If you've been following our blog lately, you'll notice that we've been talking a lot about social media and the need for a strategy. Yes, most definitely social media is also about sharing the content of others, and spontaneous posting, but an overall social media marketing strategy is essential.
One of the core concepts in any strategy is planning - and in this case, we're talking about planning your content, so you're never struggling to find a topic to write about, but you're also thinking through what makes sense for you.
Here are our top 10 tips for creating a content calendar for social media:
1.Start with a way to get organized, I personally like Excel for this. If you have a team and are collaborating on the content calendar, you may want to use Google sheets, so you can all see it in real time. You'll want 12 columns for the months, and then you can use the rows for the weeks of the month.
2.The easiest tip is to look at statutory holidays, and time themed blog posts. We strongly recommend that for holidays that are commemorative in nature, that your blog be a resource for giving back, for example prior to Thanksgiving you may want to post resources to give to those who are less fortunate, or volunteer opportunities.
3.Now its time to do a little research - what industry events are coming up that are relevant to your market. These could be conferences that you may or may not be attending, or big releases you are aware of. Mark these down on your calendar - ESPECIALLY if you're going to be there.
4.Schedule a blog before the conference talking about why its relevant, perhaps comparing it to years previous. If you're there, blog the week you're there about it, and of course schedule a wrap up blog to comment about what a success it was!
5.Do the same thing for any thought leaders in your industry - do they have events coming up (in-person or virtual). Dedicate a week to promote them!
For both 2 and 3 above, reach out to the organizers of the event and see when registration opens, ask them if they have content that you can share.
6.And while you're at it, offer them a guest blog spot!
7.Look at your own calendar, do you have a launch this year? You'll want to schedule blogs before your launch, during and after. Remember, you'll also want to blog about your planning, do a slow release (teasers) about the launch. This is your opportunity to build excitement!
8.Now look at your travel schedule - where are you going to be (personally or professionally). Blog about what you're going to be up to. Your followers may reach out when they know you'll be in the area to meet up in person.
9.Plan a regular feature, for example if you're a nutrition coach, start the month with a blog about meal planning for the month, and then for the last week of the month do a check in.
10.For each of the ideas noted above, you'll now want to build out how the message will be delivered across your different digital marketing platforms (LinkedIn, blog, Facebook, Instagram, etc.). How should your message differ depending on the medium its being posted to? How do they all connect back to a lead magnet to collect contact information?
With just these 10 tips, you should find your calendar filling up nicely! You can use current events or a literature review relevant to your industry to fill in the gaps.
You're done!
We'd love to see what you've come up with! Feel like sharing? Send it along, we'd be happy to offer a few more suggestions to fill in any gaps or answer any questions you may have.
Happy planning!
We help business owners find more time.
Discover how entrepreneurs just like you have freed themselves from the overwhelm of tech. Download our FREE report at https://pmawebservices.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Peg_Murrah/1101384
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9890395
No comments:
Post a Comment