Disorganized social media marketing plans are recipes for disaster.
It’s super difficult to successfully manage content creation without some organized plan of action. Plus, multiple managers working on a disorganized marketing campaign can mean duplicate posting, irrelevant or conflicting content and overall chaos. That means double or even triple the stress of having a single content contributor.
Since you probably don’t want to deal with all that, a simple content calendar is the best solution for getting your social media goals right back on track.
Stop stressing over last minute articles or accidently missing out on prime posting opportunities. Here’s some useful tips to help you get started on your own content calendar ASAP:
Choose A Layout That Works
A content calendar can be anything from a legal note pad to a digital format, such as Google docs, online templates, or note-taking mobile apps. To start, click here to download a simple and easy content calendar template to get into the swing of things.
It’s important that you regularly utilize your content calendar; so if you’re not used to using calendars in general, take a little time to acquaint yourself and figure out a method that works for you.
Stay Relevant With Your Content
One of the most common concerns with social media marketing is staying relevant. In order to stay relevant with users, you need to share captivating content that’s current as well. So how on earth does planning your social media posts in advance keep you relevant with your target audience?
Think of your content calendar as a convenient tool for managing social media burnout and providing a safety net in case of unforeseeable life circumstances. Content like breaking world news, up-to-the-minute celebrity gossip, and current events have to be posted as quickly as possible of course. But a content calendar can help you plan for those days where news is slow; this is a prime opportunity to share engaging evergreen content in lieu of accidentally posting duplicate content or creating long posting gaps.
On any given day your copywriting can feel less than inspired as well, proving again the necessity for content calendars. Posting pre-written content keeps you consistent in the eyes or your readers; you don’t want to bore visitors with stale Facebook pages or Pinterest boards.
Setting Up Your Content Calendar
After familiarizing yourself with content calendars, you’ll start to hone in on strategies that work best for your goals.
For example, I now prefer to set up specific social media content calendars for each of my clients. This gives me a better birds-eye view of all the projects I’m actively taking on at any given time; this way nothing falls through the cracks, and I can easily plan and execute my social media efforts, such as planned promotions and upcoming events!
Beef Up Your Content Calendar With Management Tools
Now that you have the content calendar concept down, incorporate management tools to help streamline your social media marketing campaigns. This will give you a better idea of what’s trending big on social media, peak content posting times, and your target audience’s social media activity. So not only will you have a better idea of how to schedule your posts, but this information is vital for relevant content creation as well.
To start, you can download and install Hootsuite; this particular social media management tool is ideal for startups because it has a great free version, it’s user-friendly, convenient, and pretty fun to use as well!
Not only does it give you a complete view of your active accounts and an insight into social media trends, but you can also refer to your content calendar to schedule multiple posts in Hootsuite for later release.
Of course in the interest of staying relevant, make sure to not schedule your content too far in advance and always stay updated on current happenings in your niche! It’s okay to modify your Hootsuite schedule and content calendar to accommodate recent industry news breaks, and more.
So what are you waiting for? A template maybe? Okay well you’re in luck because I have one for you. Go here: conversations.be, sign up for the email list and you’ll get an email with a free download to my social media strategy playbook – complete with content calendars and a slew of other useful awesomeness.