A Social media content calendar doesn’t just make your workday less stressful. The tool provides a great way to effectively plan various content and reach a wide range of audiences. Also, a social media calendar is a lifesaver for busy organizations.

• Organizations ought to post frequently. However, do not emphasize quantity over quality.
• A social media audit provides a great way to understand your target audience’s interests, behaviors, and expectations.
• It’s important to remember that every social media platform is unique.

What is a Social Media Content Calendar?

A social media calendar organizes your upcoming postings by date and time. To begin with, social media management tools are good examples as well as Google calendars and spreadsheets.

Posting content regularly on your platforms is one great way to capture the attention of new audiences. Also, by blending curated content from third-party sources with your organization’s original content, you can create a larger identity and lifestyle for your brand that extends beyond what your organization does.

A Content calendar allows you to plan posts, manage campaigns, and review ongoing strategies.

How to create a social media content calendar for nonprofits?

In this section, we will guide you through simple yet effective steps to creating a social media calendar.

1. Perform a social media audit

A social media audit provides a great way to understand your target audience’s interests, behaviors, and expectations. Also, it provides crucial clues on how they engage with your content. Likewise, an audit of your existing social media platforms and accounts helps your nonprofit understand where it currently stands.

To begin, pull together native analytics from sources like Twitter Analytics or Facebook Insights. After your data analysis of each platform, determine which types of content are most popular with your audience.

Also, look for posts with the highest levels of engagement and the most click-throughs. Then, segment your calendar to enable you to create diverse posts.

2. Decide on the most preferred content format and social media channels

It’s also worth noting that each social media platform is distinct. Each caters to different audiences, has different content formats, and offers different ways to interact with content and users. Hence, when planning your social media calendar, take into account the nuances of each channel.

In addition, ensure you understand your target audience demographics to effectively plan your content. This will require some market research. By and large, market research can help you discover the most popular social media platforms for your audience.

3. Determine what should be included in your social media calendar

Map out the information and functions that are most important to your organization. That way, you can get the most out of your social calendar. You’ll also want to diversify your content. An easy way to make sure your calendar contains an appropriate mix of content is by bucketing your posts into different categories.

For the most part, it’s best to create a variety of content. Videos are popular, but images, text-based posts, infographics, testimonials, and live streams are also effective. Incorporate these various forms to keep your feeds fresh and appealing. It’s also a handy way to stay up on trends that make the most of each platform.

4. Use a template to create your social media content calendar

To build a social media calendar, it’s best to create a blank template to help visualize what your monthly content output will look like. Also, templates ensure consistency, making it easier to work with others.

Choose options that come with collaboration tools to work with your social media team. Also, opt for templates that allow you to include crucial details such as the timing of posts and labels for content categories. The Hubspot calendar template is definitely a good example.

5. Define your posting schedule

Once you have an idea of the types of content you’re going to post, you’ll need to create a posting schedule to help keep track of ideal times for publishing.

Most importantly, prioritize audience preferences. Also, create a balance as posting too much, too little, or too late can result in decreased engagement. Organizations ought to post frequently. However, do not emphasize quantity over quality. Likewise, be mindful of publishing unnecessary or redundant content to achieve a posting quota. All approved posts should be scheduled into the calendar.

6. Plan the creation and scheduling of all posts across your social media platforms

Scheduling ahead of time, rather than logging in each day to post manually, is more efficient for your organization.  Also, several social media channels offer native post-scheduling features. And you can also use a variety of social media scheduling tools like Buffer or Meta Business Suite to assist with this. While you can reuse content across channels, you’ll still need to make certain changes to optimize each post for its intended usage.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, spending a little time upfront creating a social media calendar is an efficient approach for your organization. On the other hand, creating and posting content on the fly can be tricky as you’re more prone to typos, tone problems, and other mistakes. A content calendar allows you to dedicate time to create, tweak, proofread, and schedule posts.

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