One of the hardest parts of maintaining a
social media presence is the feeling that you are constantly
trying to generate ideas for new and unique material. And if you don't have a system for your
content generation, you will end up missing great opportunities to connect with
your audience and sell your product/service. If you want to take advantage of
every opportunity to get your message out there, you need to make use of some
social media editorial development tools.
A great way to keep your posts and promotions
organized is a content calendar. It's likely that you already have a personal
planner or calendar that you track appointments and deadlines in. Think of a
social media content calendar as an extension of this, with more bells and
whistles.
This is the place to map out your content. You
can plan your own content and deadlines (like blog post publish dates), and
include things like major holidays, events, and other special dates.
Creating your content calendar doesn't have to
be complicated. You can use good old-fashioned pen and paper, an electronic
alternative like an Excel document or Evernote, or do it directly in a social
media scheduling tool like Hootsuite or Buffer. I always recommend scheduling
your posts to save you time, but if you like to map out content on paper first
and then upload it to your online calendar, that's totally fine!
So how do you build a calendar? First, you're going to want to look at your
timeline and determine how often you should post, and the best times to post.
You also want to take into consideration who your target audience is, so you
can source and create content that appeals to them.
Next, include major holidays, some fun, quirky
holidays, and other major events that you should be posting about. Let's say,
for example, that your blog centers around women's health. It would make sense
to produce content relating to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is in
October.
Once you have a list of holidays and special
events, you can start scheduling out your blog posts and social media posts.
Once your content calendar is full ideas, you
can use social media scheduling tools to schedule your posts. What's great
about online schedulers is that they help you to collaborate with other members
of your team. If you upload a post, everyone on the team can see it and offer
feedback. This makes the content generation process even easier.
If you are into social media, and I know you
are, then it's important for you to plan your editorial content. By planning in
advance, you can make sure that your social media stays running and current,
and that you don't miss any opportunities to cross-promote on holidays and
special events.
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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.
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