by You’ve figured out your social objectives, you need to figure out one more thing. How will you measure you success?
- How will you measure the level to which your calendar has been effective. It could be any combination of a number of metrics. Engagement, Reach, Revenue, Purchases… whichever is the closest and most significant contributor to your businesses success.
Now you know what you hope to accomplish. You have defined your goals, and determined the metrics you’ll use to measure success. The only thing missing? Choosing a site to plan, map, track, and share your social marketing plan. HootSuite, SproutSocial, Co-Schedule; any of these sites will allow you to fill in the blanks with your social editorial calendar based on industry best practices as defined by the site you choose
A few things to keep in Mind:
- Implement the “411” rule in your social marketing. The 4-1-1 rule states that for every self-serving post, you should repost one relevant tweet and most importantly share four pieces of relevant content written by others. This serves to keep your content authentic and not merely a stream of advertisements in the form of posts.
- Define your brand’s voice, and learn how to keep it consistent.
- Do your research. Hootsuite has an excellent blog to help with defining your brand voice.
I find it hard enough as it is to plan my own life, so for planning social media posts, a content calendar is indispensable. SproutSocial is awesome – they have great analytics and a very responsive customer service team. Great post!
You’re right, social media marketing is a huge time commitment, but it works! I’ve been experimenting with Buffer recently, and it’s kind of awesome because it generates content based on a link you paste in. However, I don’t think there is an easy way to do social media, it definitely takes a certain personality type to do it, and requires lots of passion. I like the 4-1-1 rule, I’ve also been following a more personal 3-2-1 rule for engaging with audiences (like 3 posts, comment on 2, and follow 1 user).
Content calendars are so important! But I loved your point about knowing your own social marketing objectives and priorities. If you don’t know what you’re doing how can you possibly create something for a platform weeks in advance? Even though they are important, they are also really hard to come up with. But utilizing Hootsuite and SproutSocial will always be able to help.
The content calendar is probably the best tool to use when trying to make social media strategic. The most important thing when creating a content calendar is remembering your objectives. It is easy to get lost in the fine print, always remember the bigger picture.
Content calendars are our saviors in the strategic media sphere. Sketching out and strategically implementing posts are crucial in receiving and maintaining positive reception from your audience, and these apps allow us to enjoy our lives without constantly having to be online to release content. Implementing a 4-1-1 plan is something I had not previously considered, but I have noticed that I am more willing to interact with professional content if I see there is a chance that it will actually respond to me. Creating the awareness that your company cares about what it posts as much as what other people post to it, is integral in maintaining a competitive edge. I wonder if (and hope) we will come to a point where automated responses will be able to sense tone and that one day customer complaints could be adequately handled or filtered by technology as well to further reduce the amount of “human hours” social media management requires.
Great post! As we each manage our won social media accounts almost around the clock, 24/7, it is easy to underestimate the time and effort it takes to maintain and curate a site on behalf on an entire brand or company. When we are posting to our own channels, it is often spontaneous and has little risk-factor. However, when the reputation of your company is on the line, much more care and strategy much be employed. This is where content calendars and social listening tools come in. Without these tools, it would be nearly impossible to maintain an impeccable social media presence.
I have run the social media account for a PGA tournament and I don’t think I would have been able to do it without the use of a calendar. You’re right to say that social can be pushed to the back of the mind especially when you have a lot of other business that needs your attention. Also the 4-1-1 rule is a great way to help schedule your posts. Thanks for the post!
Thanks for the great post! I just recently took on a position where I am running an organization’s social media. I am beginning to truly understand the importance of a content calendar and how organization and planning is key. One tip I will take away from this is the 411 rule. I think that is a good ratio of promotion to helpful content. I would be inclined to unfollow a page with a steady stream of self-serving content.
This is so true! When I had to manage social media campaigns for clients at an advertising agency, I had to write out each month which clients to post for on which days of the week. Without this calendar, I would have been wasting time checking my notes and emails on when to post for each client. Looking back, I wish I had looked into using tools like HootSuite or SproutSocial because that would have made my life even easier. Great post!