Before you start creating social media posts, you should first come up with a plan. How many times a month do you want to post? On which platforms? And do you already have a template?
Social media planning
These are all factors you’ll want to consider if you want to take a structured approach. The number of posts you should publish each month varies by platform. You might think, “The more I post, the better,” but that isn’t always the solution. On LinkedIn, for example, people expect professional, high-quality content. For that channel, it’s better to post less frequently but ensure your posts have strong content. Want more tips on setting up your (business) social media? You can read them in one of
our other blogs.
A good social media plan includes the following elements:
- Goal: What do you hope to achieve by using social media?
- Message: What is the overall message you want to convey in your posts?
- Format: In what format would you like to convey your message (e.g., video, photo, or text)?
- Channels: Which platforms will you use?
- Planning and task allocation: When will you post your content, and who will do what?
An important part of creating a social media schedule is deciding on a feed design. Here are a few examples. Would you like a cool design like these? We’d be happy to create one for you, tailored to your company’s brand identity and tone!
Once you’ve created your plan, you can start thinking about individual posts. In our step-by-step guide, we explain exactly what steps you can follow to create a great social media post.
Step 1: Create the content of the post
In your plan, you should already have outlined the general topics your posts will cover. Think of things like the team, blogs, reviews, projects, etc. Decide what the content of each post will be. Make sure to make every post unique, even if it falls under the same category. Instead of saying “check out our portfolio to see the results,” try saying “you can find the final product on our website.”
We’d be happy to give you some ideas for the kind of content you can include in a post:
- Team
- Services
- Projects
- Customers
- Blogs
- Reviews
- Industry News
- Holidays/Special Occasions
- A throwback to…
Make sure your post isn’t too long. There’s no set word count for the perfect post, but definitely don’t write paragraphs of text. No one will read all of that. We use between 30 and 50 words in our posts. Short enough to hold the reader’s attention, but long enough to provide valuable content.
Also, choose the right channels for each post. Does your post have a strong visual element? Then post it on Instagram—that platform is very visually oriented. Do you offer substantive content? Then LinkedIn is a good option because posts there tend to be more in-depth. And YouTube is the ideal medium for video content.
We'd be happy to explain more about posting content on different channels.
Have you written your post? Great! Now it’s time to look for relevant hashtags. The more, the better? No. Don’t spam your audience with hundreds of hashtags. Choose only relevant tags. For example, so-called trending hashtags, explains content marketer Lisanza Faccilongo
on Frankwatching. A trending hashtag refers to a topic or event that is extremely popular during a specific period. By using such a hashtag when it relates to your activities, you can expand your reach and, as a result, increase the visibility of your content. This allows you to reach people who don’t follow you, for example.
Step 2: Choose images for your post
Choose images that match the content of your post and the style of your feed. Do you use your own images, or do you opt for free images from sites like Pixabay.com? Either approach is fine, as long as you maintain a consistent look. If you’ve decided to include captions in your feed design, be sure to create a concise caption to accompany the image in your post.
Step 3: Schedule the post
Especially if you publish a lot of posts each month, a tool like
Hootsuite incredibly convenient. All you have to do is enter all your posts once with the correct dates and channels, and they’ll be published automatically on those days. Also, be sure to consider the time at which the post will be published. From
Research by Coosto It turns out that engagement on Instagram peaks at 5:00 PM on Thursdays, while on Facebook it peaks at 7:00 PM on Wednesdays. Of course, you’ll need to test this yourself to see which days and times generate the most engagement for you. This depends, for example, on the type of audience and content you have.
Step 4: Check, check, double-check
Go over all the steps one more time. Are there any spelling mistakes left in your post? And are you sure the image is high-quality? Is the post scheduled for the right day and time? Check everything yourself, or better yet: have someone else double-check it. That way, you can be sure the post is perfect!
