5 Steps to Fill Your Social Media Calendar with Content
Contributed by Idea Collective Member:
Mary Murray
Social Media Strategist
A content calendar is an essential part of a social media strategy.
Creating a social media content calendar will give you peace of mind knowing you always have something to post. It helps you see the big picture and ensures you are posting a variety of content. Most importantly, it guarantees that your social media posts align with your business goals.
Be Consistent
Consistent posting shows you are a credible business. It doesn’t matter if your company is B2C or B2B—consumers use social media to learn about a company’s products or services before they decide to buy. Whether it is on Facebook, TikTok or your LinkedIn Company Page, posting on social media gives your current and future customers a chance to get to know you and your employees and the products or services you offer. This helps your business gain new customers, build relationships and retain current customers.
Know What to Post
About 80% of your content should educate and entertain your customers and 20% should sell your products or services. Engage and build relationships with your audience and sprinkle in a little sales. Social media is a form of marketing, but it should be social! Keep reading to learn more about what to post!
Here are 5 steps to help you build a content calendar:
1. Build your monthly calendar template
There is no right or wrong way to create your calendar. Some create a calendar specifically for social media within Microsoft Outlook or Google. Others create a simple spreadsheet with a tab for each month in Excel or Google Sheets. Others use Word or Google Docs. It all depends on you and how you like to work.
As you read through the rest of the steps, think about the topics you will cover each month. Create “buckets” or topics and color code them across your calendar. Here are a few bucket ideas:
bucket ideas
2. Review your business goals
What is going on in your business? Look at each month of the year and review what takes place each month and from where your revenue comes. Do you hold seminars, webinars, conferences or other events? Mark them on your content calendar and then determine when you want to begin promotion and post about them before, during and after they occur.
Do you promote certain products or services at certain times of the year? What happens seasonally in your business? Maybe you sell something that relates to back-to-school, tax season or spring cleaning?
Plotting these important business activities on your calendar will ensure your social media posts align with your business goals.
3. Mark holidays, important dates and special events on your calendar
Pick the holidays you want to acknowledge and note them on your calendar.
Depending on your business and how many employees you have, you may want to include employee anniversaries or birthdays. This is a fantastic way to showcase your staff and let your audience get to know them.
There are social media holidays, also called hashtag holidays, that are appropriate for many businesses. Search “social media holidays” and find something to fit your industry. Does your company offer financial services? If so, post about financial wellness during Financial Literacy Month. Does your business have something to do with health or self-care? Post during National Wellness Month. Are you a dentist? Post on National Tooth Fairy Day. Show your employees and their pups on National Dog Day. The ideas for social media holidays are endless!
Are you or another team member holding or attending a conference or seminar? Add these and promote before, during and after they occur. Photos or videos of the audience clapping, attendees networking, the speaker, your “aha” moment or you at the event are all content worthy.
4. Repurpose your content
Most likely, your business produces a variety of content. From your website, blog articles, e-newsletters to your case studies, presentations and brochures—these are ALL items that can be repurposed for social media. You may be able to create three or more social media posts from one blog article. Grab these items from your marketing calendar and plug them into your social media content calendar.
5. Fill in the blanks
Now that you have plotted company events, product promotions, holidays, important dates and activities and other marketing content, it is time to fill in the blanks. I often fill in the blanks and finalize content at the end of the month for posting the upcoming month.
Share tips and nuggets about things you know. Talk about your mission. Tell stories. Give a behind the scenes tour. Show a behind the scenes photo or video. Show your face or your employee’s faces. Provide value. Teach with tips. Talk about current events. Think about what is important to your audience. All these things will help your audience get to know, like and trust your business.
Creating a content calendar may be a little more work on the front end, but it will make your workdays less stressful knowing your content is planned and organized.
The Idea Collective has an entire community of experts who can help you with any aspect of your small business.
Contributed by
Mary Murray
Social Media Strategist
Mary supports B2B companies with social media strategy, page management and LinkedIn advertising, while creating awareness for their brand and building relationships with their audiences. She keeps up with the constant social media changes so they can focus on other areas of their business.
