Social media marketing is an inexpensive and effective way to engage with your target market and position yourself as a thought leader. But to make it an effective tool, you need to be diligent in keeping your content up-to-date and post regularly. An infrequently-updated blog or social media page with stale posts can actually do more harm than good to your brand and engagement efforts. But many small business owners struggle to find the time to keep their social media profile up to date.
One solution to this is to use a content calendar.
There are a variety of tools that facilitate automated posting of pre-created content based on a set schedule. With all of the other responsibilities of a small business owner needing to be addressed, taking the day-to-day updating of a social media platform off the table can certainly help lighten the load.
Here are a couple of tips for using these calendar tools effectively:
1) Keep Your Content Mix in Mind
Content marketing should pursue several goals:
- Demonstrating industry expertise
- Enhancing your brand
- Providing resources to your audience
- Partnering with other contributors
- Speaking to your audience’s interests
When you plan your calendar, keep this mix in mind. Maybe three times per week you’re posting content that touches your audiences’ interests including one or two guest contributors and once per month you’re touting your own brand, for example. Whatever this mix is, make sure it’s reflected in how you map out your posts.
2) Keep Key Dates in Mind
For example, if you sell flower arrangements, you might want to schedule holiday-specific posts around Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ Day, etc. If you are going to be appearing in a media outlet on a certain date, you might want to include posts pointing that out to your audience in the lead up to that date.
3) Don’t Be Too Rigidly Tied to Your Calendar
If breaking news comes up that’s relevant to your audience, don’t let your planned calendar of content prevent you from posting some relevant content to attract your audience’s attention or demonstrate your industry knowledge.
A content calendar can help keep your social media platforms updated, but those updates are only as good as the content you’re posting. Many companies find great value in partnering with a content marketing provider to generate social media content for their businesses. These companies can also handle the timing and posting of that content as a value add.
About Us
Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We work with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content. Whether on- or offline, or both, we’ll help you achieve desired results.
(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)
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Tags: content calendar, content marketing, content strategy, editorial calendar, planning content