Chapter 4: Social Media is King
As we mentioned in the “Strategy” section of this lesson, consistent content creation is a major proponent of a solid strategy. For that reason, content calendars are an absolute must. Content Calendars build in contingency protection when it comes to unplanned disruptions to your content creation schedule. In general, they also save you time. Picking one afternoon a week to bang out all of your social media posts is far more efficient than sourcing content, writing captions, and posting every day. Perhaps most importantly, content calendars allow you the opportunity to see all of your upcoming content next to each other, like a customer would on your feed. Structure posts in a way that makes sense chronologically, and make sure you’re switching up pitching points and content types post-to-post. If someone sees two of your posts two days in a row, there should be enough consistency for them to determine that the post is indeed from your brand, and enough differentiation to give them something to engage with on each post.
Content calendars should include the actual content that is going to be posted, the full written caption, hashtags, any tags, and any location. We like to plan about 6 posts ahead in every content calendar, which could span 1-2 weeks depending on your posting schedule. Let's take a look at this sample content calendar below:
Our sample content calendar template is available for use here!