The Social Media Content Calendar Template Every Marketer Needs [Free Template]

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Have you been connected a clip crunch to make societal media content?

social media marketer utilizing hubspot's societal media contented calendar

Most of america person and it's a stressful presumption to beryllium in. Creating contented successful the infinitesimal it needs to beryllium published is little than perfect for much reasons than you whitethorn realize. Not lone is your contented little apt to conscionable the needs of your audience, but you'll besides miss retired connected the originative societal topics and events that tin beryllium planned for successful advance.

In this guide, you'll get the champion societal media contented calendar template and a step-by-step usher explaining however to usage it.

 Social Media Calendar Template [Access Now]

HubSpot's societal media calendar template pictured successful an ipad

Use the Above Template to Plan Out Your Social Media Holiday Posts

What is simply a Social Media Calendar?

A societal media calendar is simply a readying papers that organizes your publishing docket by date. This enables you to support way of deadlines, amended negociate your contented instauration team, and make transparency with stakeholders who trust connected your publishing schedule.

Why bash I request a societal media calendar?

Creating a large contented calendar isn't arsenic elemental arsenic adding a fewer Instagram station ideas to your Google calendar. Let's instrumentality astatine the benefits of having a societal media calendar.

1. Better Organization

Having a contented calendar keeps you and your squad organized, which is indispensable erstwhile managing aggregate societal media channels.

Rather than coming up with contented ideas connected the fly, you tin program your contented astir your organization's needs. It tin besides supply much clip for creating contented astir trending topics and upcoming holidays and events. For instance, if your institution has a large lawsuit coming up, a contented calendar volition assistance you strategize however to beforehand it successful advance.

 INBOUND lawsuit societal media station connected Twitter

Best of all, a societal media calendar keeps everyone connected your squad informed connected erstwhile contented is being published. This volition assistance debar imaginable miscommunication and disorder down the road.

2. Easier Scalability

Another payment to having a societal media calendar is that it tin assistance you standard your contented accumulation without overwhelming your selling team.

You tin gait the accumulation astir your team's bandwidth and different duties your section is liable for by readying the contented successful advance.

As you scale, marque definite you way station analytics to spot however your contented is performing. While there's nary magic fig for erstwhile oregon however often you should station connected societal media, keeping an oculus connected show volition assistance you and your squad find what contented engages your assemblage the most.

3. Higher Quality Content

Lastly, utilizing a societal media calendar ensures that your squad has plentifulness of clip to bash their champion work.

Planning your posts successful beforehand allows clip to treble cheque your enactment and guarantee determination are nary typos oregon mistakes. It besides enables your squad to make a cohesive and accordant marque representation due to the fact that you person much clip to strategize and enactment connected invaluable campaigns.

Components of a Social Media Content Calendar

  1. Key
  2. URLs and UTM Parameters
  3. Date and Time
  4. Message
  5. Campaign
  6. Image

Perfecting your societal media contented calendar doesn't person to beryllium a chore. With these indispensable components, you'll person a instauration to signifier your societal media strategy astatine a tactical level.

Key

As you noticed successful earlier sections, your stakeholders volition admit having an easy-to-read cardinal that they tin usage to recognize the accusation successful the calendar.

social media contented calendar key

As agelong arsenic your cardinal is clear, conscionable astir anyone successful your enactment tin presumption your societal media contented calendar and recognize precisely what's happening connected each platforms.

URLs and UTM Parameters

URLs and UTM parameters are similar, but they're not 1 and the same. URLs are the links you'll privation to stock from your website (or adjacent different website if you are curating content) connected your societal media platforms.

Column for inserting URLs and UTM parameters successful societal media contented calendar

On the different hand, a UTM parameter is an hold of your URL. It's a drawstring of tracking codification that's appended to the extremity of the URL and it helps societal media marketers way however good their posts are driving postulation to their website. By tracking and analyzing UTM parameters, you'll beryllium capable to spot what contented is gathering your conversion goals and what contented is amended for engagement connected societal media platforms.

Date and Time

If you person stakeholders oregon different teams that trust connected your societal media content, you'll rapidly spot the payment of including dates and times successful your societal media calendar.

columns for day, date, and clip successful a societal media contented calendar

When teammates tin presumption the calendar and place precisely erstwhile a station was oregon volition beryllium scheduled, they'll beryllium capable to rapidly proceed with their workflow which is beneficial for you, too. That means you won't beryllium interrupted to springiness presumption updates astir each Tweet connected the docket for the day.

Message

Transparency and discourse are invaluable erstwhile it comes to societal media contented calendars. Giving a little synopsis of the connection oregon adjacent sharing the caption for a station tin spell a agelong mode successful helping others wrong and extracurricular your squad recognize what the intent of the station volition be.

column successful contented calendar for penning societal media captions

Pro tip: If you're adding a video to your societal media contented calendar that isn't finished, see adding a abbreviated Loom video that gives an overview of what the video volition beryllium about.

Campaign

When it comes to tracking, it's excessively precocious to commencement erstwhile the run is over. Start tracking your societal media campaigns successful your contented calendar. You tin marque this prescriptive by having a dropdown database of predetermined run names, oregon if your campaigns are fewer and acold between, simply transcript and paste the names adjacent to the corresponding content.

Pro tip: Align your run name with the run conception of your UTM parameter for seamless tracking.

column successful societal media calendar for tracking campaigns

Image

Your societal media contented calendar volition go conscionable different spreadsheet without immoderate imagery. Since overmuch of your societal media contented volition astir apt beryllium visual, adhd a thumbnail-sized mentation of the representation that volition beryllium included successful the published post. Coupled with the message, stakeholders who presumption the calendar images volition person a beauteous bully thought of what volition beryllium shared and when.

column successful contented calendar for inserting images that volition beryllium included successful societal media posts

To marque editing your images for each level easier, cheque retired this cheat expanse for perfect representation dimensions connected each platform.

How to Create a Social Media Content Calendar

  1. Identify your goals.
  2. Align your team.
  3. Consider diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
  4. Decide what societal channels you'll use.
  5. Determine your publishing cadence.
  6. Set up UTM tracking.
  7. Create an investigation tracker successful your calendar.

Step 1: Identify your goals.

The archetypal measurement you privation to instrumentality to physique your societal media contented calendar is to place your goals. These volition find however often you post, who should beryllium progressive successful the contented instauration process, and which channels you'll privation to use.

If you're not definite wherever to commencement with mounting up your societal media goals, we screen that here.

Step 2: Align your team.

With your goals etched successful stone, it's clip to align your squad toward these goals. Social media contented instauration is simply a gangly order, particularly for thin selling teams, truthful don't abbreviated yourself connected resources — particularly talent.

One happening we cognize to beryllium existent contiguous is that video content is taking implicit conscionable astir each large societal platform. That means you'll privation to person on-camera endowment dedicated to producing video contented to conscionable the needs of your societal media calendar.

If you can, find a contented creator who is well-versed successful short-form written content, video content, and audio contented to support your contented accumulation moving rapidly and forestall bottlenecks.

Step 3: Consider diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are topics to see erstwhile processing your societal calendar. You'll privation to marque definite your contented reflects and respects the values and experiences of your audience. Moreover, the faces, voices, and stories you stock connected societal networks should beryllium typical of your assemblage and the larger assemblage wherever your concern operates.

This isn't thing that tin hap by accident, truthful you'll privation to program for diverseness and inclusion arsenic you make your contented calendar. If you'd similar immoderate guidance connected creating divers and inclusive content, cheque retired our original probe connected the topic.

Step 4: Decide what societal channels you'll use.

Every societal transmission is antithetic and the contented you station connected each 1 should entreaty to the layout of the level and the users who usage it.

If you're a seasoned marketer oregon person a ample team, you whitethorn find that utilizing each of the fashionable channels and adjacent experimenting with a caller 1 could beryllium beneficial to the goals you acceptable successful measurement one. However, if you're a squad of one, oregon your squad is already stretched thin, it's OK to commencement with a fewer societal channels and enactment your mode up to more.

Step 5: Determine your publishing cadence.

Similar to starting tiny and moving your mode to much societal channels, the aforesaid applies to your publishing cadence. It's not uncommon for brands to station regular connected platforms similar Twitter portion posting erstwhile a week connected LinkedIn whitethorn beryllium much than capable to support that assemblage engaged.

Take a look astatine the research for each societal media level you program to usage to get a consciousness of the posting cadence champion practices. Then, comparison that to the bandwidth connected your squad and the goals you privation to achieve. Remember: the extremity of a societal media calendar is to make and people a sustainable watercourse of contented to your assemblage — it's a marathon not a race.

Step 6: Set up UTM tracking.

One of the astir important parts of a societal media calendar is really the portion you don't spot — analytics and tracking. The easiest mode to way however your societal media contented is performing is to usage UTM parameters to way it. "UTM" sounds similar a scary acronym, but they're simple to acceptable up and use.

Once you've got them successful spot for each nexus connected your societal media posts, you tin reappraisal the metrics of your societal media content.

Step 7: Create an investigation tracker successful your calendar.

For stakeholders who privation to enactment abreast of however good your societal media contented is, make a tab that shows clicks, views, engagements, and different metrics you program to way to deem your contented a success. Tracking analytics tin beryllium arsenic elemental oregon elaborate arsenic your squad prefers.

For a afloat database of metrics to way and tools to bash it, instrumentality a look astatine this year's Ultimate Guide to Social Media Analytics.

Social Media Content Calendar

If you don't person clip to make your societal media contented calendar from scratch, commencement with HubSpot's escaped societal media contented calendar template.

The calendar has everything you request to program your societal media content, coordinate campaigns, turn scope and engagement, standard posting schedule, and boost productivity. Download it now, and travel on with the steps below.

Featured Resource: Social Media Content Calendar Template

HubSpot's Social Media Content Calendar Template

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How to Use HubSpot's Social Media Content Calendar Template

The pursuing subsections volition amusement you however to capable retired each of the tabs you spot successful this template — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Step 1: Review the Monthly Planning Calendar tab.

The tab Monthly Planning Calendar provides an wide snapshot of your monthly societal media campaigns. It'll assistance you coordinate with different stakeholders and support each the moving parts successful order. Here's what it looks like:

social media vacation calendar template

There are 3 sections to instrumentality enactment of erstwhile you edit this template. First, the color-coding key. Each colour represents a benignant of contented oregon run you mightiness coordinate, similar ebooks, webinars, blog posts, merchandise launches, and truthful on. Though lone immoderate of these mightiness beryllium applicable to you, they're conscionable the opening of what you whitethorn privation to see present — truthful beryllium definite to adhd and region categories that align with your ain types of content.

The different 2 sections you'll request to edit are the Month and Year astatine the apical of the calendar, arsenic good arsenic the cells beneath each time of the week. In those cells, you should participate the benignant of contented you'll beryllium promoting that time and color-code it to align with the run it's supporting.

Instead of deleting each the contented successful this spreadsheet each month, I urge copying this worksheet 12 times implicit and creating a abstracted expanse for each month. (If that gets to beryllium excessively overwhelming, you tin ever prevention those tabs arsenic a abstracted workbook.)

Step 2: Populate your archetypal societal transmission successful the calendar.

Alright, present let's get to the societal media contented portion of the calendar. For the involvement of this blog post, we'll usage Twitter arsenic an example, but these steps volition enactment for each societal transmission tab successful the template.

Let's accidental you privation to adhd immoderate tweets to your scheduling template. Scroll implicit to the Twitter Updates tab successful the contented calendar spreadsheet, wherever you'll spot this:

HubSpot societal media contented calendar for twitter

Day, Date & Time

The archetypal 4 columns, Day, Date, Time, and Date & Time are determination for your convenience, and if you take to usage a third-party app for pre-scheduling your tweets (like HubSpot's Social Media Management Software), past these columns volition beryllium useful. For now, conscionable capable successful the day for erstwhile you'll people updates to Twitter, and the clip astatine which you'd similar them to spell out. The Date & Time file volition automatically alteration based connected what you benignant successful the erstwhile 2 columns.

Message

Now, let's determination implicit to the Message column. Here, input the transcript you'd similar to look successful your tweet, bearing successful caput you should headdress it astatine 217 characters to let capable country for a link. (Read this blog station for a afloat quality number guide.) This spreadsheet volition auto-calculate the fig of characters you've entered to support you connected point, turning yellowish and yet reddish arsenic you attack 240 characters.

Link

After you've composed your tweet, paste the URL you'd similar to see successful your tweet successful the Link column. Be definite to see UTM parameters truthful you'll cognize whether these tweets are driving traffic, leads, and customers. This is an important measurement to retrieve if you'd similar to show ROI from societal media. You tin besides usage the Campaign file to adhd an associated run which helps with much elaborate tracking and reporting.

Image

Finally, successful the Image column, connect the tweet's representation (if you person one). For Twitter, we urge images that are 1200 x 670 pixels.

(Click present for a afloat cheat expanse of societal media representation sizes.)

If you're having occupation attaching your representation to the spreadsheet, travel these steps:

Step 1: Click connected the compartment wherever you'd similar to spot your image.

How to adhd an representation to an excel cell, measurement 1 click insert

Step 2: Click Insert successful the apical row, past click the Image button, and finally, click Image successful compartment to take your image.How to adhd an representation to an excel cell, measurement 2 click representation and representation successful cell

Step 3: In the Insert representation window, take the enactment your photograph volition travel from. In this example, we uploaded an representation from our computer.

How to adhd an representation to an excel cell, measurement 3 upload the image

Step 4: You'll present spot the representation look successful the cell.How to adhd an representation to an excel cell, measurement 4 last step, representation appears

Pro Tip: This process is conscionable for organizational purposes. If you determine to upload the spreadsheet to your societal media publishing software, it volition not connect — you'll person to bash that manually. If you're a HubSpot customer, details for how to bulk upload your Twitter contented to the HubSpot Social Publishing Tool tin beryllium recovered wrong the downloaded template.

Don't Forget to Interact With Your Followers

Whether you usage this spreadsheet to program your contented oregon upload it to a third-party app, you'll inactive request to supplement these updates with on-the-fly content. Breaking quality hits? Whip up a speedy update to stock it with your network. Did idiosyncratic successful your web tweet thing interesting? Give it a retweet with immoderate commentary. Got a fascinating remark connected 1 of your updates? Respond with a "thank you" for their interaction.

Coming up with and scheduling your societal media contented successful advance is simply a immense time-saver, but it should spell without saying that you inactive request to show and adhd to your societal beingness passim the day.

Finally, we promote you to experimentation with your societal media publishing. This template provides publishing dates and times for each societal network, but you whitethorn find those are mode excessively galore updates for you to fill, oregon possibly excessively infrequent for your booming societal presence. If this is the case, you should set your societal media publishing frequence arsenic needed.

Now that you've got the ins and outs of a societal media contented calendar, download the 1 beneath for escaped and commencement readying your content.

Editor's note: This station was primitively published successful January 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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