How to Create a Social Media Calendar: 5 Steps (+ Templates)
In our definitive guide, we dive deep into how you can develop a social media calendar in five easy steps.
Posted last year
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Mackenzie TaylorPosted last year
Recent stats on content marketing show that 73% of B2B marketers and 70% of B2B marketers use it as their overall marketing strategy. In another study, 33% of B2B marketers have a content plan, but it’s not written (via Search Engine Journal). Creating a social media calendar is an effective way to describe what you want to create and publish.
And you don’t have to start from scratch to document your content strategy through a social media calendar. In this definitive guide, Flick dives into how you can develop a content calendar in five super easy steps. Let’s jump in.
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Examples of Social Media Calendar
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when creating a social media calendar. Several templates can help you hit the ground running. Here are some social media calendar examples to inspire you:
ManyChat Instagram Posting Calendar Template
ManyChat offers your brand social media tools to help you organize and streamline your posts. It has a range of calendar templates for sharing Instagram posts, like the one below:
This Instagram content calendar helps you to be consistent and organized throughout the month since you’ll know which content to post. Content formats include stories, contests, reels, carousels, feed posts, and live posts.
Why we love this template: It’s a great social media calendar template because it uses colors to group different content types, like stories, lives, reels. You can easily see what content is ready to be published or is already live. It ensures you cater to the different needs of your audience by posting a wide range of content, such as reels, stories, etc.
How to make this template work better: Use the social media calendar as a starting point. Later, you can add tags, links, copy, and posting times. It gives you a clear picture of what you want to create for your social media posts. Also, include dates and any other special public holidays where you want to share unique content.
Social Media Editorial Calendar Template
If you want to use a template that can monitor posts across several social media platforms, use this document. You can include international events and dates on the content calendar, like Xmas or Easter.
How To Create An Instagram Content Calendar
You may find it challenging to create a robust social media calendar for your Instagram account because you could be tied up with other vital business tasks. Thankfully, Flick has developed a 5-step process to break the Instagram algorithm. Let’s get into it.
Step 1: Determine Your Social Media Strategy
You must start by defining your overall social media strategy before you create an Instagram content calendar. It’s super important to do this if you don’t have a content calendar. It ensures you align your content formats with your goals and establish KPIs to track your performance.
Here are some questions to get you started:
- How does my account serve me?
- What is the ideal number of posts per day/week?
- Will my account have a theme?
- What’s the best time in your timezone and industry?
- What different content types should you post?
- Who’ll maintain and schedule posts for your account?
Step 2: Audit Your Social Accounts
Next, dig deeper into your social media platforms to gain valuable insights into your current Instagram footprint. Auditing your content on social media helps you grasp your present performance and know what’s effective and what’s not. The feedback can sharpen your content strategy and produce a successful social media calendar.
Ask yourself the following questions to run your audit:
- What are your current social media channels?
- Are there social media platforms where you don’t have a presence?
- Which account has many engaged followers?
- What type of content has produced sterling results in the past?
- What type of content hasn’t done well in the past?
- What kind of audience is engaging with your content?
- Who is your key target audience demographic?
- Does your target demographic align with your social media audience?
- Can you identify any gaps you need to fill in your social media presence?
Step 3: Plan Your Posting Cadence
Once you’re clear on what type of content you must create and publish, establish a cadence. Decide how often you want to post and how far in advance you need to schedule your content. The cadence helps you determine your capacity and whether you should have extra hands in your content marketing.
Step 4: Add Your own Content
For this step, decide on the content formats to accomplish your digital content marketing objectives. Here are some examples:
- Theme posts – Create posts on trending issues in your industry to update your followers. For instance, you can produce content around a recent webinar, conference, tradeshow, or the latest news in your sector.
- Serial posts –Share information about your unique product or service through serial posts. Use these posts to showcase your in-depth knowledge and educate your customers about how your service or product works.
- Write short-form articles and guest blogs to solve customers’ pain points and show thought leadership.
- Create a press release on your product launch, when you expand into global markets, or when you release company results.
- Holiday or seasonal greetings
- Produce videos based on specific projects, products, events, or campaigns.
- Video customer stories, interviews, or case studies
- Have fun with your fans by sharing humorous and interesting info about your company. Who did dumb things at lunch break?
Variety is the spice of life, so ensure you have a wealth of delightful content ideas for your audience. You can maintain high engagement rates.
Step 5: Measure Results Using Analytics
After sharing captivating posts for a month, evaluate your performance to see how you’re doing. Instagram’s insights tool on the business account provides some stats via your profile or the upper-right menu on the mobile application.
- Instagram Analytics Tool: Track over 20 key metrics on your Instagram account to enhance your content strategy with real-time reporting tools. For example, keep tabs on follower and conversion rates, time spent on ranking on Instagram hashtags, content engagement, and reach rates. Use the tool to understand the ideal times of posting to increase engagement.
- Instagram Hashtag Tool: Find relevant hashtags in seconds to grow profile views, impressions, and follows from a wider audience. Get 40 recommendations for every search, including a filter that uses key hashtag metrics. Also, cash in on the best-performing hashtags to drive growth.
- Instagram Scheduler: Use a content calendar to organize and schedule different posts, including carousels, reels, feed posts, and more. Save time by automating your Instagram content posts and knowing the best times to share new details with your audience.
Discover the Massive Benefits of a Social Media Calendar
An Instagram social media calendar ensures you stay organized and injects consistency into your content creation process. It gives you an overview of your upcoming posts based on publication dates and encourages collaboration if you have multiple digital marketing teams. You can use content calendar templates to hit the ground running.
You also need a potent Instagram content strategy to make the most of your business account and grow your community. Flick can help you accelerate your brand’s growth by providing you with relevant tools. And it’s easy to get started with Flick. Register for a free account today to leverage your Instagram profile.
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