How to Create a Social Media Content Calendar

For busy social marketers, a social media calendar is a lifesaver.

Creating and posting content on the fly is challenging, and you’re more prone to typos, tone issues, and other errors. Creating a social media calendar ahead of time is much more efficient, and you’ll have more time to create, tweak, proofread, and schedule posts this way.

Social media content calendars do more than make your workday more manageable, they also make it simple to plan a compelling content mix and the time your posts reach the most significant number of people.

What Is a Social Media Calendar?

A social media calendar is a chronological list of your upcoming social media posts. Social marketers use content calendars to plan posts, manage campaigns, and evaluate ongoing strategies to reach target audience easily and regularly.

Social media calendars come in a variety of shapes and sizes. If you’re using a social media management tool, it could be a spreadsheet, Google calendars, or an interactive dashboard.

For each post, a social media calendar will typically include some combination of the following elements:

• The date and time when it will be available

• The social media platform and account where it will be shared

• Copy and creative assets (such as photos or videos) are needed.

• Included links and tags

How to Create a Social Media Calendar

To create an effective social media calendar, you should do the following:

1. Perform a social media audit.

A social media audit evaluates your social media presence, accounts and engagement to determine what works, what doesn’t, and where improvements are needed. Click here to learn how to conduct a social media audit.

2. Select your social media channels and the content you will share.

Following a social media audit, you should thoroughly understand which channels your audience uses and the types of content they prefer. You should use your findings to decide which social media channels to use and what content to post.

For example, you may notice that your audience prefers your behind-the-scenes content on Instagram but prefers to ask questions and learn more about your product on Twitter. In that case, you can use Instagram to share fun behind-the-scenes photos and Reels, then use Twitter to share product information and answer consumer questions.

3. Determine what should be on your social media calendar.

Your social media calendar should be tailored to your company and goals, so include information in our calendar that will produce the desired results.

To begin, include the following on your calendar:

• The platforms you use

• When and where will your posts be published

• Graphics, links, videos, and copy

As you gain experience with your social media content calendar, you may want to include the following:

• Platform-specific content includes Reels, TikTok LIVE, polls, shoppable posts, etc.

• Geo-targeting

• Product launches and contests are examples of associated or vertical campaigns.

4. Gather feedback.

Once you’ve finished your calendar, share it with your social media team and stakeholders to get their feedback on whether it meets everyone’s needs. You may discover ways to improve or expand the calendar as you use it; you must be open to ongoing feedback.

Why Use a Social Media Content Calendar?

Save time by becoming more organised.

Every day, creating and posting social media content requires time and attention. A social media calendar allows you to plan ahead of time, batch your work, avoid multitasking, and keep track of all your content ideas for later use.

You can even schedule social media posts ahead of time using social media planning calendar tools. That means you can share social media posts daily without logging into all your social platforms on the hour.

The average internet user uses 7.5 social media platforms regularly, which can be much higher for social media managers. Getting organised is critical when managing multiple accounts.

Planning your content allows you to devote more time to more strategic work, which is often more enjoyable.

Make it easier to post regularly.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding how frequently you should post on social media, and there are some generally accepted best practices to use as a starting point.

The most important rule, regardless of how frequently you decide to post, is to stick to a consistent posting schedule.

Maintaining a consistent schedule ensures that your followers and fans know what to expect. It’s also a clever way to use weekly hashtags like #MondayMotivation.

Content frameworks take one thing off your plate as you write your posts. Scheduling posts ahead of time allows you to stick to a schedule while always having quality content ready.

Social media calendar tools also enable you to post at optimal times for your audience, even if those times do not coincide with your core working hours.

You can take a genuine vacation.

You can take time off when you create content and schedule it ahead of time. There will be no logging into work accounts on Thanksgiving, late at night, or early in the morning.

Creating a social media calendar is an act of self-care for busy social media managers.

Avoid major blunders by reducing typos.

Planning allows you to double-check your work and incorporate a safety net into your workflow. When you’re not rushing to post, everything becomes more manageable.

A social media calendar, particularly one with an approval process, is the best way to avoid everything from minor blunders to social media disasters.

Create more cohesive campaigns and higher-quality content.

Since its inception, the production values of social media have skyrocketed. Today, it’s common for a single social media post to be supported by an entire creative team.

Requesting your team to drop everything for an emergency Instagram Reel will not win you any favours and will not result in the best possible content or a cohesive account.

A social media calendar allows you to distribute resources while ensuring that your team has enough breathing room to do their best work.

Following a long-term strategy also enables you to create content that supports your social media marketing objectives.

Look for opportunities for collaboration or sponsored content.

Planning content ahead of time allows you to consider partnership opportunities. Alternatively, approach influencers about collaborating on sponsored content.

It also makes coordinating organic and paid content easier, allowing you to get the most out of your social advertising budget.

Bloggers and influencers typically have their editorial content calendars. Through content planning this is another opportunity to compare notes and find more partnership opportunities.

Monitor and improve what works.

What is scheduled is completed, and what is measured is improved.

Your social media analytics is a goldmine of data. You can use those insights to improve poor performance and create more of your best content even if you have multiple social media accounts.

Use a social media management tool, such as Hootsuite. You can use the built-in analytics tools to get a complete picture of all your social media efforts, eliminating the need to check each platform individually.

A social media calendar will assist you in planning your content around smart social media goals and coordinating campaigns and blog content to meet those goals. You’ll likely see better results from social media if you use the tools mentioned above to create and share high-quality posts at the right time on each channel.

Remember to keep an eye on each channel for engagement and respond daily to fans and followers. Examine each platform’s analytics to see which pieces of content resonate with your audience and use this information to inform future marketing campaigns.

Get in touch today

We understand that managing social media platforms can be time-consuming and overwhelming. Let our team take care of it for you! With years of experience in social media management, we can help you create engaging content, increase your social media following, and ultimately grow your business. Contact G Squared today to learn more about our social media management services and how we can help your brand stand out on social media.