If you manage a blog or a brand’s social channels, then you know how important it is to stay organized and consistent with your posts. That’s why we wanted to share how we organize and schedule social content, along with tips on how to create your own editorial calendar.

What is an editorial calendar? 

Have you ever sat down to post on behalf of your business or blog and felt stuck? Sometimes it can be difficult to constantly come up with new ways to share your content. Sometimes you feel torn between channels and may wonder which one will drive more awareness, engagement or clicks. That’s where a content calendar comes into play.

A content or editorial calendar is a document that keeps your blog and social channels organized and consistent with – you guessed it – sharing your content. It’s a place where you can have an at-a-glance look at what will be pushed out that month, allowing you to more easily plan ahead and avoid the last-minute rush to create copy or images.

Getting started: creating an editorial calendar 

Once you have a template of a calendar to use, that is a great start! But what should be included on your calendar? Every brand is different and will have different priorities. Here are a few thought-starters:

• Plan in Advance: Plan far enough in advance to avoid the last-minute scramble of finding things to post. We recommend at least a month in advance.
• Identify Channels: Determine which social media and/or blog channels you want to organize and schedule.
• Identify Key Moments: Mark key moments throughout the year for your brand/blog, and don’t forget to include holidays or industry events to remind you to share relevant content. Also, include placeholders for real-time or organic content that may coincide with events or company happenings.
• Be Mindful of a Strategic Mix: In addition to a steady stream of timely content, keep evergreen content in the calendar to repost and share again during relevant times of the year.
• Prioritize Visuals: When it comes to social media, imagery and video are your best friends. You don’t need to plug in the exact image you plan on using, but it helps to jot down ideas for what you’re visualizing. This way, when it comes time to post, you can more easily find/create a relevant photo or video to share.
• Make Your Calendar Multi-Purpose: Your calendar can have many uses, such as a place where you can note future content ideas. Did you ever have an idea for something to share, then forgot about it when the time came to post? Make placeholders for any and all ideas that can be completed later.
• Leverage Others’ Content: First and foremost, proper attribution is key when sharing all content. With that said, find relevant articles that fit your audience’s interests and plug those into the calendar to share later.
• Assign Roles: Determine who on your team is posting, who is creating the content, and when is it due. Assign roles with deadlines, as needed.

How do I know when or how often I should post social media?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a straight set of rules to follow for posting? You can find plenty of articles telling you how frequently and when to post on each platform — right down to the exact time of day. The truth of the matter is that finding the right time to post doesn’t work like that. There are some rules of thumb that hold true (for example, Pinterest is more active on the weekends), but it comes down to understanding your audience more than anything.

There are tools to help you track your social pages and know when your audience is most active. For example, Facebook’s Page Insights is a great way for admins to find the times for their best audience engagement. Twitter Analytics is another built-in feature social media managers should utilize. For Pinterest, start here with some best practices for pinning. With ever-changing algorithms, we recommend you think about consistency and genuine engagement with followers over the particular time of day to post.

For more information on understanding your audience in regards to posting times, check out this article.

What’s the best way to make my calendar?

If you like doing things the old-school manual way, making a spreadsheet will definitely work. Each channel has a section where you put the content you intend to send and when. However, this method can get very cumbersome very quickly. That’s why a scheduling tool like Buffer, Hootsuite, or CoSchedule can save you time and effort. These programs are designed to have all your social channels on one, manageable page. They also automatically post based on your schedule, so you won’t have to keep track of remembering. If you’re a heavy Pinterest user, something like Tailwind might be better for you. TweetReach is a great program for scheduling your tweets and getting snapshot reports. Your editorial calendar is there to make your life easier, so choose a method that makes sense to you.

Not sure where to start with creating an editorial calendar for your social channels?

The Motherhood creates editorial calendars for clients, and we’d love to help you get started. Email us at contact@themotherhood.com.

It may come as no surprise that, as a social media marketing agency, we believe that an executive’s presence on social media is beneficial for the company he or she leads. Did you know that, as of 2016, only 40 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs were active on at least one of six major social networks? Today, around 70 percent of Americans use social media to connect with one another and consume information. That’s a big disconnect – and a big opportunity for executives to connect with their consumers.

We’ve heard various reasons why CEOs and top executives should avoid social media. Some think it takes too much time, or it’s too risky to have a leader sharing unfiltered thoughts on a public forum. Some even believe that being on social media poses a cyber-security threat.

But, when utilized well, social media humanizes brands and executives. Being more human is something every company can benefit from, since large corporations often can be perceived as faceless entities.

Whether it’s looking for input from your consumers, sharing perspective on a topical societal issue, or even using your social media platforms to acknowledge a misstep on behalf of your company, this level of approachability helps build authenticity and ultimately, trust, with consumers.

If you’re an executive who is new to social media, or a communications professional looking to get your c-suite set up for success, here are a few tips on how to find success:

1) Don’t join if you can’t commit to keeping your channels active. If you decide to join a social media platform or two, make sure you dedicate time to keeping them active, and think long-term. Building up a following and leaving them hanging without any updates for weeks, months or even years is a surefire way to lose that following. Tapping a team of experts to help you build a smart, strategic editorial calendar can help to ensure a dynamic social feed. (If you’re not sure where to start, The Motherhood can help! Contact us, and we can work with you to develop your objectives, determine your tone and create a robust stable of content.)

2) Schedule some posts, but not all of them. Social media can be a full-time job if you want it to be! There are several free social media tools that allow you to schedule posts ahead of time, and that can be extremely helpful in keeping your channels active. But, scheduling all of your posts can come across as inauthentic and worse, unintentionally tone-deaf – if, for example, a Facebook post about your company’s latest advertisement goes out when news just breaks about a national crisis. The beauty of social media is that it allows you to react in the moment, so executives on social media should embrace that!

3) Be thoughtful about your posts. If you’re not on social media yet, one concern may be that voicing your opinion on such a public forum will backfire. Just as with any communication – online or offline – be thoughtful in what you say via social media. If you’re uncertain, it never hurts to have your team weigh in on content before you publish.

4) Engage in the conversation. Social media is a great way to broadcast messages or information about your brand or personal brand. But, by not engaging with your audience from time to time, you’re overlooking one of the biggest advantages of social media: its two-way nature. While this does require a time commitment, engaging doesn’t always mean you have to have lengthy back-and-forth conversations with others. Ask questions of your audience, “like” or share content that appeals to you, retweet other users’ information. Since these engagements are visible, ensure you are thoughtful about them and that they reflect what you want to communicate about your personal brand.

5) Respond to backlash and concerns. Similar to the suggestion above, if you are faced with a customer concern on social media, respond. With 5.5 million Twitter followers and counting, the CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere, has been known to publicly respond to upset customers on social. Even if you ultimately take the conversation offline, acknowledging it in the public forum goes a long way in showing you’re in tune with and listening to your customers. Executives on social media can build trust by being transparent – a lesson that originated long before we were sharing in 240 characters!

6) Be an extension of your marketing department. Having a personal presence on social media doesn’t mean you need to strictly post about your company. Find a happy balance of information that is relevant to your personal life, your industry, your hobbies and your company.

On the other side of the coin, sometimes executives shy away from participating in company-led online marketing events, such as Twitter chats. We frequently host these types of events for our clients. Having seen them with and without the participation of a brand, we can confidently say that when executives join in, we consistently see higher levels of excitement, engagement and participation. Ask your marketing team about their plans and join in as it makes sense!

If you’re a communications professional looking for additional tips on coaching your executives on social media, drop us a line: contact@themotherhood.com.