How to Create a Social Media Calendar in 2024

A societal media almanac is simply a elaborate overview of your upcoming societal media posts. It tin thief you representation retired a timeline for what you’ll post, wherever you’ll station it, and erstwhile it will spell live. 

The simplest societal media almanac mightiness conscionable beryllium dates pinch station titles and nan contented to include. More precocious calendars whitethorn see station times, hashtags, images, and links. 

Here’s an illustration of what a societal media almanac tin look for illustration from our free template:

A societal media contented almanac is much than conscionable a schedule. When done well, it tin beryllium an indispensable instrumentality for your wider social media strategy. 

Here’s why:

It Saves You Time

A societal media almanac lets you scheme and schedule tons of societal media posts astatine once. Creating contented successful batches for illustration this intends you don’t discarded clip multitasking aliases scrambling for ideas connected random days.

You Stick to a Consistent Posting Schedule 

It tin beryllium difficult to station consistently connected immoderate level erstwhile you’re doing it arsenic and erstwhile you person time. Other things get successful nan way. And it’s reliable to stay disciplined.

But a societal almanac helps you station regularly. Keeping your marque astatine nan forefront of your audience’s mind. And giving you accordant opportunities to look successful beforehand of caller imaginable readers and customers.

It besides allows you to scheme posts for optimal times. Which tin thief maximize visibility and engagement.

It Keeps You Organized

A contented almanac keeps each your societal media activities successful 1 place. This tin thief free up bandwidth for different important tasks.

No much scrambling for last-minute station ideas aliases forgetting important dates. Like holidays and manufacture events.

This methodical statement tin amended your productivity. And trim nan accent associated pinch unplanned aliases rushed contented creation. As you’ll ever person a clear position of what’s being posted and wherever complete nan coming weeks.

You Can Stay connected Top of Post Quality

Sticking to a contented almanac gives you nan clip to review, revise, and cleanable your posts. You’re nary longer rushing to get contented out. And you tin put processes successful spot to double cheque posts earlier they spell live.

Which intends you tin support precocious posting standards and protect your brand’s reputation. By minimizing nan chances of mistakes making it to publication. 

It’s Easy for Team Members to Collaborate

A societal media contented almanac isn’t conscionable for you to use. It’s a collaboration instrumentality for your team.

It provides a cardinal position of your contented plan. And makes it easier to align pinch broader trading strategies and guarantee everyone is connected nan aforesaid page.

Further reading: Social Media Management: The Ultimate Guide

There are various ways to create a societal media almanac depending connected what benignant of solution you need. The steps beneath use whether you’re building 1 from scratch, adapting a template, aliases utilizing a tool.

Conducting a social media audit tin thief you place what’s moving and what’s not. So you tin group up your almanac for occurrence from nan start.

When auditing your societal media channels, consider:

• Your goals and cardinal capacity indicators (KPIs): You request to person a clear scheme of what you want to achieve. Like accrued postulation to your site, marque awareness, aliases conversions (like sales).
• What posts person performed good successful nan past: Which posts thrust nan astir traffic/conversions? Which ones get nan astir engagement?
• Which platforms your target assemblage uses most: This helps you determine wherever to attraction your efforts. So you don’t discarded your clip posting connected channels that don’t thrust results.

But really do you find this information?

We’ll screen choosing nan correct platforms later successful this guide. But mounting nan correct goals is nan first steps to creating an effective societal media calendar.

Your societal media goals will evidently dangle connected your wider business goals. Having due goals and KPIs to way gives you a measurement of measuring your performance. 

And you tin make data-driven decisions based connected your content’s capacity successful statement pinch those metrics.

Here are a fewer examples to supply immoderate inspiration: 

• Increased engagement (e.g., likes, comments, and shares)
• More website traffic (via links successful your societal content)
• Post reach (great for marque awareness)
• Conversions (like income aliases leads)

When choosing your goals, see pursuing nan SMART framework. These goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound:

Analyze Your Successful Content

A large portion of creating an effective societal media strategy is doubling down connected what useful well. This intends looking astatine your contented that has performed good successful nan past, and creating much of that.

Depending connected nan societal level you’re using, you astir apt person entree to immoderate analytics and information astir your posts, profile, and engagement levels. For example, here’s an overview of relationship engagement connected Instagram:

And here’s what LinkedIn’s analytics dashboard looks like:

But fixed 1 of nan main benefits of creating a societal media almanac is redeeming clip and staying organized, we tin spell 1 measurement further. And consolidate our Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn analytics each successful 1 spot pinch Semrush Social’s analytics platform.

First, link nan accounts you want to analyze. Use our Social Analytics configuration guide for much connected really to do this. 

If we usage nan Facebook tab arsenic an example, you’ll spot specifications astir your assemblage and erstwhile they’re online (more connected that later).

For now, caput to nan “Posts” tab.

This shows you information astir your posts, including engagement rates, nexus clicks, and more. 

Use this information (across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn) to find which pieces of contented performed best. Analyze those pieces of contented to understand why they performed well. And weave those winning strategies into your early content.

2. Choose Your Platforms and Content Mix

You request to take societal media platforms wherever your target assemblage really spends their time. Otherwise you’re conscionable going to discarded your resources.

Each level has unsocial assemblage and contented preferences. For example, TikTok is each astir short-form vertical videos. Whereas connected LinkedIn, written contented pinch engaging images often performs well.

But really do you cognize which societal media platforms to target pinch your contented calendar?

How to Choose nan Right Platforms

Semrush’s One2Target instrumentality shows you wherever your target assemblage is astir active. So you tin attraction connected nan platforms apt to output nan champion results.

Just participate 1 of your competitors’ domains and click “Analyze.” (Your competitor’s target assemblage is apt akin to yours.)

You tin find accusation astir your target audience’s demographics and socioeconomics connected nan applicable tabs. But we want to caput to nan “Behavior” tab. 

The “Social Media” widget shows you nan platforms your target assemblage visits astir often. 

Use this information to pass wherever to walk your resources. For example, if you stock a target assemblage pinch Amazon, YouTube videos and Facebook posts are apt nan champion places to start.

Choosing What to Post connected Each Platform

Your contented operation will alteration depending connected factors for illustration your goals, brand, and industry. But location are a fewer elemental systems you tin usage to thief scheme retired your content.

The 80/20 rule: 80% of your contented informs, entertains aliases educates your audience. The remaining 20% promotes your products aliases services. 

The norm of thirds: Dedicate one-third of contented to each of nan following:

• Content you curate from followers (like reviews and posts that tag your business)
• Interaction pinch followers
• Promotion of products and services

Take Passion Planner, for example. They create posts astir their products: 

But they besides people user-generated content:

And acquisition contented to thief animate their assemblage of passionate planners:

And relatable memes that resonate pinch their followers:

They screen a wide contented operation to prosecute their following. All while keeping everything applicable and not overly promotional.

For your ain contented mix, research pinch a wide scope of content types:

• Videos
• Images
• Infographics
• Text-based posts
• Testimonials
• User-generated contented (like sharing follower photos, videos, and reviews)
• Livestreams

But guarantee what you stock fits pinch really group for illustration to devour contented connected their preferred channels. 

For example, sharing a summary of a blog station mightiness activity amended connected LinkedIn than it would connected Instagram aliases TikTok.

3. Select a Template aliases Tool to Build nan Calendar

There are 3 main approaches to building a societal media calendar:

• Building 1 from scratch: It’s time-intensive, but you tin customize it nevertheless you like
• Adapting a template: This saves you time, but it mightiness person constricted functionality
• Using a tool: Tools whitethorn person constricted customization, but utilizing them tin importantly velocity up your processes

There are astir unlimited ways you could create a afloat customized societal media almanac from scratch.

But present are a fewer cardinal things you whitethorn want to see erstwhile building yours:

• Keep it simple. Your societal almanac is meant to prevention you time. So don’t make it truthful analyzable that it ends up costing you (and your team) clip instead.
• Use colour coding. This is simply a elemental ocular measurement to make your almanac easier to use. Include a cardinal astatine nan broadside truthful you and your squad ne'er get lost.
• Choose nan correct medium. Create your almanac wrong a level your squad is comfortable with. This makes collaboration overmuch easier.

Have columns for each nan cardinal specifications of each post, including things like:

• The level to people on
• Publishing day and clip (with clip area if applicable)
• Format (e.g., vertical video aliases poll)
• Copy for nan post
• Visuals to attach
• Links to include
• Tracking parameters to adhd (more connected that successful Step 5)

Your blank almanac mightiness look thing for illustration this:

Using a Template

Templates are a awesome measurement to commencement readying your societal media contented immediately. Without having to create your ain almanac from scratch.

If this sounds for illustration nan correct prime for your setup, cheque retired our free societal media almanac template successful Google Sheets. 

It has columns for different societal media channels, time of nan week, topics, copy, ocular assets, and more. 

Use nan default formatting aliases consciousness free to customize it immoderate measurement you like. Schedule your posts by adding nan applicable specifications successful each cell. And stock nan Google Sheet pinch your squad for elemental collaboration.

If you want an all-in-one solution, see utilizing a instrumentality for your societal calendar. There are tons of options retired location (we’ll screen a fewer later). There are dedicated almanac tools, but sometimes a spreadsheet is each you need.

Or you could usage thing pinch further functionality, for illustration Semrush Social’s Social Poster. 

This saves you clip by letting you schedule posts connected Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, and moreover your Google Business Profile. All successful 1 place.

4. Schedule Your Content

Create a posting schedule that suits your readiness and resources. And—importantly—one that puts your contented successful beforehand of nan correct group astatine nan correct time.

Plan When to Post

For each level you use, you request to plan:

1. When to post
2. How often to post

Some societal media platforms supply you pinch adjuvant information connected erstwhile your assemblage is astir active. This helps you cognize erstwhile to station for nan highest levels of engagement.

Here’s really this looks connected Instagram:

Semrush Social provides you pinch a much elaborate view. Showing a floor plan of erstwhile your followers are astir progressive by time and time. And really that correlates to erstwhile your posts spell live.

So you tin easy spot if you’re posting astatine nan correct times. Or if you request to set your strategy for amended reach.

Schedule Posts Ahead of Time

If you’re utilizing your ain contented almanac aliases a template, you’ll request to schedule your contented manually. You could station nan planned contented manually each day, but making usage of nan scheduling usability wrong your societal media platforms saves a batch of time. 

They don’t each connection this ability, but galore of nan awesome platforms do. You tin schedule posts connected X:

And connected Facebook, done nan Business Suite (which besides shows a useful timeline position of upcoming posts):

But for a streamlined experience, usage Semrush Social. The Social Poster lets you quickly and easy schedule posts crossed awesome platforms. 

Connect your societal accounts, and caput to nan “Calendar” tab wrong nan Social Poster. Hover complete nan time you want to schedule a station and click nan “+” icon astatine nan apical right.

Choose which platforms you want to station to. Then participate your station text, adhd images and links, adhd tags, group a publishing time, and more. You tin moreover adhd UTM parameters for search capacity (see Step 5 for much connected this).

Click “Schedule” erstwhile you’re ready.

This allows you to schedule posts up of time. And spot your scheduled posts successful a almanac view. All successful 1 place.

Track your societal media capacity to understand what is working. And what isn’t. This lets you accommodate your strategy complete clip to meet nan goals you group successful Step 1.

The astir important metrics to way will dangle connected those goals. But a fewer adjuvant ones to see include:

• Impressions: This is nan number of group that saw your content, sloppy of whether they interacted pinch it
• Likes/comments/shares: Engagement metrics show you really good your contented is resonating pinch your target audience
• Conversions: This could beryllium sales, leads, aliases email signups, aliases immoderate different conversion you track
• Website traffic: If you’re sending postulation from your societal posts to your website, you tin way this information successful a instrumentality for illustration Google Analytics

Use engagement information to understand which posts execute best. And replicate what that contented does good successful early posts. You’ll besides beryllium capable to understand whether your engagement levels are expanding complete time. Or if you request to accommodate your approach.

You’ll beryllium capable to spot your engagement metrics successful your chosen platform’s analytics dashboard. Here’s what that looks for illustration successful Pinterest:

We showed you successful Step 1 really nan Social Analytics instrumentality wrong Semrush Social tin thief you audit your societal media content. Before moreover creating a calendar.

But it besides lets you way capacity complete clip arsenic you instrumentality your campaigns. Head to nan tool, and click nan “Engagement” tab for an overview of your account’s capacity complete time.

You’ll beryllium capable to show your Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn capacity from 1 dashboard. Keeping tabs connected your impressions, reach, and engagement complete time. 

This helps you understand really effective your societal media almanac is. And besides provides penetration into nan days you get nan astir engagement. So you tin tweak your almanac to station much connected nan days your contented performs best.

Tracking Conversions

To way metrics for illustration conversions, you’ll request to person a measurement of linking a societal media station to a fixed waste aliases signup. Do this utilizing UTM parameters erstwhile scheduling your posts.

UTM parameters are snippets you adhd to nan extremity of URLs that let you way run performance. Here’s an illustration of a UTM parameter for a societal media campaign:

Add UTM parameters to nan posts you schedule pinch nan Social Poster. You’ll find this successful Semrush Social. When scheduling a caller post, click nan “UTM” button. Next, adhd your run name, run medium, and take a run root (it’ll do this for you automatically).

Then click “Apply to post.”

Check retired our guideline to UTM codes successful Google Analytics to study really to analyse this data. And to understand really to usage UTM search for amended societal media run performance.

Engaging societal media contented tin thrust a batch of postulation to your website. But knowing which platforms do this champion requires a spot of information analysis.

Seeing your full societal postulation is reasonably straightforward wrong Google Analytics 4. In nan spot you want to track, click “Reports” > “Life cycle” > “Acquisition” > “Traffic acquisition.”

You’ll spot an overview of your website’s postulation sources. Including “Organic Social” (and “Paid Social” if you’re moving ads). You’ll besides spot metrics for illustration “Average engagement clip per session” and “Engaged sessions per user.”

These are useful for knowing whether nan postulation you’re sending to your tract from societal media is really engaging pinch your site’s content.

But if you’re driving postulation to your tract from aggregate societal media platforms, this information mightiness not beryllium enough. To spot much granular data, click “Add select +” and past prime “Session source/medium” successful nan “Dimension” drop-down.

Next, prime “exactly matches” successful nan “Match Type” drop-down. And past nan societal media platforms you want to way from nan “Value” drop-down. Then click “Apply.”

Finally, successful nan bottommost near drop-down, prime “Session source.” This will show you a array pinch each of nan sources you selected. 

You tin past comparison each source’s engagement metrics to understand which societal media platforms thrust nan astir engaged postulation to your website.

Tracking your cardinal metrics for illustration this lets you enactment connected apical of what’s working—and what isn’t. Giving you nan assurance to double down connected nan contented that performs best. Without wasting your resources.

Semrush Social offers societal media almanac functionality alongside scheduling, analytics, and moreover inbox management. Saving you clip by keeping each of your societal media guidance successful 1 place.

We’ve already covered utilizing nan Social Poster to schedule your contented successful Step 4 of our guideline above. But you tin usage Semrush Social arsenic an all-in-one dashboard for each your main accounts. And for different websites too.

Meaning you tin schedule posts, way your analytics, and respond to messages crossed different platforms. All wrong 1 tool. This makes it nan perfect prime for anyone managing nan societal media accounts of aggregate businesses. Or galore individual projects.

Google Sheets 

Perfect if you’re looking for a elemental spreadsheet-based solution, Google Sheets allows you to plan, schedule, and way your societal media contented successful a system way. 

You tin create different sheets for each period and adhd specifications for illustration nan date, content, and links. 

Like successful our social media almanac template:

However, Google Sheets lacks precocious features for illustration automated posting and capacity tracking. 

Notion

Notion is simply a powerful instrumentality for managing tons of aspects of your business. But it tin besides usability arsenic a useful societal media calendar. 

Notion tin beryllium an effective (free) measurement to negociate societal media calendars. And you tin stock it pinch others wrong Notion for streamlined management. 

But location is nary measurement to schedule and station contented from wrong nan level itself.

Canva 

Canva is simply a instrumentality chiefly utilized for schematic design. But nan Pro (paid) type besides offers a characteristic called Content Planner. It allows you to plan, schedule, and people your societal media posts consecutive from Canva. 

It supports platforms for illustration Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. And you tin besides way nan capacity of your posts. 

This is an perfect solution if you nutrient a batch of graphic-focused content. As your subscription besides gives you entree to nan Canva Pro plus library.

You tin usage our free societal media almanac template to scheme and shape your societal media posts. 

This template is simply a awesome starting point, and you tin customize it to fresh your circumstantial needs. 

For example, you tin adhd columns for different societal media platforms, contented types, aliases run themes.

With an effective societal media calendar, you tin plan, organize, and execute connected your strategy. Making it easier to station consistently and show your results.

But you tin make it moreover easier pinch a instrumentality for illustration Semrush Social. Combining scheduling, analyzing performance, gaining contented insights, and moreover responding to messages into 1 intuitive platform. 

Get these benefits by signing up to Semrush Social.