Planning social media content material appears to be an space of wrestle for a lot of entrepreneurs and enterprise homeowners.
From researching matters to creating photos – to not point out, the large catalog of platforms to publish on – there’s fairly a bit that goes into social media planning.
And whereas many social media planning instruments like Hootsuite and Loomly purpose to make social media advertising even simpler, typically all you want is an effective ol’ Google Sheet.
On this information, you’ll discover a easy, easy-to-use social media planner template for Google Sheets – plus, some recommendations on the best way to plan your quarterly social media content material.
What Is A Social Media Planner?
A social media planner is a device, system, or course of that organizations or people can use to plan, schedule, publish, and handle their social media content material.
A social media planner makes it simpler to plan content material upfront and handle posts throughout a number of platforms equivalent to Fb, Twitter, or Instagram.
There are numerous social media planning software program choices out there, in addition to extra simplified templates, tables, checklists, and the like.
Many of those instruments embody options equivalent to post-scheduling, monitoring and analytics, multi-platform administration, and extra.
Why Use A Social Media Planner?
There are numerous perks to utilizing a social media planner – you realize, as an alternative of simply wingin’ it.
Planning forward is among the finest methods to construct a constant social media presence, monitor outcomes, and enhance your technique over time.
Listed below are only a few of the various advantages of utilizing a social media planner:
Enhance Productiveness
Utilizing a social media planner lets you schedule and publish content material upfront, liberating up time for different duties.
This could enhance your general productiveness by supplying you with extra time to deal with different facets of your enterprise or private life.
Moreover, the flexibility to handle a number of social media accounts from one central location can save time and cut back the trouble required to take care of your presence on completely different platforms.
Publish Content material Extra Persistently
A social media planner helps you publish content material constantly by permitting you to schedule posts upfront.
This helps make sure that your social media presence stays energetic, even if you end up busy or unavailable.
Constant posting may also help preserve engagement together with your followers and enhance the visibility of your content material.
Maintain Organized
A social media planner helps you keep organized by permitting you to plan and monitor your content material calendar.
This lets you hold monitor of what you’ve revealed, if you’ve revealed it, and what’s arising subsequent.
The flexibility to view your content material calendar in a single central location may also help you keep on prime of your social media presence and keep away from lacking alternatives to have interaction together with your viewers.
Develop Your Technique
A social media planner lets you monitor the success of your content material. This data can be utilized to tell future content material technique, making it simpler to determine what works and what doesn’t on every platform.
The flexibility to see the impression of your content material may also help you make data-driven choices and enhance the effectiveness of your social media presence.
Collaborate With Your Workforce
A social media planner also can assist facilitate collaboration between staff members.
For instance, by permitting a number of folks to entry your social media planner doc, it’s simpler to share duty for sustaining a constant social media presence.
This may also help make sure that content material is revealed often, and cut back the chance of lacking alternatives to have interaction together with your viewers.
Free ‘Social Media Planner Template’ For Google Sheets
Planning your social media content material doesn’t should be difficult – or require the usage of costly instruments.
With the free Social Media Planner Template for Google Sheets, you’ll discover a neater method to plan, arrange, and schedule your social media content material.
Whether or not you might be a person or a small enterprise, this template is designed that can assist you publish content material constantly, keep organized, and make higher choices about your social media technique.
With this Google Sheets template, you’ll be able to:
- Plan your content material calendar upfront, see what you’ve revealed, and know what’s arising subsequent.
- Schedule posts for a number of social media accounts from one calendar.
- Monitor the progress of your content material and use the knowledge to tell your future technique.
- Collaborate with others by sharing entry together with your staff.
Be aware: Click on on “File” > “Make a Copy” to edit your template. You do not want to request Edit entry.
Make a replica: Social Media Planner Template for Google Sheets
How To Plan Your Social Media Content material In 2023
Plan your quarterly social media content material in a matter of minutes – not days – with the Social Media Planner Template.
This Google Sheet template makes it straightforward to see your schedule properly upfront and save all your social media property in a single place.
Right here’s the best way to plan your social media content material for 2023.
Step 1: Create A Copy Of The “Social Media Planner Template”
Upon getting entry to the template, click on “File” after which “Make a Copy.” This may create a brand new copy of the template that you may edit.
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, February 2023Subsequent, give your copy a descriptive identify, equivalent to “[Business name] – Social Media Plan Q1-This autumn 2023,” and put it aside to Google Drive.
Step 2: Establish Your Present Quarter/Month
Relying on if you’re studying this text, it would be best to determine the quarter and/or month by which you intend to start out your social media planning.
The underside of the template contains tabs spanning from “Q1: January” to “This autumn: December” of 2023.
Open the tab for the month by which you need to begin planning your content material.
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, February 2023For simplicity, we began with “Q1: January” and started filling out the primary two matters.
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, February 2023Additionally, you will see within the left-hand columns that there’s a calendar for every month.
That is merely meant as a go-to reference for the right days of the month/week, primarily based on the 2023 calendar.
You possibly can, in fact, replace this for 2024, 2025, and so forth.
Step 3: Select Your Social Media Platforms (“Format”)
Column Okay features a dropdown of varied social media platforms to which you’ll be publishing your content material.
You possibly can choose from this record of choices (Weblog, Instagram, LinkedIn, Fb, Twitter, Tik Tok, or Different) or you’ll be able to add your personal by clicking the “edit button” i.e., the pencil icon.
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, February 2023This dropdown lets you simply determine which platform you intend on publishing to.
Whether or not or not it’s Fb, Instagram, Twitter, or some other platform, this may enable you hold your content material organized.
Step 4: Plan Your Subjects
Now, it’s time to fill in your subject concepts!
There are fairly just a few methods to think about partaking social media matters, which we lined in our How To Create A Social Media Content material Plan information.
Nonetheless, the analysis course of doesn’t should cease there. Listed below are just a few methods to provide you with social media posts:
- Conduct competitor analysis: Take a look at what your rivals are doing on social media and use that as inspiration on your future social media posts.
- Take a look at trade traits: Keep up-to-date on trade traits and information, and use this data to create related and well timed posts on your viewers.
- Make the most of user-generated content material: Encourage your followers to share their very own experiences and use that content material as inspiration on your personal posts.
- Take a look at hashtags: Analysis and use related hashtags to extend the visibility of your posts and attain a wider viewers. This can be a method to discover content material concepts.
- Schedule common promotions: Share your promotions and reductions to drive engagement and enhance gross sales.
When you suppose up some concepts, you can begin filling out your social media planner.
Simply fill out Columns J by means of O together with your “Title/Matter,” “Description,” and the like.
Step 5: Fill In Your Wanted Columns
Begin enhancing the template by including your personal content material, equivalent to your social media accounts, publish varieties, and content material matters.
You may also change the design and format of the template to suit your wants.
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, February 2023Add the “Picture” you intend to incorporate together with your social media posts. You are able to do this by including a hyperlink to a Google Drive folder or Digital Asset Supervisor (DAM).
Step 6: Add Due Dates
Subsequent, use the template to schedule your posts upfront by including the date, time, and platform for every publish.
Then, replace the “Standing” column as you go alongside.
You possibly can even use the template to trace the success of your content material by including metrics equivalent to likes, feedback, and shares.
Step 7: Add Content material And Publishing Notes
If you’re working with a staff, share the template together with your colleagues and provides them entry to edit the template.
This may help you collaborate and work collectively to take care of a constant social media presence.
The “Notes” column is for any miscellaneous notes you’ve about your upcoming content material, drafts, due dates, and so forth.
Step 8: Plan Forward And Repeat
Planning your social media content material upfront provides quite a few advantages that may tremendously improve your social media presence.
By taking the time to plan your content material, you’ll be able to guarantee that you’re constantly publishing related posts that have interaction your viewers and drive outcomes.
With a transparent content material plan in place, you’ll be able to deal with creating high-quality content material that’s aligned together with your general advertising technique, and keep away from the pitfalls of impulsive, unplanned posting.
I like to recommend utilizing the social media planner to plan no less than one quarter’s value of content material, so that you’re not scrambling to jot down the copy, accumulate the property, schedule the posts, and so forth.
You possibly can breathe straightforward realizing your precise technique months upfront.
Get Forward With Social Media Content material Planning
A social media planner is a strong device in the case of planning, scheduling, and managing your social content material.
Don’t let “concept block” get the very best of you; begin planning your Q1-This autumn content material now!
Utilizing a social media planner additionally empowers you to be proactive in producing content material about your trade or market – somewhat than simply reactive.
This may also help you keep forward of the competitors and preserve a powerful presence on social media.
Plus, if you plan your content material upfront, you’ll be able to allocate assets and price range extra successfully, guaranteeing that you’re utilizing your time and assets in essentially the most environment friendly means potential.
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