Creating a social media calendar that works
If you own a business in 2025, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve already started to build an online presence on social media or, at the very least, you have probably thought about doing it. Whether you’re just starting out or wanting to take things up a notch, it’s helpful to create a social media calendar, particularly one that works.
Why create a social media calendar?
It’s important to create a social media calendar because it can help you stay both consistent and organized when it comes to your social media.
What to consider when creating a social media calendar
If you’re thinking about creating a social media calendar here are a few things to consider:
What are your social media goals and how do they align with your overarching marketing goals?
What platform(s) will you be on? (This could affect the types of content you create, i.e. video content for TikTok). And remember, you don’t have to be on EVERY platform.
Do your research
In order to have a social media calendar that works, one of the first steps is to do your research. Here are a few things you should look into:
What platforms are your competitors most active on? What seems to work and not work for them?
Who is your target audience and what platform(s) are they on and why?
Create a content framework
Creating a framework will help guide you in terms of what types of content to create and can help you keep your messaging, brand voice, and your posting schedule consistent. We suggest creating a spreadsheet (for example a spreadsheet on Excel or Google Sheets) and then creating a calendar within that sheet. On this calendar, include the platform (i.e. Instagram), the time you want to publish your posts, and the type of content and theme of each post. You can also include key hashtags that you want to include in your caption. Here’s a quick simple mock up to help guide you.
Instagram:
Tip: Your audience probably doesn’t want to feel like they are constantly being sold to, so while you’re showcasing your services and products, don’t forget to sprinkle in more light content as well (i.e. memes, user generated content, and more).
There are lots of tools at your fingertips - Use them!
There are SO many tools out there that can help you create a calendar that works. Here are a few ideas:
Scheduling tools such as Later can help you stay consistent by allowing you to schedule your posts. This also means you can create content at a time that works best for you and schedule your posts to go out ahead of time.
Canva is an amazing tool for content creation! Canva is an online design tool that can be used to create engaging images and videos for all your marketing needs (not just social media). It’s free* and user friendly as well!
*While Canva is free, there are far more features and elements offered through the paid version.
Don’t be too rigid
While it’s important to have a plan and be consistent, it’s also important to be adaptable because, let’s face it, things aren’t always easy to predict. There are so many things that can change and that means you may have to pivot at any moment - from social platforms disappearing, changing and being banned (and then unbanned), to world events, and more.
It’s important to be able to adapt in these types of situations.
This is also your sign to not just be present on a single platform and to have some fun with your content! You don’t have to stick strictly to your content framework every single day. It’s ok to mix things up.
Track and Analyze your results
One of the most important things you can do is to track and analyze your results. If you aren’t, how can you be sure of what’s working and not working?
We suggest creating a spreadsheet to keep track of important social media metrics such as followers, likes, views, link clicks, and more. Keeping track of this data can help you gauge social media habits (i.e. there could be months that are typically “slower” on socials), and as mentioned above, what content works, for example, you may see that Reels or Carousel posts work best for you on Instagram than simple static images.
Here are a few other tips to help you create a social media calendar that works…
Repurpose content - Have an amazing blog post? Use it to create a social media post, for example, an infographic.
Timing is important, when it comes to socials, you don’t want to just pull the timings out of a hat, so to speak. If you’re able to access your account insights already, check what times seem to be most active and use those as a guide for posting. Alternatively, some platforms, such as Later, may suggest the best time to post, or you can do some research into the best times globally based on the platform(s) you’re on.
If you’ve read this far but don’t feel comfortable enough to start or simply don’t have the time for social media, we can help! Book your free 20 minute consultation to learn more about our social media services.