Managing social media or providing social media marketing services takes work. Social media users must handle everything right, from deciding when to post and create content to juggling various social media apps and publishing the content. Furthermore, users need to interact with the audience and engage in posts. It’s a pretty hectic job. However, there is a way out! And the best way is to create a social media calendar. 

Don’t know what a content calendar is, how to create one, and how can it help be consistent on social media? Here’s an ultimate guide to creating a social media calendar.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is a social media content calendar?

How to create a social media calendar?

1. Post types and format
2. Determine the frequency of posting.
3. Collaborate and approve posts.
4. Schedule posts and track progress

The right tools to plan to message across social media platforms 3

1. Buffer
2. Hootsuite
3. Sendible

Significant benefits of creating a social media calendar

1. It helps to stay organized
2. Helps with brainstorming content
3. Helps stay consistent

Tips for creating and managing a social media calendar

1. Know the audience
2. Do the necessary research
3. Analyze and refine content

The best content calendar development examples

1. Google Drive
2. Hootsuite Planner

Conclusion

What is a social media calendar?

A calendar for social media is an app or a spreadsheet to plan the following social media post or campaign across various platforms. The calendar comes in handy in tracking what, where, and when to post on social media. 

On a basic level, a content calendar is like a tool that assists in creating a schedule for upcoming posts, scheduling them for future events, tracking the status and progress of social media posts, and keeping an eye on all the campaigns. 

Social media users must include these elements in their calendars:

• Date and time of the post
• The specific social media platform 
• The post format ( long video, image, GIF or short video)
• Caption or copy for the post
• Location tag
• Hashtags (if any particular event is coming soon)

How To Create A Content Calendar For Social Media?

A social media content calendar helps keep an eye on the entire content schedule and in posting a mix of various content types. It also helps avoid repetition of content and duplication. Here’s a straightforward process for creating a content calendar:

Post types and formats

Have various content forms in a content calendar, such as videos, gifs, articles, carousels, polls, reels, etc. Also, plan the content type based on upcoming events.

For instance, schedule holiday reels, carousels for educational or promotional content, etc.

Determine the frequency of posting.

Determining the posting frequency is the second thing users need to work on. Knowing how many times to post per week/month is crucial for social media content creation. 

As social media helps improve marketing efforts, users need to understand the number of times they plan to use it for marketing purposes.

Collaborate and approve posts.

Share the content calendar with the content head or the marketing team to have a straightforward workflow pattern and ensure everything is in sync. 

This process will help enhance the social media marketing services provided to the clients.

Schedule posts and track progress

After planning and scheduling posts, it’s time to monitor and track the progress of the posts. Don’t worry about the timing of the posts. It is one of the biggest perks of having a social media calendar. 

Social media users can easily track the performance of their posts, the engagement rate, and other performance results. 

For a social media agency or a marketer, this would help improve their overall social media marketing services and results for their clients.

The right tools to plan to message across social media platforms

The various social media management tools that a social media marketing company can use are:

Buffer: It has a wide range of features that can be used for publishing, scheduling, engaging, and even creating landing pages.

Hootsuite: 

With the help of Hootsuite, a social media marketing company can carry on unique activities such as monitoring multiple accounts at a time, using keywords to rank online, and running advertisements.

Sendible: 

It is the number one social media management tool for agencies. Besides scheduling content, it also helps customize the dashboard according to the client’s needs. 

Significant benefits of creating a calendar for social media 

Here are five reasons why a content calendar is an excellent addition to the social media marketing services list: 

1. It helps to stay organized: The most significant benefit of a content calendar is that it adequately explains the entire marketing strategy. The exclusive content, from social media and emails to push notifications, everything is aligned.
   Besides, it removes all the content gaps and helps meet the deadline.
2. Helps with brainstorming content: A content calendar in the picture assists the social media marketing company or manager in occasionally developing new topics. It’s the best way to have a bank of content ideas and gain valuable feedback on the topics and content ideas.
3. Helps stay consistent: Content marketing is only helpful with consistency. The key to being in the audience’s mind is creating educational and relevant content every alternative day.
   Furthermore, it is crucial to make efforts by posting regularly.

Tips for creating and managing a social media content calendar 

1. Know the audience: As a social media marketing company, knowing the target audience before creating a social media content calendar is essential. Ask these questions before moving ahead:
   • Who is the target audience?
   • What are they interested in?
   • What social media platforms do they hang out on?
2. Do the necessary research: Review the performance analytics, examine which previous posts performed better, and then create a content calendar that engages the most people. It also helps in knowing which platform is the best for various business niches. Also, searching for relevant hashtags is a good idea to reach the maximum audience.
3. Analyze and refine content: Once the performance analytics is analyzed, the next step is to refine the content. Businesses can use the information to make necessary changes and create high-performing content.

The Best Content Calendar Examples

There are many social content calendar templates available to use. Here are a few of them:

1. Google Drive

Google Sheets are the best and easiest social media content calendar option. It is not a fancy option, but it is free. Social media users can make the most of it by creating their templates free of cost. 

Furthermore, sharing with colleagues, team members, and other employees is easy. 

2. Hootsuite Planner

The Hootsuite planner is another great option for planning, drafting, and previewing posts. Users can use it to prepare content for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms. 

Use the HootSuite planner to create and schedule content in bulk. 

Conclusion

Social media users and marketing companies can now make the most of scheduling tools in 2023. No need to worry about going online to post a video or picture. Social media content calendars and scheduling tools are here for your rescue.