5 Steps to Create an Outstanding Marketing Plan [Free Templates]

What do cross-country road trips, wedding speeches, and social media marketing have in common? Planning. I can't help you with your road trip or wedding speech, but I have a solution for planning your next social media marketing campaign — using a social media calendar!

Most marketers now recognize that social media is integral to an effective inbound marketing strategy. With so many social networks available to us, it's crucial to stay organized and plan for when and what you will share on these platforms.

What is a social media calendar?

A social media calendar is a rundown of your upcoming posts organized by date and time. A social media calendar can be a spreadsheet, digital calendar, or interactive dashboard.

• To get the most value out of your social media calendar, it may include the following:
• The date and time a post will go live
• The social media account or network will go live on
• Materials that will be included, such as copy, hashtags, links, and graphics
  

How to Create a Social Media Calendar

1. Conduct a social media audit.

A social media audit assesses your social media presence, accounts, and engagement so you can see what's working, what's not, and where improvements need to be made. To learn how to conduct a social media audit, click here.

2. Choose your social media channels and the content you'll post.

After conducting a social media audit, you should comprehensively understand which channels your audience uses and the kind of content they prefer. You should use your findings to determine which social media channels you'll leverage and the content you'll post.

For example, you may notice your audience prefers your behind-the-scenes content on Instagram but goes to Twitter to ask questions and learn more about your product. In that case, you can post fun behind-the-scenes photos and Reels on Instagram, then use Twitter to share information about your product and answer consumer questions.

3. Decide what your calendar should include.

Your social media calendar should be tailored to your business and goals, so you'll need to include information in our calendar that will make your desired results.

• To start, your calendar should include the following:
• The platforms you're using
• The day and the time your posts will be published
• Links, graphics, videos, and copy
  

As you become more adept with your calendar, you may want to expand it to include the following:

• Platform-specific materials include Reels, TikTok LIVE, polls, shoppable posts, etc.
• Geo-targeting
• The associated or vertical campaigns, such as product launches and contests
  
  

Reels on Instagram, then use Twitter to share information about your product and answer consumer questions.

💡 Tip: usa emoji per alcuni contenuti, poche ma buone

Social Media Content Calendar Tools to Plan Your Messaging

Marketers might already use Excel for different types of reports and data analysis, but this multifaceted tool is also perfect for social media content calendar organization. Excel can be customized according to the priorities and metrics your team is focused on, so it's a great option for planning.
The good news? We've already done the heavy lifting by creating a free, downloadable social media content calendar template using Microsoft Excel. Marketers can easily use this template to plan individual social media posts— monthly or annually — while keeping an eye on more significant picture events, holidays, publications, and partnerships.