A social media calendar is an overview of your upcoming social media posts, organized by date. Social marketers use content calendars to plan posts, manage campaigns, and review ongoing strategies.
With so many social media platforms at our disposal, it’s very important to plan and maintain a proper Social Media Calendar.
A Content Calendar is key to a successful social media plan because it helps save time and widens team bandwidth and helps maintain a consistent posting schedule.
To create an effective Social Media Calendar, you should:
1. Audit Your Social Network Presence
A Social Media Audit evaluates your online presence, accounts, and engagement to help you understand what’s effective and what isn’t as well as what needs to be improved.
2. Decide which social media platforms to use and what content to share
It is important to know which social media platforms your target audience is and the type of content that resonates with them. Are they on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or Facebook? Knowing all these will help you determine where to focus your attention more.
3. Decide what your calendar should include
Your Social Media Calendar must include a content plan or strategy that supports your business goals and growth. Thus the platforms you are using, the day and the time your posts will be published, links, graphics, videos, etc. It is also important to make sure that all your content is of great quality and appealing to your audience.
4. Get feedback
Once you’ve finished, present your calendar to your team and other key players and ask for their input to make sure you are on the right track. As time goes on, you will get more ideas on how to improve your social media calendar.
You can use a digital calendar, spreadsheet, or a social media management platform like Sprout that offers an interactive dashboard and the ability to schedule posts.
