Social media is a wild ride, especially if you’re a small business. From creating visual content to writing the right captions, finding the perfect hashtags, and picking the ideal times to post…it can be overwhelming and chaotic to even start posting.
Lucky for you, though, there’s a tool out there to help ease the anxiety and amp up your social media game.
Buckle up! We’re about to share the secret to maximizing your visibility and hitting all the right social media marketing notes with one of our favorite tools: the handy-dandy content calendar for small businesses. We’ll walk you through how to create a content calendar and effectively use it to make your marketing so much easier!
What even is a Content Calendar?
Great question! Not to be confused with an editorial calendar, a content calendar is a written schedule where you (and your team) organize how, when, and where your content will be published.
READ: How To Grow Your Business With An Online Editorial Calendar
From long-form blog posts on your website to Facebook updates and Instagram stories, a content calendar helps small businesses keep track of everything they’re putting out into the world in terms of social media content.
But how exactly can you create and use a content calendar to help maximize your visibility as a small business? We’re glad you asked!
HOW TO CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR AND FIGURE OUT Posting frequency
Being consistent with your posting can help you and your brand stay top of mind. This is the holy grail: the more customers think of you, the more business you’ll start to get.
With this in mind, a content calendar is a great way for a small business to truly visualize what’s going on:
- Are you posting too much?
- Are there giant, empty spaces where you could post more?
Seeing your content laid out visually can help you identify problem areas and act accordingly.
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Keep in mind that every platform is different and should be treated as such. This means there’s no one-size-fits-all method to this madness, unfortunately. However, because we’re all about the insider tips, we’re going to let you in on these little secrets:
- Facebook: for best engagement, you should be posting at least once a day. Allow up to 3 hours between posts if you’re sharing more content.
- Instagram: between 1-2 posts a day is great for engagement. As for stories, the sweet spot is between 2-5 times a day.
- Twitter: experts say that four tweets a day are a great start. However, some businesses have found success by posting up to 15 tweets a day.
- Pinterest: the recommended number is 11 pins a day.
- LinkedIn: sharing content once a day is a good way to boost engagement.
It can sound overwhelming trying to think of new content to post every single day, and multiple times a day!
PRO TIP: You don’t need to do ALL of these or *any* for that matter. For us, it’s much better to be consistent with content posting than to try and keep up with it all and then fall behind. Choose a schedule that works best for you and your capacity. If that’s 3x / week for each platform, stick with that!
Plan for the (bright) future
Having a well-thought-out content calendar will not only help your small business stay organized, but it will also help you set realistic goals for yourself and your business.
READ: How To Plan Your Content Strategy For Visibility For Your Business
Content calendars not only help you keep track of posting frequency, but they also help you look back at what type of content performs better with your audience. For example, knowing that the post you shared on a Tuesday performed much better than the one you shared on a Saturday can become the guiding light that helps you plan for the months ahead without over-producing content that will end up going to waste.
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Plus, content calendars are also great tools to have during brainstorming sessions! Scribbling those “lightbulb ideas” on crumpled up pieces of paper, stray post-it notes, and diner napkins might work for the first week…but that’ll grow old very quickly. An organized and visually appealing content calendar that holds all previous ideas will get the creative juices flowing and the new content suggestions pouring in.
Keep people talking!
While winging it might work on some occasions, it’s not a sustainable, long-term plan of action. Especially not when it comes to content marketing and content creation.
Here’s the thing: erratic posting is extremely harmful to engagement.
Posting out of control content, jumping around between subjects and themes on the same day, and losing your momentum halfway through the week are all sure-fire ways to lose the interest of your followers. If your audience feels like even you don’t know what’s going on…they’ll probably direct their attention somewhere else.
READ: 4 Content Marketing Tools For Small Business Owners To Save Time
With an organized content calendar, knowing about special events and dates ahead of time can help reduce the stress of creating last-minute content in an attempt to stay relevant. I mean, who are we kidding? Who’s expecting us to keep track of obscure holidays when we can’t even remember our sibling’s birthday?
Final thoughts ON HOW TO CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR
There’s not much we can say other than content calendars are time-saving, brain-saving, money-saving tools delivered straight by the social media gods and goddesses. And that’s not an exaggeration!
Keeping a content calendar is a great way to not only stay organized, but also to maintain a level of sanity while you grow your business, interact with your audience, and look ahead to the future!
What do you struggle with the most when it comes to creating and organizing your content calendar? Drop your comments below and let’s find ways to move past these hurdles!
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Enjoyed this post? You might like these, too:
How to Grow Your Business with an Online Editorial Calendar
How to Use Effective Storytelling Techniques for Small Businesses
4 Content Marketing Tools for Business Owners to Save Time
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