- The more organized you are with social media
the more likely you'll see results.
One of the best ways
to structure your approach more strategically
is to develop an editorial calendar
to manage all the timing of your social media publishing.
An editorial calendar is a document your team can use
to outline when certain messages will go live
on each social network,
in line with your other marketing campaigns.
This calendar often exists as a spreadsheet
or as part of a popular marketing tool.
You might be asking,
"Why is it important to have an editorial calendar?"
The reason is this:
it keeps your social media efforts goal-focused
and organized.
By documenting when your social posts will be shared,
you save a significant amount of time
as opposed to haphazardly publishing at the last minute.
Of course, some of your messages on social media
will happen in real time
to react to important company updates or industry news,
but most posts should be pre-planned.
This also means adjustments are more fluid,
ahead of schedule, and can be made from one place
in terms of the larger strategy,
which is much clearer from the bird's eye view.
Not to mention, an editorial calendar
is essential for team collaboration,
as most people work together
on the company's social media efforts
from the same document living online.
To create a social media focused editorial calendar,
start by selecting a free or paid tool
to help manage this document.
This could be Google Sheets, CoSchedule or Trello.
Choose a tool that's best suited
to the number of contributors
you need to collaborate on a calendar,
what functionality you're looking for,
and how complex your calendar is going to be.
Once you've selected the right tool,
it is important to be able to look at your calendar
and quickly understand what social posts
are scheduled on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
This way you can jump between
looking at the granular daily details
and the larger picture.
Next, define how you'll differentiate
the messaging you'll plan to send from different channels.
Maybe you'll label
all of your upcoming Facebook posts in blue,
and then all of your Pinterest posts in red
to make the difference clear to all contributors.
When mapping out what content will be shared,
some organization like to include the exact copy and media
they plan to post on the calendar itself.
Other companies in contrast,
simply make a note of when a social media post
is going to go live and on which channel.
Some tools with calendar functionality
like CoSchedule or Hootsuite
allow you to schedule your social media posts
directly from the calendar itself
for a more streamlined publishing.
Regardless of what options you decide on,
just make sure your calendar is actionable
and facilitates an efficient process,
rather than creating more questions.
There you have it.
Start building out your own editorial calendar.
Become faster, more organized and more effective
in reaching your objectives.