Social media staff is often overrun with requests from leaders to post daily. All the response and decision-making time takes away from the actual production of social media content. A social media calendar is an integral tool to rein in the chaos by getting sign-off in advance from leadership on content that can be planned.

Breaking news and unexpected events often disrupt the calendar, but if regularly scheduled content is created well in advance, posts can easily be moved around the calendar.

A regularly scheduled meeting to present the upcoming month and brainstorm with the leadership and media team offers an opportunity to schedule content ideas around initiatives, events, and reports to outline the visuals, content, and timing.  If staff is currently doing daily planning, try to get to a week ahead, then push for two weeks ahead, and eventually a month in advance. 

Some social media experts suggest a calendar on excel spreadsheets with the categories that include:

• Date
• Topic
• Social media content type (video, photo, infographic, text)
• Content with heading or text
• Link to the draft version of the post

Calendars can also be organized visually with thumbnail images and content on the calendar.   This allows leaders and the social media team to understand the viewer experience, message, and timing. 

Calendar creation means there is work in advance each month to create the content, which means more time to prepare and perfect it. This also frees up time to respond to breaking news, reply to conversations with individuals, and have content created or produced well before posting.

Regardless of how you organize a calendar, it eliminates the chaos.