Keeping up with your child care business’ social media can get pretty difficult when you have a lot of other things on your plate. A social media content calendar is a great tool for planning and scheduling your social content in advance, making it easier for you to maintain an active presence.
Before you create your content calendar, we suggest taking a good, long look at your current social media efforts. Find out what platforms are working best for you, what posts are gaining the most engagement with families, and what types of content are working with your audience. Then, use those insights to build a more effective social media presence!
How to Create a Social Media Content Calendar:
Create a Calendar
First things first; set up a calendar that will keep you organized and provide a framework for your post scheduling. You’ll want to include the platform you’re posting on, content type, topic, and any image or article links on the calendar so you’re all ready to post when the time comes. You can set up an Excel or Google Sheets document, or find a downloadable content calendar template online.
Determine a Posting Frequency
Figure out an appropriate posting schedule for your daycare’s social media. To make sure you are staying in parents’ social feeds, you have to post often enough to remain relevant and keep families engaged with your profile. However, you don’t want to post so much that you become annoying. Once you decide on a good posting frequency, you can set up posting dates and times in your calendar.
Come up with a Content Mix
Every social platform is different, so you’ll want to decide on a content mix that fits each channel appropriately. Recording the category of each post in your calendar will help you keep track of the variety of your content.
You’ll want to include a balanced mix of blog posts, pictures, events and announcements, promotional posts, user-generated content and curated content in your social media to keep parents engaged. Don’t forget to make room in your calendar for seasonal and holiday posts as well!
Include any Links, Images and Hashtags
If you’re including images, curated articles or blog posts in your posts, be sure to add their links to your content calendar. When you’re ready to post, you can just copy and paste, rather than frantically searching for the link or image. In addition, you’ll want to include any hashtags that you want to incorporate in your posts to make them searchable for trending keywords.
