Do you know what content you are posting on Instagram this Saturday?
How about next week and the week after?
If you’re feeling uncertain, you know it is time to create a visual content calendar!
A visual content calendar helps you to schedule your Instagram posts and take away the guess work.
It also ensures that you do not mix up the frequency of your posts, or confuse new posts with the ones which you previously uploaded. This also prevents you from mixing up your intended pictures and captions.
Before creating said calendar, let’s have a refresher on why visual content is a powerful weapon in social media, today.
According to Huffingtonpost, photos on Facebook tend to generate 53 percent more likes than written posts alone! You are more likely to reach and engage your followers with powerful visuals.
As the fastest growing social media platform, Instagram is ideal for evoking emotions and reactions from your viewers. It is the perfect platform to generate support for your brand!
Choosing Your Calendar Tools
To create your own visual content calendar, use either Google calendar (available when you have a Gmail account). Or you could just stick to the non-fancy but reliable tools like an Excel spreadsheet, Microsoft Word or Notepad.
Think about breaking down the bigger picture in a content calendar:
• What are the types of content?
• How frequently will you post?
• How often do you share third-party content?
• How closely should you stick to the calendar when implementing it?
What Are The Types of Content?
Brainstorm the main concept of your content and decide what you want to achieve in your visual posts. Does your Instagram account showcase the perception you want from your viewers? Can it help you build a rapport with your followers?
The basic pictures are your products and services. For a more personal touch, you can include how your company operates on a daily basis, from lunch breaks to company events.
There is also the uploading of text-based photographs such as nicely illustrated quotes of wisdom, or quotes to cheer your followers on a dreary Monday.
Besides thinking about pictures, the writing of copy to accompany visuals is equally or even more important! The calendar gives you an advantage to plan out your captions properly and to brainstorm more engaging ones.
How Frequently Will You Post?
There is basically no code of law or a rulebook to determine how often should you post. You can post as frequent as you like!
However, if you are deemed to be spammy and annoying on Instagram, viewers can choose to unfollow or block you.
That’s why a visual content calendar helps you to keep track on the number of posts you would be putting it out there daily, every two days or weekly.
How Often Do You Share Third-Party Content?
Third-party content are pictures or texts not generated by you or anyone in your company. It could be a re-post of other company’s posts. Or content you grab from the Internet.
A tip to remember: if you are not sharing royalty-free pictures, copyright-free images and Internet memes, do credit them back to the original sources.
How Closely Should You Stick To The Calendar When Implementing?
It’s good to stick to your calendar but do not just rely on it completely. Source your content from the current trends in your business, and keep up to date with the news stories published.
You can also take advantages of news stories and create discussions!
Watch your content metrics. If your content does not engage as well as you think it should, switch the visuals used, increase or decrease frequency of posts, improve user engagement or consider launching campaigns.
Have fun developing your visual content calendar!
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