How to Create a Social Media Calendar: Tips, Apps, Templates

— Alle Ceambur

Imagine this scenario:

You own a flower delivery store and it’s #InternationalWomensDay.

You had no idea until a customer enquired “Hey, do you have any promotion for #InternationalWomensDay?”.

Now you feel bad that you overlooked this day.

But it’s not your fault. You were busy running and growing your business as one should.

At this point you may think: “so, what is a social media publishing calendar and how can it help my business?”

A Social Media Calendar is just like a regular content calendar only it’s the most helpful tool you could ever use in social media marketing.

Still confused?

These calendars come in many shapes or forms.

They can be either completely digital

or fully offline.

Social media calendars are spreadsheets or apps used to schedule social posts in advance. They’re also used to plan when and which post will be shared, to which platform, at what specific time. Advertisers also use these calendars to track campaigns and deadlines. Tweet

Now, let’s have a look at a few different calendar formats you might come across:

1. Printed Social Media Calendars (fully offline)

These can be helpful for planning posts and making notes of upcoming campaigns, or special dates.

Most social media managers keep something like this on their desks or pinned to the wall.

Below is an example.

2. Spreadsheet Calendars

Google and Excel spreadsheets are also very popular, mainly because they’re flexible and free.

The great thing with spreadsheets is that you can monitor and share the calendar together with your team using the native apps.

And if you’ve worked in corporate before, you’re already familiar with spreadsheets.

Example of Calendar/Spreadsheet

3. Digital Calendars and Scheduling Apps

Now we’re moving into marketing pro territory.

Digital social media calendars are websites and mobile apps that add a level of automation that spreadsheets can’t match.

The disadvantage is that they’re not usually free and if you’re not publishing to multiple networks and channels — you may better leave these to the professionals.

Examples of Project Management software with calendar: Asana, Trello

Examples of Social Media Schedulers with calendar: SproutSocial, PallyySocial

Here are some of benefits/uses of digital calendars:

1. Seamless organization.

2. Consistency.

3. Efficiency.

Conclusion

Now that you know what a social media calendar is, you’re curious to find out: “What’s the best format?” And that is a question that only you can answer.

Depending on your skills and how much content you plan to post on social media you will find that your choice may be different from mine.

I personally enjoy using digital social media calendars like PallyySocial because they’re making my life easier. The digital calendar on Pallyy allows me to schedule posts across multiple platforms at one go.

Check out the best Social Med ia Scheduling Tools for bloggers and influencers.

Originally published at https://alexandraceambur.com on February 12, 2022.