A social media calendar is the first thing I create for a client once I’ve gotten their “getting started” questionnaires back.

Why?

Oh, so many reasons for it:

First up and most importantly, it helps create a planned and cohesive strategy with our online content.

It helps us to see what content is working well and what needs tweaking or dropping.

It gives both me, as the community manager, and the client peace of mind knowing exactly what updates are going out every day and why they’re going out.

Now the thing is there are several different social media calendar templates out there.

I, myself, use 3 different styles depending on a client’s needs. I’ve included my most popular template in Content Cookbook, but today, I wanted to share a template that’s very easy to do and highly engaging as well.

It’s called the “theme-a-day” calendar.

 Here’s how it works:

STEP 1. Open up a Word or Excel document. Yep, simple. 

 STEP 2. Write down the days of the week, Monday through Friday or if you want to post, all 7 days, write Monday through Sunday. Your template has 7 days included.

 STEP 3. From the themes given below, choose a theme for every day.

 Themes for your Social Media Calendar

1. Terrific Tips

Easy enough, share a great expert tip to help your audience see instant improvement or results.

Example: One of our former client, Oz Baby Trends offers great tips on using cloth diapers.

2. Behind-the-Scenes

Take folks on a virtual tour of your home office or boutique store or introduce them to the every day tasks that you do. It may seem mundane to you, but it gives them a chance to get to know the person behind the logo or the brand.

Example: For photographers and former clients, Lisa DiGeso and Erin Brule of The Milky Way sharing snapshots of their photo shoots with their FB community, regularly brings their community closer to their work and their lives.

3. Peekaboo

Planning to launch a new product or service anytime soon? Share sneak previews of it.

Example:  Here’s how I shared with my The Mom Writes’ community the different things I’m working on! It’s fun and keeps you accountable as well!!

4. Spotlight Shining

How about you feature a client or customer, share their testimonial or better still, just share what they do. You can also, do this with members of the community? Share a member who’s really engaged with your content and spotlight them!

Example:  Former client and awesome entrepreneur Andreea Ayers does this gorgeously on her Launch Grow Joy page

5. Fun and Funniness

Everyone loves a good laugh and sharing a good meme may seem overrated but it really isn’t.  You can even share a fun selfie of yourself or a video, like Mayi’s done below on her page.

Example: 

6. Learning Curve

You are an expert in what you do and that is why your clients and customers come back to you. How about you teach them something? Share exclusive tutorials and how-tos.

Example: Instagram expert Sue Zimmerman does this beautifully via her Instagram account. 

7. Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Engaging with your community means you ask them what interests them, what they love, hate, enjoy, want, needs. Ask away!!

Example: Here’s an example from Lime Tree Kids, one of our client’s page.

8. Special Love

Everyone loves a good deal. Share a Facebook-only promo with your community or have an Instagram event. Treat your community with special love and you’ll see both engagement and growth.

 

9. All News is Good News

Keep a day to share trends in your industry. Whether it is a blog post by an influencer or an actual news article, share it!

Example: Mari Smith is an influencer in the world of social media, but even she doesn’t just share only her content and instead, shares everything that is newsworthy in the world of Facebook and social media. LOVE it!!

10. Ask Abby

Give your community members a chance to ask you and gain from your expertise and wisdom. You can even turn the question over to your community, if you have a large community!

This is so awesome for 2 reasons. One, they’ll love you for being generous. Two, when they need to hire someone or buy from someone, who do you think will be top of their mind? Yeah. I know.

Example:Claire of The Girls Mean Business does this beautifully on her page!

So, there you have it, fun themes that you can then, plug into the days and just share accordingly.

 STEP 4. Share 3-5 updates related to that theme.  You can easily repeat themes if you want to.

Feeling brave? Write out all the updates as well!!

Tell me in the comments what’s YOUR number one social media content challenge?