Do you sometimes suffer from social media content writers block?
It happens.
Social Media Content Writers Block Experience
It is that moment when you are in front of your computer.
And you are grasping for ideas on content to write about that you could share.
However, no matter how hard you try squeezing out your creative juices for ideas, your brain just seems to have stopped functioning.
That is social media content writer’s block.
Here is Wikipedia’s definition of this affliction:
Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. The condition ranges in difficulty from coming up with original ideas to being unable to produce a work for years.
Some of us that create content for go through that season.
I’ve been there. And I know, I will back in that season in the future.
Personal Experience
In my experience, I had this slight sense of panic that would set in. It is a very stressful experience.
What to do??!
At this point for me, after having gone through that season, the answer is not what I do when it happens.
But what should I do NOW before it happens again.
The answer? A social media content planner.
Creating a social media content calendar can be a lot of work if you are just beginning. However, once everything is in place, it’ll be much easier.
The following tips that I will share are from my experience.
This article covers five things:
- What a social media content calendar is
- Why you need a social media content calendar
- Types of social media editorial content calendar
- What types of social media content I post
- What tools I use
What a social media content planner
A social media content planner
..should organize the way you curate and create content, and help develop your editorial strategy
hootsuite
You can make it simple, or as detailed as you would like it to be, depending on how much information you need, or if you have time and resources to get this done.
The social media content calendar is the way to go to help you not miss a post every single day.
Why you need a social media content calendar
Social media planner is your guide | 1
Notice the keyword? It is a guide.
It could change. Ours change often. It is an “organic” file.
Things to ask yourself:
- Are you on topic?
- Are all your target audience covered?
For some who only have 1 or two audience-type, this may be easy, but for others like a few clients of ours that target B2B and B2C audiences, it is a LOT of work.
So we make sure that we have the target audience included in the custom social media content planner that we have for them.
A social media content planner is a time-saver | 2
Social media marketing is a time-hog. Leverage whatever social media tools you could use to save you time, including a social media content planner.
Imagine finding yourself stuck in front of your computer, scrolling down the screen and not knowing what to post as time ticks by.
You wouldn’t waste your time that way if you have a calendar in place, won’t you?
You could have used that time you spent staring at your computer on doing other productive endeavors for your company.
A social media planner can give you peace of mind | 3
Having a social media content planner saves you from a lot of stress and gives you peace of mind.
A social media planner helps you stay focused | 4
It helps you align your process with your goals (or clients).
Remember that if you want the RIGHT audience, you give them the RIGHT post.
So the calendar will provide a visual insight of the quality of posts you are creating and sharing.It shows you how (mis)aligned you are to your dreams as a company.
A social media planner keeps you organized | 5
I loved what E-Myth Revisited says about getting things orderly to be successful as a business.
“While the business must look orderly; it is not sufficient; the business must also act orderly. It must do things in a predictable, uniform way.”
e-myth revisited
3 Types of social media content planner
I use either of these three content planners depending on the client.
The “Big Picture” Planner
This is the most important calendar for my team. I call it as the heart and the brain of the business.
It may contain the following information:
- Date when it was created.
- Note whether it has been posted already.
- Expiration date if it is a promotion or a seasonal post
- Description.
- This is the text that goes to a Facebook or Twitter post.
- Also, following the post description are its different variations. You may know this already, but you can create several social media copies of an individual article. This is also great at times when a blog has many tips that you like to highlight.
- Link, if it is a blog
- Category
- Pertains to different topics that target niches.
- Medium
- It may be an image, blog, video.
- Platform type
- We rarely cross-post, that’s why we have this.
- Content-bank section
- Major events of the year, including holidays.
- Author/Stakeholder
Weekly Editorial Content Planner
When we use this, we sometimes categorize the content for all the audiences according to topics per day.
Each topic covers different niches; that may feed different audiences and different needs.
Daily Social Media Content Planner
Our daily content planner revolves around at least three types of content.
We call it our content building blocks.
It helps us to stay focused regardless of theme, audiences, and platform.
This brings us to the next section.
Types of social media content to post
As a social media consultant for companies, our posts are typically any of these 3 “I’s.”
The time, frequency, format, platform, and audience may vary, but these content building blocks do not.
And the best part? It works for any business!
I stick to these three without going out of context for the target niche.
- Informative for the target audience.
- Interesting for the target audience.
- Inspiring for the target audience.
You notice how I highlighted “for the target audience”?
It is not about what you like to post, but it is what your target audience thinks as relevant.
That is essential.
If you consistently track your social media analytics, you will eventually figure out which platform, or message, resonates with your audience.
Now, what should you do if your company is new to social media marketing?
What should you use as your basis for this since you have nothing to use as a measuring rod yet?
Here are a few of what I’d recommend:
- Use social media data that are already out there. Is it the best information? No, because it is generic. But it is better than nothing. Start from there with it as your reference. Your business is unique, but it is a good yardstick at this point where you have none.
- Make it a habit of tracking the social media analytics regularly. Keep a record of it so you can truly start looking at data that makes sense to your business. Every click, every tweet, every pin, tells a story.
Social media content planner tools
What should you use?
There are digital applications that you can try, but here are the ones we have used.
Spreadsheet
Not kidding!
I tried different apps and digital systems; but I always go back to using Excel.
It suits our needs, and we can customize it the way we want it.
Google Calendar
We schedule our recurring topics on Google Calendar for the entire year.
Also, it will notify our team members of what we have up for the day.
Giant Sticky Note
Yep, I use it. I have one posted in front of me, so I see it every day.
What do YOU use?
The key is that you use whatever makes every productive. The less the learning curve, the better.
It’s a Wrap
Did you ever have a social media content writer’s block? If so, what did you do?
Updated: July 23, 2020
