• February 16, 2023
• by fsadvertising

Content creation is one of the most essential tasks for the brands today if they are looking to market their product or service in the digital mediums. But creating content is not everything. To reap the maximum benefit of the online marketing, it is important to publish the content strategically. 

In this post, we will specifically talk about strategy and plan for social media content publishing. Creating and posting content randomly is neither easy nor a constructive task. You’re more prone to typos, tone problems, below average pictures and other mistakes. Spending a little time upfront creating a social media calendar is much more efficient. That way, you will have time to create, proofread, save, edit and schedule posts.

WHY TO CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN?

The reasons you need to create a social media content plan are -

• You can plan your content topics in advance. So you can take time and easily research content ideas which you can use to attract more viewers.

• You can schedule posts on your social media platforms. You might be busy but due to scheduling your posts will be published at your favorable timings. 

• Social media platforms these days provide proper insights. So you can plan your content based on what your audience wants to see. You can repost your successful posts from the past or can bring in more tutorials and short videos which provide huge traffic. 

• You can publish content timely. You can check out all ongoing trends and videos so that it becomes easier to create content. 

HOW CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN?

In order to create a social media content plan, you need to follow the steps below :-

Social media audit is required : A Social Media audit checks out your social media presence, accounts, audience and engagement so you can see what is working & what is not. You will know where improvements need to be made.

Choice of social media channels & content : To decide the kinds of content to post is a key part of your social media strategy. It is an important step to building a social media calendar. There are a couple of standard marketing strategies for content mix that you can use to get started. 

The social media rule of thirds -

1. One-third of your posts promote your business & drive conversions.

2. One-third of your posts share curated content from industry thought leaders.

3. One-third of your social posts involve personal interaction with your followers.

The 80-20 rule -

1. 80 percent of your posts inform, educate, spread awareness or entertain. 

2. 20 percent of your posts promote your business or drive conversions. 

Most importantly choose the right type of social media platforms which will match your profile. 

Social media calendar elements : Social media calendar varies from brand to brand, creator to creator. All have their own individuality. Include elements which you need. You can easily customize your calendar as per your own needs. Some of the elements which you can include are :-

• Platform

• Date

• Time (and time zone)

• Copy

• Visuals (e.g., photo, video, illustration, infographic, gif, etc.)

• Link to assets

• Link to published post, including any tracking info

• Platform-specific format (feed post, Story, Reel, poll, live stream, ad, shoppable post, etc.)

• Geo-targeting (global, North America, Europe, etc.)

• Paid or organic? (If paid, then additional budget details might be helpful)

Usage of a content plan with template or tool : If you use a software or tool then it will be easier for you to organize your social content calendar. It could be a spreadsheet like Google spreadsheet or a specific software like Hootsuite, Loomly, Zoho, Buffer, etc . 

Include social media analytics in your calendar: You can easily get hold of your post performance data every time you post on your social media. From there you get to know whether the posts you publish doing well or not, videos went viral or got no views, audience loving and engaging or just ignoring, etc. You can keep a tab on that and fit that information in your calendar. That helps you to keep a track and improve. Arrange your content topics based on your insight. See yourself what your audience wishes to see on your account. 

So creating a social media plan is not tough, particularly. But you need to take things stepwise. Remember to start with a clear understanding of your target audience and social media goals. From there, work out the type of content you want to create, the formats and accounts you will use, your posting schedule, timings, hashtags, genre, category and an engagement plan to connect with your audience.