How To Create A Social Media Content Plan

You’re reading this, so you know that social media is a big part of the online marketing world.

If you have a business or website, creating consistent content on social media is essential. You need to post on all of the major social networks, and if possible produce unique posts for each network.

In fact, approximately 79% of people say user-generated content on social media significantly impacts their purchasing decisions (marketwithfirefly.com).

In this article, we will look at several different ways to generate over 30 days worth of content in a single sitting.

Once you learn this process, content creation shouldn’t take you much longer than a few hours each month.

Social Media Requires Consistent Effort

Social media is a great way for you and your business to connect with your audience, but also to communicate your products and services so people can buy from you.

So it’s important that you put in consistent effort and come up with ideas frequently – otherwise, people will start to lose interest in what you have to say.

Often, I see entrepreneurs and business owners creating their social media posts one at a time, or starting from scratch every month with a brand new content plan.

You don’t have to start all over again!

If you’re creating an online course or coaching program, I’m going to show you how to create a plan you can tweak every single month to bring in leads (and sales) without spending your Saturdays writing social media posts.

Want to learn how to build an effective communications strategy over time? Then keep on reading!

Why It’s Important

Once you establish a social media system, content creation shouldn’t take you much longer than a few hours each month.

Once you create a workflow, you can save 8 hours per week easily and actually step away from Instagram sometimes.

You can plan ahead, batch your work, avoid multitasking, and note down all your creative brainwaves for later.

It’s the best way to make sure you’ll never find yourself desperately scrolling through generic inspirational quotes hoping to find something to post ever again.

And while you’re doing this, you’re also creating a library of creative to refer back to, which helps your future self out too.

Let’s Talk Strategy

To start creating valuable content for your ideal clients, first, you have to ask yourself, “What does my ideal client need to know, and what can I teach them that will create interest for my product or service?”

The first place to start is to research the questions of your ideal client.

There are paid tools you can use, but honestly, there are so many free sources that will give you more information than you need to get started. Here are some of my favourites:

Quora
Reddit
YouTube
Google Auto Suggest (Start typing in the Google search bar)
Google Trends

If you’re a health coach, you might search for “how to give up sugar for good,” or “how many calories do I need to lose weight?” or “how to lose menopause weight gain”

If you’re an online financial course creator, you could start with “how to start investing in the stock market,” or “how much money do I need to invest?”

Your turn: Write a list of the 10 – 15 most common questions that come up in these online forums, and here is your starting point.

What Does Your Ideal Client Need To Learn From You?

What do you notice about the items on this list? Are there any themes? Problems that are causing your ideal client pain or uncertainty?

From this list, at least 4 or 5 overall content themes should emerge. You can call them pillars, buckets, groups, topics – whatever you like. Consider how your products, services or solutions fit into these themes, and how you can use them to build that know, like and trust factor with your audience.

So, if you’re a health coach who helps women control the weight creep that comes with middle age by making healthy, simple food swaps without dieting, your content themes might look like this:

Nutrition (New recipe ideas, food swaps, meal prep)
Self Acceptance (Love the body you’re in)
Consistent Habit Building & Mindset
Intuitive Eating
Vitamins, supplements, biohacking for optimal health
Modifying your diet to support various health conditions

This will be the backbone of your content.

Your turn: Brainstorm a list of topics, or themes for your content strategy.

The 30 Day Social Media Plan That You Can Write In One Sitting

Now that we have outlined our themes, it’s time to organize our thoughts and turn this into a reliable plan.

This 30 Day Social Media Plan template is a streamlined and organized way for you to plan out your social media content schedule in advance. It will help you plan ahead, map out consistent content, and create an efficient workflow to increase the effectiveness of your social media strategy.

You won’t have to wonder what you’re going to post this week. Once you get this system down, creating new content will be quick and painless!

This plan is easy to customize, easy to replicate, rinse and repeat every single month.

Click here to download it to use as a guide through this process.

Which Platforms Should I Focus On?

When deciding which social media platform you would like to post your content in, you should consider two things.

1) What platform does your ideal client use the most? Different platforms attract different audiences.

For example:

Facebook and YouTube are both prime places to connect with potential consumers, given their high-earning user bases.
The top social networks among Millennials and Gen Z are Instagram and YouTube, with users spending an average of 60 minutes per day on each platform.
Pinterest holds the highest ratio of female to male users, while and also has the highest average order value for social shoppers.
LinkedIn’s user base is well-educated, making it a hub for in-depth, industry-specific content that might be more niche than what you see on Facebook or Twitter.

The second thing you should consider is…what type of content are you most comfortable creating?

I highly recommend that you commit to creating one long-form piece of content per week that relates to your weekly theme.

This could take the form of a blog, or you could record a short video on the topic.

Long-form content can help your social media strategy in many ways:

A blog or video can be repurposed into an email, a series of social media posts, or dissected and used for quotes or short clips on other platforms.
Highlights your level of expertise and knowledge in the subject matter.
Create a connection with your ideal client, with your words (blog post), or face-to-face (video).

Help…I Need Some Content Inspiration!

No matter which social media platform you choose, you will need to create a mix of content to keep your feed looking fresh.

Post types that get engagement on multiple platforms are:

Quotes. One of your own, one you find inspiring, or one that is funny.
A personal story. Something you struggled with, a lesson you learned, a victory you are celebrating.
An educational tip or tutorial. Draw from the questions you have uncovered during your research.
Behind the scenes. Take a photo of your office, workspace, something you’re working on. It could even be something personal, like what you eat in a day, how you shop for groceries, your wake-up routine or your evening skincare routine.
Reels. Hop on a current trend, or use this format to share a tip with your ideal client.
Your hobbies. What do you like to do in your free time? This will help to build your brand and let your personality shine through. Tie it back to your ideal client if you can, or encourage them to share about themselves too!
Story engagement. From opening up the floor to take questions from your ideal client, creating polls asking them to pick their favourite products, or asking them for feedback.

While this sounds like a lot, once you overlay the context of your themes, it’s really quite simple.

One simple way to keep this streamlined is to designate one post type per day and create a 7-day revolving “Weekly Plan” in your content calendar.

Here’s what it looks like, with examples for you:

7 Day Post Schedule

Content theme: Consistent Habit Building & Mindset

Monday: Quote.

Tuesday: Tip / Tutorial (Video Story or Reel). 3 Affirmations I Use To Set My Intentions For Each Day

Wednesday: Personal routine My wind-down evening routine (also discuss the importance of planning for tomorrow the night before).

Thursday: Educational (How to break a bad habit).

Friday: Fun! Show your weekend plans, something fun you are doing, and discuss the importance of taking time for yourself.

Saturday: Engagement. Share a photo or a video onto your story, saying “Weekend Vibes” or “This is how I make time for ME.” Invite your ideal client to share their weekend plans with a text box, poll or reply to your story!

Sunday: Sunday thought. Reflect on your week through journaling and discuss how helpful it is for clearing your mind and aligning with your goals.

I promise you – by the time you work your way back to the Consistent Habit Building & Mindset theme in your rotation, you will have plenty of new ideas to discuss!

Putting It All Together

Now that you have your outline, it’s time to create your copy.

If you’re stuck, research blogs or books for the educational component of your posts (Just make sure you’re giving credit for any ideas you use!)

I always start with writing my copy, in a Google word doc, then map it onto my content calendar and take a step back, looking at the calendar as a whole.

Can I film a short video for this post?

Do I have a cute picture of myself that conveys the emotion I’m looking for?

Can I film a Reel out of this, add a couple of text boxes on the screen, and then explain myself in the caption?

You can build off this simple strategy every month. I copy my tab, change the dates, and create new “value content” (tips, tutorials and promotional posts) and there you have it – another month of social media with only minimal changes!

This will not only help you double the amount of content you share, but also make sure all of your channels are updated regularly.

By getting all your content created and scheduled in one sitting, you’ll save yourself a ton of time and energy each week. And ensuring that you have an active social media presence will encourage engagement on your social channels too!