Steal This Social Media Calendar Template (+ Find out how to Make Your Personal From Scratch)

When you fail to plan, you intend to fail.

As an excellent Kind-An individual, that’s a favourite expression of mine. And — having spent a few years managing numerous social media platforms in advertising and marketing and media — I’ve discovered the exhausting manner that that is one space the place you completely can’t wing it. Particularly when you’re managing a number of channels. 

You want a social media content material calendar.

A social media calendar is a recreation changer when constructing a social media presence, be it as somebody constructing your private model, a creator, or a social media supervisor. 

However you’re studying this text, so I’m preaching to the transformed — so let’s get proper into the meat of it. I’ll stroll you thru the advantages of getting a social media calendar and precisely create your individual calendar utilizing Buffer. I’ll additionally share the social media calendar system we use in our Advertising crew, together with a plug-and-play social media calendar template you need to use immediately. 

We’ve written about why you want a social media calendar in-depth, so I’ll go away you with the important advantages of getting one right here. A social media calendar will make it easier to:

1. Keep on high of a number of social media channels effectively
2. Keep on with the content material pillars in your social media advertising and marketing technique
3. Submit persistently
4. Schedule posts upfront and automate processes so that you’re not working across the clock
5. Work with crew members (when you’re on a Advertising crew or social media crew), collaborators, or stakeholders 
6. Keep on high of product launches, advertising and marketing campaigns, occasions, and even holidays
7. Streamline a system of approvals earlier than posting
8. Save time with content material batching 
9. Repurpose content material 
10. Preserve observe of content material concepts 

Buffer is a social media scheduling software constructed to make it simpler to develop your following on-line. It’s a one-stop-shop for your entire course of — from content material ideation to publishing, proper on to analyzing content material efficiency. 

There are a bunch of different perks to housing your social media calendar proper in Buffer — past the power to plan and schedule in a single software:

• A high-level month-to-month view for big-picture planning.
• A extra in-depth weekly view to see all the important thing particulars at a look.
• The power to exclude sure channels from view for further readability and focus.
• Entry it anyplace. Because of Buffer’s cellular app, you possibly can examine or amend your calendar on the go. 
• Extra to come back! The calendar is an enormous focus for us in the mean time, and we’ve some actually thrilling plans for 2024.

📲 Obtain the Buffer app for iOS right here

📲 Obtain the Buffer app for Android right here

I’m going to stroll you thru precisely create yours in Buffer’s free social media calendar, take you past planning, and proper into scheduling. 

1. Outline your social media technique

Earlier than you even open a calendar software, a social media technique needs to be your first port of name. 

When you’re a creator and never a social media supervisor, it is going to be tempting to skip this step. However belief me, content material technique is not only for Advertising groups. They’re an important step in social media success. Random posting = random outcomes. Having clear targets, understanding your audience, and defining your content material pillars will make your work a lot simpler and extra profitable in the long term. 

Don’t simply take it from me — I really like this Reel by @stanforcreators, which outlines simply how necessary it’s for creators and their distinctive method to creating one.

This doesn’t contain pages and pages — even only a single-page information will make it easier to get crystal clear in your targets and the way you’re going to get there. 

You’ll discover our full social media technique information right here, and it’s effectively value working your manner by way of it when you’re simply beginning (there’s even a template there, too!). Right here’s a high-level overview of your steps:

1. Pinpoint your ‘why.’ Why do you might want to be energetic on social media? What’s your final aim?
2. Outline your audience. Who’re you making an attempt to achieve together with your content material?
3. Outline your content material pillars. What are you going to share, and why will it resonate?
4. Select your platforms. Which social media websites will you utilize to achieve your viewers? What number of social platforms must you select?
5. Set your cadence. Determine in your posting frequency (which can differ from platform to platform).

2. Join your channels

Congratulations, the hardest half is out of the best way! Along with your technique in hand, you’re prepared to attach your social media accounts to Buffer. First, be sure you’re logged in to these channels within the browser or on the gadget you’re utilizing.

Then log in to Buffer, head over to account.buffer.com/channels, and select Join Channel. You possibly can additionally click on in your profile avatar on the high proper of your dashboard and click on Account, then Channels.

Click on on the kind of channel you need to attach. (If you have already got channels linked, click on Join New Channel after which click on the channel you need to attach.)

The method is fairly easy, however we’ve an in-depth information to connecting channels in Buffer in our assist heart, plus particular how-tos for every platform when you run into any issues.

3. Create your tagging system

Shade coding is my organizational love language (it’s best to see my bookshelf), so Buffer’s new function addition, Tags, has modified the sport for me relating to content material planning. 

There are a bunch of how to make use of Tags that will probably be extremely helpful in your social media administration system. You possibly can use them to tag posts by:

• Content material pillar (my private favourite)
• Submit standing (concept, draft, able to publish)
• Format or kind of content material (textual content, video, picture, carousel)
• Platform (whilst you’ll be capable to see which social media app your publish is scheduled on within the calendar, this could possibly be helpful when you’re additionally saving concepts right here for, say, a weblog)

What’s actually neat about Tags is that they translate over to the Analytics part, too, so you possibly can measure up the efficiency of 1 grouping towards one other. This has been extremely helpful for me as I experiment with my content material pillars to see which resonate essentially the most with my viewers.

To create your Tags, click on on Publishing on the high left of the display screen, then Create simply beneath that. 

Then head over to Handle Tags on the underside left of your display screen and click on Create Tag on the highest proper.

A pop-up will seem the place you possibly can add your tag title and select a coloration to signify it. (All the colour choices have been particularly chosen as a result of they work effectively collectively, so any mixture will probably be aesthetically pleasing if, like me, you’re into that!) 

4. Get your concepts down

Prepared for a mind dump? You probably have a stable concept of the sort of content material you’re creating due to your technique work in Step 1. Now, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work on the precise content material creation. 

That is the place Buffer’s Create area is available in. It’s a flexible system that you need to use in loads of alternative ways, however when you’re engaged on constructing out your calendar, I’d advise you begin through the use of it as a hub for all of your concepts. As a creator, something I share on one in all my social channels will begin on this area first. 

High tip: Don’t fear about making all of your social media posts lovely immediately. Even when all you’ve gotten is a half-baked concept or a reminder about an necessary product launch, a quick notice works simply wonderful right here, too. Simply get it down — you possibly can refine it later.

My posts typically begin out this fashion (just like the Create playing cards you’ll see within the screenshot under), which I then flesh out as inspiration strikes and polish up earlier than including them to my calendar to schedule. 

To create an concept, click on Create within the high left nook, then Create Concept on the highest proper.

Proper right here, you possibly can:

1. Add your copy or caption (or placeholder textual content)
2. Select your Tag/s
3. Add media, like video or images
4. Add immediately from Buffer integrations (like Canva, Dropbox, Google Drive, Unsplash, and extra)
5. Get assist from Buffer’s AI Assistant once you’re caught

It can save you the thought to maintain it in your Create area by clicking the Save Concept button or scheduling it immediately with the Create Submit button (extra on this under).

5. Arrange your Queue

At Buffer, we consider the posting schedule for each social media platform as a Queue — mainly, set time slots each week for posting.

You don’t have to stay to this, in fact, but it surely’s a very useful option to decide to the cadence you specified by your social media technique. As time goes on and also you experiment with completely different timings and frequencies on all of the platforms you’re utilizing, you’ll be capable to pinpoint the slots that work effectively to your audience. 

Once you first begin with Buffer, the platform will routinely assign occasions in your Queue. (Don’t fear, this doesn’t imply that one thing will routinely be revealed. Consider these occasions as empty placeholders posting slots that you need to use, tweak, or go away as you see match.)

To arrange your Queue, click on on Publishing on the highest left, then select the channel you need to tweak within the record on the left-hand facet. 

On the best of the window, you’ll see the Queue that Buffer has routinely created for the channel. To alter your Queue occasions, click on on the gear icon subsequent to your chosen time zone. 

Right here within the posting schedule settings, you possibly can:

1. Add a brand new posting time
2. Flip off posting on particular days
3. Take away occasions out of your present schedule (hover over the time, then click on on the arrow that pops up)
4. Clear your Queue fully

You would possibly select to go away these slots as is — you possibly can edit your scheduled occasions within the calendar, in any case — but it surely’s a good suggestion to pay attention to the Queue timings for all of your channels (you’ll see why in Step 6 under).

6. Begin planning

Now that you’ve got a bunch of nice concepts prepared and ready to be revealed in your social media channels, it’s lastly time to get them on the calendar.

To take action, choose an concept that’s able to go in Create. Then click on on the Create Submit button on the backside of the pop-up.

Subsequent, select which channels you need to publish the replace on. 

When you’ve chosen a number of platforms, scroll down inside the window to tailor every one for the social community it’s happening. Buffer will let you realize if the publish matches into the constraints (like textual content, or video, or picture dimension and dimensions) for every channel.

Select Add to Queue. This schedules your publish for the subsequent accessible slot in your Queue, leaving every other posts you have already got scheduled in place. Don’t fear, you possibly can nonetheless tweak this time slot!

You can even click on on the dropdown arrow to Share Subsequent (go to the very subsequent spot in your Queue, bumping every other content material already in that slot to the subsequent slot) or Share Now (publish immediately).

In fact, you don’t undoubtedly have to begin placing your posts collectively in Create — you possibly can create new content material immediately within the Calendar, too. 

Click on on Calendar within the high left nook, and also you’ll be taken to every week view. (I like to make use of month view once I’m performing some critical content material planning, which you are able to do by clicking Month on the highest proper nook. All of it comes down to private desire.)

So as to add to the calendar, click on Create Submit on the highest proper.

You’ll be taken to the same pop-up window as talked about within the Create Submit part of Create the place you possibly can add textual content and media, get assist from Buffer’s AI assistant, and extra. When the publish is able to go, hit Add to Queue, Share Subsequent, or Share Now, as above. 

You even have the choice to avoid wasting the publish as a draft when you’re not fairly able to schedule or when you want approvals from one other crew member or supervisor.

Discovering your saved drafts is very easy — simply click on on the channel you saved the publish for, then Drafts on the high of the display screen.

6. Positive-tune your calendar

Along with your content material prepared and raring to go, mess around together with your calendar to search out the proper combine for every day, week, and month. So long as the publish hasn’t been revealed, you possibly can tweak every little thing to your coronary heart’s content material. 

To see the main points of every publish in your calendar, hover over the cardboard. Hit Delete to take away the publish solely, or Share Now to publish it instantly. 

To make adjustments to the publish, click on Edit. Right here, you possibly can change every little thing from the publish date to the content material itself. 

Within the month-to-month calendar view, you too can drag and drop playing cards on completely different days to have them go dwell on the similar time on that new date. Within the week view, you are able to do the identical however drag it into a brand new time slot to alter that, too. 

Test in together with your calendar at the start of every day to see what you’ve gotten scheduled and refine your content material if want be.

As a lot because it pays to be proactive together with your calendar and schedule every little thing upfront, social media typically wants reactive work, too. There is likely to be a brand new trending TikTok sound you might want to bounce on immediately. On the flip facet, world occasions would possibly imply you need to tweak your messaging, curate your content material, or overhaul your plan fully.

💡

Streamline your workflow by creating Hashtag Teams to avoid wasting you time relating to posting. To take action, click on the hashtag image on the backside of the publish creation window, then on the right-hand facet, Create Hashtag group.

At Buffer, we’ve X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Fb, YouTube, Threads, and Mastodon accounts. We’re most energetic on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube. We’re a small crew, so we’re prioritizing the social networks our audience is most energetic on — but it surely’s nonetheless so much to handle.

Enter: Our super-efficient content material calendar system. We’ve a dual-tool system, as we log every bit of content material we share — whether or not it’s a social media publish, weblog article, or new advertising and marketing launch in the identical content material calendar in Notion. From there, our social media posts are moved into Buffer to be scheduled. 

As a instruments junkie, I’ve tried out a bunch of techniques in my profession, however once I began at Buffer in August 2023, I used to be blown away by the content material workflow. Whereas it’d look sophisticated, it’s very easy to become familiar with and can give everybody on the firm a hen’s-eye view of the content material panorama at any given second. 

Right here’s how that works:

1. Our Social Media Supervisor, Mitra Mehvar, pulls sources from our weblog content material calendar and our advertising and marketing launch plan to share on social. She fills within the gaps along with her personal good content material concepts, typically associated to distant work, life at Buffer, or life as a Social Media Supervisor, small enterprise proprietor, or content material creator.
2. She creates playing cards for every publish in our content material calendar in Notion, tagging them with the social channels she plans to publish them to. 
3. She’ll draft all of the required copy, and, if vital, file a video. The copy and video hyperlink will go proper within the related Notion card.
4. Mitra will let our Head of Content material and Communications, Hailley Griffis, know when the posts are prepared for checking. Hailley normally offers her the thumbs up right away. 
5. Mitra copies the content material into Buffer to schedule the posts and transfer them round if want be.
6. Lastly, she checks again in typically to observe the content material efficiency metrics proper in Buffer’s analytics dashboard.

Technically, our social media calendar is a filtered view of our content material calendar, the place solely posts tagged with a social media platform within the ‘channel’ subject will probably be seen. This free template is molded after that view and is totally customizable. 

Social media calendar template

Find out how to use this social media calendar template

1. Click on over to the template
2. Click on on Duplicate within the high proper nook
3. Create a free Notion account when you don’t have one already
4. Get content material creating! The social media content material calendar template is yours to edit as you see match.

Once I first began out as a Social Media Supervisor, I hacked collectively a social media planning system and editorial calendar in a desk in Microsoft Phrase (I don’t need to discuss it). Fortunately, occasions have modified an entire lot since then — there are a bunch of good instruments on the market you need to use to your social media calendar.

I could also be biased, however Buffer is undoubtedly the most suitable choice when you’re in search of an all-in-one planning, scheduling, and analytics social media administration software. Notion is good when you’re mapping out content material exterior social media platforms. Then there’s Asana, Trello, Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, and even Google Calendar. 

My level is: Work out what feels best for you. Whereas deciding on a system would possibly really feel like a make-or-break in your course of, strive to not overthink it an excessive amount of. There’s no possible way you possibly can know whether or not it should be just right for you till you strive it. 

When you strive one and it’s not figuring out, migrating to a brand new software gained’t be the tip of the world. Don’t be afraid to experiment — so long as you’ve gotten a social media calendar that works for you, you’re effectively in your option to success.