Scheduling your social media content for the day, for the week, or for the month is a great strategy to ease things up. Not only does it make your mind a lot lighter and makes your profiles more active, it also makes time for you to work on other aspects of your social media strategy. So, that being said, is it a great idea to schedule the content for the entire year? Hmm… to be honest, not really… I think a better approach is planning and not scheduling. Why just plan ahead? Read below.
Planning Your Social Media Content
[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@1alexkhan”]Why you need to plan your content for social media for the year — the benefits are in this article.[/tweetthis]
When I say planning, you don’t have to create the content right away. Unlike scheduling where you have the content ready and just set them in advance on that specific time and date, planning is just having the blueprint. Planning is for long term – planning yearly is better than scheduling way ahead of time.
Why?
That’s because no one can see the future. Trends may pop here and there the very next month. Seasons may have a new “in” and what you’ve scheduled is out. Now, that would be such a waste of content if you’ve made it right away. Also, when you just plan, you are more versatile and you can always change things accordingly.
Another reason why it’s better just to plan things out and place them in your content calendar is because of the “freshness factor.” A content that’s been made for Halloween in the month of February isn’t going to produce great results.
That’s because, for one, your mind isn’t seeing it for what it is due to the other events that are currently building up on that month – say Valentines? Simply, you are distracted by other things. And two, before reaching November, there might be events that are great to include mentioning on your content – a new horror movie perhaps?
The point is, planning for the year makes it easier for your when certain changes take place. Preparing too soon can cause you a lot of changes and will cause you more time and money.
Benefits of Planning Ahead
I can name a few benefits that I actually feel when I plan ahead of time and these are:
Better Content Ideas – first of all, when you plan ahead, it gives you no pressure at all. This results in having better ideas for your content. It also gives you room for the hot seasons that will come in and see it as an upcoming event. That is better than being in the “now” of that season, which might leave you in quite a panic and makes your content ideas a rushed.
Faster and More Consistent Content Production – since everything is already planned ahead, you no longer require a lot of time brainstorming for your content. You just either improve the idea, or choose a different one that suits for the week or the day. You’ll also find it more consistent and easier for you to produce as you’ve already thought about the content in the past.
Gives You More Time for Sudden Changes – unlike scheduled content, planned social media content is just, again, a blueprint. You have more than enough time to change the plan whenever you want.
