A social media calendar is an overview of your upcoming social media posts, organized by date, time and important notes. It is used by social marketers to plan posts, manage campaigns, and review ongoing strategies.
It usually includes some combination of these elements for each post:
-The date and time it will go live
-The social platform and account on which it is to be published
-Copy and creative assets (i.e., photos or videos) required
-Links and tags
For great social media marketing, a dynamic social media calendar is a must, which lays at the core of it. Let us help you with insightful tips on how to create a social media calendar in this blog.
Choosing post types and formats
Gone are the days when just a static post was enough to garner a good reach, but in the current times its recommended to include a mix of content (images, videos, gifs, articles, reposts) and formats (carousel posts, reels, polls, stories, live videos).
After finalising the post format, one should focus on the types of posts to be included in the social media calendar for the month. This may include holidays, events, product launches, sales, news/updates, Q&A, roundups, etc.
Establish your posting frequency
Once you know what to post, the next step is to consider when to post.
While drafting a social media posting schedule, keep in mind your business goals, available resources, and audience engagement patterns.
Choosing the right platforms
Prioritize your publishing aspects, such as whether you will post on a single or multiple social networks, your target audience, and your budget. Indulge in a thorough research about post timings, competitor marketing, and the presence and engagement of your target audience on varied platforms. You may start with the most popular platforms (Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn) and gradually increase the visibility on other platforms.
Using social media management tools
You have an array of tools available online for social media management and calendar creation to ease your planning and sharing with your team. These can aid you in handling content planning: keep an eye on what’s being worked on, who is working on it, and when it’s due to go live. This avoids last-minute hassles and gaps in your content. Errors like posting the same thing twice, accidentally publishing an unfinished post, or a disgruntled employee posting on the company’s behalf are also removed when maintaining a social media calendar via tools.
Schedule, track and monitor your posts
Scheduling posts ahead of time not only gives you peace of mind but also gives your team enough time to fact-check the information.
Once the post is live, you may track the performance of your posts and classify the ones that are getting the most engagement and driving results. You may use these findings to implement tests on different platforms and experiment with what resonates with your audience. This will help you build a social media calendar with more accuracy that is sure to hit the target audience and generate leads.
When the first case of corona virus was reported in India on January 30, 2020 none of us imagined that we would be locked up in our homes for months straight to protect our lives and also the lives of our loved ones.
COVID-19 has forced governments around the world to impose lockdowns which have disrupted businesses, jobs, and livelihoods of countless people. Lockdowns have forced individuals and companies to adopt digital.
Even the Kirana store near my apartments are now accepting online orders through Whatsapp or a third-party mobile app. These brick and mortar stores who were until now technologically disabled had to learn new technologies to survive the lockdown & COVID-19’s forced new normal.
Many companies are laying off employees as part of their cost cutting policy in order to survive this pandemic. Economies of the countries are hurt badly. The first department which is to be faced with a cost cut is Marketing.
Given that Marketing of a product is generally outsourced for most companies so it is an easy target to chop budget from that department.
By carefully analyzing what our customers were doing, we tried quickly to understand what was going on. Within a few weeks, it became clear that this crisis was different.
While certain industries like Travel and Hospitality and Retail were hit very hard and it felt like they may take a while to restart, many other industries it seemed could see a tremendous need and opportunity to invest in Digital Marketing technology.
Huge Cost savings:
Now is the time for the businesses to switch from print advertising, hoardings and billboards to Digital platform. This will help to reduce your marketing cost drastically.
Also it is said that the internet consumption in India during lockdown rose 13%. As Marketing channels continue to proliferate and as brands look to deliver relevance through personalized content and creative, these costs have significantly escalated.
Marketing consumer goods is imperative:
We have to accept the fact marketing consumer goods is more important now than ever. The consumer market is going to face a change in the buying behavior. More and more online and cashless buying will be preferred.
Thus it is very much important for small businesses to reach the local audience by portraying the importance of their product using online tools like customizing the audience who will be able to see their products on their online feeds.
Similarly, quick service restaurants (QSR) also are facing a bit of an existential crisis as dining out becomes risky and consumers instead are opting to order in.
So, brands like McDonald’s, Subway, Chipotle that focused most of their Marketing efforts on brand awareness need to shift gears quickly to 1:1 personalized digital marketing — it is important that they direct consumers to their own or other food delivery services in order to survive.
So here we are explaining how to amp up your digital quotient on various platforms through effective social media marketing.
Facebook:
As per the reports of brandwatch, there are 60 million active business pages on facebook at this point of time. That’s a huge number. So how can my business cater a significant amount of reach, engagement and awareness amongst my targeted audience.
Since physical marketing has taken a blow back, it is important for small businesses to market their products on facebook. There are 2.6 billion people who actively use facebook.
Imagine you, shedding lacks for hoarding, in the busiest area of your locality and being just able to reach the local audience. What if I say that you can reach a wider audience at just 1/4th of the budget of your physical marketing? Facebook does this for you.
Facebook is based on interest, not intent. Not every update you send out on your Facebook page should be promotional. Rather, 80% of your updates should be social. Otherwise, users won’t hesitate in clicking the unlike button on your page (it’s just a click away).
Approach your Facebook page from the mindset of building a community. Add value and start conversations with your audience.
It’s best to vary your posts to include different types of content:
Brand story posts
Authority building posts
Lead nurture posts
Personal posts
Instagram:
On Instagram you need attractive images and grab your audience attention there. The focus is not much on content but the aesthetics of your page. Invest in photo editing tools for your content.
Whether it’s Adobe Photoshop or VSCO, your content has to be stellar to grab audience eyes. To avoid being overly promotional but still market your brand, consider branded Instagram hashtags.
Make effective use of free instagram tools. You can use various statistics like impressions, engagement data and can also view the breakdown of your followers like the age group, geography and active hours.
As said earlier, Instagram is more about how you can visually play with the graphics and attractive pictures. You can release small teasers about your product and increase the curiosity amongst the audience about the final launch. This will help you in keeping them glued.
You can also use the sponsored ad features that will help you in increasing the reach and engagement with your audience. This gives brands the ability to target their audience in a whole new way.
Post at the right times and avoid overposting. Post one to two times every day and check out when your followers are most active. Schedule posts to go live during those days and times.
Finally, be sure that you track the right metrics to see how your Instagram marketing efforts are paying off.
Twitter:
Twitter is a great place to have one on one interaction very quickly. Things move very fast at this platform. The first and the foremost thing on twitter is to have a really attractive bio. It has to be short, crisp and an engaging one.
Tweet during peak hours. There are certain hours in a day when you users are more active. Make sure that you are using twitter analytics in the next possible way.
Unlike instagram where hashtags are important, use minimum hashtags on twitter. One of the easiest ways to create more activity on your Twitter page is to create a Twitter poll.
Twitter is one of the best places to increase brand awareness and generate new leads, but things move quicker on the platform than any other social media network.
The average lifespan of one tweet is just a few minutes, and thousands of new tweets are generated every second.
At the core, Digital marketing agencies across the world are helping their clients to increase their online visibility on social media platforms even at a time when the offline world has come to a halt. This helps them to establish their relevance to their target groups and reassure them that they remain dedicated to providing the best quality services and products, even during these difficult times. Most importantly, even as the lock-down is gradually relaxed, it helps companies to not only sell their products but also increase their sales and earn significant profits.
