A social calendar is a great way for your business to
improve your Online Marketing’s efficiency and work weeks and in some cases
months in advance.
With businesses using so many Social Media platforms, it can
be a bit of a daunting task to stay on top of it and plan accordingly. But don't be too put off, using a Social Media calendar allows you to
plan and schedule campaigns for maximum impact, it will also help identify any
gaps which may need plugging.
Managing your Social Media schedule also allows you to
tailor your campaigns to certain times of year, focus on certain events and
seasonality and maximise your inbound efforts.
To help plan your calendar, there are 100s of templates
readily available online, but this can be done simply on Excel, Google Drive or
anywhere you like. It is not just planning your content that is simple but
scheduling it is also easy with Social Media management tools like Buffer,
Hootsuite & Crowdfire.
Here are a few simple reasons why you might want to consider
using a Social Media calendar:
Improve your online efficiency
Social Media calendars help you to avoid
scrambling. Sit back & relax knowing you have heaps of content planned on
your accounts. This will also free up time to focus on other aspects of your
businesses Marketing strategy.
Plan for multiple platforms in one place
A calendar
allows you to plan for individual platforms instead of the same post on every Social
Media account. Craft different messages for different platforms to improve
engagement. The most obvious one is LinkedIn; ensure you post more curated
thought leadership content instead of a generic post.
Track, plan, monitor & manage your strategy
Calendars
allow you to track, plan and monitor what is working, what is not working, and
you can tweak it accordingly as you are going along.
Reach more people
Using a calendar helps you reach a
wider audience, plan content around events & holidays. Using these in the
posts will help you reach a wider audience than a standard post.
One last thought...
It is great for businesses to be efficient and
ensure they are on top of their Social Media strategy but there is still room
for spontaneity.
For those things that you never know may pop up that may be
relevant to your business, customers and trends you can engage with keep a
balance between planned and real. Customers want a business with a personality
not just post after post.
