Content plan for social networks: where to get ideas for posts?

Why do I need a content plan?

The content plan is needed not only by the marketer, SMM-box, copywriter, editor. If you have your own business and you run a group yourself, or you have an author’s blog, the publication plan will come in handy.

Content may:

• sell;
• create a positive image of the company/author;
• establish contact with the audience;
• push for individual action.

And much more. This, in essence, is the purpose of the publication.

Each article should have one goal. Therefore, it is important to include a “goal” column in your content plan.

Make columns: topics of articles, a platform, from whom to take Old, approximate release date, results.

Why do you need to maintain such a table?

• when you run out of ideas about what to write about, you will always have a list of topics at hand;
• discipline and self-control, you will be guided by the terms of publications, and you will know how many posts per month/week you need to do;
• You see those responsible in the table. You are promptly contacting them;
• you can conduct analytics based on what’s coming, see what’s coming to people, what’s not.

Where to get ideas for posts and articles on social networks?

Creating such a table is very simple. But when you begin to fill out the column “publication topics,” a stupor arises. What to write about? Here are some ideas on where to get your topics.

1. Monitoring competitors

You can take ideas not only from regional competitors but also from federal and even foreign ones. Find the largest communities and start reading them. Please pay attention to user comments, what they like, what not, which posts have the most views and comments. Include the most popular topics in your content plan. In no case do you need to copy the text completely? Just grab a topic and share your experience.

2. Solving user problems

There are problems in any niche. Do you sell shoes? Solve the problem of customers – write how to properly care for the boots so that they last as long as possible. Sometimes even problems may not be related to your product/service. Look for them in related areas. You can read comments in communities of similar subjects, specialized publications – you will find ideas for your articles. For example, you have a beauty salon. Take the wedding theme, see what subscribers write in the bridal shop groups. Give advice on how to prepare for the wedding based on your business experience.

Our customers have the following problems in our niche: the right selection of content, the correct design of publications, the design of communities, the writing of the right texts, and the preparation of images. We give them a solution to problems in publications.

3. Questions and objections from your customers

Ask managers, analyze correspondence by e-mail, look at comments in your group. Collect all customer questions and objections on a separate list. Take an objection and disassemble it in pieces, write why you have it and what solution may be.

The most important thing is not to make an advertising post, it should be a useful article that clearly answers the question/objection. For example, you are selling a conversation service. Customer objection: too expensive, it is better to buy the service 2 times cheaper. Tell in your article what the price of your service is made up of, what the work of authorship means, explain what security technologies are integrated into your SaaS software.

4. Old publications

Look through your feed, refer to the old content plan, if you had one. You can re-post with updated data. Also, old articles will help you collect interesting comments and user questions. They can turn into publications. Very often, subscribers themselves throw us interesting topics, you need to carefully monitor.

5. Situational marketing

Watch what happens in the world, country, your city. You can make a publication tied to some event: comment on the news, give analytics, make a meme, contest, challenge. For example, launch a remote work challenge during a pandemic.

Useful services for text

In addition to the content plan, we recommend creating a list of useful services that will help improve the quality of your publications.

• Text – in this service you can check the spelling, as well as spam, the water content in the text and its uniqueness. No registration required, shareware.
• Advego – it will help to check spelling in the text online. No registration required, shareware.
• Readability  – the service will help to evaluate the readability of the text.

Useful services for images

• Canva – using this service you can edit images, add text to the picture, and experiment with design. If Photoshop is not at hand, then it will perfectly replace it, but not in all cases. For complex graphic solutions, it is better, of course, to use Photoshop.
• Pixabay – photo stock, here you can find a huge number of images on various topics. They can be used for your publications without attribution.
• Pexels – you can find unusual stock images and use them for free.
• Unsplash – another cool photo stock.
• Freepik – a real find for Photoshop and Canva: you can find any effects, backgrounds, details, icons, everything that can make your image unique.
• Tineye – using this service, you can check the uniqueness of the image. He finds all the sources. The fewer they are, the better.
• Snapseed – a convenient application for editing photos on a mobile phone. You can process photos on it very quickly. An especially useful thing for Instagram, there are many good free filters.

Conclusion

Qualitatively prepared content forms an audience loyal to your business and prompts subscribers to the idea that they need your product/service.

Approach your content plan thoroughly, conduct a thorough analysis and choose topics that are useful to your audience. Do not try to push explicit advertisements into your publications.

Advertising in the forehead has not been working for a long time. Solve readers’ problems, not yours, and then everything will work out.

Featured image source: Freepik