Team has full visibility
When all the team members are able to see what has been planned for the year, it gives them an opportunity to provide their creative input and also be on the same page—months in advance. Using monthly themes is a great way to plan and execute content and encourage the team to submit their ideas. This can be done through content brainstorming sessions held once a month or an email address set up internally for recipients to submit their ideas. Including all the company employees in the ideation process and letting them know they have a voice is even better (even if their ideas are not implemented, it is good practice to encourage people to contribute to the process and be part of it).
Plan of action
Some calendar apps/platforms offer scheduling options (Hootsuite sends the content to the business’s social media account), while some serve as a hub for information to be shared by the team, such as Trello, which is the author’s personal favourite. The author likes to plan content for the year in advance followed by scheduling posts on a week-by-week basis. This method helps minimize errors when posts are made public and also allows the material to be changed depending on industry news, social or political influences, product- or company-related issues, etc. If the content is scheduled months in advance, one could miss deactivating or deleting a post, which may be hard to retract once it has already been published.
Some calendar apps/platforms offer scheduling options (Hootsuite sends the content to the business’s social media account), while some serve as a hub for information to be shared by the team, such as Trello or Monday.com. The author likes to plan content for the year in advance followed by scheduling posts on a week-by-week basis. This method helps minimize errors when posts are made public and also allows the material to be changed depending on industry news, social or political influences, product- or company-related issues, etc. If the content is scheduled months in advance, one could miss deactivating or deleting a post, which may be hard to retract once it has already been published.
Another strategy the author recommends is consistently monitoring the business’s online platforms. The author checks her social media/digital marketing channels on a weekly- or biweekly-basis for quality control. Often, one may forget what they had scheduled to post; therefore, they can add their ideas into their chosen program and share the calendar with their team. This allows the recipients to see who updates what as each member has their individual sign-in and can keep track of all the edits made to the calendar. These apps also store all types of media uploads for future access. Monday.com doubles as a great overall project management tool—not just a calendar planner. It allows users to upload attachments, monitor project status, send updates to team members, assign projects, and more, which makes it a more advanced platform of the two (and slightly more versatile).It is recommended one tries out different content calendars to see which one is best-suited to their needs. Some customer relationship management (CRM) companies like HubSpot even provide a free template. If one looks up ‘content calendar template’ on the internet, they will come across some excel and word formats, which can be downloaded.
One can even start the content planning process a couple of months before the new year. All one has to do is print a copy of the calendar—month by month—and tape the blank pieces of paper to the wall of their work station. The next few months can be spent randomly filling in content for the upcoming year. There are various posts one can plan in advance.
1. Major holidays
It is a good idea to post content specific to holidays such as New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, etc. These posts can either be in the form of simple greeting messages or tailored to point to products that moms and dads may like. Companies can even conduct a ‘12 days of Christmas contest’ to get their social media followers involved and showcase their holiday spirit. Another great opportunity is International Women’s Day (March 8), where businesses can plan a shout-out for women in the aquatics industry.
