To everything, there is a season.
And for everything social, now is the season!
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Why use a content calendar?
When social media is planned and scheduled – i.e. it is approached strategically – with a content calendar, the result is quality content that has had time to be built, and therefore is easy to digest for your followers and fans.
A content calendar helps you determine your content, how you will source it and its different formats, as well as the specific dates and times you intend to publish on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Let’s get started! First, download the calendar and then follow these 7 step-by-step, easy-to-implement instructions to shine on social media:
1. Set Objectives. Determine if it is to raise awareness for your company, your personal brand, to drive traffic to your website, to generate leads, or to convert leads into customers. You can have a number of objectives, but 2 or 3 are a good start.
2. Who are your buyer personas? Basically, they are your ‘ideal customer’ – what is their psychographic profile (their values, interests etc.)? What are their ‘pain points’ and how can your brand help alleviate the pain? 3-4 buyer personas are a healthy amount to start with.
3. What’s in season? What’s trending? Our content calendar template has penned in the most-happening cultural, entertainment and business events and relevant hashtags in 2019 so that you can structure content around those dates.
4. What types of content do you intend to post and promote on social media?
There are a few formulas to determine the types of content.
a. Think ‘archetypes’. So, for example, you are a government or public body, and so the type of content that would likely be most applicable to your brand would be:
– Success: You share your achievements
– Values: Insight to mission, culture, values – including behind the scenes content
– Events: Specific to campaign events – who, what, when, where, why
– CTA: You call on your followers to participate in some way, for example by attending a workshop, answering a poll or registering for a particular service
– Knowledge: Allows followers to build knowledge about the area/s you work in
– Support + Community Conversations: You answer queries from the community, showing you are an engaged social media actor.
b. The Rule of Thirds is an equitable division of the content pie, where 1/3 is for self-promotion, 1/3 is about providing solutions, advice and tips relevant to your brand/industry, and the final third is engaging your online community.
c. The simpler 80-20 rule says that 80% of your content is about providing solutions, advice, tips. 20% will be enterprise goals – so lead generation, securing customers, and the like.
5. What are the different content formats you will post?
These could be snippets from blog posts, videos, live streams, user-generated content (UGC), webinars, polls, photos, podcasts, templates, offers, contests, e-books, infographics. Remember to repurpose content to conserve resources and to redeploy content that has proven to work.
6. How often will you post content? Will it be three times a week or do you have the resources to post daily? The answer to this question will depend on the platform, your content and human resources, and your audience. Keep in mind that it’s not about quantity, but quality.
7. Plan on telling new stories in 2019!
Both Instagram and Facebook are updating their ‘Stories’ feature, and both have something new to try in 2019:
For Instagram, stories are the way to drive engagement – especially with A/B polls and slider polls, links, regramming other’s stories if they’ve mentioned you, offering followers limited-time offers, etcetera.
In 2019, Instagram will allow you to segment who sees your stories. Use ‘Close Friends List for Stories’ to deliver exclusive content to a VIP list of customers or followers.
On Facebook, think about using the ‘Music on Facebook Stories’ and ‘Lipsync Live’ updates so that your Facebook stories carry an extra punch; these new features also amplify the appeal of influencers.
And that’s all there is to it!
Download the 2019 social media calendar template and follow this guide to help you fill it in.
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If you need assistance with the calendar, don’t hesitate to drop us a message using the pop-up or the form at the bottom of this page.
Looking for social media fans and followers to naturally develop into customers and brand advocates? We can show you how we’ve done it for some of the biggest brands in the UAE and MENA – from hospitality to government – and how we can do it for you. If you’d like to hear more, get in touch.
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