We are used to it, something we have had since school. Who does not like organisation and planning for an effective execution of actions producing tangible results? In the landscape where we depend on social media for our functioning, either entertainment or work, social media also returns the favour by being of absolute help.
Managing intake time on a physical notebook can get complex when digital marketing becomes the norm. A social media calendar is an arrangement where you can journal about what to post while branding your social media channels. It is proven that the more a business posts on a social media platform, the more traffic it generates. This is when a social media calendar comes into play, as it improves consistency in post-making by holding schedules in advance.
Benefits that a social media calendar brings to the table, which is inclusive of -
- Keeping you well-organised
- Maintaining consistency throughout
- Keeping a survey of the future posts
- Promoting a healthy collaboration among the teams
In case you are convinced of the benefits of keeping up a social media calendar, here is the guide to creating one while optimising its usage and the results reaped:
Run A Social Media Audit
To calculate your presence and performance on social media, a report analysing areas for development and overall improvement. This helps you make smarter marketing decisions by gaining a comprehensive analysis of the present situation of your social media strategy. A few topics to consider while running an audit for your social media calendar are:
- New social media platforms
- Content which has attracted the targeted audience
- Lack of content which needs to be created
- Kind of audience engaging with your content
- Practical digital marketing tools and their functioning
- Shortcomings and negative reviews
Analyse The Relevant Social Media Channels
After the audit, the task is to implement the strategies. For a social media calendar, you must run market research and mark out the relevant social media platforms that could attract your targeted audience. Here, all the social factors like age, gender, occupation, interests and other factors of the audience matter depending on the structure of the business and the type of goods or services marketed. Some key factors to keep in mind while running the research are:
- Test the features provided by the platform
- Keep your budget in mind for future planning
- Include more platforms and a maximum number of posts
Outline The Content Creation Strategies And Content Type
Content remains in the foreground while all the other marketing strategies are being played out. While maintaining a social media calendar, planning effective content strategies, format, and matter is essential. Here are some tips to follow:
- Choose a productive team for quality content creation
- Plan out themes relevant to your brand
- Keep your audience and their needs in mind
- Make it interactive, relatable and personalised
Draft A Calendar Template
Choosing a template for your social media calendar is a crucial step that must be considered as it decides what goes on in the interface of your calendar. It also helps to track metrics and maintain a smooth workflow without chaos. A comprehensive calendar template must include the following features:
- List of all the social media accounts
- Schedule of time and dates
- Additional media such as pictures, videos, charts, etc.
- Surveys and feedbacks
- SEO features like keywords, hashtags and backlinks
- Status of the posts
In addition to these features, there are special optimised features in specific calendars to organise content more delicately.
Mark The Timeline
The benefits of a social media calendar can only be reaped when the frequency of the posts is maximised depending on the algorithm and the ranking on social media platforms. Along with frequency, it is necessary to mark what time of the day is most effective for a particular post on a specific platform.
- Quality over quantity
- Content must match the time and the date.
- Schedule social events like public holidays, environment days, birth anniversaries, launches, and news updates relevant to your targeted audience.
Plan Surveys And Make Adjustments
Once you have played out your strategies and posted content religiously, examine your performance to test the waters under your feet. Various social media platforms offer insights which help you document your activity and engagement. Consistent surveys, reviews, and analytics can be beneficial to seeking better results from your social media calendar. Follow these steps for optimum usage:
- Test the performance of your content and posts
- Test the audience’s reviews and feedback
- Plan out strategies to make adjustments to the content and performance
An Assortment Of Calendar Apps Is Designed To Optimise Marketing Through Social Media
Here are a few of them, which have a comprehensive set of required features:
Google Sheets
Being the dominant social media calendar tool, it is free to use and offers a varied template to choose from. It makes the management easy and pre-schedules the posts effectively. However, the posts have to be made manually.
Sprout Social
Sprout is an collaborative social media calendar tool which improves workability and audience trust while being easy to use and organise. Asking for a high investment it is designed for brands with a significant budget.
Sprinklr
Sprinklr is a tool which works for a large-level team which has an immense list of features which could be used for advertising and marketing of the business campaigns (on and off social media).
Notion
Notion app is designed for marketers to document their projects, tasks, calendars while providing a diverse collection of templates which enhances the progress and makes it organised and appealing. However, as it is a calendar tool rather than a social media tool, the posts have to be made manually.
Final Words
A structured social media calendar when setup strategically enables you to boost your engagement while simplifying your management. By planning a bit ahead, circling significant dates, and surveying performance, you can create your social media presence visible and celebrated. Under such circumstances not only will your brand flourish but you can also attract a dear audience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A social media calendar is a tool for planning, scheduling, and organizing social media posts to ensure consistency and improve engagement.
Key steps include running a social media audit, analyzing relevant channels, outlining content strategies, drafting a calendar template, marking timelines, and making adjustments based on feedback.
It should include a list of social media accounts, posting schedules, media (pictures, videos), surveys, SEO features (keywords, hashtags), and post status.
Ensure quality content, match posts with effective times, schedule around significant events, and consistently review and adjust based on performance and feedback.
Recommended tools include Google Sheets (free, manual posts), Sprout Social (collaborative, for larger budgets), Sprinklr (large teams), and Notion (diverse templates, manual posts).