A content plan is a publicly available resource (a document if you prefer to use tabular forms) that project participants can use to plan all social media activity. This resource should visualize how your content marketing strategy is being implemented in the short term (current week) and long term (up to a year).

The most convenient option is a calendar-based format. Creating long and massive lists of posts is tedious and costly. Every time you add situational content, you have to make sure that the established order does not turn into chaos. The goal of planning in content marketing is to achieve maximum consistency for the work of the project participants. Duplication of tasks and unexpected situations when someone from the team is not aware of current plans should not be allowed.

Business promotion on social networks should be consistent with the current tasks of the company. Marketers need to understand what they need to talk about throughout the year and how this fits in with sales plans.

Key success factors for a content plan

Regardless of the period for which you plan to publish (weekly, monthly or quarterly: this depends on the pace of development of the industry in which the company operates), four factors determine the success of a promotion on social media. The content plan must be available to all project participants. And while not everyone will be able to edit the publication calendar, everyone should at least know what topics are planned. Remember, access to the content plan should be open to every project participant.

A content plan is an important document. It must change and grow following the important milestones of the business and the world around it. There is no standard approach for creating a content plan. There are a huge number of techniques and templates. The company’s marketer can draw on his experience, but we’ll share our proven approach to social media marketing.

The content plan template should provide an opportunity for collecting creative ideas. You can’t just dwell on weaving tasks that can be done immediately. Promising ideas should be saved to return to them at a convenient time and try to implement them.

Plan, organize, publish, promote, track and analyze

Regular meetings with project participants should be included in your calendar. Discuss the goals and objectives of the moment. Each new publication should pursue clear and clear goals. It can be like, repost, comment, or following an attached link. Collect statistics and compare the performance of categories. Analyze the change in the number of subscribers and their interests, compare your advertising campaigns in terms of time: month, quarter, year.