How To Create An Effective Social Media Calendar (FREE TEMPLATE)

Summary

In this informative video, Rimi from HubSpot outlines key steps for growing a business on social media. She emphasizes starting with one platform, leveraging HubSpot's free content calendar for planning, and maintaining consistency. Rimi advises finding a niche, studying the competition, prioritizing quality content, and engaging with the audience as a community. The video offers practical tips for a successful social media strategy that can be adapted to various types of businesses.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Start by focusing on one social media platform to build a strong presence before expanding to others.
• 📈 Use tools like HubSpot's social media content calendar to plan and organize your content effectively.
• 📅 Plan your content one month in advance to allow flexibility for spontaneous posts while maintaining consistency.
• 🎨 Choose a platform that aligns with your business type and content format, such as Instagram for visual businesses or Facebook for educational content.
• 🔍 Identify your business goals to determine the most suitable social media platform for your needs.
• 📊 Consistency is key in social media engagement; platforms favor pages that post regularly and engage with their audience.
• 🚫 Avoid copying content from competitors; instead, observe their strategies to inform your own unique approach.
• 📚 Prioritize quality content that provides value, educates, or entertains your audience over quantity.
• 💬 Engage with your audience by treating them as a community and responding to their comments and questions.
• 🔎 Study your niche and competition to stay updated with trends and understand what resonates with your target audience.
• 👍 Encourage audience interaction by asking for their feedback and preferences in the content they want to see.

Q & A

What is the main topic of Rimi's video from HubSpot?

The main topic of Rimi's video is about the key steps businesses need to follow to grow their social media platforms.

Why might growing a business on social media feel daunting?

Growing a business on social media might feel daunting due to the overwhelming task of standing out in a saturated market with over 4 billion social media users.

What is the first step Rimi suggests for businesses starting with social media?

The first step Rimi suggests is to pick one platform to focus on first, rather than trying to manage all platforms at once.

Why is it important to focus on one platform initially?

Focusing on one platform initially allows businesses to concentrate their efforts and resources, making it easier to manage and optimize their social media strategy effectively.

What type of content is suitable for a gelato shop on social media?

For a gelato shop, visual content like pictures and short-form videos showcasing their product would be suitable, making platforms like Instagram or TikTok ideal.

How can businesses identify which social media platform to start with?

Businesses can identify the right platform by making a list of their business goals and determining which platform aligns best with the type of content they can create.

What is the second step in Rimi's social media strategy?

The second step is to plan, plan, plan. Planning content one month in advance is recommended to ensure consistency and allow for spontaneous posts.

What tool does Rimi recommend for planning social media content?

Rimi recommends HubSpot's social media content calendar, which is a free tool that helps organize and schedule content across different platforms.

Why is consistency important in social media posting?

Consistency is important because social media platforms favor pages that post regularly, as it keeps users engaged on their platform longer, which is beneficial for visibility and reach.

What is the third step in creating an effective social media strategy according to Rimi?

The third step is to find your niche and study your competition, which involves keeping up with trends in your niche and observing what other successful accounts are doing.

What should businesses avoid when creating content for their social media?

Businesses should avoid stealing or copying content from others. It's important to create original content that aligns with their brand and adds value to their audience.

What is the fourth step in Rimi's social media strategy?

The fourth step is focusing on quality content. Businesses should ensure that their content is valuable, engaging, and relevant to their audience.

How should businesses approach audience engagement on social media?

Businesses should engage with their audience by treating them as a community, responding to comments and questions, and showing appreciation for their support.

What is the final step Rimi mentions in her social media strategy?

The final step is to engage with the audience, which is crucial for maintaining a loyal following and building a strong community around the brand.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Starting Your Social Media Growth Journey

Rimi from HubSpot introduces the video by addressing the challenges of growing a business on social media in 2021, amidst 4 billion users. She emphasizes the importance of focusing on one platform initially, based on the type of content that aligns with your business. For instance, visual businesses like a gelato shop might start with Instagram or TikTok, while educational businesses could opt for Facebook or YouTube. Rimi suggests making a list of business goals to identify the most suitable platform. She also highlights the significance of planning content a month in advance and introduces HubSpot's social media content calendar as a tool to streamline this process. This calendar helps in organizing content, scheduling posts, and repurposing evergreen content, ultimately promoting consistency in posting.

05:01

🤝 Engaging with Your Social Media Audience

In the second paragraph, Rimi discusses the importance of engaging with your social media audience, treating them as a community rather than just followers. She advises businesses to provide value and appreciate their audience's support through comments and questions. Rimi suggests asking followers for their preferences and feedback on the content being posted to create a more relatable and human voice for the business. She recaps the key steps for an effective social media strategy: starting with one platform, using a content calendar like HubSpot's, finding your niche and studying trends and competition, focusing on quality content, and finally, engaging with the audience. Rimi concludes by encouraging viewers to like the video and subscribe for more content.

Keywords

💡Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms are digital spaces where users can create and share content, interact with others, and build communities. In the context of the video, they are essential tools for businesses to reach out to potential customers and grow their online presence. The script mentions that despite the saturation of these platforms, there is still room for businesses to thrive online by using the right strategies.

💡Overwhelming Task

An overwhelming task refers to a job or situation that seems too big or difficult to deal with. In the video, the term is used to describe the initial feeling of trying to grow a business on social media, given the vast number of users and competition. The speaker reassures viewers that with the right steps and tools, this daunting task can be managed effectively.

💡HubSpot Tool

The HubSpot Tool mentioned in the script is a free resource provided by HubSpot, a company known for its inbound marketing and sales software. The tool is designed to enhance social media management, helping businesses to organize and schedule their content more effectively. It is presented as a game-changer for those looking to improve their social media strategy.

💡Content Calendar

A content calendar is a planning tool used to organize and schedule content in advance for social media platforms. It helps in maintaining consistency and allows for the strategic placement of posts. In the video, Rimi introduces HubSpot's social media content calendar as a tool that simplifies the planning process, providing a template for all content ideas and ensuring organized posting.

💡Consistency

Consistency in social media refers to the regular posting of content and engagement with the audience. The video emphasizes the importance of consistency as it is favored by social media algorithms, which tend to promote pages that post regularly. Consistent posting helps in keeping the audience engaged and the brand visible.

💡Engagement

Engagement on social media involves interacting with the audience through comments, likes, shares, and responses. It is a key aspect of social media strategy as it helps in building a community and a loyal following. The script advises businesses to engage with their audience as a way to show appreciation and to foster a sense of community.

💡Niche

A niche refers to a specific segment of the market that has particular needs or interests, which the business aims to serve. In the context of the video, finding one's niche is crucial for creating content that resonates with a specific audience. Studying the competition within that niche helps in understanding what works and what doesn't in the market.

💡Quality Content

Quality content is content that provides value to the audience, be it through education, entertainment, or inspiration. The video stresses the importance of creating content that is not only meaningful but also engaging. It warns against producing large volumes of low-quality content, advocating instead for a focus on content that stands out and serves the audience well.

💡Planning

Planning in the context of social media involves strategizing and organizing content ahead of time. The script suggests that planning content one month in advance is beneficial, as it allows for flexibility while ensuring a steady stream of posts. The use of a planning tool like HubSpot's content calendar is recommended to facilitate this process.

💡Audience

The audience refers to the group of people who follow a social media account or engage with its content. In the video, the audience is viewed not just as followers but as a community that the business should value and interact with. Building a relationship with the audience is seen as crucial for the success and growth of a social media presence.

💡Scheduling

Scheduling on social media involves setting specific times for content to be posted automatically. This feature allows for a more efficient use of time and ensures that content is published even when the social media manager is not actively online. The HubSpot tool mentioned in the script includes a scheduling tab, which is highlighted as a useful feature for managing content publication.

Highlights

The importance of focusing on one social media platform initially for businesses to avoid being overwhelmed.

The necessity of planning content one month in advance for effective social media management.

Introduction of HubSpot's free social media content calendar tool as a game-changer for social media planning.

The benefit of using a content calendar for organizing content ideas and ensuring timely posts.

The feature of the content calendar that allows scheduling posts for specific dates and times.

The value of consistency in posting and engaging with followers on social media platforms.

The competitive nature of social media platforms and the need for businesses to capture and retain user attention.

The strategy of studying niche trends and competition to inform social media content creation.

The warning against copying content and the importance of originality in social media strategy.

The emphasis on creating high-quality content that provides value to the audience over quantity.

The suggestion to ask the audience for feedback to tailor content to their preferences.

The idea of treating followers as a community and engaging with them to build a supportive network.

The method of picking a platform based on the type of content that best suits the business.

The use of color coding in the content calendar for easier coordination of monthly social media activities.

The role of a content calendar in helping businesses stay organized and achieve better results.

The final step of building a following and the critical importance of audience engagement for long-term success.

Transcripts

Hey, everyone.

It's Rimi from HubSpot.

And today, I wanna break down

the key steps you need to follow

in order to grow your social media platforms.

Growing your business on social media

can seem a little daunting

and it can also feel like such an overwhelming task

when you think about how saturated

all of these platforms are.

Right now, in 2021, statistics show

that there are over 4 billion social media users.

But again, the good news here is that there's truly room

for all businesses to thrive online.

You just need the right steps and the right tools.

Speaking of tools, I'm gonna share an amazing

and free HubSpot tool with you today

that will take your social media game to the next level.

But before we get to that, let's start with step number one.

Pick one platform to focus on first,

before trying to take on all of them at once.

I know some people don't really think social media

takes a lot of work,

but I promise you, it's a lot of work,

especially as a business.

I mean, some businesses even have entire teams

dedicated to their social media.

But if you're just starting out,

this is the perfect opportunity to pick one platform

to focus on based on the kind of content

that'll suit your business best.

For example, if you're opening up a gelato shop,

you might wanna start off with Instagram or TikTok

to show pictures and short form videos of your product.

But if you're an online business and teaching a skill,

you might wanna use Facebook or YouTube instead

to create long form videos on your product or service.

Making a list of what your business goals are

will help a ton

so that way it's easier for you to identify

which platform you want to tackle first.

So once you've picked a platform to start off on,

step number two is to plan, plan, plan.

Many different social media experts agree

that planning your content one month in advance works best

and it gives you enough time to squeeze in

those spontaneous posts whenever necessary.

You know what makes planning social media content a breeze?

A planning tool,

more specifically, HubSpot's social media content calendar.

This tool is seriously a social media game-changer.

It's like one giant template

where all of your content and ideas can live

so you're not scrambling

to put something together last minute.

There's a tab for each social media platform.

So whether you're on just one platform or more,

all of your content is organized and it's in its own tab.

There's also a monthly content calendar

so you can plan ahead and see what's going to be posted

for each day of the month.

In the top right, you'll see a color coding key

which makes it so much easier

to coordinate all of the different moving parts

for each month.

This tool also has a scheduling tab

so you can schedule your content to go live on certain days

and specific times.

And last but not least,

a tab to store your oldies but goldies.

Many businesses repurpose their content.

So this is the tab to keep those posts in

that don't have an expiration date.

Remember when I said consistency is key?

I wasn't joking.

All of these different social media platforms

are competing to have people stay on them the longest.

So they're naturally going to favor pages

that are posting consistently

and engaging with their followers as well.

When you're posting,

you're spending more of your time on their platform.

And when you're engaging,

you're keeping other people on their platform longer.

And it's kind of creepy if you think about it too much

because our attention

is what all of these platforms are after.

But hey, we do live in the era of social media

and that's just the ugly truth.

So moral of the story: be consistent

and use a tool like HubSpot's social media calendar

to stay on top of your game.

The link for it is down below in the description box

so make sure to check it out.

Moving on, step number three

for creating an effective social media strategy:

find your niche and study your competition.

In order to stay consistent,

you have to keep up with trends in your niche

and see what other accounts are doing.

So pay attention to how they engage with their audience

and what kinds of questions or comments are people leaving

that you could also answer on your account.

But please remember to never steal or copy content.

Big no-no.

Something I personally love doing

is creating a list of accounts similar to mine

and looking at what they're doing that's working

and what isn't working,

and then building my plan from there.

There isn't a perfect formula to creating content online

so it takes a little bit of trial and error

to find what content works best for your business

and helps you reach your goals.

And that brings me to step number four, quality content.

Is your content providing value?

Is what you're posting

something you would even stop and watch, or is it boring?

Is it teaching anything?

Is it making people laugh?

Always remember, quality over quantity.

Many pages are just pumping out

meaningless content everyday

and it's so easy to wanna do that as well,

but this isn't sustainable for long-term success.

Again, that's why studying trends

and using something like a content calendar

will help keep things organized

and it'll help you achieve better results for your business.

The last step and probably the most important one

once you've built a following

is to engage with your audience

if you want to keep your audience.

It's better to think of your followers

as a community instead of just an audience.

These accounts are following you

because you provided something of value to them.

And when they're leaving you supportive comments

or questions,

it's your job to engage with them

and show them your appreciation as well.

When you're first starting out,

a great way to get the ball rolling

is to ask questions.

Ask your followers what kind of content

they wanna see from you.

Get their feedback on what you're currently posting

and see if it's working or not.

Just create a voice that feels more relatable and more human

behind your business page.

So remember, number one, focus on one platform first,

build that up and then it'll be easier to transfer over

to other platforms.

Number two, use a tool like HubSpot's content calendar

that'll keep you on track with all of your posts.

Number three, find your niche and study the trends

and your competition.

Number four, quality over quantity.

And number five, engage with your audience.

I hope you've enjoyed this video.

If you did, let us know by giving it a thumbs up.

And if you aren't subscribed already,

don't forget to hit that subscribe button down below

before you go.

See you guys next time.

Bye.

(bright music)