Creating relevant and timely content to share on your company’s social media platforms is key to a successful marketing strategy. But many business owners don’t know what content works for their audience or how to execute it. One question we get asked frequently by our clients is “how do you come up with ideas for posts?” The first step is developing a plan for consistent, high-quality content relevant to your business or industry.
Best practice for successful social media is having a specialist trained in social media strategy assist you. It is not asking an untrained employee to upload a photo with a caption and calling that a strategy. How many times have you seen something like, “Mimosas! Who’s with me??” on a restaurant’s page? No mention of the restaurant’s special way of making mimosas, nor their happy hour prices. These generic posts are wasted opportunities that don’t highlight you as a leader. They aren’t particularly helpful for followers, nor do they tend to get a lot of traction.
Develop monthly, quarterly and annual plans
A savvy social media strategy—whether you do it yourself or hire a marketing agency such as AZ Media Maven—requires developing a monthly, quarterly, and annual content plan tied to holidays, special events, trends, and topics specific to your company’s focus. Our team creates monthly plans for clients as well as quarterly goals, and we tie in opportunities for blogs, media pitching, and social media content.
One way we do that is with our proprietary set of planning calendars that we developed in-house, but that are available via subscription. If you’re comfortable with social media and have the time to plan posts in advance, this is a terrific way to help with ideas and scheduling. Or share them with your marketing team so they can take advantage of this excellent resource.
Each month, our calendars list observances in more than a dozen categories, including Auto Transportation/Travel, Diversity/Inclusion/Empowerment, Food/Drink/Restaurants/Hospitality, Healthcare/Wellness/Mental Health, and more.
Within those categories, you’ll find what’s happening that month. Day to day, you’ll find ideas that run the gamut, including all of those national “whatever” days that you often see promoted—from National Tater Tot Day to Love Your Pet Day (there’s even a National Social Media Day!). We also include birthdays of famous people and anniversaries of important or industry-specific events, such as the day the U.S. Weather Bureau was formed or Susan B. Anthony’s birthday. The calendars also include things like National Blood Donor Month and National Soup Month, and weeks like Brotherhood/Sisterhood Week or a reminder of upcoming sporting events such as the Indianapolis 500 or the Kentucky Derby.
Multiple industry-specific options
No matter what your business is, our calendars can help you develop appropriate content. If you’re in healthcare or financial planning, for example, you’ll want to make posts for Wise Health Care Consumer Month. If you’re a veterinarian or a nonprofit serving pets, don’t miss International Rescue Cat Awareness Month. Restaurants get plenty of mileage out of the food observances, such as National Banana Cream Pie Day, National Ravioli Day, or National Potato Chip Day.
You can also browse all the dates to spur ideas that might not be industry-specific, but that you nevertheless want to urge your followers to observe. For example, you might like to promote World Day of Social Justice or remind your customers that the Summer Solstice is coming up, even though they don’t specifically relate to your product or services.
Whether you want to plan your own social media posts or hire us to help, we’re happy to be a resource. Please contact us today to discuss your needs!
AZ Media Maven is based in Laveen, AZ, a suburban village in the greater Phoenix area. Owner Rose Tring has more than 30 years of journalism experience as an editor and writer, many of those years in business news. She launched AZ Media Maven in 2012 to serve other business owners by telling their stories through public relations and social media. Reach AZ Media Maven at azmediamaven@azmediamaven.com or call (602) 373-8371.
