This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info.
This post is going to be a TON of information but it seriously is what people struggle so much with! Start out 2019 with an organized plan for how to create the best content year ever.
I start by PRINTING out an actual paper calendar for each month of the year. (You can get a cute one here!) Don’t worry I’m not expecting you to plan out an entire year here but it helps to follow these steps.
- Review what themes or promotions you did last year that were successful, add them to your calendar.
- Are there seasons in your business? Certain things that you talk about each year, at the same time? Add those to your calendar.
- Do you hold events? Client appreciations, contests, etc? Add those to your calendar as well.
Now you have a framework where you can plan out your content to properly promote what you have going on. Have you ever gotten to the few days before an event and forget to even talk about it on social?
Next, I take the next couple of months and plan a theme for each one. Notice I don’t plan out themes for each month of the year. I want to make sure that I keep up with what is actually going on, or is popular. Just imagine if you planned to write about something that completely changed or lost its popularity. Take into consideration the annual items you listed on your calendar, what do people need to hear from you in the next few months to gain confidence in you? What content could help them solve a problem or produce a quick win?
After you have the next 3 months “themes” planned out let’s dive into the current month. Take each week of the month and create for it a sub-topic that fits your theme. This really helps when it comes to creating content because you aren’t “starting from scratch” each time you need to make a blog or post on social. It also helps to keep your message clear and concise. So here is an example of a monthly theme and fitting sub-topics for each week:
Example 1: Real Estate
Month: January 2019 Theme: First Time Home Buyers
Week 1: What do you really need to buy your first house?
Week 2: How credit affects your purchasing power.
Week 3: How to choose the right home buying team?
Week 4: What most first time home buyers wished they’d known
Example 2: Fitness Industry
Month: January 2019 Theme: Starting the New Year Off Right
Week 1: Healthy Food Swaps
Week 2: How to cut back on sweets without feeling deprived
Week 3: What to do when your resolutions start to slip
Week 4: What to try when life keeps you from the gym
…
So now how do you possibly get everything you need to do to promote yourself or your business done online? If you didn’t catch my last post on “Starting The New Year off With An Online Plan” you can check it out here. Or just grab the free “How To Been Seen Everywhere Online – In Less Than An Hour A Day” Guide here. This is a great way to set up what you do each day of the week to make it less daunting.
I then map out on my paper calendar what days I will be writing my blog, posting on each social network, recording my live video, etc. I know the paper calendar sounds silly but it helps to be able to refer back to it as you plan your content out and is a gold mine to look back on when planning next year!
I recommend planning the scheduling out your social media content week by week. I know there are a lot of marketers out there that plan their content out several months, which is fine, but I like to actually schedule mine just a week at a time. The reason for this is that your audience will change over time and so will the times in which they are most likely to consume your content.
Each Monday I take a look at what my topic for the week is and using the insights within each of the platforms (Facebook Insights, Instagram Insights, etc) I plan out the dates and times that I will post on each of the social platforms. You can download my “Content Calendar Planner” here, or feel free to use another one that works for you.
Next, I start with my blog and get that posted to my website so that I can share it (the right way) to the various other places I want to online. I also recommend if you have an email list that you send them a newsletter with a link to the blog on your website. This helps them to come to your website where they may find other resources.
As part of my blog creation, I create the featured image and social images in Canva. Now I have a few social posts I am ready to plug into my posting schedule. Fill in the other posts with quotes and other content that is on topic with the what you are talking about that week and fit your brand.
Repeat each monthly and weekly tasks to take some of the guesswork out of your content calendar preparations.
