How to Build a Social Media Content Calendar

| 2060 Digital

Hopefully you’re using social media to increase brand awareness, as well as give your customers another access point for your business. But how you’re using it is possibly more important than if you’re using it. Are you organized? Do you have a plan? Or are you posting content at random and hoping for the best? As an agency that provides social media management services, we strongly recommend creating a calendar that includes a timeline, content, goals and metrics in order for your business to be successful with social media. Here’s how to get started.

  • Get a plan. Start with your big picture for social media and then break it down by year, month, week and day. This may seem like an overwhelming process, but it’s critical for successful implementation. Take it one step at a time. For example, until you’ve mapped out your goals for the year, don’t worry about what you’ll be doing with social media on a daily basis. Once you have a plan in place, develop monthly content calendars that will help you keep track of your social media tasks.

  • Make goals. Consider setting one or two goals for each month and write them alongside your content calendar. Figure out what you should be doing on a weekly basis with social media to meet your monthly goals.

  • Be consistent. Your social media content should match up for the most part with what’s actually happening with your business. For example, if you’re in the middle of planning a large sale, come up with ways to promote it through your social channels and incorporate those into your calendar.

  • Consider themes. One of the most effective methods for keeping social media content fresh, engaging and motivating is to set monthly themes. A company selling outdoor gear may set a camping theme during a summer month, and as such the majority of their posts during the month fit into the theme.

  • Review metrics. The goals you set will impact the kind of metrics you use to measure your social media results. Maybe you’re using Facebook to develop and spread awareness for your brand. You’ll want to track demographics, as well as the number of followers you have, likes, shares and other kinds of engagement, like comments. Review these things and keep them in mind as you begin to create the next month’s calendar.

  • Allow for improvement. Evaluate the success of your social media calendar on a regular basis throughout the month. What’s going well? What could use tweaking? When something is going particularly well or badly, don’t be afraid to change course. For example, if a monthly theme has crashed and burned by the middle of the month, change up some of your content for the remaining days of the month.