Successful social media marketing takes careful planning and a variety of interesting content.  Mixing up your posts so that you’re not too promotional and provide a bit of education and entertainment is essential in driving engagement.  A social media calendar is the first step in setting up your social media campaigns, but how do you get started?  Here we’ve organized a typical week of posts that has helped us to gain social media traction.

Old Blog Promotion 

Frequency: 1 per week

“75% of HubSpot's blog views and 90% of blog leads come from old posts.” One of the most important things you can do pertaining to an inbound marketing strategy is to continue to post old blogs.  While there may not be a lot of traction when you first post, that does not mean it won’t take off in the future.  Often times distribution and timing are the culprits.  Reposting and increasing your distribution efforts will give you further insights into whether or not it is your copy that needs work.

Fact About Your Company

Frequency: 1 per week

Personalizing your brand and making it known what you do and how you do it can go a long way towards building a social media following and increasing engagement.  Posts regarding the services you provide, partnerships you’ve made and charitable efforts that you participate in will help your audience connect with your brand.  These posts should include a custom graphic to draw attention to the information.

Industry News/Article

Frequency: 3 per week

Piggybacking on popular news stories or new ideas has long been a social element that drives engagement.  Posting relevant articles about your target industry as well as your own industry can breed conversation and show your audience that you’re paying attention to trends.  This conveys to your followers that you continue to educate yourself and refine your craft.  Be sure to post articles from reputable news sources so the information you provide is accurate.

Monday Motivation

Frequency: 1 per week

Mondays can be rough and everyone needs a little pick me up now and again.  Motivational quotes are liked and shared in generous numbers regardless of the social platform you’re using.  Picking quotes that relate to your industry and including links to relevant articles you’ve written will also help to increase website visits along with your improved social engagement.  Placing these quotes within a custom graphic will help them get noticed and increase their exposure in social news feeds.

New Blog Promotion

Frequency: 4 per week

“Sharing blog posts on your brand’s social channels can help draw in new readers for your blog and offer more value for your existing followers.”  Social media is one of the top ways to promote your company’s blog articles and each of them should be shared across all platforms.  Including a brief introduction to your article and high-quality images will help to increase engagement and let your audience know what to expect from your post.

Infographic/CTA

Frequency: 2 per week

Infographics are some of the most shared content throughout social networks and when included with a link to a premium offer they can increase website traffic and conversions.  Drawing attention to your premium content should be one of the top priorities of any social media strategy as these downloads provide you with prospecting and qualifying information.

Relevant Industry Stats

Frequency: 1 per week

Relevant statistics from reputable sources can uncover a myriad of opportunities and help you to recognize industry trends.  Statistics play a major role in developing marketing and sales strategies and give concrete evidence of the effectiveness of a particular solution.  When you make a claim of any kind, it’s always a good idea to have the numbers to back it up.

Product/Service Share

Frequency: 1 per week

While it is important not to be overly self-promotional on social media, you do want to get your products in front of your audience.  Many times, your following will only have a limited scope of what you do.  Advertising your products and services to let your prospects and clients know the full gamut of what you offer can lead to new customers and upsells.

Entertaining Post

Frequency: 1 per week

For most folks, social media is all about the entertainment value.  This should not be overlooked when it comes to marketing your products and services.  Posting funny memes, viral videos and other entertaining content can help your social pages gain visibility.  This can lead to an increased following and more engagement on your more business-oriented content.

Reviews

Frequency: 1 per week

“Research shows that 91 percent of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews, and 84 percent trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.”  Posting reviews from customers past and present can improve the reputation of your business and provide credibility to your offerings.  Additionally, posting positive reviews made by your workforce will help show the personality and culture of your company, both driving forces in sales, marketing and social engagement.

Fun Fact

Frequency: 1 per week

A fun fact or anecdote that relates back to your business can be a great way to entertain your audience and provide relevant information.  These facts can have to do with an aspect of your business, commentary on a popular news event and even little-known facts about upcoming holidays.  As with most text-only posts, these should be incorporated into an original graphic to make them more shareable.

Educational Link

Frequency: 1 per week

Educating your followers is one of the main objectives of inbound marketing and taking the opportunity to share an article from an industry expert will do just that.  It will also encourage the writer to share that post from your company page, which can open you up to a whole slew of new followers.

Fact About Your Industry

Frequency: 1 per week

Knowledge of your industry is a big selling point for prospects when looking for companies to provide solutions for their business.  Simple posting a little-known fact about your line of business can add to the credibility of your company, help you gain brand exposure and establish yourself as a thought leader.

Friday Funny

Frequency: 1 per week

Now that we’ve made it to the end of the week, it’s time for a little humor.  Posting something silly such as a funny meme or video on a Friday afternoon is a great way to close out a week of social posting.  Make sure you keep it clean and avoid anything too controversial.