How to Create a Social Media Content Calendar

What is a Social Media Content Calendar?

A social media content calendar is a tool that helps individuals and organizations plan, organize, and manage their social media posts across various platforms. This calendar outlines what content will be posted, when it will be, and on which platforms. It acts as a guide, enabling you to map out your social media content in advance.

On the marketing team, we utilize a content calendar to plan our social media content a month in advance. This allows us to make sure we have a good mix of content and that we don’t miss out on posting about any important dates, deadlines, or campaigns. We recommend planning out content at least a month ahead of time and having flexibility to add to it and update as things may arise.

Why is a Content Calendar Important?

Consistency: Regular posting is crucial for keeping your audience engaged. A content calendar helps you maintain a steady flow of posts and prevents gaps in posting that could lead to your audience losing interest.
Time Management: Planning your content in advance saves time down the road. Instead of scrambling to create posts at the last minute, you can allocate time for thoughtful content creation and scheduling. It also allows you to prepare captions for content captured throughout the month, such as event photos.
Quality and Accuracy: Planning content in advance enables you to focus on creating high-quality content. When working at the last minute, you may overlook things. By avoiding working at the last minute, you can refine your posts and get feedback from your team, ensuring accuracy and excellence.
Strategic planning: A content calendar helps you align your posts with key dates, events, and campaigns, ensuring that your content supports your overall goals and takes advantage of relevant opportunities.
Content variety: With a content calendar, you can plan a good mix of content types, aligning with your content pillars. This keeps your channels interesting and engaging for your audience.
Team Collaboration: Content calendars enhance collaboration amongst your team by allowing everyone to view the plan, contribute ideas, and stay aligned on content and posting schedules.

How to Create a Content Calendar

Create a Template:

There are many ways to organize your content calendar, from Google Sheets and Excel to specialized social media management tools. Choose a calendar format that best aligns with your workflow and creative process. If you can’t find a perfect fit, customize an existing template or create your own. For templates and recommendations, see the options provided by our Staff Associate of Web & Digital Communications below.

Determine Posting Frequency:

Decide how often you will post on each platform based on your goals and available resources. While consistency is important, maintaining high-quality content is equally important. Your chosen posting frequency will guide how much content you need to prepare for your calendar. For guidance on posting frequency, refer to our social media guidelines.

Identify Key Dates and Events:

Mark important dates, holidays, and events that are relevant to your department, office, or organization. Plan your content around these key dates, and if you’re preparing for a major event, schedule announcements and reminders in advance.

Brainstorm Content Ideas:

Create a list of content ideas that align with your goals and resonate with your audience’s interests. Consider using various content types, such as graphics, videos, and student-generated content. Save these ideas for future use, or integrate them directly into your calendar by assigning specific posting dates. Include details on which platforms the content will be shared, as well as any relevant hashtags or links.

Get Creating:

With your calendar now filled with important dates, events, and content ideas, it’s time for the fun part! It’s time to write captions and create your content. If you need any help or guidance on how to create content, check out our blog posts. Once your content is ready, add links to graphics and videos in your calendar so your team can easily access them. If you plan to capture photos or videos later, note this in your calendar with comments or highlights for a visual reminder to revisit these tasks.

Let’s get started!

While there are many ways to layout and organize your content calendar, here are two recommended options:

Google Sheets:

We’ve created a Google Sheet template that includes all the essential components of a content calendar. Google Sheets offers a free, easy-to-use platform for team collaboration and is fully customizable to fit your needs and creative process.

To use the template, click ‘File’ in the top toolbar and select ‘Make a copy.’

This template also includes a tab for quick links and a section for jotting down content ideas. If you need assistance with the template, email mleufstedt@worcester.edu.

Google Sheet Template

AirTable:

We’ve recently transitioned our marketing content calendar to AirTable, which offers a user-friendly ‘Social Media Calendar’ template. It provides a comprehensive view of all your posts in a calendar format, along with a planning view similar to our Google Sheet calendar. AirTable allows you to track the status of posts (e.g., ‘Planning,’ ‘In-progress,’ ‘Scheduled,’ ‘Live’), select platforms for each post, and add graphics, links, or comments.

AirTable is a paid service, but they offer a free version that works perfectly for this purpose.

Here is a peek into our AirTable calendar!

marketing’s airtable calendar

For any help or questions, contact Mary Leufstedt, Staff Associate of Web & Digital Communications, at mleufstedt@worcester.edu.