The Importance of Planning Your Social Media Content

Social media is one of the easiest ways for a business to market themselves, it is a great way to reach out to your customers, gain insights, and grow your brand. Just like with any other marketing tool, it should be strategically used. Planning out your social media content can make posting content easier and more efficient. Let’s look at some of the benefits-

1. Consistency

Having your content planned out can help you post consistently whether that be daily, weekly or monthly. Your followers will know when to expect content from you. Scheduling content can also help to have a consistent presence across all social media platforms, which can help ensure you end up on your audience’s feed. Maintaining consistency can also provide month to month comparisons to see how your account’s growth and engagement rate has changed

2. Time-Sensitive Content

Many businesses post specific content on holidays, special events or during marketing campaigns. To ensure you don’t forget to post during these important days, planning out your content is key.

3. Organization

Planning out your content allows you to know when you are going to post what and where. Along with this, it allows you to see all your content together in one place and helps you make sure all your content looks uniform and fits your brand image. When working with a team of people, having all future content in one place makes it so each member can see all planned content, therefore simpler to manage.

4. Reaching a broader audience

Many platforms have times when they get an influx of users. Posting when your audience is most active can help your content reach more people.

5. Data

When planning out content, you have room to experiment. It allows you to post different types of content on different platforms, and see what is most successful with your audience. It is also easier to track what performed well and what didn’t and why. While when posting spontaneously it is harder to tell what factored into that. This can then help you focus on posting content you know will do well.   There are various tools that you can use to plan out your social media post, let examine the good and bad of each.

Meta Business Suite Planner

Meta provides users with a content planner tool that automatically publishes content onto Facebook and/or Instagram at a specified date and time. Pros:

• In-house service
• Removes the need for a third party tool
• Allows user to Boost post
• Provides ability to perform A/B Testing
• Free to use

Cons:

•  Limited to Facebook and Instagram

Hootsuite

Hootsuite allows users to create, edit and publish content all in one place. The platform integrates with various social media platforms along with multiple social commerce platforms. Pros:

• Unlimited posts for all plans
• Mobile and desktop app available
• Large amount of features for users
• Compatible with Canva
• Allows for team use
• Many features available that allow for easy collaboration with others

Cons:

• On the expensive side
• Does not offer a free plan
• Charges per user seat

Later

Later is a social media management platform that allows you to create and schedule content. Pros:

• Connects with Instagram, Facebook, X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and TikTok
• Provides analytics
• Various plans available depending on your marketing needs
• AI tools
• Mobile App
• Four month free trial available to new users
• Allows for team use

Cons:

• Limited features for social media channels other than Instagram
• Mainly Instagram focused
• Does not offer a free plan
• Charges per user seat
• Only one of each platform connection allowed per paid social set

Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet software that can be used to plan out posts. Using Excel may be convenient for businesses that are just starting out with content planning. Pros:

• Browser version is free to users
• Many templates are available to use
• Can be shared with others

Cons:

• Does not automatically post content
• Not specifically designed for content planning

Planning your social media content is important for businesses aiming to thrive in the digital landscape. By strategically scheduling your posts, you ensure consistency, maintain organization across platforms, reach a wider audience, and utilize valuable data to refine your content strategy. No matter what tool you use, they each will help you to engage with your audience effectively and build a strong brand identity online. With the right tools, your social media content can become a powerful tool in growing your business and creating meaningful connections with your audience.   Want to get started on planning your social media content? Let’s Talk!

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