Ideas To Create Social Media Calendar

By Author: Joseph Augustine
Total Articles: 31
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An editorial calendar is used by bloggers, publishers, businesses, and groups to control publication of content across different media, few examples are, newspapers, magazines, blogs, email newsletters, and social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook fan pages. They are an extremely efficient way to control publication of content across diverse media outlets over time.
Build the Calendar:
First create a content calendar in Excel and organize the tabs for posts, tracking, and reporting. Also in the post tab, include columns for
*Post date,
*Social channels,
*Post content,
*Post format/type,
*Category/theme,
*Tracking link.
Creating a category column and adding keywords to the theme will help you identify the post content and aid in keeping messages fresh when you need ideas for future posts. At a quick glance you can even see how many videos, images, events, and other post types were shared. Frequency to the social channels and what was posted will become more visible as well.
Also by tracking and reporting tabs, you can notice trends in the popularity of post categories, ...
... and the results of how it was re-shared, so that you can adjust accordingly when generating new content.
Many social media channels accept dynamic content formats, focusing on what format the content is posted. It will help you narrow down the audience, frequency, and what channel to share it with.
Label It:
There are probably a few tools you could use to do this, but using Excel for the planning, and Google Calendar for timely reminders of what events are coming up is a best way.
Now get started, — Label the first columns by days or weeks, depending on how granular you want it, and the top row must be with something like Type, Name, Assets, and Dependencies.
*Type will be the sort of initiative it will be, but they are essentially categories of recurring events.
*Name is the actual name of the event.
*Assets cover any images, videos, etc… or other information you need to build or run the event, which you need to acquire or rely on someone else to provide.
*Dependencies provide any link to other events either on the calendar, or run by other people or teams. If the dependency doesn’t go ahead, you might want to reconsider running your event.
Now with these ideas you can go for new events or extra ones to pad around your main ones. There are all sorts of initiatives you can come up with for your online community, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
*Web chats with a celebrity or expert in from your own field.
*Points to debate around current affairs or issues relevant to your community.
*A community awards program.
*Great content from the community.
*Book, music, film clubs, etc…
Create Themes/Topics:
Now the fun part begins. Once you know your values and goals, you need to brainstorm themes for the next 3 months. A good way to arrive at theme is by answering the question – what problem would you like to solve for your clients or customers this month? Once you have broad themes in place, break them down into sub-themes – one for each week, which could be more fun.
For example, if you have a business that sells toys, your monthly theme can be Indoor Play and the sub-themes can include board games, creative or imaginative play games, vehicles remote control, and puzzles and games. If you’re well-organized, then you can break these down further into tips, ideas and brands, so that you have content for every day.
Pull all Together:
Finally, it is time to put your calendar together.
*Use either Google Calendar or Docs which is awesome for sharing and mobility, or you could use a simple procedure with Excel document and chart out your calendar, print it out and put it up on the office bulletin board.
*Next, schedule some updates using an application like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck or some other applications that you’re used to.
*Thirdly, schedule time in your daily planner for real time networking because a completely automated process would remove the social from social networking.
A social media editorial calendar can help you focus on your efforts, use the right tools for networking and optimize the time you spend on Twitter and Facebook.
GOOD LUCK!