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Make content planning and creation easier by establishing and using a content calendar. As a busy content creator, this daily schedule helps you to stay organized and provides a detailed overview of what you're posting and when you're posting it. A content calendar can also help you track the different kinds of content within your posting mix. It’s especially effective when paired with a social media calendar.
Read on for tips on how to develop and use a content calendar and the ways this schedule supports your overall content strategy, as well as the importance of advance social media planning.
Scheduling content with a calendar
You probably already use a calendar to keep track of important things going on in your life, such as appointments or meetings. A content calendar works in much the same way. This allows you to plan how you're going to roll out your blogs, videos, courses, or other pieces of content, and ensures you'll remember to post important news or announcements.
To create a content calendar, you can tailor a spreadsheet to your desired specifications or opt for a project management software. Some software allows you to schedule posts in advance, so you don’t have to actively manage every post in real time.
Your content calendar can be as simple or as detailed as you'd like. Some people opt for a basic calendar with just a simple content summary, such as the name and format of the post. Other people might include more detailed content information or color-code the content by subject matter or format, so sorting is easier.
Before populating a content calendar, you want to make sure you've developed a content strategy. Strategy isn't just crucial for any growing content business—it's a blueprint that drives your posting type and frequency, as well as content tone and approach, and informs the structure of your content calendar.
Developing a strategy is a multi-step process. You can reference any niche research you’ve already done as a starting point. Next, test what content works for your audience. You might change up the type and timing of content—for example, a short blog post one day and a longer list the next—or plan posts around the release of new content launches. Once you've posted a few times, you can look at analytics and measure the content's performance. From there, you can tailor your strategy to the content that works best.
Planning social media content
In addition to creating a content calendar, you should develop a social media plan. These two things work together to support your content strategy. In fact, you may find it helpful to integrate social media content or copy into your overall content calendar.
Creating social media content supports promotional efforts related to any content you post. For example, you might post a short teaser video to Instagram and TikTok to preview a longer video on your YouTube or website. You could also post a paragraph of blog text on social media to tease a longer-form piece on your blog or in your newsletter subscription.
You can also mix in social posts that function separately from your content, but still support your career. For example, you can increase engagement by creating a poll or posting a question to your followers. You might also post a link relevant to your content niche and strike up a conversation about it with your peers and community. Creating a brief video or sharing an interesting photo can also spark comments or broaden your reach.
To interconnect all of your brand touchpoints, Squarespace makes it easy to integrate social media into your website, while also linking to your channels and website from a Bio Site linked in your social media profiles. Unfold also makes it easy for you to create and use templates for social media posts based on video, photos, and text. The Unfold app even includes a tool to help you plan your Instagram grid, so you can preview the overall look of your page before scheduled posts go live.
Building a consistent content pipeline
Posting high-quality content on a regular basis helps you attract repeat visitors who are engaged with your content. However, amassing a consistent pipeline of content requires advance planning and a commitment to ongoing content creation.
When work gets busy, finding the time to create necessary content can be difficult. It can help to develop multiple pieces in advance and post them gradually, so you're not rushed to produce something. In a case like this, a content calendar helps you stay organized and make sure you're rolling things out in a logical manner.
Social media platforms allow you to schedule certain posts in advance, which can streamline your marketing and promotional efforts. Squarespace offers users the capability to schedule content such as blogs in advance, which can help you save time in the long run. The template editor built into Unfold also helps you to produce on-brand content more quickly.
Repurposing your content
Repurposing content—that is, taking existing content and using it in another format or on an additional platform—is an easy and efficient way to post content consistently. Instead of starting a piece of content from scratch, you're taking existing work and transforming it to use elsewhere. For example, if you've posted a photo on one social platform, you can quickly resize the same image to better fit other platforms to create multiple posts or stories with one asset.
Or you might take text that first appeared in your email newsletter and expand it into a blog post. Or take research from a whitepaper and use it to make a short video or infographic. However you choose to repurpose content, make sure that you are customizing it according to the specifications and audience habits of each platform. For example, character count or video sizing should be customized based on a given channel’s formatting requirements or character limitations.
A content calendar can help you track your use of repurposed content, so you aren't posting similar things too close together. A social media plan also makes it easy to repurpose content, as you can use photos or text as social media teaser copy.
Once you start posting on a regular basis, you can identify performance patterns and adjust your calendar and strategy in response. For example, maybe your engagement is lowest on a Monday because people are busy starting their work week. In response, you might shift any major content or business announcements to a different day.