By: Skylar Sperin

Cardinal Web Solutions

Social Media Specialist

Most people assume that building a content

calendar requires writing a simple Facebook

status update and incorporating the same

simple message across other social media

channels like Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.

PLANNING A WELL-DEVELOPED CONTENT CALENDAR REQUIRES

A MULTITUDE OF CONCEPTS

Including:

Developing a social media strategy

Establishing a brand voice

Research on local markets

Basic knowledge of design

Knowledge of

marketing and

advertising Efforts

Link tracking

Blog schedule

planning

Reporting

WHAT DOES IT TAKE?

It takes a solid execution from multiple departments to coordinate all of the marketing efforts into one

brilliant campaign.

If you are having trouble with this, the social

media team at Cardinal Web Solutions would

like to help you plan your brilliant campaign.

Consider a social media strategy the blueprint for a building. A blueprint outlines the structure and lays down the foundation of

what is expected. Use your strategy to develop an overall theme that will apply throughout your content calendar.

DEVELOP A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

If you cannot connect the dots

between the content that you are

posting and the overall strategy, then

your content is not appropriate for the

calendar.

The idea is to establish a voice that resonates with your ideal followers.

After you decide on this voice, tailor your messages to reflect what your followers

want to hear.

ESTABLISH A VOICE

Depending on the age of your company, your

brand voice may already be established due to

pre-existing efforts in a non-digital platform, i.e.

traditional advertising.

RESEARCH LOCAL MARKETS

How people use language in the local market

Their online interests/how they spend their time online?

Researching the local market will help you

understand:

Once you have established a

following that you are

comfortable with, the next

step is to understand them.

THE BEST APPROACH IS TO LISTEN ONLINE

Almost every social media platform has their own version of “analytics” that can help you identify which posts work best for your brand, which demographic that you should

target and much more.

BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF DESIGN TERMS

In order to get your message across, you

need to incorporate images that stand out

amongst the other posts in a user’s feed.

If you are able to create your own images, that’s ideal.

If not, you need to understand how to

effectively communicate with your designer

to make sure that they know exactly what

you need.

PROMOTIONS AND ADVERTISING EFFORTS

When planning a content calendar, make

sure that you have a column inserted

specifically for any promotions or special

messaging from your client.

This way, you have several posts to

incorporate into your existing messaging for

your content calendar.

LINK TRACKING

Link tracking is the one of the most important aspects of social media

that is often overlooked.

By placing the right code on your links, you have the

ability to see where your online traffic is coming from,

and how users are engaging with your website.

BLOG SCHEDULE

Does your brand have a blog?

Are you scheduling content on a weekly basis?

Incorporate your blog schedule into your

content calendar, but make sure that it ties

in with the overall message that you are

trying to convey to your audience.

REPORTING

Having an understanding of social media reporting can help

you identify what the best options are for your brand.

Analyze your followers and which social media posts they are

engaging with the most. You can find this information within

each social media platforms analytics.

WHY IS ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IMPORTANT?

Building a content calendar requires more

than just writing a simple message or posting

a picture.

It takes a complete understanding of every

detail from marketing promotions to blog

schedules to ensure that you are sticking to a

consistent message online to support your

overall strategy.

BUT WAIT, I NEED MORE HELP!

Our social media team is here to save the day!

Consider partnering with Cardinal Web

Solutions to further your companies

knowledge and digital strength. We would

love to provide you with a quote today.

Interested in more tips on how to get the most

out of your social media strategy? Download

our eBook today.