If you’re a frequent social media user, you probably know by now that the secret to building an audience that actually interacts and that is interested in the topics you post about is being consistent. On top of that, you should always make sure that you have a well put together social media strategy.
Even though everyone seems to think that organically growing an account on social media is a piece of cake, things are not quite as simple as they seem. If it were that easy, everyone could do it, right?
The truth is, like most things, success takes time and patience. Whether we’re talking about a huge business, or just a simple lifestyle social media account, having tens or hundreds of thousands of followers/subscribers still counts as a huge success these days. And for you to be able to fulfill your dreams and have the desired outcome, you should, above everything, make sure you are consistent in what you do.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways in which you can make sure you’re doing things right – you just have to be aware of them.
This brings us to the topic of this article – social media calendars. Find out why and how they will one hundred percent improve your social media game. Here are the top five reasons why you should start using a social media calendar:
1. Consistency is key
We’ve already stated this in the beginning, but it might be worth saying it again – the only way you can grow and build a relevant audience on social media is by being consistent. That, and patience. I guarantee that, if you start posting constantly and you keep doing it (for as long as it takes), you will eventually start growing your account. Exponentially.
However, to be able to do that, you will need some help. Yes, I am talking about a social media calendar, said John O. from mimy online blog.
While it might sound easy at first, constantly posting a few times a week takes more time and resources than you might think.
Instead of going through the entire process of posting (that usually consists in choosing images, writing descriptions, adding hashtags, tagging, etc.) a few times a week, how about doing it just once?
You can simply take a bit longer to plan ahead, create the posts, schedule them and then just sit back and relax for the rest of the week. The posts will appear as scheduled.
Moreover, you can research which hours and times of the day are the ones that get most traffic, and schedule the posts at those hours.
This way, even if you might not be available at that specific time, the post still goes up and you’ll benefit from all of the high traffic and reach. This paper created by the American Marketing Association goes into in-depth details and researches about time and day effectiveness when it comes to posting on social media.
2. It helps you stay on track
Everyone has their productive days, as well as the ones where our inspiration and creativity just aren’t showing up. For most jobs, this isn’t necessarily a big deal. However, when talking about social media, and keeping up with the times, people will always expect you put up the best content you’ve got, even in your gloomiest days.
Of course, for a content creator, this can be a little bit too much sometimes. However, using the calendar will lower the risk of this situation occurring ever again. Planning the posts ahead will also help you stay on track with any other tasks, and just make sure that the entire flow is functional.
3. You will have a better understanding of your audience
Let’s say you decide to strategically plan your posts. You post three times a week, let’s say, at about the same hour (8pm, for example), but you post three different topics each time.
On Monday, you tackle a certain topic, you do a different one on Wednesday, and a third topic/subject on Friday. The next week, you start from the beginning, following the same three topics. After doing this for a while, you will eventually notice a pattern and start to understand what your audience engages with the most.
This is when you will start to understand what you audience prefers, what is read and what’s skipped, and so on. This will have a major impact on your account and overall growth, as you will see the direct feedback of what works and what doesn’t.
4. A chance for you to have some time off
This should be a good enough reason on its own. Whether you work for a company and your job is to post on social media, or you just do it for yourself, you should always make a priority for yourself to have some time off social media.
Having a job or a hobby that revolves around posting constantly is fun, but sometimes it might be a bit difficult to remember that you should also stay offline and just enjoy life for a while.
However, it is well known and proven that taking breaks has a huge impact on the accounts. Using a calendar and planning ahead will solve this, too. You can prepare every post ahead and simply enjoy your vacation, knowing that everything is being taken care of even when you’re offline.
5. It’s great for your mental health
Everything ties up here – using a social media calendar will help you stay sane in this loud online environment. You will simply have the feeling that you’re always being on track, efficient and organized.
So, even if you’re not sure yet, I suggest you just give social media calendars a try. You absolutely have nothing to lose, I guarantee it will only improve the way you approach social media.
