We all want to post high-quality content on social media, without spending hours planning.
If you’re a business owner looking to streamline your social media, you have two options:
Hire a social media agency (HI 🙋♀️)
Become really good at social media planning
The first solution takes all the hard work off your shoulders, freeing up your schedule for other tasks. It does require a monthly investment but can be an incredible opportunity to not only save time but also have true experts handle your social media.
If you’re considering hiring a social media agency, we’d love to chat!
On the other hand, the second solution (become really good at social media planning yourself) is right for you if you have the time and knowledge to manage your own socials.
There’s no right or wrong answer.
You might start with option 2 and later transition to option 1.
Today, we want to discuss how you can become really good at social media planning to streamline your content while retaining high quality.
So, grab a notepad, and let’s get started.
Why you need a social media calendar
There are many different ways you can plan your content, but having a social media calendar is a non-negotiable.
Your social media calendar is the place where you collect ideas, write out captions, take note of Holidays or promotional periods, store your hashtag bank, etc.
It’s essentially the vault that holds all the information you need to plan out your content quickly and efficiently.
Setting up your calendar
You can set up your social media calendar in various ways.
Some people prefer using Notion, while others use Google Sheets. There are excellent templates available for each, or you can build your own to fit your needs perfectly.
If you’re unsure where to start, grab our “Ultimate Social Media Planner” template and customize it to your liking.
This is the exact template we’ve used for 10+ clients over the past few years and we’ve found it’s truly the most user-friendly template to adjust to various industries.
The content idea dump
There’s nothing worse than sitting in front of your computer, ready to start planning content and drawing a blank.
In our experience, having a running content idea dump is key to kickstarting your content planning and getting the creative juices flowing.
What is a content idea dump?
Add a sheet to your content calendars where you collect all ideas that come to mind.
Sometimes we get inspired when scrolling through social media, sometimes we see an ad on a billboard and have an idea for a piece of content for a client. A lot of the time, we research topics and draw content ideas from our research.
There are many different ways to generate ideas, and having a running list of ideas makes content planning feel less daunting.
Your content idea dump can be as simple as a list of ideas written out.
The more complex your content ideas, the more you will probably benefit from categorizing your ideas.
A simple table can be a great way to sort your ideas, for example by topic/content pillar.
Whenever we plan content, our very first step is to hop into the content idea bank and get inspired by the ideas we already have.
The next step is to pick out specific ideas and slot them into our content calendar.
And just like that, we know exactly which type of content we need to design next.
Having a clear strategy
We’ve talked a lot on our blog about the importance of having a clear strategy and how to set one up for yourself.
But honestly, we just can’t emphasize it enough.
The value of having a clear strategy is going to be immense.
Think of it as your road map. Your strategy is supposed to guide you, not stifle you. It helps you gain clarity on your social media accounts and your content.
This clarity will save you dozens of hours of work and take the guesswork of what to post.
Developing a routine (& sticking to it)
The best way to get good at something is to do it, repeatedly. The same goes for streamlining your workflow.
The first few weeks, it might take you a lot longer than you ideally wish it would.
But you will soon find ways to work quicker, and develop your routine to flow seamlessly to be less time-consuming.
We like to have set days where we ideate and research topics to post about. On other days, we plan the content (aka slot ideas into the calendar).
Again on other days, we create the actual videos and graphics for the content.
You see, we allow our brains to get into the flow and focus on one task at a time, rather than trying to do everything at once.
In our experience, splitting your work up like this leads to better results and reduces the time you spend on it.
Taking a walk
Lastly, our biggest tip for when you get frustrated with planning content or don’t feel inspired to create is simply to take a walk.
Nothing good ever comes from staring at your screen and getting irritated by your own lack of ideas and motivation.
A few minutes away from your computer, paired with fresh air and light movement is the best way to get ideas and energy for creating content.
Conclusion: How to Plan Great Social Media Content Fast
And that’s a wrap on our tips for planning great social media content fast.
The key truly is to know what you’re doing and optimizing your workflow.
If you’re interested in learning more about our social media management services, check out: https://www.wildflower-creative-studio.com/services
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