Social media marketing can be incredibly effective, but it can also consume a lot of time if not managed well. None of us have endless resources, so it’s important to use our time and staff wisely.
Creating a social media calendar is a smart way to organize your efforts and make the most of your limited resources. Despite sounding complex, it’s really just a schedule to keep track of your social media tasks. This helps you and your team stay consistent and prevents spending too much time aimlessly browsing social media.
A well-planned calendar allows you to:
– Plan diverse content types
– Schedule updates in advance
– Allocate regular time to engage with followers and customers
– Review social media analytics to assess your efforts
### Allocate Your Time on a Calendar
First, choose a calendar tool you’re comfortable with. Many people use their regular calendar apps like Outlook or Gmail. They set recurring reminders to spend about an hour each week composing and scheduling updates for the upcoming week.
For daily engagement, you might set a 15-minute block each afternoon from Monday through Friday to check and respond to comments. Additionally, you could schedule another 15-minute block once a week to review social media analytics.
With this approach, you’d spend about 2 to 3 hours a week on social media. For a small business, this is a substantial effort that meets customer expectations without overwhelming you. Depending on your resources and goals, you can adjust this time up or down.
### Be Consistent and Vary Your Content
Consistency is key when building a social following. Avoid letting your channels go quiet for long periods, as this can cause you to lose momentum. A schedule keeps you on track for regular updates.
Your planned schedule should also ensure a mix of content types. Share third-party content alongside your own to keep things interesting and not just focused on your business. Mix it up with informative articles, fun videos or memes, and occasional promotions or discounts.
A social media calendar template can be very helpful. It can structure content types by days of the week and ensure a consistent posting rhythm.
### Scheduling Updates
If you’re preparing your updates once or twice a week, a scheduling tool is essential. This allows you to compose updates in advance and have them published automatically at the scheduled times. “Batching” your updates like this saves time and helps maintain focus.
Tools like Hootsuite, SocialOomph, and Buffer are great for scheduling. Many social platforms also offer their own scheduling tools. For example, Twitter’s TweetDeck allows you to schedule tweets, and Facebook has a Scheduled Posts feature for business pages.
### Measure and Adjust
Lastly, it’s crucial to measure your efforts and set aside a few minutes each week to review your progress. Use social media analytics to assess how well your content is performing. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter provide data on impressions, shares, retweets, and comments.
Additionally, tools like Google Analytics can track how much traffic your social media efforts are driving to your website or blog. Many scheduling tools, such as Hootsuite, also include analytics features.
By following these steps, you can streamline your social media marketing and make the most of your resources while staying connected with your audience.
