How do you plan social media content? Do you post spontaneously, or are you more strategic in your approach? Social media strategy is integral for successfully communicating to your audience and solidifying your brand presence to drive results.

What is a Social Media Content Calendar?

A social media content calendar is a monthly or weekly schedule that plans your social media content across platforms. Content calendars are organized by days and platforms, so it’s easy for you to plan and execute what will be posted and when.

Content calendars include the caption or copy, photos or attachments, links, hashtags, and post day/time. Content calendars enable you to see a complete overview of the posts you have scheduled for the month. These calendars are helpful for scheduling posts as well. Social media scheduling software allows you to post your content automatically at a specified time and date.

Creating a content calendar helps lighten your workload during the month because you can plan and batch your content in a few days. You spend time deciding the content to post, writing captions, creating visual aids, and including relevant hashtags and links. Content calendars are valuable tools when you’re busy with other work tasks or when social media takes the backburner. Planning and organizing posts ahead of time ensures you are posting with your social media strategy in mind and delivering value to your audience to get results.

How to Use the Social Media Content Calendar

Everyone has a different approach to creating a social media content calendar. We recommend using this free social media content calendar template to help you. As you will see, columns should include information for the post date, caption/copy, photo or link to the photo in a cloud backup, and any links for the post. We recommend having an archive tab for each platform so you can look back on your posts and see the topics you have previously discussed.

A complete overview detailing the content and post date helps ensure your content batch aligns with your content pillars, so it’s not repetitive, and see if you need to fill in any spaces for content or rewrite a post to get higher engagement.

Creating a Social Media Content Strategy

Having a social media content strategy calendar helps you organize your posts and assures consistent posting and meaningful engagement with your audience. Frequent posts and engagement inform social media algorithms that your page is active. Algorithms prioritize showing posts from active accounts on home feeds and explore pages. If you feel you don’t have time for social media or frequently neglect growing your social media, content calendars can help you maintain your social media presence to drive better results.

Every achievable social media strategy has a roadmap to a goal. Creating SMART goals that align with your business objectives is critical for a successful social media strategy. Combining SMART goals with content that brings value to your audience is vital for driving meaningful audience interest and traffic to your social media pages, website, and business.

A cohesive social media marketing strategy should also incorporate specific content pillars. Content pillars are typically three to five main topics that align with your business. It could be a topic you frequently discuss, services you offer, client testimonials/stories, or an area of your expertise. These broad pillars are then divided into subtopics, which will be the focus of your posts.

For example, your main content pillars could focus on social media strategy, SEO, and copywriting. Using SEO as a content pillar, you would make posts related to subtopics of SEO, like keywords or phrases that your prospects are searching for in your SEO strategies. Use subtopics for your posts to bring your audience value and specialized knowledge in an area they want to know more about. Make sure that the content pillars you select for your business are connected with one another and make sense for your business goals.

Social media strategies often incorporate other posts, like a holiday or simple engagement posts showcasing a photo of you, your team, and your customers. Incorporating posts like this to your usual evergreen content is a viable method of connecting with your audience on a deeper level. Effective social media strategies know what your audience wants to see and what platforms are the best to reach them. Different social media platforms require distinct strategies, so your social media strategy should not be a one-size-fits-all approach.

Do you know the benefits of strategic marketing and how it impacts your business? Crafting social media strategies that fit your business can be overwhelming. If you need a personalized strategic marketing approach to your social media, look no further. Contact us to get started on your social media and content strategy to get the results you need and deserve!

Facebook Strategy

Facebook is an effective platform for building an online presence, sharing information about your business, and engaging with your audience. Focus on building loyal customers and general brand awareness over time with 2-3 posts a week.

On Facebook, the tone of your messages should be open and friendly to engage with your audience. Posts with visual aids capture your audience’s attention better than text posts. Use Facebook to post detailed captions with general and specific hashtags. End your caption with a call to action to your website. While getting likes, comments, and shares help to boost your posts and spread brand awareness, your main goal should be engaging with your audience and driving traffic to your website.

Use Facebook’s Audience Insights function to view your most effective posts. If posts on a specific topic perform well, use those insights to enhance your next content calendar batch. Optimizing your content is how you appeal to your target audience to draw engagement and build a larger following.

Twitter Strategy

Use Twitter to engage with your audience by sharing small and quick tidbits. This platform is ideal for building connections with those in your industry. Conversing informally and frequently with your audience builds brand awareness and enables your audience to learn more about what you do. Link your social media accounts and website in your Twitter bio and post reminders to your audience to visit your website.

The reply, retweet, like, and share functions make it easy to interact with your audience and other businesses in the industry. Try to engage on Twitter daily, and consider posting 3-4 times weekly. Twitter’s character limit makes it difficult to write long captions or share a lot of information. Because of this, use Twitter as a more informal strategy for reaching your audience.

Each post should include a few hashtags to attract more people to your brand. Most Twitter strategies use quick and short captions that hook the audience and a link to access the content. Twitter can remind your audience to check your other social media pages and website to access new content.

Instagram Strategy

Your target audience is likely already present on Instagram, so it’s well worth the time and effort it takes to build an audience on the platform. Use Instagram to engage with your audience, share detailed captions, converse with other businesses, bring in new audiences, and strengthen your brand community.

Instagram requires an image or reel for every post. Each image you post should be aligned with your branding, informative to your audience, and visually appealing. It’s critical to capture your audience’s attention with a well-designed post when the first thing a user views on the platform is photos or reels.

Post 2-4 times weekly on Instagram. You do not want to spam your follower’s feeds, but you want to be present enough so your posts can get attention from your followers and traction from engagement. Instagram is a good platform for keywords and hashtags as well. Use both general and specific keywords and hashtags to attract your target audience. Instagram does not allow links in a post, so your call to action has to compel your audience to click the link in your bio.

Lastly, your strategy should include efforts to post to your Story a few times a week. These posts can be simple and low-effort compared to your main feed posts. Stories are essential for reminding your audience of your presence and building brand awareness, and Instagram favors these types of posts in their algorithm.

LinkedIn Strategy

Use LinkedIn to build your professional credibility and build a business network. It’s recommended that your LinkedIn posts err on the professional side of social media. People consult your LinkedIn profile to learn more about you as a person, your business, and how you operate. When crafting posts for LinkedIn in your content calendar, keep your professional reputation in mind and post content that boosts your credibility.

Focus on posting content related to your business and yourself. This could be recent accomplishments, client testimonials, or exciting projects and sales you’ve completed. Sharing your specialties and what you excel in attracts your audience and informs them that you are worthy of their business. You can share this content through text posts, photos, and videos. Use specific and targeted hashtags for your posts. LinkedIn recommends three hashtags on one post. We recommend posting 2-4 times per week on LinkedIn to get the best results.

If you’re struggling to find content to post to LinkedIn, consider reposting content from your other social media pages, but changing the caption with formal business language. You can also repurpose almost any content to fit LinkedIn, but confirm that the language fits this channel. Don’t forget to engage with others on the platform as well. Taking time to comment, share and like others' content is a great way to boost your social outreach efforts and get more followers. After all, the point of LinkedIn is to build your network so take advantage of this as part of your social media strategy.

How to Repurpose Content

Repurposing content is a necessity for all social media marketing strategies. Repurposing content is like "double-dipping”. You can source content you’ve written in the past, like blog posts or copy, and it gives you a break from thinking of new captions or ideas. You can easily draw on the resources you already have to market your brand. Change up the wording or use an excerpt in your post caption to encourage your audience to visit your website and read your blogs.

If you had a post or idea you liked that you previously posted on social media, repurpose that content by creating a new image or sprucing up the caption. This approach can become repetitive quickly, so use it sparingly. Viewing an archive tab in your content calendar is great for looking at past content and seeing what you can repurpose for future content.

Social media is much more approachable and less time-consuming when you utilize a content calendar to organize your posts. Content calendars ensure that the content you post each week aligns with your strategic marketing goals. Consistently posting on social media is crucial for maintaining your online presence, appealing to your target market, and possibly obtaining new clients.

Feel Overwhelmed at the Thought of Planning Your Social Media Content Strategy?

If you're searching for social media strategy guidance, we’re here to help. Contact us today to start building a social media content strategy that will get you the results you need and deserve to grow your business.