Planning Social Media Content

STEPS FOR PLANNING
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
Top social media content strategy tips from real marketers
7

1. Get organized with an editorial calendar
A good plan will include not just
dates and topics; it can organize
author assignments, SEO, social
media distribution, and a running
list of ideas.
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1. Get organized with an editorial calendar
“I find it so helpful to organize your
content calendar by topics or
categories. At Qualcomm, we do this
by product segment, as well as industry
topics. Then, we create a calendar that
balances all of the various topics we
want to share content about. We leave
room for real-time opportunities and
adjustments along the way, which is
really important for social media.”
~ Ashley Riggs-Zeigen, digital marketing
communications, Qualcomm, Inc.
Photo source: LinkedIn

2. Content Strategy is a two-pronged approach
The first prong is planned content.
•  Usually topics important to your industry
or company.
•  Can include all of the things you know
about in advance and would need to
post anyway, such as a product
announcement, sale, press release, or
blog.
The second prong is live engagement.
•  Topics you can sometimes anticipate
but more often happen unexpectedly.

2. Content Strategy is a two-pronged approach
“Always be looking for real-time
influencer engagement opportunities,
building on trending topics that make
sense for your organization and
creating your own buzzworthy social
content.”
~ Tammy Gordon,
Founder, Verified Strategy

3. Repurpose content in multiple formats
We all know how much time
investment is put into blogging and
other long format content. With so
much investment, there’s no reason
you shouldn’t be stretching the value
of a blog. Consider ways to repurpose
it into other formats when creating
your social media content strategy.

3. Repurpose content in multiple formats
“How can I leverage a single blog
post into more forms of content? For
example with this blog article, I would
also turn each tip into a visual for
Facebook and Instagram. Then put
those visuals together as a Slideshare.
Then take those images and throw in
a soundtrack for a video!”
~ Anne McColl,
copywriter and creative consultant

4. Identify your audience in great detail
People are special. Each person wants
to be treated that way. When someone
arrives on your website or sees your
message fly by in their newsfeed, it
essentially has seconds to capture their
attention. One good way to do that is
with specialized content. Get to really,
really know your audience and what
they identify with.

4. Identify your audience in great detail
“It all starts with a marketing plan that
identifies what you hope to accomplish
(goals), then identifies clients, potential
clients and other target audiences. Map out
the different parts of the journey they take to
purchase, then decide the talking points and
concepts you want each of those groups to
receive. Figure out where they spend time
and create a content marketing strategy
addressing all of their needs.”
~ Nancy Myrland, marketing consultant,
Myrland Marketing and Social Media

5. Dream big goals
Balance open creativity with goals in
brainstorms.
It’s absolutely necessary to have goals
and measurable data points behind a
strategy. Without metrics, there’s no
benchmark to measure success by. And
without creative ideas, there’s no path
to reaching a goal. It’s all about
balancing of left brain and right brain.

5. Dream big goals
“Have a bigger goal than just “planning a
social post.” What is the overall campaign
you’re working towards and how does this
post help you achieve it? Know what
“success” is for the post (engagement,
shares) and based on that, what is the goal
for that action? Make sure you go back and
view the data from the post and then USE
that data to inform new posts.”
~ Stephanie Totty, social and content strategy
manager, ExamSoft Worldwide

6. Don’t be afraid to change course
There’s nothing worse than sticking to a
strategy for a year that isn’t working. The
purpose of measuring marketing efforts is
to learn what’s working and not working.
Don’t just report. Turn reports into action
items. It’s OK if your report reveals
weaknesses in your strategy. Face it
head on. The one thing you can really
get wrong is not changing course when
you should have.

6. Don’t be afraid to change course
“From the angle of content
production management, I use
statistical insights to determine
which types of content my
audience finds relevant. Then I
plan to deliver that content when
it will be most useful for them.”
~ Jacinda Matherne,
content marketing consultant

7. Align your efforts
Are you collaborating with
people outside of marketing?
Get out there and talk to other
people in the company who
hold positions other than
marketing. You’ll get a broader
understanding of the business
while gaining a detailed picture
of the customer experience.

7. Align your efforts
“Make sure your content efforts, business
development, customer service, and sales efforts
align. So many social pros work in a silo, but it’s
important that they’re kept in the loop on overall
organizational goals, sales goals, customer service
strategies, etc. If the organization doesn’t proactively
provide this information to the social team, the social
team has to put measures in place to gain this kind of
information. In a small company, this may be
accomplished via one-on-one meetings. In big
companies, a larger organizational procedure might
need to be created and implemented for the brand.”
~ Jennifer Doncev, director of digital and social strategy,
BRG Communications

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