How to create an editorial plan for social media

For some of us, social media are a fun way to connect with friends, share meme again and spend some time after a long day. What may seem simple, how to publish articles, share photos or publish content, become more complicated when it comes to your business.

Social media marketing, unlike the passive use of social media, requires planning and strategy.

Having aeditorial planFor social media it will help you develop strategic content, publish in a coherent way and generate tangible results for your efforts. Here's how to do it.

Why create an editorial plan for social media?

Maybe you are used to creating all your posts directly in your social apps. Although this requires less planning, it can be much less effective than the development of a strategy. Aeditorial calendarIt is a must when it comes to developing effective topics and engaging content. With aEditorial calendar of social media, you can:

• Plan your topics in advance.Puoi dedicare del tempo alla ricerca di argomenti e idee di content adatte al tuo pubblico.
• Plan your posts.Establish a publication cadence of the contents so that your audience can rely on your posts and the algorithms will bring them out more often.
• Measure the results.The in-app analysis allows you to see the performance of your posts. When you plan your editorial calendar, you can use this information to find new ideas or reuse what already works.
• Balances evergreen content with the trendy ones.Hai la flessibilità di pubblicare contenuti attuali dando priorità anche to contenuti sempreverdi che rimarranno rilevanti a lungo termine.
• Anticipates future events.If your company has imminent events or updates, you can plan your content well in advance and generate greater visibility for your brand.
• Save digital resources.Not only can you create your social content in batch, but you will have a library of creative resources to draw on when you need it.
• Monitor hashtags.You can create an updated list of popular hashtags and use them in your future posts. There is no need to search for new hashtags every time.

In its simplest form, a social editorial calendar provides an overview of your next content, organized by platform and date. It allows you to organize your content resources, manage the campaigns and create a established program.

There are some things you should include in your social media calendar:

• The platform: on which social media channels you will publish.
• The date and time: when your content will be published.
• Creative resources: including images, connections, captions, videos or hashtags for each post.

Un calendario dei social media può assumere molte forme. Potrebbe essere un foglio o calendario Google, un pianificatore online o un software di content marketing. Qualunque cosa tu scelga, il tuo calendario dovrebbe aiutarti a organizzare i tuoi post e pianificare le pubblicazioni dei tuoi contenuti.

Create your editorial plan for social media in 6 steps

Create acalendar for social mediaIt can be relatively simple. It all depends on the complexity of what you want to publish, the frequency and the number of accounts you have. Here below some simple steps to create a social editorial plan from scratch.

1. Take the point of your accounts on social media

The first step is to take stock of all your existing social media accounts and the corresponding access credentials. This is necessary because you will have to confirm that you have the management access to all your accounts before starting to program your content. The advice is to create a spreadsheet that keeps track of:

• Active profiles.
• Inactive profiles.
• Username of the account and/or e-mail address and password.
• Company profiles and personal profiles.
• Recipients for each profile.
• Who manages the profile(eg you, a team of the team, a marketing agency, etc.).
• Obsolete information that requires updating.

You may discover some obsolete accounts or profiles for which you no longer have access credentials. You now have an opportunity to delete the old account, recover passwords, update obsolete information and even create new profiles, if necessary. After this effort, you should identify which account require management and should be added to your social media post calendar.

2. Use a model or tool for the content plan

When you have a system or tool you can organize your social editorial calendar in a faster and simple way.This could be a simple spreadsheet, Google Calendar or a software application.

Spreadsheets or calendars for content planning

I like to use theGoogle sheets or CalendarFor the planning of social content because it is simple and requires a lower effort compared to the use of a software tool. You can easily connect content topics, publication dates, content resources and more.

Download yours free of charge onlineCalendar model for social media from Google sheetsor create yours.

Social media planning tools

There are a wide variety of social media planning and planning software. Some are free (few) and others require a paid subscription. Most offer a free trial so that they can try their features before purchasing. Among the most popular platforms there are:

• Hootsuite
• Buffer
• Agorapulse
• Social Sprout
• Loomly
• eClincher
• Zoho

I advise you to try some different tests to see what works best for you and your team. Your company may require specific features, a more solid platform management, etc. The important thing is that you choose a system that allows you to create, easily program and publish your content.

3. Create a content matrix

Whether you decide to use a sheet of calculation, a calendar or a software, the next step is to create the matrix of the content of social media or your plan that contains which content you intend to publish and where and when you plan to publish them. Deciding which content to publish is the most important part of your social media plan. The success of your social strategy depends on your idea of ​​captivating content. There are some models that can help you.

The principle 80-20 (Pareto principle)

The 80-20 principle, also known as the "Pareto principle" can be brought back:80% of your content should be to inform, educate or entertain your audience, and 20% of your content should be to promote your business (for example selling).

This means that most of your content should serve to provide value to your audience above all else. This may include content types such as:

• Practical articles.
• Useful infographics.
• Tutorial.
• Educational videos.
• Funny memes.
• Photographs.
• Expert interviews.

The rule of third parties

Alternatively, you may want to follow the rule of third parties when it comes to your social content.

With this matrix:

• A third of your content should serve aPromote your business and generate conversions.
• A third of your content shouldcome from other leaders of thought and publishers in the sector.
• A third of your content should beFunny content that encourages the interaction with your followers.

This will help you create a healthy mix of types of content and ensure that not all your content are promotional. You must create confidence with your audience, increase involvement and guide interactions, not just sales.TheContent Marketing it must not be boring. Try to find some creative topics that speak to the interests of your audience and encourage them to interact with your brand.

4. Organize and program your content

Once you have a good mix of topics and ideas for content, it's time to put them in pencil on your content calendar.

If you use a spreadsheet, make sure to include basic details:

• Platform(eg Facebook).
• Profile(eg Facebook.com/annabruno.giornoLista).
• Date of publication.
• Governance(i.e. a member of the team that publishes the content).
• Time(and time zone).
• Copy(e.g. Instagram's caption and hashtag).
• Visual elements(eg photos, videos, memes, infographic, gif, tcc.).
• Link to the assets of creativity.

5. Take track of your analyzes on social media

L’efficacia della tua strategia sui social media sarà influenzata dai dati sulle tue prestazioni. Ti consigliamo di tenere traccia di quali contenuti sono maggiormente apprezzati. quali post ottengono il maggior coinvolgimento e quali contenuti stanno generando conversioni per la tua attività. Questi dati ti aiuteranno a definire la tua futura strategia per i contenuti e il programma di pubblicazione. Questa non dovrebbe essere una strategia “imposta e dimentica”, ma implica invece una continua ottimizzazione e pianificazione.

La maggior parte delle piattaforme di social media include la propria versione di analisi. Esistono anche strumenti software di terze parti che tengono traccia delle prestazioni. Avrai una grande quantità di dati da cui estrarre approfondimenti sociali.

Ecco alcune delle metriche più importanti da monitorare:

• Piace.
• Clic.
• Commenti.
• Azioni.
• Menzioni di marca.
• Visite al profilo.
• Seguaci.
• Flow rate.
• Impressions.
• Traffic.
• Lead.

6. Listen to your audience

Your analysis of social media will provide a lot of information on the types of content with which your audience interacts more. But sometimes it is fantastic to receive ideas and feedback on content directly from your followers, since most of the social tools will not help you generate these unique content ideas.

Throughout your content calendar, you should plan posts that ask your audience what they want to see. You can ask questions like:

• "What questions do you have about [topic]?"
• “What is the problem n. 1 so you need help right now? "
• "What topics do you want me to publish the most?"
• "What questions do you have for our team/brand?"
• "What is a trendy topic that interests you right now?"

Conclusion

Social media give you the freedom to publish all types of interesting, information, stimulating, fun and engaging content. They offer your brand multiple points of interaction with your audience in real-time. The success of your social strategy is supported by a well -performed plan.

Plan and program your content in advance will make your content more effective and help you diversify your content.The data guide the work.Use information on social media to see what content they work best with your audience.And then you review your strategy to get even better results, including more traffic and sales.

Source Search Engine Journal