After determining your communication plan, it is time to create your social media plan and start pushing content! During your brainstorming process, you want to keep in mind the different types of content that fit your chosen communication platforms the most.
Our communications worksheet led you through determining your organization’s thematic voice and the types of posts you should be creating or sharing. All created social media posts should be made with your guiding document in mind. Planning your social media posts gives you a launchpad for each month. Planning for each post can be as simple or in-depth as you need it to be. Simple planning options include creating a monthly excel sheet with dates, and platform names or assignments and filling in each cell matching its corresponding date and platform with a simple description that works as a signal to let you know what dates to post. More in-depth social media planners like Trello allow you to use a calendar or Kanban-type system to make cards to fully write each post, set due dates, add media and add labels then move each card through a to-do list as you Complete each post. Other planning options include Canva, Notion, Google Calendar, and Planoly.
After scheduling your posts it’s time to go from draft to actual post! First, determine the type of post that you are creating. Types of posts include text, text plus media, video, polls, question and answer sessions, and even links to events. While not every post needs a media aspect they can be crucial in content that is likely to catch your audience’s eye.
Graphic design websites include Canva, Over (iPad and mobile only), Piktochart, Picmonkey, Visme, Infogram, Photoshop, and Adobe Express (formerly Spark). Most of these creation platforms have picture libraries that are free to use but if you’re looking for more specific graphics stock photo websites such as AgStock and Unsplash. Using your original photos is even better! After brainstorming your posts, you can then start to create drafts on each media platform. Twitter and Facebook both have detailed post scheduling mechanisms where you can create posts and set a specific date and time for them to become visible to the public. Having your posts prepped and scheduled within the app helps you stick to the plan that you originally set.
To better determine what your audience likes to see you have to listen! Or at least check out the data. Each social media platform has an area where you can look at post insights, audience demographics, post details, and even when the best time of day is to get peak audience interaction. In-app listening is the simplest option and is always free. Powerful listening tools like Hootsuite, Meltwater, and Brandwatch can be used for deeper analytical information and these websites usually require a monthly payment.
Download: SOcial media planning
