Content Planning – why a content calendar is your key
Content planning can be a time-consuming task, but is methodically planning your content really that important? The answer is yes.
In order to create content that is valuable and aligned with your overall marketing strategy, you need to invest in content planning.
Where do you start?
Think about your brand as a person trying to engage with others in the real world. If you’re going to make friends you need to be your own person, with your own interests and values. The same goes for your brand. Before you embark on putting a content calendar together you need to know what your brand is, what it sounds like, what it cares about, and so on. These are your content pillars/themes.
Once you have that figured out, it’s time to start planning how and when your brand is going to attempt engaging with its audience. A content calendar helps you do this in a thought-out and considered way. There are many guidelines and templates available online, but in our experience, the most important elements to consider are:
The date the post will go live,
the time,
the proposed copy (tailored to each platform),
the tags and hashtags,
the image that will accompany the post, and so on.
Quick hacks
Create content that will leverage other conversations. We call this “tactical” content. Remember to focus on tactical content relevant to your brand, for example, a cigarette brand will not create content tailored to “World Exercise Day”, but a sports drink brand will.
Research relevant hashtags that will create more awareness and traction.
Think about ways you can generate more engagement, for example, asking your audience questions not only allows you to learn more about them, but the results lead to more people seeing your post, resulting in greater reach and impressions.
Use analytic tools to see when your audience is most active online.
Be ready to adapt. Even if your content plans have been signed off, things change. Keep your ear to the ground and adjust when you need to.
Content planning can save you time and money in the long run so it’s best to get your content plans in order as soon as you can.
If everything above sounds like jibberish, don’t worry, that’s why we are here. Give us a shout.