What is a content plan, what is it for and is it possible to do without it, we will tell you everything in order
What is a content plan?
A content plan is a pre-planned schedule for publishing content on social media. Many people might think, “Why should I make a plan? I have enough imagination to create content on the fly!”
It's simple, it's not about fantasy, but about a systematic approach.
A content plan created in advance with the format, topic, date and time of publication will save you from unpleasant situations when there is no inspiration, but the publication of the post must be done today.
In addition, such a structured approach will allow you to remember important dates when you need to congratulate your readers. Such planning will allow you to publish the necessary information, as well as to make a message about a seasonal promotion on the penultimate day without rushing.
Of course, we are not against your continuous inspirations and fantasies, but you need to plan a publishing schedule so that the readers of the page are not overloaded with your creativity. Or they do not expect a new post from you for weeks during the period when the muse has temporarily left you.
A content plan is especially useful if you've been managing social pages for a long time and it becomes difficult to remember all the topics you've previously published.
Typically, a content plan is set for one month, but we also recommend that you check its relevance weekly and make special changes if necessary. After all, one of the main rules of an effective publication is its relevance.
Before you start your content plan, you should set the main goals for maintaining the page. These could be:
- Increase in sales;
- Increase brand awareness;
- Increasing loyalty, attracting an audience.
Once you have set your goals, you can move on to creating your content plan.
To create a content plan for your project, you can use any method that suits you:
- Create a file in Google Calendar
- Google Sheets
- Google Excel.
In fact, the design method does not matter, the main thing is to determine the most convenient option for you and the team.
The content itself, according to its purpose, can be of the following types:
- Advertising (commercial).
- Entertaining.
- Informational.
All these types of content should be organically alternated in the diet. Do not abuse advertising posts, because overly intrusive advertising of services irritates the user. After that, you need to decide how often and when to publish posts. To understand this correctly, take into account all the features of your target audience.
As you understand, the specifics of your site can be anything, but all of the above cannot be done without a content plan to achieve results in promotion.
How to Create a Content Plan for Instagram
Despite the fact that Facebook has long ago bought the rights to Instagram and these two social platforms are managed by the same company, the approaches to promoting pages are fundamentally different. Accordingly, creating content plans for these two networks has its own characteristics.
How to write a content plan for this social network? It is important to consider that Instagram is primarily a visual social network. People watch more than they read, and interesting content is essential here. Therefore, before writing the topics of your content plan, you need to determine whether you can find quality visual material for them. In addition, Instagram has two such additional features (Stories and IGTV) that should be used and their capabilities taken into account.
On Instagram these could be:
- post with photo;
- publications with video (up to 60 seconds - in the page feed, up to 10 minutes - in IGTV);
- carousel format (several photos in one publication or even photos + video);
- stories.
Separately about stories. For effective promotion of the page, you definitely need to make the most of this function.
This is your business card and it should always be available to the user.
How to Create a Content Plan for Facebook
Facebook audiences are more interested in storytelling and entertaining content. Facebook readers prefer short videos up to 3-5 minutes long. Of course, you shouldn't just fill the page with videos. After all, it's not always convenient for readers to watch video content, and the page presentation should be balanced.
To prevent your monthly content plan from turning into torture, think about the main headings of your content plan right away.
Example of a content plan for a week.
Below is an example of a weekly content plan for a tourist base.
For convenience, we recommend highlighting content of different purposes with color tags. This significantly simplifies perception and protects you from unwanted accumulation of messages on the same topic.
Example of a monthly content plan.
Of course, a month is a very long time, and during this time it may be necessary to make some changes, this is normal.
We also recommend leaving a comment field where you can make short comments on the topic of the message. In the future, these notes will make it much easier to write your texts for publication.
Selecting topics for posts
The stage of choosing news topics is creative, but also the most difficult. Only after determining the type of content, the frequency of its publication and the time of publication, the question naturally arises: "Where to get topics for Instagram posts?" We offer several options from which you can get ideas for future posts:
- Competitor Analysis
Observe what your main competitors are doing: pay attention not only to local companies, but also be sure to look for colleagues on the global stage. Watch their social networks, get inspired and achieve more. Pay special attention to the reaction of readers in the comments: capture the moments that cause their indignation and do not repeat these mistakes. Do not forget about professional communities on Facebook and Instagram, where you can find many new ideas for publications.
- Events calendar
Review the list of memorable dates related to your project each month and include them in your social media posting plan. These calendars are full of weird dates (windowsill day), but they usually inspire new topics. Don't forget about gifts for your company: birthdays and current events.
- Solving customer problems
Imagine yourself as a client.
Here you land on a brand page you've never heard of before. Think about what questions your readers might have, what they want to know:
- work schedule;
- address; delivery;
- uniqueness of the product;
- Features of the company's work during the quarantine period.
These are your future topics for posts.
We hope that our tips will help you to make a content plan for social networks. The main thing is to work systematically with such a file, and from the second month of work you will feel the result and a clear increase in the productivity of your page.
Of course, maintaining a content plan is a resource-intensive task, but the result is worth it. KelyanMedia SMM specialists will be happy to advise you on how to develop and successfully integrate a content plan for your project
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