If the content is king, well-planned and targeted social media content is its queen. Have you ever wondered how big brands, and high-reach content creators prepare their content? The answer is clear: with the help of social media editorial plans.
You know it: A few days have passed since the last posting, and something new should come up soon. What you could use here now would be a bright and essential topic that fits the current feed and maybe even has a strategic intention to get closer to your company goals. You can find out what an excellent editorial plan can look like today.
Social Media Editorial Plans Are Not Worth It At All
Not correct. They are worth it—a lot. Also, for small to medium-sized accounts. But what exactly is an editorial plan?
A kind of calendar, if you will, a monthly and weekly planner for social media content. Planning and organization of rough topics and content. The SM editorial plan provides information about the status quo and a timetable for achieving goals. Above all, it is essential to think outside the box, plan for the long term, and exercise a certain degree of diligence.
With a real content strategy, social media editors can also deliver added value to the community and pick it up thematically. Therefore, good preparatory work is always half the battle for social media content. This makes your daily work more manageable by
- saves resources
- has a central storage location for all content
- He doesn’t have to share content out of his sleeve every day.
Social Media Editorial Plans Have Few Benefits
Also wrong. They even have a whole lot of benefits. You can find exactly which ones here in the overview:
- Overview: In the editorial plan, you can see which contribution (or story) should be posted, when, and how. The content can theoretically never run out with good preparation since there are always ideas or they have already been worked out. Preparation is the key!
- Saving Resources: Well planned is half done. Editorial plans save resources such as time, money, and staff. It is better to invest these resources in the following ideas and projects.
- Available Content: The risk of churning out content is minimized when you always have a well-stocked pipeline online. Content is therefore pre-produced to fire onto the Internet at the right time.
- Content Optimization: The more carefully the content is planned, the easier it is to improve it. Top content raises the quality of social media marketing and supports all activities. If weak points or sources of error are identified, the respective content can also be optimized in good time.
- Achievement Of Goals: How do you achieve your goals? That’s right, with a healthy thought-out strategy! Your social media editorial plan can help you create an excellent content strategy and a common thread in your social media feed. The better you plan your postings, the more goals you will reach and the more efficient your way there will be!
- Structure Of A Content Funnel: By planning the postings in a targeted manner, you always have the opportunity to generate a funnel. This makes it possible to quickly direct the followers to the destination where you want them to be by arranging the posts and stories chronologically. This can be particularly helpful for e-commerce brands, such as teasing a new product line and leading the followers through a well-thought-out warm-up into the online shop and finally to the desired purchase.
- Structured Feed: Especially with networks like Instagram, planning the content is essential. This is the only way to create a congruent visuality and pick up the followers visually.
Social Media Editorial Plans Limit Spontaneity
Clear yes. Not everything can be planned. A social media editorial plan is a template that your team can deviate from when something special, earth-shattering has happened.
Sometimes the editorial plan should even deviate from the scheme F, primarily when an event occurs that (not only) concerns your target group. Ignoring this can give the impression that the social media team is not interested in the followers’ interests and is doing business as usual. Therefore, it is worthwhile to always remain flexible despite a fixed plan and include daily developments and topics in the program.
In addition, there will always be spontaneous gaps in the plan, for example, because a contribution cannot be made or a particular person falls ill. Then it is advisable always to have a specific pool of content that you can tap into for such situations, and the followers are not left out in the rain.
Social Media Editorial Plans: They Should Have These Categories
So that editorial plans are also worthwhile, they should be arranged according to specific categories that can be filled. These plans can then be created using (Excel) lists or particular tools. However, the following types of a social media editorial plan should always be present:
- date
- weekday
- theme
- content
- (Campaign)
- channel
- time of posting
- content type
- post text
- release
- status
- Remarks
The first own editorial plans are not immediately perfect. The more extended social media teams work with it, the more smoothly, and automatically the processes work. More companies benefit from the stable foundation of a social media marketing department.
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