Don't get bogged down with posting content - let it work for you, not against you!
Focus on creating lasting relationships and let your calendar do the talking.
Running a business, building relationships with customers, running your own marketing…it can be, well, exhausting (in a good way). But what if you wanted to save time and energy? Where could you readjust your efforts? With content calendars, you could save time and energy by mapping out a content strategy, determining when and where to post your content, keep it organized and scheduled and make your marketing efforts more efficient.
Planning out your content calendar should begin with an overall goal and strategy for what you hope to accomplish with your content. Are you hoping to gain more brand awareness? Do you want to focus on a special campaign to incite more communication and conversation with your audience? Do you hope to gain more subscribers to your newsletter? Thinking about these goals can help shape your direction and content output.
Location, Location, Location - Determine where you should post your content. Where is your audience? After doing your buyer persona exercise you would know the answer of where your audience is. For example, we choose not to use LinkedIn for our marketing efforts because we specifically want to target small businesses close to our heart. While we may use LinkedIn in the future, our current buyer persona resonates with Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Timing - When are they on social media? Finding a sweet spot between when they are on and when to cut through the clutter. Your data will help you analyze that information the best. With the Pandemic Pivot Tango we talked about how your current target audience may be on social media at different times than you’re used to because of layoffs, furloughs, working-from-home remotely, etc. So don’t rely on old habits, old data or old blogs that offer best times to post. Additionally, we found conflicting information regarding how often to post per day and per week. If you have questions regarding what that information is, feel free to reach out to us. Because we personally don’t enjoy being spammed by our favorite brands, Let’s Taco Bout Marketing sticks to a 1-post-per-day-per-platform rule - UNLESS something newsworthy happens.
Blogs vs. Photos vs. Videos vs. Live - Learn the differences between social media platforms and how they can work effectively to reach your audience. Not all content is created equally. If your primary target audience is mostly on TikTok, using Twitter may not work for you unless your secondary target audience are Twitter users. But if you create a video for YouTube, you may be able to splice it up for TikTok and take a quote and repurpose it for Twitter and tap into both segments. Break down your content into smaller categories to get the maximum mileage out of them. For example, blogs into podcasts into a behind-the-scenes live stream. Repurposing content will help you - more on that in a later blog!
Schedule In Advance - Automation is your friend. Through automation tools such as Hootsuite, Calendly, Buffer, Co-Schedule you can schedule your content to be posted to social media platforms and your website. Taking away the stress of posting in real-time can free up more room for you to focus on your business.
Extension of Scheduling - Organization - Keep track of your content that you will be posting through a spreadsheet or online platform. This helps you remember what you shared, when you shared it and if you should re-share it again. For example, you can use Google Calendars to map out when and where you want to post, integrate a tool such as Zapier to automate your post with Hootsuite. Or if you want to go old school, use a free tool such as Trello or even an Excel spreadsheet to keep your posts organized. There is no wrong way to do it, just whatever seems easiest for you. There are lots of tools available to help you organize your content and plan out your next posts.
By planning your content calendar ahead of time, you can focus more on the business side and building your relationship with your customers. But bear in mind that sometimes relevant news pops up that interrupts your scheduled posts - for example, #BlackOutTuesday cleared our entire schedule for the rest of the week. Out of respect for our fellow BIPOC followers, fans and friends we posted our symbolic black box and kept radio silence to hold space for anyone who needed to share important information such as donating to bailing out protesters, vent frustrations or amplify how to support Black businesses. It also seemed highly inappropriate for us to post about tacos when our country was screaming in pain. So be prepared for curveballs by being flexible so that your business doesn't seem insensitive.
In honor of #BlackLivesMatter, we have decided to make sure that we highlight even more Black-owned businesses on our #FollowFriday content. So stay tuned for some amazing organizations, communities, bands, poets, e-commerce sites and more! And if you want to be highlighted on our #FollowFriday or know someone who does, PLEASE send us a message or email to let us know!
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