Social media content planning for 2018

If you’ve never created a social media content plan or strategy, then now is the right time of the year to get organised and create a plan for your social media posts! Social media can play a key role in building awareness of your organisation, improve engagement with your supporters and build relationships with new donors. Having a plan in place will certainly make your efforts more efficient and effective.

Six reasons why you need a social media content plan.

There are many ways to benefit from social media content planning:

1. Save time: we know that limited resource and time restrictions throughout the year can mean that you neglect posting and engaging on social media. Don’t let social media be an after-thought! By planning ahead you can create more tailored and targeted content, therefore, increasing the chances of engaging successfully with your supporters.
2. Don’t miss important dates: there is a day for everything, from Random Acts of Kindness Day (17 February) to World Autism Awareness Week (26 March – 2 April), meaning opportunities for your content to be noticed by both a new and existing audience. Having a social media content plan can help you keep track of all the relevant upcoming events or important dates for your organisation. Whether it’s an awareness day or the launch of a fundraising campaign, you can plan the drafts of your social media content in advance in a calendar.
3. Get organised: by creating a social media content plan, you’ll be able to ensure a more consistent social presence. This means that you can have an overview of your social media posts and what’s coming up. It’s a quick way to create more effective campaigns by seizing the power of each platform.
4. Improve collaboration: a social media content plan, that everyone can access, can not only keep you accountable to stakeholders by improving the visibility of your campaigns but also boost internal communication by involving more people, and therefore creative ideas, to your planning process. Social media shouldn’t just be one person’s responsibility but rather a team effort.
5. Be strategic: what are you hoping to achieve through social media? An easy way to start your social media strategy is to work out your goals and then create a monthly content calendar. A social content plan allows you to think strategically to align your social posts with your campaign objectives. This way you’re learning how to use social media with measurable goals to support your campaigns.
6. Learn more about your supporters: If you haven’t measured the effectiveness of your social media content yet, a social plan can be the right motivation to start doing so. By measuring your posts’ performance you are able to understand which types of posts and which visuals or rich media work better for each channel. This can help you gain valuable insights about your supporters and the content that they like consuming, meaning you will reach more people, more effectively.

So what are you waiting for? Start creating your social media content plan now!

Next read: How to create your own social content plan in five steps