What is the best time to post on social media? How can a content calendar save you time and make a genuine impact on your social media strategy?
There are so many reasons why a social media content calendar can be both effective and efficient as part of your social media management processes. A thorough content calendar can provide you and your team with a platform to map out your social media strategy and deliver it with efficiency and ease. Read on to learn more about maximising your social media content calendar:
Contents
How Can a Content Calendar Support Your Social Media Strategy?
To coincide with your social media strategy, you can map out relevant themes for the year on your content calendar. These themes can be centred around your target audience and key messages that you are wanting to focus on for your organisation. You can break down your social media themes into yearly, quarterly, and monthly topics. These theme topics can then provide some structure and build a foundation for your social media posts.
A social media trend that will continue to be included in strategy development is sustainability. Sustainability will only expand as an essential topic for brands to focus on across social media in the future. For sustainability themes, consider what aspects of your organisation are already sustainable and any upcoming sustainable products or processes that you can highlight throughout the year.
Other content calendar theme ideas:
- Your target audience’s interests
- Supporting small businesses
- Authentic diversity & inclusivity
- Non-profit involvement & community development
- Mental health & wellness
- Honesty & transparency
How Can a Content Calendar Save Me Time?
A well-organised content calendar can provide effective time management and overall stress reduction. If you have your themes mapped out across the year, then when you come to planning for your month or so ahead, you already have the bones of your social media posts in place. We suggest setting aside some time where you have a clear space to perform some effective research, develop catchy captions, and produce some eye-popping creative visuals. You can also research relevant hashtags that coincide with your themes.
Quick Tip: Research relevant national & international days that coincide with your content calendar themes. You can pencil these in throughout the year and they can be an effective way to spark ideas and save time. There are plenty of websites that provide themed day ideas, such as Days Of The Year.
When Is the Best Time to Post on Social Media?
The best time to post on social media can depend on when your audience is the most active online and when they are the most eager to engage with your content. Content scheduling apps such as Hootsuite often suggest a suitable time for you to send out your social media posts. The suggested times and days often differ across various social media platforms, which is important to consider as you probably have different audiences across different platforms. The suggested times can be a great starting point but keep an eye on your analytics and review the days & times that appear to be performing the best.
Contemplate what your audience is likely to be doing when, and whether your content will be a welcome addition at that point in someone’s day. For example, your audience may be active in the evenings but after a busy working day, will they really be in the space to engage with your content? Will it be a better approach to target them on their lunch breaks or early morning scrolling sessions? Make a note of good times to post on your content calendar so they can continuously be implemented as part of your approach.
Conclusion
Your social media content calendar will continue to evolve over time but will likely become a well-loved aid as part of your social media strategy. Utilise it to be well-prepared and well-considered for your social media posting, so your online narrative has a clear message and continues to take your audience on a deliberate journey.
How can we help to develop your social media content calendar?
SocialB believes in enabling a better future together by empowering people to develop the digital marketing skills they need to thrive online.
If you are developing your social media approach, then check out our Social Media Course for Beginners. Please feel welcome to contact us for further information and we will be happy to discuss how we can support you.
