Have you ever wondered how those magazines you read get put together?  Especially if you also know that generally content for the average magazine is put together literally months in advance.  While we might be celebrating Christmas, our favourite magazine is putting the final touches on their Labour Day issue.

The answer is that magazines use an Editorial Calendar.

What other applications could such a calendar apply to?  Why not a Social Media Content Calendar?

 

A Social Media Content Calendar Makes Sense

An editorial calendar helps keep a consistent message.  For instance, with a magazine, there are likely several staff or team members working on various aspects of the content at the same time.  Everyone on the team shares the calendar and updates.  This in turn provides direction to the team.  There’s no question what each person needs to be doing and when it needs to be done.

A Great Way to Keep You on Time & on Track

Similarly, a Social Media calendar can be a huge asset to a business.  It breaks down your marketing strategy into monthly, weekly and daily tasks.  As you populate your calendar with tasks, you will be developing a consistent message for your business, just like the magazine staff does.  And that’s not all.  Similar to the magazine, you’ll always know what you need to do and when you need to get it done by.

Keep the Calendar Fluid

But wait – something outside the plan just happened.  How can you attend to the new information without disrupting your calendar?

You need to remember that, just like the marketing strategy you put into place at the beginning of the year, things can impact that strategy.  Your calendar, much as your strategy, must be fluid enough to handle the occasional hiccup or allow you to jump on an unexpected opportunity.

Similarly to how you revisit your marketing strategy throughout the year, you need to revisit your Social Media Calendar as well.  Changes to your marketing strategy need to be reflected in your calendar.

Without a calendar, you might not have noticed that there are times throughout the year where you are not doing  as much social media activity.  This might be just fine if your business tends to relate more to seasonal highs and lows.  Perhaps that’s the best strategy for you – come on strong when your product or service is in high demand and quiet down a bit during off times.  After all, that’s better than simply throwing a pile of confetti out there in the hope that something sticks.  Quality will always make a better impact.

Your calendar is also a go-to place for ideas that occur to you.  And a way better repository than scraps of paper or post-it notes stuck to your screen.

If your marketing strategy includes outsourcing your social media work and/or content writing, imagine what a benefit the calendar will have not only for your business but for those you have outsourced to.

Let’s Recap the Benefits of a Social Media Calendar

  1. Breaks down your monthly, weekly and daily tasks into manageable bites.
  2. Allows flexibility so you can take advantage of an occurrence or opportunity.
  3. Provides an easy way to review and revisit what’s working and what’s not.
  4. Makes obvious the times during the year when your content might be a little light.
  5. Makes sure the people you outsource to are on the same page.
  6. Acts as a repository for great ideas.

There’s One More Reason

We’ve all done it.  Spent more time on the enjoyable tasks and left the not-so-much-fun stuff behind.  And we also know the stress that adds to our lives.

Perhaps we’re just not comfortable writing content or we envy the way some people seem to have complete mastery over social media but we feel hopelessly muddled every time we log onto Facebook.

Having a Social Media Calendar in your arsenal takes a huge amount of pressure off yourself.  Now you know what to do and when to do it.

If you need help developing a Marketing Strategy or developing a Social Media Calendar, we can assist you. We’ll also implement those strategies if you need that help too!

 

Free Social Media Editorial Calendar 

You can download our Free Social Media Editorial Calendar. Just follow the link above.

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