Social Media Planner: How To Plan Your Quarter (With Template)

Planning social media content seems to be an area of ​​struggle for many marketers and business owners.

From researching topics to creating images—not to mention the vast catalog of platforms to post on—there’s very little planning for social media.

Although many planning tools for social media such as Hootsuite And looming Aiming to make social media marketing easier, sometimes all you need is a good brand Google Sheet.

In this guide, you’ll find a simple, easy-to-use social media planner template for Google Sheets — plus some tips on how to plan your quarterly social media content.

What is the social media planner?

A social media planner is a tool, system, or process that organizations or individuals can use to plan, schedule, publish, and manage their social media content.

Social Media Planner makes it easy to plan content ahead and manage posts across multiple platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

There are many social media planning software options available, as well as more streamlined templates, tables, checklists, and the like.

Many of these tools include features such as post scheduling, tracking and analytics, multi-platform management, and more.

Why do I use a social media planner?

There are so many perks to using a social media planner – you know, rather than just wingin’ it.

Planning ahead is one of the best ways to build a consistent social media presence, track results, and improve your strategy over time.

Here are just a few of the many benefits of using a social media planner:

Improve productivity

Using a social media planner allows you to schedule and post content in advance, which saves time for other tasks.

This can increase your overall productivity by giving you more time to focus on other aspects of your work or personal life.

Additionally, being able to manage multiple social media accounts from one central location can save time and reduce the effort required to maintain your presence on different platforms.

Post content more consistently

Social Media Planner helps you to post content consistently by allowing you to schedule posts in advance.

This helps ensure that your social media presence remains active, even when you are busy or unavailable.

Consistent posting can help maintain engagement with your followers and improve the visibility of your content.

Stay organized

Social Media Planner helps you stay organized by allowing you to plan and track your content calendar.

This allows you to keep track of what you posted, when you posted it, and what happens next.

Being able to view your content calendar in one central location can help you stay on top of your social media presence and avoid missing opportunities to engage with your audience.

Develop your strategy

Social Media Planner allows you to track the success of your content. This information can be used to inform future content strategy, making it easier to determine what works and what doesn’t on each platform.

Being able to see the impact of your content can help you make data-driven decisions and improve the effectiveness of your social media presence.

Collaborate with your team

A social media planner can also help facilitate collaboration between team members.

For example, by allowing multiple people to access your social media planner document, it’s easier to share responsibility for maintaining a consistent social media presence.

This can help ensure that content is posted regularly, and reduce the risk of missing opportunities to interact with your audience.

Free Social Media Diagram Template for Google Sheets

Planning your social media content doesn’t have to be complicated – or require the use of expensive tools.

with free Social Media Chart Template for Google SheetsYou’ll find an easier way to plan, organize, and schedule your social media content.

Whether you are an individual or a small business, this template is designed to help you post content consistently, stay organized, and make better decisions about your social media strategy.

With this Google Sheets template, you can:

• Plan your content calendar in advance, see what you’ve posted, and know what happens next.
• Schedule posts for multiple social media accounts from a single calendar.
• Track the progress of your content and use the information to inform your future strategy.
• Collaborate with others by sharing access with your team.

NB: Click on “File”> Make a copy to modify your template. You do not need to request access to edit.

Make a copy: Social Media Chart Template for Google Sheets

How do you plan for your social media content in 2023

Plan your quarterly social media content in minutes – not days – with Social media diagram template.

This Google Sheet template makes it easy to see your schedule well in advance and keep all of your social media assets in one place.

Here’s how to plan your social media content for 2023.

Step 1: Create a Copy of the Social Media Outline Template

Once in the form, click on File and then Make a Copy. This will create a new copy of the form that you can edit.

Next, give your instance a descriptive name, such as “[Business name] – Social Media Plan Q1-Q4 2023”, and save to Google Drive.

Step 2: Select your current quarter/month

Depending on when you read this article, you will need to decide which quarter and/or month you plan to start planning for social media.

The bottom of the form includes tabs running from “Q1: January” to “Q4: December” for 2023.

Open the tab for the month you want to start planning your content.

For simplicity, we started with “Q1: January” and started filling in the first two topics.

You will also see in the left columns that there is a calendar for each month.

This is simply intended as a reference reference for the correct days of the month/week, based on the 2023 calendar.

You can of course update this for 2024, 2025, etc.

Step 3: Choose Your Social Media Platforms (“Format”)

Column K includes a drop-down list of the various social media platforms you may post your content to.

You can choose from this list of options (Blog, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, etc.) or you can add your own by clicking on the Edit button i.e. the pencil icon.

This drop down list allows you to easily select the platform you plan to publish on.

Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other platform, this will help you keep your content organized.

Step 4: Plan your topics

Now, it’s time to fill in your topic ideas!

There are quite a few ways to think about engaging social media topics, which we covered in our How to Create a Social Media Content Plan guide.

However, the search process should not stop there. Here are some ways to create social media posts:

• Researching competitors: Look at what your competitors are doing on social media and use that as inspiration for your future social media posts.
• Look at industry trends: Stay up-to-date with industry trends and news, and use this information to create posts that are relevant and timely for your audience.
• Use user generated content: Encourage your followers to share their own experiences and use this content as inspiration for your own posts.
• Look at the hashtags: Search and use relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts and reach a wider audience. This can also be a way to find content ideas.
• Schedule regular promotions: Share your promotions and discounts to increase engagement and increase sales.

Once you have a few ideas in mind, you can start filling out your social media chart.

Simply fill in columns J through O with “Title/Subject”, “Description” and the like.

Step 5: Fill in the required columns

Start editing the template by adding your content, such as social media accounts, post types, and content topics.

You can also change the design and format of the form to suit your needs.

Add the ‘image’ you plan to include in your social media posts. You can do this by adding a link to your Google Drive or Digital Asset Manager (DAM) folder.

Step Six: Add due dates

Then, use the template to pre-schedule your posts by adding the date, time, and platform for each post.

Next, update the “Status” column as you go along.

You can even use the form to track the success of your content by adding metrics like likes, comments, and shares.

Step 7: Add post content and notes

If you are working with a team, share the template with your colleagues and give them access to modify the template.

This will allow you to collaborate and work together to maintain a consistent social media presence.

The Notes column is for any miscellaneous notes you have about upcoming content, drafts, due dates, etc.

Step 8: Plan ahead and iterate

Planning ahead for your social media content offers many advantages that can greatly enhance your social media presence.

By taking the time to plan your content, you can ensure that you are consistently publishing relevant posts that engage your audience and drive results.

With a clear content plan in place, you can focus on creating quality content that aligns with your overall marketing strategy, avoiding the risks of hasty and unplanned publishing.

I recommend using a social media planner to plan out at least a quarter of the content, so you don’t rush into writing copy, collecting assets, scheduling posts, etc.

You can breathe easy knowing your exact strategy months in advance.

Go ahead with your social media content planning

The Social Media Planner is a powerful tool when it comes to planning, scheduling, and managing your social content.

Don’t let “idea block” get the best of you; Start planning your Q1-Q4 content now!

Using a social media planner also enables you to be proactive in producing content about your industry or market – rather than just being reactive.

This can help you stay ahead of the competition and maintain a strong social media presence.

Additionally, when you plan your content ahead of time, you can allocate resources and budget more effectively, ensuring that you are using your time and resources in the most efficient way.

More resources:

• Predictions of social media marketing experts for 2023
• 17 Great Social Media Marketing Examples
• How to Dominate Social Media Marketing: A Complete Strategy Guide

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