NEW YORK—In a recent blog post on HubSpot, marketing guru Sopia Bernazzani outlines 11 ways social media calendars, tools and templates can help small businesses plan their marketing content. Bernazzani said, “By now, most marketers recognize that social media plays an integral role in an effective inbound marketing strategy. And with so many social networks to manage and publish on, it's important to stay organized and have a plan for when and what you're going to share on these platforms.” Here are three highlights from Bernazzani’s blog post.
The Benefits of Using a Social Media Content Calendar
We're all busy. And when we're busy without a plan in place for the tasks we have to get done, things inevitably slip through the cracks. Social media content is no exception. Just like with blogging, a successful social media strategy requires regular publishing and engaging with followers to see positive results—whether that be in terms of SEO, brand recognition, lead generation or all three. By using a social media calendar, marketers can plan out posts for entire weeks or months in advance, which frees up working hours to strategize for the future—and to dash off any posts about breaking news in your industry.
Content Creation and Management
ClearVoice offers content creation tools to fit into your workflow. While their big claim to fame is their Talent Network Search, which allows you to find and connect to content creators to work on your projects, ClearVoice also has features for task management for internal and external collaborators. You can create, edit, and approve projects in an interface that makes editorial management easy. They also have a dashboard and dynamic editorial calendar with plenty of interactive functionality.
Social Publishing and Content Calendar
Similar to Hootsuite, Agorapulse offers social publishing tools and a content calendar so that you can manage your social media accounts with ease. This includes scheduling (or rescheduling), queuing, and bulk uploading posts, which is incredibly helpful for those who do quarterly or monthly content plans. What makes Agorapulse different, though, is its social inbox that allows you to manage all the interactions from various platforms in a single place.
Click here to read the full story from HubSpot and here to download their planner on How to Start a Successful Blog.