Do you always find that you struggle to come up with interesting content to share on your social media platforms every single day? You could benefit from using a content calendar.
A content calendar is a working document, whether it is written on paper, or input into a word document or spreadsheet, where you plan and schedule out what content you will be sharing across your social media platforms in advance.
This can be planned either weekly or monthly, depending on the nature of your business, and while it does take time to sit down and plan it all, it has lots of benefits, which I will cover below.
Benefits of using a Social Media Content Calendar
Organization – as you will have a plan of what you intend to post ahead of time, this will enable you to prepare the content and keep it ready. You can even use some apps such as Tweetdeck or Buffer to help schedule Tweets, Facebook posts or Instagram posts in advance. Please note that with Instagram scheduled posts, apps won’t post directly to the platform on your behalf but send you a reminder when it is time to post.
Visualise – having your content laid out in advance will help you visualise if it aligns with your overall strategy or marketing activity.
Time – It will save you lots of time as you won’t be desperately looking for something to post on the day. You will also be able to spend more time manually sharing other posts or replying to messages as your main content is ready.
Be more strategic and reactive – As you will be planning ahead you can check to see if there are any noteworthy events or holidays you could create content for. If you are running out of fresh content it gives you time to either re-purpose content or arrange for new content to be created.
Be consistent – Having your content planned ahead will enable you to post more consistently, which will in turn have positive impacts on your credibility, engagement and your followers will soon know when to expect what kind of content from your pages.
Team view – You will be able to share the calendar with your teams for input or to ensure everyone’s activity aligns and is on the same page.
An example template of a Social Media Content Calendar
You can find and download a free example of my Social Media Content Calendar template here.
Helpful Tools for Scheduling Posts
Some tools I like to use to schedule my social media posts in advance to help save time on the day are:
Twitter – I like to use either Buffer or Tweetdeck to schedule posts.
Facebook – I either use Facebook Pages Manager to draft posts and schedule them or I use Buffer
Instagram – I like to use the Preview App to see what my week ahead’s content will look like in a grid format.
To schedule posts on Instagram I use Buffer, however, it does not post direct to the Instagram App but instead sends you a reminder when it is time to post.
- Tip for the day
- Blog posts
- Inspirational quotes
- Video demo/tutorial
- Product/Service curated content
- Flat lays
- Sneak peeks
- Holiday/Notable day related content
- Product highlights/benefits
- Behind the scenes curated content
- An image of a place of interest close to your business
- An interior shot of your premises
- Re-post from a customer of them using your product/service
- Offer of the week
- Articles relating to your industry