How to Create a Social Media Calendar (Free Template)

February 8, 2018
|In Digital Experiences, Integrated Marketing
|By Relish Marketing

 

In last week’s post, we shared the importance of a social media calendar and how it can help you take your digital strategy to the next level. Now let’s get into developing your calendar. First things first – determine what you want to accomplish:

  • Do you want to increase audience engagement?
  • Are you looking to establish thought leadership by promoting new ideas?
  • Should your social media posts increase traffic to your website?
  • Are you looking to attract new hires? New customers? Media attention?

Answering these questions will help you determine the type of content you should be posting. From there, you can identify:

How often to post.

Identify how many posts you plan – and are able – to publish each week. Yes, frequent posting will help you stay visible, but be sure that the schedule you come up with is one you can maintain.

When to post.

Timing is everything. This infographic provides general guidelines on when to post to Facebook and Twitter, but be mindful that every audience is different. These guidelines offer a great starting point, but ultimately, you need to track and analyze your past performance on social media to determine your specific timing for posts. When is your audience on the social platforms that you use? What time of the day are they most engaged? When analyzing performance, look for data that answers those questions.

What to post.

You want to create posts that your audience wants to see. Does your audience engage more with photos or videos? Do you get more likes when you post educational content or about upcoming events? Knowing what engages your audience will go a long way toward helping you craft the right social media content.

Make no mistake: Creating and following a social media strategy is a huge undertaking. But increasingly, how you present yourself online is just as important as every other aspect of your marketing strategy. Your social media presence plays an essential role in how clients and potential employees discover and connect with you. And a strategic, consistent, well-targeted presence doesn’t happen by accident. Use a social media calendar to create the presence you need to deliver on your strategy and achieve your goals. Download the social media calendar template we use at Relish to get started.

 

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