A consistent online presence is essential, and curating (or sharing) other people’s content provides your audience great resources and links to information that is important to them. However, there’s another big piece to this social media puzzle that you don’t want to overlook: You want to let all of your adoring fans know what’s next for YOUR business or industry. Getting people to show up to your big events or participate in your sales and promotions is often as simple as blasting them on social media.
How do you create a plan to get the word out? By developing a strategy and plotting it on your social media content calendar. By using a structured calendar, you can think globally for promotions and events, and integrate themes into your posts.
What’s the next big holiday coming up? Seasonal change? Important industry event or upcoming show? Creating a content calendar is like a having a magical crystal ball that lets you see into your blog and social media future! It organizes your content so you know at a quick glance what you’ve got coming up, how it relates to upcoming schedules and events, and it gives you the foresight to blast it on social media so you can stay ahead of the game.
We recommend creating your calendar at least 30 days in advance. You want your content to stay relevant, so don’t be afraid to go back and tweak what you’ve planned, or spontaneously post, if and when changes arise. If you have days where you don’t have anything to share from your business or other sources, mark these as “engagement” days and use them to log into your social media profiles and Like, Retweet or share posts from people you’re following.
If you’re savvy with Excel, you can create a spreadsheet with a different tab for each month of the year and start your own calendar template from scratch. Fill in a wall calendar using post it notes to rearrange content as you best fit it. Or, if you need some help, do a Google search to find your perfect template. Chances are, someone out there already shared one that is perfect for you.