News Ticker

(Expert Feature) How A Social Media Editorial Calendar Simplifies Your Social Media Campaigns

A social media editorial calendar is often used by successful social media managers.

Many traditional publishers also maintain an editorial calendar to help plan content for their publications. A magazine, for example, that publishes content without a calendar would quickly become a jumbled mess of content that is not cohesive and often untimely.

The same is true with a social media campaign – left unplanned, posts may become disconnected from the social media campaign strategy and the current activities of the business. With a little forethought, planning and time, social media campaign maintenance for Twitter, Facebook, a blog or any other type of network or publication becomes much simpler and takes less time.

How To Create A Social Media Calendar

To create a social media editorial calendar, follow these simple steps:

1. Select a time frame, such as a quarter, 6-months or a full year.
2. Create a calendar in a calendar program of your choice. We use Microsoft Excel.
3. Insert all pertinent company events, promotions, announcements, holidays and “National XYZ Days” that may apply.

For example, a designer clothing company may wish to acknowledge the following events and holidays through the end of 2012:

a. Fashion Week – 1st week of September
b. National Designer Dress Day – October 12
c. Thanksgiving
d. Christmas
e. New Year’s Day

4. Next, schedule posts about company events and promotions. Using the designer clothing company example:

a. Summer clearance sale – 1st week of September
b. Release of the Fall 2012 line – 2nd week of September
c. Booth at a popular trade show – 1st week of October
d. Early-bird holiday discounts – 2nd and 3rd weeks of November
e. Black Friday – day after Thanksgiving
f. Free shipping – 1st week of December

5. Add ideas for posts to “fill in the blanks” or simply schedule a theme for the week.

a. Tips for taking care of a designer gown.
b. Latest red carpet photos
c. Promotion of retailers’ posts

A social media editorial calendar for the designer clothing company may look like this (September only):

By taking the time to prepare an editorial calendar for a social media marketing campaign, social media managers experience an increase in productivity and reduction in time spent finding content.

Now posting is a breeze because the topic for the day is always apparent. Content is easily found by keyword.

No more agonizing over social media editorial topics for each day.

Related article

 

About Melanie Yunk (50 Articles)
Melanie Yunk, President, Roaring Pajamas Melanie Yunk started working as a social media and search engine optimization consultant early in 2009, when she founded Roaring Pajamas, a digital marketing agency in Northern California. Melanie is passionate about helping businesses market their products and services online. She brings more than 20 years of marketing, engineering and content experience to clients from various industries, including search engines, construction, retail, B2B, wholesale, heavy duty trucks, authors and more. Melanie previously founded Melanie's Fine Foods after purchasing Big Acres® Gourmet Sauces where she expanded the line to be distributed nationwide and in Canada. She also founded Yunk Consulting where she assisted software and semiconductor companies in implementing international standards for electronic databooks that she also helped developed while working at Intel Corporation. Her earliest career began at Honeywell Commercial Flight Systems where she worked on the Boeing 777 and MD11 cockpit projects. She continues to write on the Roaring Pajamas Blog and also as a guest blogger writing about all natural and gourmet foods. Melanie volunteers as a Board Member for the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce and former President of the Advisory Board for the Rosalie Rendu Center in East Palo Alto. She lives in San Carlos with her husband Kent and two Cornish Rex cats.