Steal This Social Media Calendar Template (+ How to Make Your Own From Scratch)

In the event you fail to plan, you intend to fail.

As a brilliant Kind-An individual, that’s a favourite expression of mine. And — having spent a few years managing varied social media platforms in advertising and marketing and media — I’ve realized the arduous method that that is one space the place you completely can’t wing it. Particularly for those who’re managing a number of channels. 

You want a social media content material calendar.

A social media calendar is a sport 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 the best way to create your individual calendar utilizing Buffer. I’ll additionally share the social media calendar system we use in our Advertising and marketing group, together with a plug-and-play social media calendar template you need to use straight away. 

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 aid you:

1. Keep on prime of a number of social media channels effectively
2. Persist with the content material pillars in your social media advertising and marketing technique
3. Put up persistently
4. Schedule posts upfront and automate processes so that you’re not working across the clock
5. Work with group members (for those who’re on a Advertising and marketing group or social media group), collaborators, or stakeholders 
6. Keep on prime 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. Maintain monitor of content material concepts 

Buffer is a social media scheduling device constructed to make it simpler to develop your following on-line. It’s a one-stop-shop for the whole 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 flexibility to plan and schedule in a single device:

• 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 flexibility to exclude sure channels from view for further readability and focus.
• Entry it anyplace. Due to Buffer’s cell app, you may examine or amend your calendar on the go. 
• Extra to come back! The calendar is a giant focus for us for the time being, and we now have 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 the best way to 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 device, a social media technique needs to be your first port of name. 

In the event 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 isn’t just for Advertising and marketing groups. They’re a vital 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 like this Reel by @stanforcreators, which outlines simply how vital 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 aid you 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 properly price working your method by it for those who’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 it’s essential be energetic on social media? What’s your final aim?
2. Outline your audience. Who’re you attempting to achieve along 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 employ 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 way in which! Along with your technique in hand, you’re prepared to attach your social media accounts to Buffer. First, be sure to’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 might additionally click on in your profile avatar on the prime proper of your dashboard and click on Account, then Channels.

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

The method is fairly easy, however we now have an in-depth information to connecting channels in Buffer in our assist middle, plus particular how-tos for every platform for those who run into any issues.

3. Create your tagging system

Colour coding is my organizational love language (you need to see my bookshelf), so Buffer’s new characteristic addition, Tags, has modified the sport for me on the subject of content material planning. 

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

• Content material pillar (my private favourite)
• Put up standing (concept, draft, able to publish)
• Format or sort of content material (textual content, video, photograph, carousel)
• Platform (whilst you’ll be capable of see which social media app your submit is scheduled on within the calendar, this may very well be helpful for those who’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 may 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 probably the most with my viewers.

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

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

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

4. Get your concepts down

Prepared for a mind dump? You doubtless have a stable concept of the sort of content material you’re creating because of 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 house is available in. It’s a flexible system that you need to use in loads of alternative ways, however for those who’re engaged on constructing out your calendar, I’d advise you begin by utilizing it as a hub for all of your concepts. As a creator, something I share on one among my social channels will begin on this house first. 

High tip: Don’t fear about making all of your social media posts lovely straight away. Even when all you might have is a half-baked concept or a reminder about an vital product launch, a short word works simply high quality right here, too. Simply get it down — you may refine it later.

My posts usually begin out this manner (just like the Create playing cards you’ll see within the screenshot beneath), 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 prime left nook, then Create Concept on the highest proper.

Proper right here, you may:

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

It can save you the concept to maintain it in your Create house by clicking the Save Concept button or scheduling it straight away with the Create Put up button (extra on this beneath).

5. Arrange your Queue

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

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

If you first begin with Buffer, the platform will robotically assign occasions in your Queue. (Don’t fear, this doesn’t imply that one thing will robotically 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 checklist on the left-hand facet. 

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

Right here within the posting schedule settings, you may:

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 utterly

You may select to go away these slots as is — you may edit your scheduled occasions within the calendar, in spite of everything — nevertheless it’s a good suggestion to concentrate on the Queue timings for all of your channels (you’ll see why in Step 6 beneath).

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 Put up button on the backside of the pop-up.

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

In the event you’ve chosen a number of platforms, scroll down inside the window to tailor each for the social community it’s happening. Buffer will let you understand if the submit matches into the constraints (like textual content, or video, or photograph measurement and dimensions) for every channel.

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

You may as well 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 straight away).

In fact, you don’t undoubtedly have to start out placing your posts collectively in Create — you may create new content material straight within the Calendar, too. 

Click on on Calendar within the prime left nook, and also you’ll be taken to per week view. (I like to make use of month view after I’m performing some severe 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 Put up on the highest proper.

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

You even have the choice to avoid wasting the submit as a draft for those who’re not fairly able to schedule or for those who want approvals from one other group member or supervisor.

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

6. High-quality-tune your calendar

Along with your content material prepared and raring to go, mess around along with your calendar to seek out the right combine for every day, week, and month. So long as the submit hasn’t been revealed, you may tweak every thing to your coronary heart’s content material. 

To see the small print of every submit in your calendar, hover over the cardboard. Hit Delete to take away the submit totally, or Share Now to publish it instantly. 

To make modifications to the submit, click on Edit. Right here, you may change every thing from the publish date to the content material itself. 

Within the month-to-month calendar view, you can even drag and drop playing cards on totally different days to have them go reside 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 along with your calendar firstly of every day to see what you might have scheduled and refine your content material if want be.

As a lot because it pays to be proactive along with your calendar and schedule every thing upfront, social media usually wants reactive work, too. There may be a brand new trending TikTok sound it’s essential soar on straight away. On the flip facet, world occasions may imply you must tweak your messaging, curate your content material, or overhaul your plan utterly.

💡

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

At Buffer, we now have 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 group, so we’re prioritizing the social networks our audience is most energetic on — nevertheless it’s nonetheless so much to handle.

Enter: Our super-efficient content material calendar system. We’ve a dual-tool system, as we log each piece of content material we share — whether or not it’s a social media submit, 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 methods in my profession, however after I began at Buffer in August 2023, I used to be blown away by the content material workflow. Whereas it would look sophisticated, it’s very easy to become familiar with and can give everybody on the firm a fowl’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, usually 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 submit in our content material calendar in Notion, tagging them with the social channels she plans to submit them to. 
3. She’ll draft all of the required copy, and, if crucial, report 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 often offers her the thumbs up immediately. 
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 usually to watch 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 shall be seen. This free template is molded after that view and is absolutely customizable. 

Social media calendar template [button]

use this social media calendar template

1. Click on over to the template
2. Click on on Duplicate within the prime proper nook
3. Create a free Notion account for those who 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 in your social media calendar.

I could also be biased, however Buffer is undoubtedly the best choice for those who’re in search of an all-in-one planning, scheduling, and analytics social media administration device. Notion is good for those who’re mapping out content material outdoors 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 may really feel like a make-or-break in your course of, attempt to not overthink it an excessive amount of. There’s no possible way you may know whether or not it should give you the results you want till you attempt it. 

In the event you attempt one and it’s not understanding, migrating to a brand new device gained’t be the top of the world. Don’t be afraid to experiment — so long as you might have a social media calendar that works for you, you’re properly in your approach to success.