Most brands and creators are share content across multiple social platforms, including – but not limited to – Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest.
Sounds like a lot of work? Then a scheduling tool could be your new best friend. Apps like Hootsuite, SproutSocial and Later will make your life a whole lot easier by allowing you to plan out your content for the week. Set and forget.
They publish content throughout the week on your behalf, saving you time in the long run and leaving you more space for creative and inspiring projects.
But content scheduling isn’t just a great time saver. It can also help you grow and retain your audience, curate your feed, reach a higher volume of people and remain relevant on a highly saturated feed.
Here are six reasons why you should be scheduling your social content:
Consistency is key
Nobody wants to follow a ghost, or someone who makes an appearance on their feed once in a blue moon. To unlock audience growth, retention and trust between your followers, you’ve got to keep it consistent. 53% of consumers say they are more likely to trust brands if they keep their content regularly updated.
Scheduling will help you regularly post, with minimum effort. You will grow your audience – since each post gives you the opportunity to reach new people – and keep your followers happy, as they’ll be receiving the valuable content they follow you for.
Particularly handy for creators who have found that certain times of the day bring them extra engagement. Say goodbye to those daily phone alarms, scheduling has you covered.
Open your eyes to fill in the gaps
Seeing past and future posts all in the one spot will help you see what’s missing, what you need to share more of and where you can reuse content. It’s like looking at a puzzle you’re working on from a greater height – you can see things clearer.
Use content scheduling as a way to pin-point gaps that need to be filled on your socials. Are you sharing too much about the one product? Are you not sharing enough information about an upcoming Live you’re hosting? Do you need to share more customer reviews? These are all things you’ll be able to identify and refine through content scheduling.
Get crafty with your captions
As we mentioned, pre planning your social posts will save you time to work on other creative projects. One of which could be to work on crafting higher quality captions that deliver insights to your audience.
There’s nothing worse than an on-the-spot caption panic, so write yours ahead of time, when you’re feeling creative. It will prevent you from filling captions with pointless sentences and help you share valuable tips, stories and ideas instead. Another great way to build connection with your audience, or become go-to location for tips and tricks.
Curate a beautiful feed
Amazing profiles – like @kopperfinch‘s beautiful puzzle feed or @designbyaikonik intricate colour-coded feed – are not created overnight. They take precise planning to ensure content flows naturally together.
Just as scheduling helps you notice what’s missing, it will also give you a bird’s eye view, helping you curate your feed with beautifully cohesive content.
Keep up with calendar events
Your followers will notice if you’re late to the party. Avoid this by scheduling your content around international days and events. We all know when Valentine’s Day and Christmas is, but what about those sneaky international days that go hand in hand with your brand?
Do you sell bed linen? Make sure you plan to post relevant content on World Sleep Day. Or are you a photographer? Then schedule in to share your best work on World Photography Day. With these posts, you then want to use relevant hashtags, such as #WorldSleepDay and #WorldPhotographyDay, to insert your content into trending social conversations and potentially grow your social audience. Below we have just the resource you need for this.
Data is your best friend
Do you just love data as much as we do? Then you definitely need to be scheduling your social content. Third-party tools will provide you with account and post insights. Some will even send you a weekly performance overview of all your connected social accounts.
Having another source to view your content’s performance data will help you set weekly and monthly goals, and will indicate what’s working and what isn’t in your social media strategy. You’re also able to view each connected social account data in the one spot, rather than switching between apps or tabs. An efficient way to deep dive into your data.
Now what?
If we’ve persuaded you to start scheduling your content, you’ll want to know how to do it.
Most scheduling tools work similarly; you connect your social accounts and schedule your posts for each account on a calendar. The post gets automatically published or sent to your mobile to publish, then you’re able to view its performance data.
We’ve not yet found a scheduling tool that notifies you on special events and national days, so for faultless planning, download Vamp’s free 2021 content calendar. You’ll never miss a social media moment and can be sure you are always sharing the most relevant and engaging content with your followers.
