How to create a content plan for social networks + content plan template
Everything that may not be read (and equally not viewed or listened to) will not be read. This is the main obstacle of today's overloaded information environment. Any text and any material for publication must be clearly thought out, planned, work in conjunction with other publications and lead to a common goal.
Systematicity – this word should be the main characteristic of working with content. In the case of social networks, the content plan plays such a system-forming role.
What is a content plan?
A content plan is a convenient tool for planning publications on social networks, on a website or external resources, which is drawn up in advance for a certain period of time and is an important point in SMM promotion. In short, this is a regularly updated document containing a list of publications for the month/week.
Why create a content plan?
There is an opinion that a content plan makes a page template and lifeless and destroys creativity. It’s like thinking that a restaurant’s opening hours sign is a killer of good service or a chef’s creativity. What if the restaurant has no plan to stay open until the evening or the chef only cooks if the muse visits?
So, a content plan solves several problems at once:
— content categories: the ratio of educational, selling, entertaining and involving
— publication formats: posts with pictures, videos, articles, live broadcasts.
Insurance against “sagging” and saving time: you always know what to publish, in what format, and you can prepare everything in advance.
Linking to business objectives: all publications are distributed in such a way that they logically lead to the implementation of business objectives.
Regularity: Develops the habit of posting content consistently. This is important to remind the audience of yourself and maintain interest in the product/service.
Maximum audience coverage: most often it is difficult to reach the entire audience at once with one content unit. Therefore, topics should be thought through for each segment separately and logically arranged in one line.
In addition to being systematic, the content plan will give you an understanding of:
how to build communication with the audience in order to engage all its segments
how to distribute types of content – texts, videos, podcasts, infographics – to use all opportunities to attract and retain an audience
how often to publish content so as not to get lost among competitors, but also not to bore the reader
By spending a few hours drawing up a content plan, in the future you will significantly increase your time for a leisurely cup of coffee and orderly thoughts in your head.
How to create a content plan?
When drawing up a content plan, be guided by the following criteria:
distribution of content by topic
matching the avatar with the audience – proceed from what is interesting to your target audience, not to you
pursuit of business objectives – each post and series of publications must serve a single purpose – be it sales, promotion, launch of a new product, or creation of trust.
There is no single standard for designing a content plan – it can be a text document, presentation, table, or even MindMap. It is important to try to understand which one is more convenient for you.
You can use a table that notes:
content release date
area
content format
rubric and topic of the post
proposed visual (photo/video or cards)
type of content
space for comments
line where the designer inserts a link to ready-made visuals
It is recommended to highlight in color what type of content it is (post, story, article or case announcement) to make the table visually easier to perceive.
What type of content plan you choose is up to you. The main thing is that it is convenient to compose, easy to navigate and that it works for your goals.
Here you can download a content plan template.
5 very important tips
Before you start creating a content plan, consider:
A content plan is a written law. This is a flexible document. If you have urgent news or have an idea for a post that you really want to share, go ahead. Castling is normal, but the content plan remains your working framework. This will not make your content worse, it will not derail the entire strategy, but it will reflect the real situation in the company for users, which is very valuable.
The publication time can also be shifted. If according to the plan you need to publish a post on Monday at 14:00, but for some reason you do not have time to perfect it by this time, it is better to finalize it and publish it on Tuesday morning. One or two days will not solve anything, and well-developed content is always better than raw content.
Use ideas that come along the way. A subscriber asked a question and you decided it was cool to reveal it in a post? Great, write the idea down in your content plan for the next period. This way, by the time you draw up a new content plan, you will already have a list of ready-made topics that will make your work easier and faster.
If you see that a certain type of content is more effective, use it more often than others, but do not overuse it. Subscribers will quickly get tired of reading the same type of posts.
Use crossover content. Expand the topic in the post, give a link to a quiz on the topic taking place in stories, and from stories send the reader to watch a video on your YouTube channel or a full article on Zen.
And most importantly, remember that a content plan is a tool designed to make your life easier, not complicate it.
Monitor the audience's response to a particular publication: likes, reactions, comments and their tone, percentage of engagement. Test new things and improve what works well – as a result, you can create your ideal content plan.
