Social media calendar

Posted by Jane Danes on January 18, 2020 |

AAre you struggling to find a way to organize, publish, and organize your social media content? If you are, a social media calendar is a great option. It won’t cost you a lot of money.

Set up a monthly goal to help you with the social media schedule

The first step in creating a social media calendar is to have an end goal for each piece of content. This way you can easily keep track of what is working and what is not. You can also monitor the type of content that determines your bottom line.

Benefits of using a social media calendar template

The purpose of using a social media calendar template is to help you organize and plan your posts in advance. This way you can post content relevant to your brand.

This will be your structure for every piece of content you post and share with your subscribers. With a model, you can enter later so you can comment and interact with your community manually.

Win time

This is one of the reasons many brands choose to use a social media calendar. With it, you can have a plan that allows you not to have difficulty creating last minute posts. All you have to do is program your schedule and that’s it.

And if you’re having trouble getting the process started, you can download the pre-filled 2020 social media calendar. It’s also great if you’re looking for content to post.

Measure the results

But you can only measure your results if you have set a goal for yourself. That’s why you need to have a goal for every piece of content you share. You can compare your content’s metrics to the calendar to find patterns of performance. These would include what day is best to post and the type of post that gets high engagement.

Keep content up to date

You can repeat your popular message. However, you should do this sparingly. Make sure to post it once a week or twice a month. With a template, you can also have a record of the posts you have shared. It keeps you up to date with hashtags and holidays.

Another great benefit of the social media calendar template is that you can have an ideal mix of content. Keep in mind that your fans don’t want to hear about your business all the time. Instead, they want other types of interesting articles and stories from other sources, but related to your brand.

You will have to follow the rule of thirds. That is, you need to divide your content evenly to promote your content, post from other sources related to your business, and engage with your subscribers directly. Or you can follow the 80/20 rule. This means that 80% of your post should be engaging content and 20% will promote your products and services.

Have a consistent publication schedule

When you post regularly, your followers will know that you are actively engaged with the platform. Your followers know when to expect a message from you and want to connect with you. He develops a long term relationship in the end.

Engage with your followers

As you stay up to date, you can engage more with your audience. This can help drive more traffic to your site.

The social media calendar has helped many content marketers. You should also consider it. There are several websites that allow you to download a free social media calendar template. You can visit Co-Schedule or Hootsuite. If you want to get 366 days of social media content, you can visit Angie Gensler’s Social Media Calendar.

As marketing guru Michael Brenner puts it, “If people don’t know about your business, they can’t become your customers.” Social media is the best way to reach and interact with your target audience. But what’s the best way to get their attention? Be current.

Did your brand miss #WorldKindnessDay or #InternationalCoffeeDay? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Our comprehensive social media calendar includes all of the popular trends and observances your brand needs to better inform your overall content strategy throughout 2020.

Why wait for an invitation to start your vacation marketing strategy when you can prepare your vacation marketing content all year round?

In our 2020 social media calendar, we have collected thousands of days that are celebrated every year around the world. We cover all United Nations international days like Day of the Girl, World AIDS Day and World Mental Health Day. We also highlight original American days, like Tell a Fairy Tale Day and Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. We have also included the standard 2020 holiday calendar, including religious and US holidays.

No matter your business or audience, you’ll find at least one day on this calendar that can inspire new content or spark conversations online. For example, healthcare professionals or the pharmaceutical industry can use Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day or World Diabetes Day to share topical content and encourage subscribers to share their own stories on the subject.

And if you’re in B2B, you can have fun too. The 2020 holiday calendar includes gems like Programmers Day, Logistics Day, System Admins Appreciation Day, Global Talent Acquisition Day, and National Compliance Officer Day – which may not. only influencing social media content, but maybe even a blog, podcast, or enhanced asset, too.

We have also set aside many days for brand activism, from Equal Pay Day and International Women’s Day to International Day of Older Persons and International Day for Universal Access to Health. information. Taking the time to recognize one of these days sends the message that your brand cares and listens to the needs and challenges of all walks of life.

Don’t wait to see an awareness day already trending on social media – fuel your content strategy for the year and plan ahead with a 12-month list of the best national days, awareness weeks and months. awareness raising. Use this resource to start creating timely, personalized content that will help you connect with your followers on a more personal level and discover the human side of your brand. Whether you are B2B or B2C, there is a vacation for you!

Stop slowing down and start celebrating by downloading our social media calendar today.

Featured Image Attribution: Kristopher Roller on Unsplash.

Social media today helps people run many businesses. In fact, social media has become an integral part of reaching a company’s customer base. But it’s not enough to just have a social media handle or a page. To better connect with your audience, you need to be aware of the latest trends among the audience. Take the example of a bakery that should be aware of what is called “World Chocolate Day”.

The example mentioned fits fairly well with the current narrative, where in order to communicate well with the public, you need to be aware of the latest trends. Below, we’ve discussed how a social media calendar can help you connect with the narrative and leverage it positively.

Why use a social media calendar

Research shows that 92% of content marketers use a social media calendar to market their content to everyone. There are a lot of dates that hardly anyone knows about. You don’t want to miss an opportunity to sell yourself. These calendars work as great tools with which you can schedule future posts on a specific date.

These calendars not only help you schedule posts but also give your posts online a good mix. In addition, this tool saves you a lot of time, as you won’t have to prowl around for important dates and you can schedule future posts. This calendar also encourages innovation with content, as you will generate a lot of new and fresh content for your handle.

Plus, having such a well-managed record of your online posts will help you know which posts your audience likes. If you are looking to boost your social media posts, you can check out platforms that provide auto instagram likes.

Create your social media calendar

Below is a guide on how to create your social media calendar-

• Analyze your nicknames and your content

First, do a detailed analysis of all your username and social media pages. Check which platforms you are active on, your frequency of posts, your reach, among others. Do the same with your content. Check if your content is relevant or outdated, check your competitor’s pages among others.

• Analyze your audience on each platform

Each social media platform is different, even in terms of the audience that is present on each one. Your content should be such that your audience on each platform should get content that is specially designed for them and only for them.

• Determine publication frequency and content rate

Make a detailed plan for how often you’ll post on each social media platform. Remember to make a different plan for each platform. Also, be sure to determine your content ratio. This means making a ratio of the content based on the images, videos, links or whatever else you plan to post.

To get the most out of your social media handles, you need to approach it the right way. For this, you must first make a list of the content that you want to post to your social networks, and in doing so, you must also include in the list the items that you need to publish this post. Ex-links, images or videos that you might need for that particular post.

This is the most important and interesting part of creating a social media calendar. To complete the schedule, be sure to assign tasks to everyone carefully. A distinction must be made between the people who will fill your lists, and those who will publish or schedule your posts. The zest is that everything must be organized.

• Prepare for content

Now that everything has been planned and all your strategies have been worked out, all you have to do is complete your future posts and put them in the calendar of your nickname or your social network page.

Don’t be that person who posts their posts at the last minute and then spends unnecessary time posting things over and over again on the same day. This will destroy the usefulness of the entire social media calendar.

Conclusion

Now that you have learned how to create a social media calendar, it is essential that you use it wisely. It’s important that whatever you instill in your social media schedule is planned out in a way that meets your long-term needs. By creating such a calendar, people forget how dynamic social media is and end up creating redundant posts. What you need to remember is that it is important to try and experiment with your posts, and you should instill this habit in your social media calendar as well.

For musicians, setting up their social networks accounts are only half the battle. The real challenge comes when it’s time to take out material It’s okay to interest and engage fans. Here we go over several proven avenues to explore when it comes to content sharing.

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Guest post by Jessica hackett on Flypaper by Soundfly

You have already taken the first step. You’ve bite the bullet and created the essential social media accounts for your music. Now you don’t know what content to post, or you have posted, but you don’t know why some posts are gaining ground while others are falling flat. Building a brand presence for your business is a key step in your career as a musician. It takes a huge pair of ovaries for you and your work to show off publicly!

Whether you’re naturally inspired by Instagram or terrified of Twitter, developing a content strategy and planning updates ahead of time cuts your social media time in half. And I know it sounds like a chore, but for artists committed to both their craft and ensuring steady audience growth, it’s a huge help. More importantly, it allows you to incorporate more natural marketing into your daily social media content over time.

The secret is to brainstorm some ideas for content that you can use and reuse, especially when you don’t have any upcoming concert dates, album releases, or music video launches. Here are five general content prompts to get you started.

Who inspires you?

Creatively, musically, emotionally: who are the artists and innovators who make you vibrate? Share your reading list, summer readings, or the latest research from your favorite scientist with your followers.

Tagging, sharing and shouting on social media is a great way to network, contribute to the arts community, and be discovered by fans of what you love. Don’t worry if you don’t immediately hear from the other artists you contact. Trust that they are checking their mentions and know that a little name recognition can go a long way. Maybe your simple heartfelt scream will be enough to get an artist to think of you the next time they need a opening act.

+ Learn more: “Group management” doesn’t have to be as scary as it looks. Get the tools you need to lead a successful DIY group with our free course, Build a Better Group!

What motivates you ?

Who are you beyond your music? Do you like the outdoors, get lost in video games, or are you more of a nightclub person? There is always a member of each group whose character quirks are naturally entertaining, make them a group meme! Share what you’re doing behind the scenes, showcase the unique aspects of who you are, and find communities of enthusiasts to connect with.

A word of warning about sharing your personality as a professional: what you post on the internet as a musician could follow you throughout your career. If you don’t want a fan, reporter, or potential connection to probe it, don’t post it. You can choose which parts of yourself you share.

Where do you come from?

There is a whole weekly hashtag devoted to answering this question. In fact, there are tons of them. Dig up the photo from your year 5 yearbook, your first performance flyer, or footage from a band rehearsal and share it like there’s no tomorrow.

You can make your flashbacks as silly or personal as you want, as long as your tone is on the mark. Remember, the internet is a sucker for a good, inspiring story. Talk about your progress as a musician, as an artist. Share the highlights and the embarrassing moments. Let your fans be a part of your journey, and they’ll want to stick around to see where it goes.

+ From Flypaper Archive: “How to be the best friend of all sound guys”

What’s your process?

Many of your fans are also looking for ways to express themselves creatively. Your carefully constructed songwriting rituals and tips might help inspire them. Post your creative process, tips for overcoming writer’s block and rituals or routines for invoking the muse to give your fans a dose of encouragement.

To make your tips even more shareable, try writing them down as blog posts, posting on Pinterest, creating a YouTube tutorial, or live streaming a talk on Periscope.

Who supports you?

When all else fails and you have nothing to say, reach out to your fans. Stay tuned for photos, recordings, and comments fans have shared and repost them. Host a Q&A with your fans on Reddit or Twitter. Post (credited) fan art on your Instagram.

Remember that fantastic story of Guster recreating their fan’s cover video of their song, “Diane”? When your fans react with their true colors, it is important that you reward them for doing so. Reaching through the tangled knots of the web to show your appreciation for fans’ creativity and provide them with a space to share are great ways to boost engagement levels!

Any opportunity that you can find to interact is an opportunity that you should take. Followers who feel noticed and involved are more likely to stay that way.

Remember, social media is just another way to tell your story and share your art. See what works for you and no matter what others say, if it works, it works! Keep updating your strategy based on what resonates with your followers. When you put time, planning, and personality into your posts, you’ll see results.

Word Doc – click to download
Excel version – click to download
PDF version – click to download

This small business social media calendar template is for YOU!
It is based on the calendar format that we use internally at Small Business Trends LLC.

Like many of you, we have limited time and resources. In a small business, you never have enough people or money!

After years of trial and error, we’ve learned that:

• We have more consistent results when we organize our activities and put them on a calendar.
• By presenting the activities in a calendar, we would do better to align with our strategy.
• We spend less time on social media. We don’t have to stop and think about what to do next.

Here are 5 tips for using this social media calendar template:

(1) Customize to fit YOUR business. Download a version of this social media calendar template to work with. Word and Excel formats can be customized. Every business is different. Change it to fit it your company.

(2) Start slowly. If you try to do too much, you risk exhausting yourself. Gradually increase activities once you feel you have mastered a social media platform.

(3) Think of the suggested activities as “starting ideas”. Please don’t feel pressured to do all (or anything) suggested on the social media calendar template. The proposed activities are there to make you think about the possibilities.

(4) Assign responsibilities. Determine who will be responsible for carrying out your social media schedule. It can be you or an employee. Or you may need to hire a virtual assistant or an independent contractor. A social media calendar for small business is only as good as your execution.

(5) Use automation without excuses. Look, we’re big fans of being real and interacting with followers. But we also know that you face limited time and resources in a small business. If you automate certain activities, you will have more free time to engage. As long as you mix personal engagement and automation, you’ll always appear real and accessible.

For more social media tips, please see:

How to Create a Social Media Post Calendar

21 tips for hiring a social media rockstar

Main social media automation plugins

What should I post next? I’m sure you’ve asked yourself this question before. Managing social media for a (personal) brand involves a number of different tasks such as creating and publishing content, engaging with your community on different platforms, reporting on your success, and measuring your return on investment.

But what makes the strength of a brand on social networks? One of the deciding factors is the quality of its content as well as the way in which that content is delivered. Content is what helps you develop an audience, build meaningful relationships with your community, create value, and shape your brand’s identity on social media.

If you are active on multiple social platforms, you might often find it difficult to create content because it takes up most of your time. So how can you organize the way you deliver content? That’s right, with a social media calendar! Having a social media calendar not only can save you a lot of time, but it also allows you to plan important dates better in advance.

Let’s take a look at some tips on where to start and how to organize your content across multiple platforms over time.

Write what you post

What type of content do you share? Writing the Writing the different types of content that you are called to promote on social media gives you a better overview of your content mix and allows you to deliver your content accordingly. For example, here on Twitter Counter, what we share across all platforms is our blog content and interesting and relevant stories from reliable third-party sources, tips and tricks, rich media (images, videos), updates up-to-date products, events and promotions.

Decide when and where to post what

One way to do this is to dedicate a day of the week to one type of content: for example, Monday tips and tricks, Tuesday blog posts, Wednesday promotions and contests, etc.

However, personally I’m more of a fan of mixing different kinds of content and sharing every day of the week. This way you keep your content diverse and your post more flexible. Keep in mind that on social media it’s okay to repeat content as long as you present it in a new way using a different visual or copy for example. In fact, repeating content on social media is essential for increasing traffic and expanding your reach.

What platforms you will use and what type of content you will share on each platform Of course, how you use each social platform to distribute your content is entirely up to you as it often depends on your audience. What is important to keep in mind is to experiment with different types of content on different social platforms.

Here’s an example of what Twitter Counter is posting across all platforms:

Twitter

Since Twitter is a higher frequency platform compared to others, it is important to maintain a balance between your own content and the content of third parties. So, with the 20/80 content rule in mind, we try to select interesting content from other sources that we share with our own. The majority of the content we share consists of our blog posts accompanied by images, Twitter polls, promotions, sweepstakes and product updates.

Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn

We use Facebook and Google+ to post almost exclusively our own content, for example useful tips and tricks from our blog posts, product updates and promotions.

Instagram

On Instagram, we post a mix of behind-the-scenes footage along with some helpful tips and tricks.

Pinterest

Our content strategy for Pinterest is similar to that of Twitter by pinning our own blog posts as well as content from other sources. Pinterest is a great platform for sharing infographics that we run with third parties.

If you are crossposting across multiple platforms, keep in mind that while you can essentially post the same content to each medium, its structure and copy should be tailored to the specifics of each platform.

For example, on LinkedIn, link posts with a longer copy work better than on Facebook, while on Twitter, images or video are the best option to accompany your tweets and increase your reach.

Decide how often and when

While there are general rules about how often to post for each social media platform, the ultimate post recipe is different for each account as it often depends on the industry and audience, the type of content you post, and of course from the platform itself.

For example, for Twitter from the Twitter counter account, we found that switching to a once-per-hour, 24-hour posting strategy had a positive effect on our overall account engagement.

In general, according to recent research on Buffer, a good starting point for posting to all platforms is:

To note: it is important to experiment with different frequencies for each platform. Timing is just as important to maximizing the exposure of your posts based on where your audience is.

For Twitter, Followerwonk can tell you when your Twitter followers are online, and Twitter Counter calculates the most successful hours and days in a week based on your engagement metrics.

Facebook Insights offers information on the best times to post for maximum reach while for Google+, the science of social media concludes that 9am to 11am weekdays are best.

Mark important dates

Planning your content in advance allows you to prepare for significant dates that could impact the success of your content and KPIs. But what qualifies as important dates? Marketing campaigns you plan to run throughout the year (e.g. Black Friday or Christmas), product releases, other important dates like New Years or Thanksgiving that are a good opportunity to connect with your audience and finally important events in your industry and beyond, such as conferences, sporting events, etc. Simply Measured provides a fairly handy example of a calendar of these important dates.

Create your content and resources

And now for the creative part! Creating your content in advance and choosing your visuals can save you a lot of time and stress, especially during those big marketing campaigns you are considering.

When writing your copy on social media, keep in mind that length matters. Social media scientist Dan Zarrella suggests that tweets between 100 and 115 characters are more likely to be retweeted.

On Facebook, posts up to 40 characters long perform better in terms of engagement, while Google+ and LinkedIn request longer updates. For a quick checklist of what to keep in mind when writing social media text, take a look at this amazing infographic from Quick Sprout.

Choose your model

CoSchedule suggests using three different models: one for your annual plan for a helicopter view, one for the monthly, and one for the daily.

Depending on your visual type, you can either use a template or use your planner to plan your content in advance.

I like to plan the yearly calendar in Excel but for a monthly and weekly overview I recently rediscovered Trello. You can switch from dashboard view to calendar view, use color coding for different types of content, and add your visual assets as attachments. Here is an example :

Besides, Buffer’s new social media calendar addition is very useful for weekly previews too. And if you’re looking more for an all-in-one overview, then Google Calendar is for you.

Assess

There are definitely different ways to build your social media calendar and all kinds of content types, times, and frequencies you can try. What’s important is to keep a close eye on your KPIs so that you can assess your content tactics and the effectiveness of your calendar. Here are some of the key metrics you should look at:

Social media traffic

This is one of the most important metrics for measuring the success of your content and it can easily be measured through Google Analytics with a breakdown by traffic source.

Commitment

Engagement remains an important metric when it comes to assessing the impact of your content. Sure, you can look at different levels of engagement, but for Twitter, I always check overall engagement by week as well as the times and dates that generate the most engagement on Twitter Counter’s Best Time to Tweet graph. This way I can readjust our Twitter calendar accordingly.

Leads and conversions

For many brands, leads and conversions are one of their main social media marketing KPIs. Google Analytics can help you track these metrics, but if you’re looking for a more user-centric approach in your measurement, Amplitude is one of the tools that lets you track your audience’s journey from social media throughout. of your funnel. You’ll probably need some tech help setting up your tracking, but once you do, the magic happens!

Audience growth

The good old audience growth! No matter what you do on social media, it’s one of the first metrics you look at, right? Next to that, audience retention is an equally important metric, as negative audience growth could be a sign that something is wrong with your social media tactics.

Now your turn ! Are you using a social media calendar? How about the pros and cons? Let us know in the comments below.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the importance of using social media to promote your business during the holidays and throughout the year.

You might have even seen some stats on the value of social media, like:

Two-thirds of shoppers use social media to find the perfect gift.

No matter how much inventory you put in the numbers, when it comes to vacations, you know how important having the right plan can be in reaching new customers and getting people to your store.

And even if you’re not a social media fan, with the right plan, you can achieve significant social media results this holiday season.

Creating a social media plan starts with understanding what each network can do for your business.

For the holidays, you’ll want to focus your efforts on a select group of social media sites that will offer the right features to connect with your audience.

Here’s a look at how each network might work for your business.

• Facebook: As a small business, you’ve probably already seen how Facebook can be used to engage with fans and promote your business throughout the year. On Facebook, you can use different types of content, including text, images, videos, and links, to engage your fans. You can also take advantage of Facebook’s advertising capabilities to target nearby consumers and drive local success. Finally, with a third of Facebook users now only mobile, Facebook is also one of the most powerful networks for connecting with local consumers on their mobile device.
• Twitter: Twitter is one of the best networks for engaging with your audience and sharing useful and engaging content. But did you also know that Twitter is a valuable platform for customer service? People love Twitter because it gives them direct access to the people and brands that are important to them. By monitoring your Twitter activity and responding to questions and comments from followers, you will never miss the opportunity to turn a social interaction into a new opportunity for your business.
• Pinterest: People approach Pinterest with more of a buying mindset than they do on other social sites. In fact, 47% of U.S. online shoppers say they’ve purchased something as a result of a Pinterest recommendation. While you can use other networks – like Facebook or Twitter – strictly for engagement purposes, on Pinterest you can connect with consumers at a single stage of the buying process: the research and find stage. navigation. Pinterest is the perfect platform for showcasing gift ideas and showcasing everything your business has to offer this holiday season.
• Instagram: Instagram is one of the best networks for creating engaging content for your business this holiday season. Its user-friendly tools make it easy to create images and video clips that your customers and prospects will love. You can snap photos of staff members preparing for an upcoming holiday sale or show off gift ideas with creative images your audience will love.
• Youtube: The holidays are a great time to create and share your business videos. Your videos don’t have to be a big budget production. Something as simple as a video from your smartphone wishing customers a happy vacation, or an interview about upcoming vacation activities, can go a long way in establishing a more personal connection with your audience. Best of all, you can easily share your videos on your various social networks or even add them to your vacation emails.

Now that you understand what each network can do for your business, it’s time to start building your schedule.

To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of perfect creative post ideas for each of these popular networks:

Use these ideas for inspiration. Pick the ones that are meaningful to your audience and add the unique personality of your business to make them your own.

The last element of your social media plan will be deciding how often to post on each platform.

Below we have outlined the recommended frequencies for all the different social networks. Remember that it is your social media plan. Focus on the networks that you think offer the greatest opportunity for your business. These frequencies can provide guidelines when you start to create your schedule.

(Note: Frequency will be greatest on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. On YouTube, you will likely be creating one or a series of videos and not needing to focus on daily or weekly posting.)

With your content ideas and posting plans defined, you can now start filling your calendar.

As you begin to set up your social media plan, keep these important official and unofficial days and holidays in mind:

• Thanksgiving – November 27
• Black friday – November 28
• Small Business Saturday – November 29
• Cyber ​​monday – 1st December
• #GivingTuesday – December 2
• Hanukkah – December 16 – December 24
• Christmas Eve – December 24
• Xmas – December 25th
• The day after Christmas – December 26

You’ll want to take your other marketing activities into account as well. For example, look for ways to coordinate your posting schedule with your email marketing schedule. Remember, you can easily share your vacation emails on social media and use social media to encourage fans and subscribers to join your mailing list.

Here’s an example of what your calendar for December might look like:

As you begin to create your calendar, look for ways to save time and keep things going.

If you are a Constant Contact customer, you can create and schedule your vacation emails in advance. You can also use tools like Facebook’s native post scheduler, which lets you schedule your posts in advance. Try to incorporate a number of time-saving tools to schedule posts before things get too hectic.

Also, be sure to take advantage of the convenience of mobile tools. Download the mobile apps for each of your most important social sites. You can also download the Constant Contact mobile app and create reminders and email announcements right from your mobile device!

Ready to start?

Start your holiday posting calendar with Small Business Saturday in mind.

Have a great Saturday deal for small businesses and use your various communication channels to spread the word.

Remember, your schedule should include a mix of content designed to promote your business and content designed to entertain and engage your audience. It’s okay to put more emphasis on promotion when trying to publicize an offer or drive last minute sales, but be sure to mix up other posts that people will want to share and respond to.

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Author: Ryan Pinkham

Follow @RyanPinkham

Junior content developer @Constantcontact. You want to help small businesses understand online marketing and the tools that come with it. I live in America’s oldest seaport. I love my small businesses. … View complete profile>

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