Are Content Calendars Necessary?

Welcome to The Social Lab! This blog will not only help you navigate your personal social media, but also investigate marketing trends and examples of great social media work. Do you have something we should talk about? Make sure to send us an email or contact us on social media.

Today in The Social Lab, we are going to discuss content calendars. First of all...what are content calendars? Usually created for a month at a time, these planners keep track of exactly when you will post particular social media information, on what social media platform, and possibly at what time. These calendars also allow for communication between the social media manager and the rest of the marketing team. Everyone knows when content is being published and what it consists of. Let's break down the pros and cons of content calendars...

PROS

1. Communication - Everyone on the team knows when and what is being published.

2. Organization - If you have multiple marketing campaigns or strategies, content calendars allow you to strategically plan when these campaigns or strategies are being utilized.

3. Brand Cohesiveness - If you are trying to create a particular voice for your social media brand, content calendars let you ensure that your voice is being correctly portrayed throughout the month.

4. Safety Net - Going on vacation? Content calendars act as a safety net just in case you disappear from your computer for awhile. Furthermore, instead of coming up with new and unique content daily, you can now utilize that time for different purposes.

CONS

1. Creativity and Uniqueness - While this may not apply to everyone, many content calendars can become formulaic at times. While there are pros to this, there is also the potential for a lack of creativity and uniqueness, especially over the course of multiple months.

2. Trends - If a major trend begins or something occurs in pop culture, if you are not paying attention, you may not post about these particular moments.

3. Engagement - With a months worth of posts already lined up and potentially automatically posting, you may become lazy when it comes to engaging with your audience.

OVERALL

So what does this all mean? Content calendars have many positives and luckily the cons of creating one can be avoided by paying attention and staying active. If you are going to create a calendar, make sure to follow these steps....

1. Look Out For Blandness - After 2-3 months, look at all of your posts. Are you becoming to bland in your posting? Are these posts actually successful?

2. Continue to Post Unique / Live Content - You should create a balance between your scheduled posts and live posts. If something happens that is trending or is really relevant to your brands voice, you should post about it, even if it isn't on the calendar.

3. Continue to Actively Engage - Utilize your time accordingly and actively engage with current and future followers. Just because you have a lot of posts scheduled, doesn't mean you can just lay around and do nothing!

Do you agree with our advice? Do you create content calendars? Comment below or email us right away!

The Socii Project Team