What do cross-country road trips, wedding speeches, and social media marketing have in common? Planning.

You could improvise all 3, only it'south meliorate to have a plan for what direction you're heading — especially when developing your social media content strategy.

By now, nigh marketers recognize that social media plays an integral function in an effective inbound marketing strategy. And with so many social networks available to us, it's important to stay organized and have a plan for when and what you're going to share on these platforms.

→ Free Download: Social Media Calendar Template [Access Now]

Let's dive into our list of meridian tools to stay organized and on top of your game.

Social Media Content Calendar Tools to Plan Your Messaging

1. HubSpot'due south Downloadable Template for Excel

Content Calendar

Price: Free

social media calendar tools: HubSpot

Download This Template

Marketers might already employ Excel for dissimilar types of reports and data assay in their roles, but this multifaceted tool is perfect for social media content agenda organization, too. Excel can be customized according to the priorities and metrics your team is focused on, so it's a great selection for planning ahead.

The good news? We've already done the heavy lifting for yous by creating a gratis, downloadable social media content agenda template using Microsoft Excel. Marketers can use this template to easily plan out individual social media posts — monthly or annually — while keeping an eye on bigger picture events, holidays, publications, and partnerships.

  • Use the Monthly Planning Calendar Tab above to get a bird's-eye view of what's coming down the content pipeline in a given month.
  • In the Content Repository tab, y'all can add the content you'll be publishing on this tab to go on track of which pieces have been promoted already and to easily recall older content that can be re-promoted.
  • On the Social Network Update tabs, y'all tin can draft and program out social media posts in accelerate. These tabs are for organizational purposes, and then you'll manually upload the content of the posts to a social media publisher.

For more on how to use the templates, check out this in-depth guide from my colleague Lindsay Kolowich.

This costless resource tin can be used to draft social media posts, or information technology tin can be majority-uploaded into a publishing app to maximize efficiency. (HubSpot customers: You lot tin use this spreadsheet to organize content and upload it directly into Social Inbox. For instructions on how to practise this, check out the template's cover canvass here.)

Why nosotros like this social media tool:

Marketers with small teams and heavy workloads will beloved this intuitive template. It acts every bit a social media content planner, tracker, and archive. This makes it perfect for sharing your social programme with stakeholders and referring back to it when you need to repurpose old content.

two. Google Drive

Content Calendar and Asset Organization

Cost: Free for personal use. Google Workspace plans for businesses kickoff at $6 per month.

Google Drive has several helpful features that make information technology piece of cake for social media marketers to build out an constructive content calendar.

Here'due south an example of how a team might utilize Google Calendar to track both their editorial and social media calendars to make certain they're aligning posts with new blog content. These calendars tin be hands shared with multiple teams to avert scheduling conflicts and ensure that campaigns are aligned.

social media calendar tools: Google Drive

Marketers can also use shared Google Sheets to schedule posts on social media, rails the status of different pieces of content, and assign tasks to team members — all on the same platform as their calendar.

Social media calendar ideas listed on Google Sheets

With the help of Google Docs, users can proceed comments all in i place and collaborate on different projects without emailing back-and-along or having to schedule a meeting. This is a especially useful characteristic when editing content for social media, which may demand to be drafted and approved quickly.

Google Docs document with projects listed and comments on those projects

Why we like this social media tool:

Google has several products that tin be used together to create quick, seamless workflows. Whether you're publishing dozens of posts per day beyond multiple platforms, or ramping up 1 channel for your freelance business, you'll find value in the Google Bulldoze organisation. The best role is that HubSpot customers can link their Google Drive accounts to the HubSpot portal to easily upload files from Drive into the HubSpot software.

3. Loomly

Content Planning, Creation, Publishing, and Calendar

Price: 15-mean solar day free trial. The Base plan is $25 per month for 2 users and ten accounts when you lot choose the annual agreement.

social media calendar tools: Loomly

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If you want more than mileage out of your content calendar, you can plow to an all-in-one content planning and publishing platform such as Loomly.

Loomly offers tools beyond content scheduling and management. This tool goes farther, providing inspiration and direction to assist you create content. It also allows you to manage your content assets, schedule posts, view them as a list or a calendar, and analyze what posts are working vs which ones need work.

Loomly's most robust feature gear up includes a collaboration and approval environment and so that teams can submit mockups, provide comments, encounter version logs, and flag for approval. This can aid you streamline processes for efficiency when there are "too many cooks in the kitchen" on a item project.

Why we like this social media tool:

If your team is responsible for organic and paid social, this tool can practice both. And for your team who wants to avoid using their personal account for social media duties, they can respond to comments and replies directly in Loomly — that means they won't demand to login to each native platform to engage with followers.

4. Trello

Chore Management and Content Calendar

Cost: Gratis for individual utilise. The Standard plan starts at $5 per user per month, billed annually.

social media calendar tools: Trello

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Looking for an organizational tool that's highly effective for team collaboration? Try Trello. This platform offers a full agenda view which makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to visualize what content is going out, and when. More specifically, social media managers can employ Trello's flexible assignment "cards" and customizable "boards" and "lists" to map out to-do lists, manage a content calendar, plan a campaign, and store brainstorm ideas.

You're not limited to simply i structure, though. Users tin customize boards according to their needs. For example, a team could create a board to organize social media posts for a given week, on a specific platform, or postal service ideas around a topic, such as a campaign or awareness day.

Why we like this social media tool:

Trello cards can be assigned to different team members, marked with due dates, and commented on. Users tin fifty-fifty customize labels with unlike publication statuses and so the entire team tin see the progress of their social media posts and when they're due on the agenda. The labels could also indicate different social networks that content is being published on.

5. SproutSocial

Social Publishing and Content Agenda

Price: The Standard plan starts at $89 per month for 5 social profiles, billed annually.

social media calendar tools: SproutSocial

Sprout Social's social media calendar and publishing tool make information technology piece of cake for teams or individuals to plan and schedule all of their social posts. You can schedule content to automatically post to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more.

You can as well tag each social postal service and add notes to better track and report on your posting strategy and campaigns. Additionally, their publishing suite includes a tool called Optimal Send Times which analyzes your social media data and automatically publishes at a time your audience is well-nigh engaged.

Why we like this social media tool:

Coming upwards with social media content ideas isn't always easy. Sprout Social's social listening tool lets marketers like yous uncover niche conversations that your audition is interested in. From in that location, you tin join the conversation for brand sensation or first your ain conversation on the topic to grow your following.

6. Evernote

Content Calendar, Task Management, and Asset Organization

Price: The Basic programme is complimentary. Create a custom template using the Personal programme for $vii.99 per month.

social media calendar tools: Evernote

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Evernote is a note-taking app that marketers can employ to keep track of all the moving parts that incorporate a social media entrada.

The tool also features yearly, monthly, weekly, and hourly logs, which brand it easy to proceed runway of when you're publishing content on social media, when yous're producing blog content, and other squad-wide priorities. (Evernote offers customizable templates for each of these that can be downloaded into the app.)

Another useful characteristic is Evernote'south Web Clipper extension for Chrome. Marketers can use this tool to easily save links to their Evernote Notebook for sharing later on.

Why we like this social media tool:

The Evernote mobile app besides boasts some interesting features to help marketers go along their social content ideas straight. For example, you can easily snap a photograph and salvage information technology to your Evernote files for review later. This feature is of particular value for social content creators looking to maintain a backlog of photos to publish on Instagram.

seven. Hootsuite

Social Publishing and Content Calendar

Price: The Professional person programme starts at $49 per month and starts with a free 14-day trial.

social media calendar tools: Hootsuite

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Hootsuite offers a born Planner tool to assistance you create campaigns, place publishing gaps, and collaborate with your content creation squad. Its primary features are in social publishing and so that yous can release content to your networks in advance, just it also has rich features for collaboration and postal service approvals.

You can even curate content from other sources without logging into your account. One time your content is created, y'all can preview it with the Composer tool, which displays co-ordinate to each social network's unique format.

Why we like this social media tool:

Cross collaboration is a big deal on just almost any marketing team, and Hootsuite has a way to make this even easier. The social publishing platform comes with a born content library that serves every bit the single bespeak of truth for your unabridged organization. Does your sales team need a production feature cheatsheet? Customer service looking for details on the latest production characteristic? All that and more than can be institute in your squad'due south Hootsuite content library.

8. Agorapulse

Social Publishing and Content Calendar

Price: The individual plan is free, or you tin utilise the Pro plan for small teams starting at $79 per month.

social media calendar tools: Agorapulse

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Similar to Hootsuite, Agorapulse offers social publishing tools and a content calendar so that you can manage your social media accounts with ease. This includes scheduling (or rescheduling), queuing, and bulk uploading posts, which is incredibly helpful for teams who utilize quarterly or monthly content plans.

Why we like this social media tool:

What makes Agorapulse different is its social inbox that allows you to manage all the interactions from various platforms in a single identify. After all, content isn't just a i-and-done activity; it's virtually building awareness and engagement with your readers as well.

9. StoryChief

Content Planning and Distribution

Price: Team pricing starts at $90 per calendar month, billed annually.

social media calendar tools: StoryChief

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If y'all want more than from your content calendar than just knowing when posts go alive, StoryChief is the pick for you. With StoryChief's smart calendar, y'all tin improve strategize and programme your content strategy across channels.

It displays much more than your timetable — it also allows you to assign collaborators to tasks and filter them by campaign. StoryChief cocky-describes its tool every bit a "content distribution platform" that unifies analytics and publishing across multiple channels for a more simplified approach to content creation. All-time of all, it syncs with HubSpot and all of your favorite calendar apps.

Why we like this social media tool:

Believe it or non, there are quite a few similarities betwixt social media marketing and SEO marketing. StoryChief bridges this gap with its SEO Copywriting tool. By highlighting the areas you can ameliorate your copy for the reader (and subsequently the search engines), you can write clearer, more engaging content that works on both social media and on your website or blog.

x. ClearVoice

Content Creation and Management

Price: Request a gratuitous consultation for pricing.

social media calendar tools: ClearVoice

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And so what well-nigh content planning and creation? ClearVoice offers content cosmos tools to fit into your workflow. While their big claim to fame is their Talent Network Search which allows you to find and connect to content creators to work on your projects, ClearVoice also has features for chore direction for internal and external collaborators.

You tin create, edit, and approve projects in an interface that makes editorial management piece of cake. It also includes a dashboard and dynamic editorial calendar with enough of interactive functionality, and integrations with other popular software.

Why nosotros like this social media tool:

Non every social team is working for a big agency or customer. For freelance content teams who desire to stay organized and on time with their social media publishing, ClearVoice offers some of the aforementioned great features at a price customized to your team.

11. Zerys

Content Creation and Management

Price: $40 per document plus $49 per month for projection management.

social media calendar tools: Zerys

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Zerys is another platform that matches you with your ideal content cosmos freelancers. However, information technology markets itself as a platform dedicated to content success, offer features for content planning, production, publishing, promotion, conversion, and analytics.

Why we like this social media tool:

You lot can manage unlimited content projects, programme keywords and titles for blog content, hire writers, and view all deadlines on an integrated calendar. With the projection direction features that Zerys offers, in-firm writers can use the platform to produce quality work on time every time. Information technology also integrates with HubSpot so that publishing is a breeze.

Social Media Templates

HubSpot'due south Social Media Agenda Template

If y'all're new to setting upwards social media calendars, HubSpot offers a pre-made, complimentary, and downloadable template that you can apply to schedule out full weeks of posts.

HubSpot's Free Social Media Calendar Template

HubSpot's Social Media Content Calendar Template for Startups

This template is very similar to the one seen above just also has tabs that work as a repository for content ideas. The template also includes helpful tips for posting on specific social media networks.

Social media idea repository tab on Social Media Calendar template from HubSpot

If yous're aiming to go all of your ideas downward in gild to develop a big-picture plan for your social avails, nosotros recommend starting with this template.

The Benefits of Using a Social Media Content Calendar

We're all busy, and inevitably, tasks sideslip through the cracks. Social media content is no exception.

Just similar with blogging, a successful social media strategy requires regular publishing and engaging with followers to encounter positive results — whether that's in terms of SEO, brand recognition, atomic number 82 generation, or all iii.

And then, if you're not already using a social media content calendar, here are three facts to pique your interest:

  1. Yous can pivot flawlessly when plans change by using a content calendar. With a social media content calendar, marketers can programme out posts for entire weeks or months in advance, which frees upwardly working hours to strategize for the future. The best part is that you lot tin can always leave space for breaking news or current events in your industry. Otherwise, you'll spend valuable time each day searching the internet every day for content to share, which is a known productivity killer.
  2. Grow your audience on each platform by curating content specifically for them. Social media marketers should take the time to arts and crafts custom messages for each network because the audience expects to see something different on each i. For instance, your Instagram followers want to see Reels and Videos while your Twitter followers like quick sound bites and shareable quotes. Planning this content in advance using a social media calendar will save you time throughout the calendar week and ensure you're being thoughtful and intentional when you post on each site.
  3. Optimize your social strategy by tracking the performance of your content each calendar month. Without a agenda, social media marketers are publishing content into the void and are unable to runway large-picture and past functioning. With a agenda, marketers can look back and clarify which content performed all-time and then they can adjust their strategy accordingly. If a detail type of mail service received a significant amount of views, you could recreate it for a different topic and encounter the same success.
  4. Take advantage of social media holidays to tap into a new, only relevant audience. With the help of a calendar, marketers can plan for holidays and observance days, such as National True cat Twenty-four hour period, when they can tailor their content and engage with a wider audience.

Social Media Agenda Examples

1. JotForm Social Media Agendasocial media calendar tools: JotForm

JotForm's social media calendar isn't but visually appealing, it's also functional. The tabs at the pinnacle reveal your social plan for every channel you execute your strategy on, including in-person or virtual events. If you lot're modeling your social calendar afterward this one, don't forget to include a tab for content details and who on your team volition be responsible for creating the content. Yous might also include a separate tab for each month to go on things organized.

ii. Firefly Marketing Social Media Content Calendar

social media calendar tools: Firefly Marketing

Going a more traditional road with your social media agenda? Endeavour a Google Sheets template like the one created by Firefly Marketing. Each tab is dedicated to a different month while the worksheet includes every aqueduct yous might need beyond the superlative. The rows are separated past week so y'all tin can easily identify the date and time a mail is scheduled for publishing. Our favorite part of this template is the social media holiday column that is pre-populated with fun dates that your audience will love.

What is the best social media calendar?

Now that we've reviewed a few helpful tools to kicking your social media strategy into loftier gear, it's time for you to experiment with them. The best social media agenda is ane that saves you fourth dimension, streamlines processes, and helps you work smarter, not harder.

Several of the platforms we've suggested are costless to employ or offering a free trial. Have one person on your team test one out and report back on their findings. You might just find the tool that helps you accomplish your next social media KPI. Don't forget, every social media team is different, and information technology could be a combination of these tools that helps you lot execute your strategy efficiently to drive ROI.

Editor's note: This mail was originally published in 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

social media content calendar

social media calendar

Originally published Oct 7, 2021 3:45:00 PM, updated December 01 2021