right content in front of the right audience at the right place is key. People go to different platforms for different reasons and may be in different stages of the buyer’s journey. You don’t want to squeeze a longer how-to video for current customers into a short Facebook video trying to attract new ones. Current customers would be searching for tutorials on YouTube.

Also, consider that different target audiences spend more and less time on different platforms and different products and services require different content. A gum brand like Orbit doesn’t need a tutorial or testimony, but for a business software service company like IBM tutorials and testimonials work. Each requires specific types of content to shift thinking.

How do I plan out the right content for the right platform?

The social media content planning template below considers different types of businesses or industries such as finance or fashion that tend to require different types of content.

First, decide your industry sector or category. Research and list the types of content customers in that industry market tend to seek. You can do this with consumer reports from market research firms like Mintel, conduct your own surveys, or simply talk to current customers and/or your front end employees and salespeople. They are the closest to your customer’s questions and needs.

Next, consider that your target audience may also need to see different types of content based on the stage in the buyer’s journey. Take your long list of content ideas and categorize by buyer’s journey stage:

  1. Awareness
  2. Interest
  3. Consideration
  4. Conversion
  5. Use
  6. Opinion
  7. Sharing

Finally, consider the type of content appropriate for your industry, ideal customer, and stage. Keep in mind the following categories of types of social media content:

  1. Educational
  2. Interactive
  3. Inspirational
  4. Authentic
  5. Entertaining
  6. Promotional

This social media content planning template presents what we just discussed with example types of content under each category to help jump start your thinking.

Don’t let another day go by this year before considering if you’re sharing the right content in the right places to improve your social media marketing.

A social media content planning template can help you brainstorm content for your client, company, or organization based on the industry and content needed in the buyer journey stages.

This could be especially useful after conducting a social media audit. To turn audit recommendations into a social media plan, use the content planning template above to brainstorm types of content for the most effective and efficient social media.

Does the shoe fit when it comes to your social media marketing content and platforms?

This Was Human Created Content!