Whether we like it or not we can’t ignore social media for our businesses in today’s world. For any small business aiming to make a significant impact online, having a content plan and a social media strategy will be a game-changer.
As we’ve become familiar with the current digital age, every like, share, and comment matters. So having a plan of your content and scheduling that into your social media can help to project your brand’s presence, communicate to and with your audience, and ultimately drive meaningful results.
The Importance of Content Planning
Planning your content in advance is the backbone of any successful social media strategy. It involves working out what content you can and wish to create, when’s best to post it, and on which of the multitude of platforms. For small businesses, often with limited resources, effective planning ensures that every piece of content serves a purpose and contributes to overarching business goals.
So let’s look at some of the reasons we should plan our content wisely:
- Consistency Builds Trust: Regular posting valuable content keeps your audience engaged and builds trust over time. When followers know they can rely on your brand for consistent updates, they’re more likely to become loyal customers.
- Strategic Alignment: Planning content in advance allows you to align your messaging with upcoming events, holidays, or product launches. This ensures that your content remains relevant and timely, maximizing its impact.
- Efficiency and Time Savings: By working through content creation and scheduling in advance, you can streamline your workflow and free up time for other important tasks. This efficiency is especially crucial for small businesses with limited time.
The Benefits of Content Scheduling
Once you’ve planned your content, scheduling it in advance is the next step towards optimising your social media presence. Here’s why scheduling your content can be a game-changer for small businesses:
- Maintain a Consistent Presence: With scheduling tools, you can maintain a consistent posting schedule across the various social media platforms even during busy periods or when on holiday. This ensures that your social media channels remain active and engaging, even when you’re not around.
- Optimal Timing: Scheduling allows you to post content at times when your audience is most active, maximising reach and engagement. By analysing your insights and experimenting with different posting times, you can refine your scheduling strategy for the very best results.
- Focus on Strategy: Scheduling content frees up time for strategic planning and creative thinking. Instead of scrambling to post content in real-time, you can focus on crafting high-quality content that resonates with your audience and drives meaningful interactions.
Tips for Effective Content Planning and Scheduling
Now that we’ve talked through the importance of content planning and scheduling, here are some practical tips to help small businesses optimize their social media strategy:
- Know Your Audience: Understand who your target audience is, what content resonate with them, and which platforms they use. Tailor your content planning and scheduling strategy so that it shows your authenticity but also is something clients, suppliers, followers and potential clients would want to see.
- Use Scheduling Tools: We use the word ‘Tools’ loosely as all the major social media platforms now allow you to schedule from within the platforms themselves, saving you paying for other third-party social media management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Later to schedule content across multiple platforms. All of the social media platforms now offer other features along-side post scheduling. EG. content calendar management, and insights or analytics to support your social media plan.
- Mix Up Your Content: We can’t stress this enough. Keep your audience engaged by varying your content. Include a mix of visuals from photos and videos, to graphics, images and blog posts to keep your feed fresh and dynamic. And have a mix of the types of content you post from fun and friendly to professional and though provoking but without being controversial or offensive.
- Be Flexible: While planning and scheduling are essential, it’s also important to stay flexible and responsive to current events and trends. Leave room in your content calendar for timely posts and spontaneous engagement opportunities.
We tend to look to the next four to six weeks for what we can talk about online, but only really plan in content a week or two at a time for our own content. We’ll be looking ahead at what’s coming up in the diary that we want to capture and share on our own social media. However, just a word of warning, don’t try to schedule too far in advance. As we all know things can change very quickly and we’ve seen many a big brand fall foul of scheduled posts causing all sorts of mayhem with posts going out at inappropriate times.
In today’s competitive landscape of social media, small businesses can’t afford to leave their online presence to chance. By harnessing the power of content planning and scheduling, you can take control of your brand’s voice and messages, engage your audience consistently, and drive tangible results for your business.
We hope this has given you feed for thought and helped you think about how you can craft your own strategic content plan, and schedule your way to social media success! But if you need a little more help in developing good practices in social media strategy and planning, then get in touch. We’d be happy to chat to you and explain how we can help further.