You want to build your online presence through content marketing but you’re not quite sure where to begin — right? For beginners, this process can be intimidating. What should you post and when? For your ease, Springwood Marketing has developed a beginner’s guide to creating content calendars:
Platforms
Before you create a content calendar, you must first decide what platforms you would benefit from using (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc). This will depend on your industry, products/services, and target audience. Which category do you fall under: business-to-business or business-to-consumer?
If your target audience includes other businesses, Facebook and LinkedIn could be great platforms for publishing your content. If you serve consumers, you may have better luck on Twitter and Instagram.
Scheduling
To grow your online presence, you must be consistent! Before creating your content calendar, decide how frequently you will be posting content (and when). Frequency and timing of your posts will depend on the platform and your target audience. Regardless, there must be a balance — you want to stay relevant without spamming your audience.
Generally, we recommend posting no less than once a week and no more than once a day. On most platforms, the ideal time to post content is between 8 AM – 12 PM.
Content Ideas
One of the biggest marketing struggles for business owners is deciding what to post on social media. This requires a little creative thinking. We’ve compiled a list of ideas below for inspiration:
- Product/service spotlight
- Behind-the-scenes
- Product demo
- Live streams
- Q&As
- Polls (“this or that”)
- Holidays/National Days (ex: National Ice Cream Day is July 18)
- Participate in trends
Content Forms
There are four primary forms of content: infographics, blog posts, short-form videos, and long-form videos. Here’s a breakdown of each:
- Infographics: a graphic that conveys a message with visuals and minimal text
- Blog posts: an educational article of 300 words or more
- Short-form videos: videos under 2.5 minutes in length (ex: a TikTok video)
- Long-form videos: videos over 2.5 minutes in length (ex: a YouTube video)
To diversify your content and provide the most value for your audience, we recommend posting a little of each. You can even repackage your content for other forms of media — an infographic about good SEO practices can easily be converted into a short-form video that elaborates on the topic.
Content Calendars
Now that you’ve brainstormed content and strategy, you’re ready to build your first content calendar. Just like you would add tasks to a planner, you’re going to create an outline for your social media content. Having a visual to reference will make social media management so much easier.
There are a variety of tools you can use to create your content schedule, such as a traditional print calendar or the more modern approach of using scheduling and automation software. Platforms like OneUp, Hootsuite, Buffer, and SocialPilot link to your social platforms and allow you to schedule and post content in advance.
At Springwood Marketing, our professionals specialize in content creation and social media marketing. From creating content calendars to producing and publishing original content, we can develop and implement your marketing strategy from start to finish! Interested in learning more? Contact us today!
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