When social media was first constructed there was limited marketing use. Primarily a social tool, brands knew they wanted to break in and engage with the users but they weren’t always sure how. Platforms like Twitter, in particular, were difficult to crack, thanks to their lack of functionality in the early days.

Now social media platforms have become a staple of marketing strategy and everyone uses it…which has its upside and its downside. On one hand, the sheer power of social media platforms as engagement and lead generation tools can’t be overstated. On the other, competition for user attention is pretty intense. It isn’t always easy to be seen in the crowd.

Creating a solid social media schedule is one of the best ways to improve your results and be effective in your posting efforts.

Choosing Your Platform(s)

Believe it or not, there is not now, nor has there ever been, a magic platform that is going to give you the best results.

Whatever guides have claimed one being superior over the other, we can look at the success of brands on various social media sites and see that it isn’t about where you post, it is about who you are posting to, what you are posting and how you are using the tool to your advantage.

Trial and error and your target audience, as well as your content strategy as it is integrated into your social strategy, is going to be key here. But let’s look at some of the basic benefits of the most popular platforms as they stand today.

Facebook

Optimal posting frequency: 1-2 updates a day (using diverse formats)

The largest and most popular social media site on the web, Facebook is arguably the greatest example of the “business friendly” social media platform. Zuckerberg has never been secretive about his wish to make it a hub for commercial integration and his company has led the way on that front.

The biggest benefits here are customizability, brand-centric features and the largest audience possible for your campaigns. The downside is demographics. While older audiences are there, younger ones have largely flown the coop. So if you are aiming for anyone under 25, Facebook may not be the place to go.

Twitter

Optimal posting frequency: 1 update every couple of hours at least (using diverse formats)

When Twitter was fresh on the scene, microblogging existed but had not yet been popularized. Once they adopted hashtags and opened their live search, the site exploded. Now it is one of the most open and accessible means of engaging with users, which is its biggest strength. An ever-growing advertising arsenal is another.

If you plan on cultivating hashtag campaigns, Twitter will be a big source for your posts. It is also a great way to connect with influencers for a bit of influencer marketing.

Instagram

Optimal posting frequency: 1 update a day at least

Here dwell the younguns. Instagram and Snapchat are arguably the biggest locations to find anyone on the younger side of the demographic scale, which has driven Instagram into popularity even as it hasn’t managed to break the user records of the two above platforms.

Visuals are the name of the game, so social campaigns based mainly on images or video are well suited for Insta-fame. For older audiences, you may want to stick with the more traditional giants.

More Social Media Platforms

Of course, you also have LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit and several others that could be added to the list. But given the direction of most strategies these days, focusing on the above three will account for most of the people reading this. Think of the other platforms as supplementals, except in rare circumstances. They just don’t have the reach for most brands to stand on their own, unless those brands have already reached a certain peak status.

That doesn’t mean you should ignore them! Just that most of your posts probably won’t be centered there.

Keep in mind that much of this depends on the quality of your content. You could have cracked the perfect schedule plan and still fail because your content stinks.

Monitor Your Audience’s Schedule

Now we look at when to post. I will admit that in the past I ascribed to the idea that there were some special times that were just better to post. These times were based on the data given from each platform, stating their busiest times.

I know better these days:

• It only really matters for Twitter because neither Facebook nor Instagram feeds are sorted by recency-only (and even Twitter is trying to move away from that model too). To give you a bit more context, here’s how the Facebook algorithm works as of recently.
• What you want is to know when your particular audience is most active. Because of that, no one can give you the best time. You have to figure that out based on who you are trying to reach.

Some factors that are going to change this are

• region
• age
• activity level online
• the social platform you choose.

Here is where social media metrics are so important. Use all tools at your disposal to better understand your audience:

• Checking Google Analytics “Real Time” reports will help you spot your audience’s most active time
• Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics will help you identify most engaging updates

Having a good dashboard that can give you information over a period of time will provide everything you need to make a posting schedule that is most effective based on who you are looking to reach.

Cyfe (Disclaimer: As of recently, this is my content marketing client but I have been their active users for years) is a great social media dashboard that can bring many things together and offer you an overtime perspective:

Put Together Your Social Media Schedule Calendar

Once you have that in hand you can make a social media posting calendar, similar to an editorial calendar.

Having this will let you plan more than just when you post, but also let you pencil in time every week to engage one on one with your audience… which just happens to be one of the most important things you can do on your social media page.

There are lots of calendar solutions you can look at. I for one only use Google spreadsheets where, instead of putting actual updates, I put topics I am going to cover on each particular month, based on seasonality, industry events, etc. This saves time and lets me always be up-to-date with my updates. You can read more on this here.

Once I have planned out my topics, I use all kinds of tools that allow me to schedule and time out my updates for optimal frequency throughout each day. Tools I use most:

• MavSocial to schedule recurring tweets as well as publish to multiple Facebook pages
• ViralContentBee Buffer feature (Disclaimer: This the tool I founded) to spread out tweets throughout the day

Don’t Post Recklessly!

Social media is a wonderful tool for engagement, lead generation, branding and more. But you can go into it haphazardly, you need a plan.

Create a schedule based on your audience and what works for them and you will have an effective campaign every time.

Recommended Reading

How to Use Social Media Marketing for Your Business

How to Test Your Social Media Content to Get Better Results

Featured quote source: bqotd.com

Blog photo:Emma Matthews

The post How to Create a Social Media Schedule That Is Truly Effective appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Maintaining a Content Marketing Calendar

You've heard content is king, right? Well, it is. You may have the most fantastic product on the planet, but no one will know what it is unless you describe it to them. And no one will know it exists in the first place unless you get the word out. Both of those tasks are accomplished through content marketing.

Your Own Blog

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Flickr

Guest Posting

• Try not to overwhelm the people who follow your business by bombarding them with content too often.
• Space out your posts, tweets, and shares so that your content distribution is evenly spaced, but still done on a regular basis. Just like you don't want to go overboard, you also don't want any long periods of quiet that may allow people to forget about you. You want to stay fresh in their minds and keep their attention.
• Remember, the information you post, tweet, and share doesn't all have to be created by you. By distributing information from other sites and blogs, you establish yourself as a reliable, go-to resource.
• Always respond to those who contact or engage you. But you can also set aside a specific amount of time to do that each day.
• Track results and responses to your content. How many blog comments did you get? How many retweets? How many likes? Over time, you'll be able to see trends, and learn what content resonates with people so you can give them more of what they want.

The post Maintaining a Content Marketing Calendar appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

(Listen to the 2:57 min audio of this post.)

Building a visible presence on the web takes not only consistent action, it also requires that you are constant…constant with your content production on all platforms.

You know, if somebody lands on a site that has not been updated in a few weeks or months, it's like going into a shop with no stuff on the shelves, dirt on the floor and broken windows.

In order to stay constant, what do you do? You need to start with a plan. If you're haphazard about your activity it shows. So here are a couple of things to think about when developing your plan:

What is your message?

Who do you serve?

What do you want them to know about you and your business?

Once you have those questions answered you create a schedule and plot out how you're going to educate, entertain, and engage your community with your content.

You need to schedule time for your blogging and social media activity. So get a calendar and mark off blogging and social marketing time every week. Set aside dates and times. Schedule two to threes times per week for posting on your blogs. The indisputable fact is, the more you post, the more traffic you'll get. Then also schedule time to read and comment on other blogs in your niche, so you stay up to date with what's going on in your industry.

So, what goes on your blog? What goes on Twitter? What goes on Facebook? This is where your editorial calendar comes in. Debbie Weil, in her presentation for Blogging Success Summit, pointed out lessons we can learn from Whole Foods about how they organize their content:

• Twitter for real time alerts
• Facebook for less time sensitive news
• Blog for longer, evergreen content

From my perspective, the information that goes on your blog is the deeper, more intimate content that enables your reader to really get to know you, what you stand for and how you serve them.

I often hear people always are talking about time — that they don't have enough time to do all this blogging and social media stuff. And yes, if you want to build a powerful, visible presence on the Web, there are many things that you need to do. But if you plan it out, you and your team can get it done without it taking up your entire day.

Start with a half an hour day. Three days a week, write blog posts. Two days a week read articles on other sites and repurpose blog posts into other formats so you can leverage your content on other platforms. Automate what you can and what makes sense to save time.

The bottom line…you've got to have a plan for your content so you stay consistent and constant and can be found by your ideal client.

Recently I did a search for "editorial calendars." Here are a few sites that offer free calendar templates you can download – take your pick:

2011 Blogging Calendar and Planner

Save Time & Stress – Blog Editorial Calendar Template

Don't Miss a Post – Create an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog

An Editorial Calendar for You (and Your Sanity)

Need a Visibility Boost? Get a free eCourse with 7 Tips to Boost Your Visibility on the Web!

The post Do You Have a Social Marketing Plan? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.