Social media gets overwhelming. The constant day-to-day catch up can drive a business to the point of just giving up. Instead, planning a monthly social posting schedule with clearly defined goals not only makes the process easier but drives traffic and sales.
Audit Social Channels
The first step to building a social posting schedule is to audit your current social channels. Are you starting from scratch? Have things gone off the rails the last few months, weeks, or years? It is okay. It is never too late to change. Decide which channels are working. There is nothing worse than a dead social channel. In fact, active socials can drive SEO. (Click the link to check out a blog all about SEO and why it is needed).
Build a Strategy
What is the purpose of the social channels? Are you building an email list? Trying to display products? A good place to start is to audit the social channels of a competitor. What works? What doesn’t? Then, build a list of keywords, hashtags, and topics that audiences like yours engage with. This helps craft content for the month. Also, don’t forget to include any relevant celebrations happening that month. This can also be a fun National Day like “National Taco Day” or “National Go to the Beach Day”. A good rule of thumb is to make sure various content entertains, shows expertise, and then promotional material. A great social channel sells to you but in an understated way.
Organizing the Social Posting Schedule
Once all the content has been decided, it is time to create the social posting schedule. Keep in mind that certain times and days engage better than others. Audit past posts or competitor’s posts for a clue. There is a lot of information out there about how often one should post on a platform for maximum visibility. Here are suggestions based on current research:
- Facebook: 1-2 per day
- Twitter: 3-10 times per day
- Instagram: 1-3 times per day
- Instagram Stories: 2-5 times per day
- Pinterest: 3-20 times per day
- LinkedIn: 1-2 times per week
Don’t just post to post. Ensure the content is relevant.
Analyze Content
The most important step is analyzing the posts at the end of the month. Which did well? Which had the highest number of likes, shares, comments, etc.? Maybe there weren’t any, but you had increased visits to a website or email captures. This important data will help drive the following month’s content creation. Then, before you know it, you have a well-oiled social posting schedule machine. Have questions? Contact us for a free consultation!
