How to Create a Social Media Calendar [2022 guide]

Social media calendars are a lifesaver to busy social marketers.

It can be difficult to create and post content on the spot. Typos, tone issues, and other errors are more common when you work on the fly. It’s much easier to create a social media calendar if you spend some time upfront. This will allow you to schedule posts, edit, proofread, and schedule them.

Social media content calendars can make your day easier. They make it easy for you to plan a content mix that is effective and allow you time your posts to reach as many people as possible.

Continue reading to find the complete guide to creating a powerful and practical social media content calendar. To help you get started, we have included free social-media calendar templates.

Social media audit template to create an accurate, up-to date record of:

• Fake profiles and fake accounts
• Passwords and security for your account
• Goals and KPIs of each platform-branded account
• Your target audience, their demographics, and personas
• Who is responsible for what in your team?
• Your most successful posts and campaigns
• Gaps, underwhelming outcomes, and opportunities to improve
• Key metrics to measure future success on each platform

Take note of how often you are posting on each social media network as part of your audit. Your analytics will give you clues as to how your posting frequency and time affects engagement and conversions.

Industry thought leaders provide curated content.

One-third of your social media posts contain personal interaction between you and your followers.

User-generated content and curated information. This way, you won’t feel overwhelmed by the task of creating everything.

UTM parameters

You might also want to include more detailed information, such as:

• Platform-specific format (feed post, Story, Reel, poll, live stream, ad, shoppable post, etc.)
• The associated campaign or vertical (product launch, contest etc.)
• Geo-targeting (global, North America, Europe, etc.)
• Organic or paid? (If paid, additional budget details might prove helpful)
• Is it approved?

If you’re just getting started, a simple spreadsheet works well. You can find our top calendar tools at end of post if you are looking for a more powerful solution.

Social media calendar template

The social media content calendar template that is linked above can be used for all major platforms (Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, TikTok, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, and LinkedIn). It’s also highly customizable so you can make it your own by adding the channels you prefer.

You should create a new tab each month and plan your editorial content week-by-week.

Don’t forget the evergreen content tab among the many useful items in the calendar. This tab allows you to keep track of blog posts and other content that performs well on social media, regardless of seasonality.

This template has columns that you can use to track and schedule.

• Type of content
• Original publication date (keep track to this so you know when it’s due for an update).
• Title
• Topic
• URL
• Social copy that performs best
• Image with the highest performance

Social media editorial calendar template

To plan individual content assets, use the editorial calendar template. You can think blog posts, videos, and new research. This is where you plan the content you want to promote on social media.

The template is simple to use. You can simply create a new tab each month and plan your editorial content week by week.

This social media editorial calendar template contains the following columns:

• Title
• Author
• Topic
• Deadline
• Published
• Time
• Notes

You might want to modify your template to include additional information such as target keyword or content bucket.

Why should you use a social media content schedule?

You can schedule social media posts ahead. This allows you to share content every day, without having to log into every social platform every hour.

The average internet user uses 7.5 social networking platforms on a regular basis. This number could be even higher for social media managers. It is important to organize your accounts when you manage multiple accounts.

Planning your content saves time and is often more enjoyable.

As a guideline, it is best to follow generally accepted best practices.

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No matter how many times you post, the most important rule is to post consistently.

It’s important to stick to a consistent schedule so that your followers and fans are aware of what to expect. It’s also a great way to cleverly use weekly hashtags such as #MondayMotivation. (I prefer #MonsteraMonday but it might not work for everyone.

This post is on Instagram. It was shared by Plantsome (@plantsome_ca).

Take a look at The Winnipeg Free Press’ weekly content calendar. It is a real-world example. This is not a social-media content calendar. However, it is a weekly plan that is anchored by consistent content ideas.

Source:Winnipeg Free Press

These content frameworks make it easier to plan your posts. You can plan ahead and keep to a schedule, while still having quality content ready for you.

You can also use social media calendar tools to post when your audience is most active, even if they aren’t during your work hours. This leads us to…

March 4, 2022

social media crises.

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It won’t win you any hearts or minds to ask your team to give up their jobs for an Instagram Reel. It won’t result in the best content or a cohesive account.

A social media calendar can help you organize resources and ensure that your team has enough time to do their best work.

A long-term plan will allow you to create content that supports your social marketing goals.

#nationalpizzaday? pic.twitter.com/AQ2P2P1J2v

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 10, 2022

A Google Calendar of holidays has been created that you can use to frame your social media posts. To give your content planning an extra edge, you can import it into your Google Calendar.

Let’s take an in-depth look at Charlotte Parent magazine’s editorial calendar. It shows how content themes, and specific articles, align with relevant events like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

Source: Charlotte Parent

Approach influencers to discuss working together on sponsored material.

It makes it easier for you to coordinate your organic content and paid content so that you get the most out of your social media advertising dollars.

Bloggers and influencers often have their own editorial content calendars. This is another way to exchange ideas and find more partnerships through content planning.

Social media analytics can be a gold mine of information. These insights can be used to improve your results and produce more of the best content.

Hootsuite is a social media management tool that allows you to use the built-in analytics tools. This will allow you to capture a complete picture all of your social media efforts.

Hootsuite, for example, always allows for social media experiments in its posting calendar. It is important that we ensure that the team works from real-world results and not only theories.

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Google Sheets

Google Sheets isn’t fancy. Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet tool that makes life much easier. A simple Google Sheet can be a great place to keep your social media calendar organized, especially if one or both of our templates are used as your starting point.

It’s easy to share it with your team members and stakeholders.

Hootsuite Planner

We wouldn’t knock a spreadsheet. Hootsuite Planner is a simpler way to manage your social media content calendar.

Hootsuite can draft, preview , schedule and publish all of your social media posts. You can use Hootsuite for more than one platform. Hootsuite is compatible with Facebook, Instagram TikTok and Twitter as well as LinkedIn, YouTube, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn and LinkedIn. Hootsuite’s Bulk Composer can be used to schedule hundreds of posts across multiple social media profiles.

Hootsuite’s Planner allows you to create a social media calendar that is interactive and flexible, rather than a static spreadsheet. You can schedule a post to go out on Wednesday at 3PM instead of Saturday morning at 9AM. Drag and drop the post to the new time slot and you’re ready to go.

Hootsuite even suggests when is the best time to post on each social media account.

Once you have created your social media content calendar, Hootsuite Planner can help you manage your posts, engage with followers, and track your success. Get a free trial of Hootsuite Planner today.

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The post How to Create a Social Media Calendar [2022 guide] was first published on Social Media Marketing & Management dashboard.