Many business owners and operators struggle when generating content for their social media platforms. Developing fresh, engaging content on the spot can be challenging, especially when the goal is to generate buzz on your platforms. Posting erratically can lead to forgetting to post, or cause your content to lose focus and cohesion. Content calendars are a simple organizational tool to help you plan ahead and create a content strategy for your social platforms. Your followers will appreciate the dedication to quality content, and you’ll appreciate the organized, streamlined approach to your content strategy. We've outlined the top reasons you should use a social media content calendar below.
- Helps you stay organized
- Easier to create content diversity
- Makes workflow more efficient
- Generates accountability
- Helps keep up with promotions
1. Helps You Stay Organized
Social media content calendars allow you to stay organized with all of your upcoming posts. Each
calendar is an overview of the month, and most templates can be modified to your needs. A typical calendar has a column for every social media platform, the topic, the caption, the graphic, a link to a site, and the date of the post. Once the content is completed for the month, all you have to do is copy and paste from the calendar itself into the platform. However, you might want to schedule the entire month ahead of time to optimize when your content will be read by your followers. Facebook allows you to schedule posts from the Facebook platform, but most others don't. If you are juggling multiple platforms, using a third party site such as Hootsuite enables you to schedule all of your content on all your platforms in one place.
2. Easier to Create Content Diversity
Creating dull, repetitive content is a concern for anyone looking to connect with their following. Your content calendar puts your whole month's content into perspective. For example, if you see that you have 3 posts in a row that are very similar in creative and topic, it is probably best to move some of those posts around to later in the month and replace with something different.
3. Makes Workflow More Efficient
By doing all your planning for the month ahead of time, you streamline your social media efforts. There won't be any need to invest multiple days a week on content because everything is queued up and ready to go. Simple as that. Your month is free to focus on other aspects of your bustling business.>
4. Generates Accountability
Content calendars hold people accountable. Sometimes there are multiple stakeholders in content creation, and utilizing the calendar will help everyone stay on the same page in terms of what is needed. If you are in a larger company with a full marketing team, multiple team members may be needed to create your content goal and to ensure quality and cohesion. Even if you are a smaller company or even a team of one, laying out what you need for the month holds you accountable for all aspects of your social media content.
5. Helps Keep Up with Promotions and Campaigns
Align your other marketing efforts with your social media content through your content calendar. Ensure that your promotions or sales are reflected in your social media strategy by visualizing window in which these promotions are occurring and create harmony in your overall marketing efforts.
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