How to build a social media content calendar you’ll actually use

What a content calendar is, and isn’t

A social media content calendar is a plan of what you’ll post, where and when. It can be a spreadsheet, a paper planner or a scheduling tool. What it isn’t is a promise to post every day. The best calendar is the one you can keep up with, so start smaller than feels ambitious.

Step 1: Decide where and how often

List the platforms where your audience actually spends time, and pick a pace you can sustain for three months without strain. Three posts a week, done reliably, beats a daily schedule abandoned after ten days. If you cross-post, one planned post can cover several platforms, so count ideas rather than posts.

Step 2: Choose a few content themes

Themes, sometimes called content pillars, stop you starting from zero each time. Pick three to five that match why people follow you, for example:

• Teach: tips, how-tos and answers to questions you get asked.
• Behind the scenes: your process, workspace or day.
• Proof: results, reviews, before-and-afters.
• Community: questions, polls, shout-outs.
• Offers: launches, sales and what you sell.

Keep offers a minority of your posts. Useful and personal posts earn the attention that offers then convert.

Step 3: Create in batches

Set aside one session a week or month to create several posts at once. Keep a running list of ideas and shots so the session starts with a plan. Batching is faster because you only set up once: the lighting, the editing app and your writing brain.

Stuck for ideas? Bloom’s idea library lets you type what you want to make and suggests matching post ideas.

Step 4: Put it on the calendar

Spread your themes across the week so no theme repeats back to back. Add key dates first: launches, holidays, events and anything seasonal. Then leave a gap or two for timely posts you can’t plan. A simple week might look like this:

Step 5: Schedule it so it runs without you

A calendar only helps if the posts go out. In Bloom, upload a batch of up to 60 photos or videos, choose posts per day and a start date, and auto-schedule spreads them at good times. Drafts hold anything unfinished, and the calendar shows days with nothing planned. Posts publish automatically to undefined.undefined See the social media scheduler.

Spreadsheet or scheduling tool?

A spreadsheet is free, flexible and fine for planning: one row per post with columns for date, platform, theme, caption and status. Its weakness is that nothing happens when the date arrives. You still have to open every app and post by hand. A scheduling tool keeps the same plan on a calendar and publishes the posts for you. Many people plan in a spreadsheet at first, then move to a scheduler once they post to more than one or two platforms every week.

Step 6: Review once a month

At the end of each month, look at which themes, platforms and times did best, and plan more of those. Drop what isn’t working. If you want a method for timing, read the best time to post on social media.

Frequently asked questions