Blog Marketing Editorial calendar for social media: how to create and organize

Editorial calendar for social media: how to create and organize

One of the most important tools to ensure the proper process of content planning and production is undoubtedly the editorial calendar for social media.

In its diverse formats, the editorial calendar for social networks ensures the organization of actions, alignment among the team, and meeting deadlines. That’s why we’ve prepared this guide to show you in just 6 steps how to create yours and ensure it is always strategic..

Read on and check out

What is an editorial calendar for social media
Why having an editorial calendar for social networks is important
Create and organize your editorial calendar for social networks in 6 steps

The editorial calendar for social media is nothing more than a guide to record and organize the actions you develop on social networks.

It is a unique document that contains what content is planned for the week or month, the formats they will be produced in, channels for dissemination, and of course, the deadlines for post submissions, approval, and publication.

Beyond social networks, an editorial calendar can be used for planning blog articles, email campaigns, and rich materials. In other words, it is possible to gather all your digital marketing strategy in just one place.

Why having an editorial calendar for social networks is important

Whether for an agency, company, or freelancer, the editorial calendar for social media offers much more than organizing daily deliveries.

It is actually an essential part of content marketing since it ensures the entire project team is aligned and aware of what needs to be done to achieve the marketing objectives of the business.

Thus, the content becomes much more strategic and focused on solving the needs of the persona. But the benefits don’t stop there. The editorial calendar for social media also facilitates

The control of postings by establishing their frequency and the best days/times to perform them.
The planning of original content since you already have all the records of what has been produced before.
Generation of new ideas based on what is relevant to the audience.
The delivery of content within the right timeframe.
The macro view of all strategies adopted in the project.
And knowledge management so that if the team undergoes changes, new members can use the document as a guide.

Create and organize your editorial calendar for social networks in 6 steps

Now that you know the advantages of creating an editorial calendar for social networks it’s worth checking out our step-by-step guide to develop yours. Let’s go!

1. Define the tool for building the editorial calendar

Creating a posting calendar for social networks should start with the place where it will be saved and available to assist the entire team.

Remember that you will need to add your templates to manage the content of each channel, the briefings of the posts, captions, delivery dates, and all the information that optimizes your routine. Therefore, everything should be very visual and easy to interpret..

There are many people who, for example, choose to create the editorial calendar in Excel on spreadsheets where each tab represents a month, social network, or other directions of the marketing strategies.

However, there are also other tools that cooperate in this process, such as Trello with its boards and lists, and Google Calendar. Just look for the one that best suits your needs.

2. Align the content with your audience

Your persona is who will guide the content and the channels through which you will disseminate it. Therefore, it should be a central part of your editorial calendar.

Reserve a space in your tool to always keep your audience in mind, reinforcing their pain points, the posting formats they consume most, with what frequency you should interact with them, and of course, how you can help them with their challenges.

When you have clear answers to these questions, it becomes simpler to proceed with the next steps.

3. Determine the objective of each post

After having your personas recorded in the editorial calendar for social media, it’s time to think about where you want to go with the content you produce and share.

Social networks already have a strong focus on generating relationships and increasing brand authority. But you don’t need to confine your posts only to these two objectives.

It’s possible to separate some content per month to help capture leads, share relevant information, keep followers updated on the company’s routine, and even talk about your products or services, as long as it’s done carefully and appropriately for the channel where the publication will be made.

Additionally, you can and should create editorials to help plan posts and diversify productions, thereby avoiding repetition of topics or formats.

4. Do the content briefing

With the objective of each post determined, it’s time to think about planning. For the team to be well-aligned, it’s necessary to define not only what content will be created but how it will be produced.

That’s why the briefings usually gain a special place in editorial calendars. When designing your template, consider that the following information should be clear to everyone:

Channel where the content will be published: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Objective of the post or its editorial.
Persona it should assist.
Publication date.
Content description and references.
Delivery date by the team.
Delivery status: Briefing done, In production, Scheduled.

The clearer these pieces of information are, the more strategic the production of posts will be, whether by you or the team.

5. Follow the schedule and update the calendar

With the editorial calendar for social media ready and duly filled out, it’s time for the team to roll up their sleeves and start producing the planned content.

However, for the actions to really succeed, it’s necessary that everyone follows the information present in the tool, such as deadlines, delivery status, and any changes that may occur along the way.

Additionally, it’s important to check with a certain frequency if everything is up-to-date. And by that, we’re not just talking about the posting schedule but also the project’s objectives, personas, references, and everything that can make the strategy evolve even further.

6. Analyze the results of your content

As we always say around here, the stage of analyzing the results of digital marketing actions is always the start of a new cycle for any project.

This is because through results, it’s possible to extract insights and outline the next steps to follow. Thus, there is a direct impact on how you feed your editorial calendar for social media and plan new posts.

The union between social media reporting and content planning allows you to know which topics and formats stand out the most and move beyond assumptions to focus on what really works.

Going further, you also have access to information about the audience that interacts with the brand on the networks, their basic characteristics, and key points related to their behavior.

With this, your editorial calendar for social networks becomes more complete,, strategic, and targeted to your audience.

Use Reportei Flux to plan and organize your content.

As we mentioned above, organizing the content posting process is essential to achieve the best results and increase social media engagement.

And it’s precisely at this point that Reportei Flux stands out since it offers a solution that goes far beyond post scheduling. Agile. With it, you can

Centralize all social networks Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others in a single dashboard, avoiding tab switching.
Schedule content 10 times faster, upload artwork, insert captions, choose multiple networks and schedule everything at once.
Create a visual and intuitive calendar drag and drop posts, adjust timings, and visualize content gaps.
Set up visual workflows assign tasks, track status (in production, awaiting approval or scheduled), and keep the team aligned.
Perform batch approvals send groups of posts to clients/managers, receive feedback, and release publications seamlessly.

Want to bring your ideas to life with less friction? Then try Reportei Flux for free and discover how to organize your content more efficiently.

Isabel Souza

Graduated in Journalism from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Isabel Senna has been working in the digital market since 2016 and, since 2018, has been responsible for content production for the Reportei blog.

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