Table of Contents
- What is a publication calendar?
- Goals and objectives of the posting calendar
- How to prepare a publication calendar for social media
- Where to find topics for posts
- Services for creating a publication calendar
What is a publication calendar?
A publication or posting calendar is a plan that helps organize content for social media. This document usually records the publication date, its topic, and the platform where the content will be posted. Additionally, important details can be added, such as the designation of a responsible person for the post, as well as indicating whether the content will include videos, images, polls, links, and hashtags.
The calendar can be presented in various formats: from a simple table in Excel or Google Calendar to interactive dashboards. Most often, companies plan their publications a month in advance, allowing them to identify key informational occasions for the year. For example, posts about discounts for International Women's Day or a contest timed to the brand's anniversary can be scheduled.
Goals and objectives of the posting calendar
The publication calendar serves several important functions:
- Ensures regular content release, helping to address the question of what to write about.
- Increases marketing effectiveness, turning social media management into a tool for achieving business goals.
- Optimizes resources, allowing for advance coordination of the team's work, including designers and SMM specialists.
- Improves content quality, allowing focus on its creation.
- Reduces reputational risks by ensuring a consistent communication style with the audience.
Moreover, content planning has several key advantages, such as saving time on production, balancing different types of content, and evenly distributing topics and products. This helps avoid overwhelming the audience with monotonous posts and maintaining interest in your content.
How to prepare a publication calendar for social media
Creating a publication calendar involves several stages:
1. Choosing a template and setting parameters
First, determine which elements you want to include in the calendar. Basic parameters may include:
- date and time of publication;
- channels where the content will be posted;
- topics of the publications.
You can add additional fields to specify responsible persons, content formats, and links to competing posts. It is also important to decide where the document will be maintained: in Google Sheets, Excel, or another service.
2. Conducting an audit of platforms and content
At this stage, you need to analyze which platforms your company is active on, whether there are inaccessible social networks with your target audience, and which channels have become outdated. Also, examine key content metrics to understand what engages your audience, including likes, comments, and shares.
3. Defining goals
The goals you want to achieve with your content can range from increasing recognition to boosting sales. It is important to consider these goals when drafting the publication plan so that the posts are not only popular but also contribute to actual business results.
4. Choosing content types
After defining the goals, you should decide which content types will be used. These can include:
- advertising posts;
- instructions;
- product photos;
- contests and polls;
- company news;
- videos;
- customer reviews.
Diversity of formats will help maintain audience interest and achieve the set goals.
Where to find topics for posts
One of the most challenging tasks when planning content is choosing topics for publications. Here are some sources of inspiration:
- Analyzing search queries using tools like Yandex Wordstat or Google Trends.
- Studying competitor content to identify successful topics.
- Brainstorming with colleagues to generate ideas.
- Using a calendar of holidays and events to create thematic content.
- Comments and feedback from customers.
Services for creating a publication calendar
You can create a publication calendar using various services:
- Google Sheets – allows you to create tables and work on them collaboratively.
- Excel – convenient for creating calendars using templates.
- Trello – helps organize tasks and maintain a posting calendar with the possibility of team collaboration.
- Asana – offers ready-made templates for creating a publication calendar.
Choose the appropriate tool and start planning your content today!