Businesses all over the world are focusing less on their websites and more on attracting customers via social media platforms. The success of any business's digital marketing strategy relies heavily on the use of social media. Unfortunately, brands of all sizes and shapes aren't taking full advantage of this tool.
Whether you’re starting out fresh or just haven’t figured it out, getting the right content on social media channels is important. Moreover, if you're unable to formulate and execute your social media content strategy effectively, it's possible that your marketing toolkit is lacking a social media content calendar. To avoid last-minute scrambling and to keep your social media content strategy on track, create a calendar to plan your posts in advance. So, what exactly is a social media calendar?
A social media calendar is a list of all of your upcoming posts on various social media channels. If you're using a social media management tool, you can create a dynamic dashboard, a Google calendar, or a spreadsheet to keep track of everything. Here are 5 strategies for a good social media calendar for your business.
PAS is a viable option among the many copywriting approaches available. The acronym stands for Problem, Agitate, and Solution. The PAS strategy helps identify what the problem is in the first place. Copywriters must be able to put themselves in the shoes of their target audience. Your goal is to know what they will ask you; be aware of the problems they want to fix; support them in attaining their goals; and feel the tension, uncertainty, or pain that's keeping them from getting what they want.
Social media success is not a one-size-fits-all formula based solely on "followers" and other performance measures. Following the PAS strategy, make sure to create content that shows your audience you want them around. Using humor and sentiments in your posts will help your audience connect with you and your company.
The key to your success is getting and keeping their attention. While 80% of your content should educate your audience, the remaining 20% should be about the product poster, sales, or anything else that directly promotes your company. And while the ratio may not be equal, creating a calendar with promotional messages will be more effective when people find the majority of your content interesting. To say the least, 80:20 means that out of every ten posts, two should be dedicated to promoting your products, sales, discounts and coupons. There should be a great blend of posts around your central focus in the remaining eight.
Because each social media platform is unique, a separate strategy must be developed for each of them. If you develop your content calendar based on the success of one platform, you won't be able to succeed on another. You should be able to modify your content and images in your content calendar so that they are optimized for each social media platform.
When your calendar is easy to understand by the people who will be using it, it will be the most effective tool you have. To ensure that it meets the needs of all stakeholders, seek input and ideas from your team and from stakeholders themselves. Ask your team for feedback as you begin to use your calendar and evaluate how it affects you. It may be time to pare back some of the finer points if it's making you feel overly burdened. Perhaps you need to add a few more columns to make it more comprehensive. At this point, your team should be able to read and understand the final product.
Finally, while you may hear of more than 5 strategies to improve your social media game through your calendar, the aforementioned are certainly the ones to begin with. To make a good copy, always make sure you’ve done your research correctly. Most importantly, always plan ahead, stay updated with content from your competitors and keep trying new ideas to see what works best for your brand.
-Blog written by Mabel Andrady
