(This article is part 2 of a 3-part series on social media marketing for beginners.)
In part 1 of this series, you learned how to select the right social media platforms for your business, and thought about the kind of content you want to post. Now you need to learn how to easily create content like photos, videos, and graphics.
If your strategic marketing plan utilizes social media, keep reading to learn how to easily organize, create and schedule social media content.
Organizing Content
To organize your social media posts, you should create a content calendar. On a weekly schedule or monthly schedule, think about what you want to post. Research upcoming events, holidays, and the latest industry news to help you develop ideas. You can also share what your company is up to by posting photos of a new product or a behind-the-scenes video of your office.
Creating a content calendar will provide you with a rough outline for the month. Most importantly, it will help you stay on track with your social media strategy. Read this article to learn more about content calendars.
Creating Content
It’s great to share relevant news articles and blog posts from third-party sources; however, it’s important to create original content, too. Unique content will attract a bigger audience, because your followers will know the information they’re reading can’t be found anywhere else.
Here are a few free resources to help you get started:
Photos
If you don’t have the bandwidth to take original photos, it’s okay to use photos from other sources. However, you can’t simply pull copyrighted images from Google without permission. Check out websites like Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels for license-free images that you can use commercially.
Videos
To create simple videos, you may want to explore free video editing options such as Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. While these tools are easy to use, they may not offer the advanced options you are looking for. Programs like Adobe Premier Pro and Final Cut Pro are more advanced and cost a fee—but with a little practice, you can learn how to create professional-quality videos in no time.
Graphic Design
If you want to easily create social media graphics, newsletters, and more, check out Canva. It’s a free and easy design tool with many templates to choose from. Piktochart is another resource you can use to easily create charts and infographics.
Scheduling Content
Maintaining a posting schedule can be difficult when you have a list of other responsibilities to complete each day. Using a social media management tool like Hootsuite or Buffer will help you stay on track. Each week or month, schedule your content so you don’t have to worry about forgetting a post.
This doesn’t mean you can forget about your social media platforms completely. You’ll still want to monitor your accounts and respond to any comments or mentions of your business.
As you implement your social media strategy, try out these resources to easily create and schedule your content. Once you start posting, you’ll need to analyze the effectiveness of your strategy. The final article in this series will teach you about tracking and measuring analytics, so you can determine what’s working and what’s not.
Located in Columbus, Ohio, Creative Spot has helped organizations with strategic marketing for over 20 years. If you would like to learn more about social media marketing or have questions about Creative Spot’s capabilities, please contact us.