Why Do I Need a Social Media Calendar?
Let’s face facts, we are all busy people. We have lives outside of our social media accounts, and keeping up with all the tweets, Instagram, and Facebook can be tricky. If you run a business, creating a routine where you check social media frequently and post regularly will increase engagement and drive sales. Plus, it allows you to track the trends and keep up with the latest news stories and topics of conversation.
What Should I Include In My Social Media Calendar?
The best social media calendars are personalized and flexible, enabling you to add in the events, activities, and people that matter most to you.Â
These items should be relevant to your target audience and should be things that they would find interesting. Your social media calendar should be a tool that you can customize and personalize to make the most of.
How Do I Plan My Content For My Social Media Calendar?
The most effective way to plan your social media calendar content is by brainstorming ideas.Â
Once you have a decent amount of content planned for the year, you can start to schedule when you will be posting to ensure that you are posting at the right time based on the best possible chances of achieving the greatest results.
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Decide What You Will Post
Before you start creating your social media calendar, you need to decide exactly what you will post on social media. You can start by brainstorming a list of all the social platforms you use (for example, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram).Â
Also, think about the type of content you will post – it might be photos or videos, articles or podcasts, or maybe even a mix of all of these things. And don’t forget about the format of your content:Â
Are you posting in text, images, or a combination of both? Each method has pros and cons, so consider what makes the most sense for your brand.
For example, if you sell beach vacations, you might decide to post more about beautiful beaches and less about the business sector.
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Make A List Of Your Top Posts
After deciding what you will post on social media, you can start to make a list of your top posts – the ones that were most successful and drove lots of engagement.Â
You can also use search tools like Google Analytics to determine how many views or engagements your posts received. The more you post, the more you will discover what performs well and what doesn’t.Â
Sometimes it’s easy to get distracted by all the shiny new things that appear on your social media newsfeed, so keeping a list of your top posts will help you focus on the important things.
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Choose A Timeless Theme For Your Social Media
When creating your social media calendar, you need to decide what theme you will use for the platform – what colors, fonts, and images you will use to represent your business on social media.
 Choosing a simple yet effective theme is a good idea so you don’t overwhelm your followers with too much content.Â
Remember: less is more. In general, use a single color scheme and design palette across all your social platforms. Keeping things simple will make your designs look more inviting and consistent.
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Set Regular Dates To Post On Social Media
One of the important things about a social media calendar is that you need to set regular dates to post on each platform.Â
It is a good idea to space out your posts at intervals of one week to ensure that your content is always fresh and new.Â
Setting regular posting dates will also give your followers a chance to look forward to your content – something that can be difficult to accomplish when your posts are sporadic and non-scheduled.
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Decide How Long Each Post Will Be
When you post regularly on social media, you will discover that each post gets more engagement than the previous one.Â
This is because people have grown accustomed to looking forward to your content – anticipating what you will post next is all they need to keep engaging.
To keep things interesting for your audience, you can decide to make the posts different lengths: some short, some long. Shorter posts will get more engagement than long posts – it really is that simple.Â
This is also a great way to get more clicks, and Instagram likes on your posts. It’s always good to have more clicks and likes than your followers, isn’t it?
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Post Regularly On Each Social Media Platform
You must post regularly on each platform you choose to represent your business. If you are active on social media, you know that posting frequently and consistently is one of the key ways to get noticed and gain credibility.Â
When you post regularly, the algorithm on the different platforms will gradually start to favor your content over time, and you will start to see more and more of your posts show up in people’s newsfeeds.Â
This is particularly beneficial if you are posting about a specific niche or topic, as Google and other search engines will start associating your content with those keywords and pulling up your posts in response to queries.
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Curate And Organize Content For Your Social Media
When you start to create your social media calendar, you will discover that there are plenty of applications available to help you find and curate content for each platform.Â
To start, you can use a tool like Hootsuite to curate content from all of your social platforms into a single stream.
This will make it easy for your followers to access your content whenever they want and save you the effort of constantly posting on different platforms.Â
You can also use Hootsuite to find and connect with potential ambassadors or influencers who might help you gain more followers and eventually drive more business.
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Determine When Your Social Media Calendar Will Go Live
Once you have started to post on your social media calendar, you need to determine when it will go live. This depends on many variables, so you must consider all the aspects involved carefully.
 For example, will you start with just a few posts, or will you build up over time? And will you make the content available to the general public, or will you keep it private? These are all important questions, and you should take your time answering them.
Before you put your social media calendar into action, take some time to think everything through – from the theme you will use to the colors and images you will use to the overall layout and design of your channel.Â
This will help you ensure your social media calendar looks professional and polished when it is finally live.
The Importance of Posting At The Right Time!
You cannot expect your posts to go viral or resonate with your audience if you are posting when the rest of your audience is asleep or eating lunch.Â
The best time to post on social media is when your target audience is already engaging with content on social media platforms. That means you should be posting during the day on platforms like Twitter and Instagram when your audience is actively using those platforms to search for content and engage with others.Â
When posting during this time, you will more than likely find that you are reaching the right audience and that your content is more likely to be noticed.