5 Elements to a Social Media Schedule

To complete your Social Strategy, you need an implementation plan; I like to do this through a Social Media Schedule.  It’s most effective when it highlights both the efforts and measures to be tracked.  This becomes your Social Media Plan, Schedule and Measurement tool.  It can be initially developed for a Social Media test department or the entire organization (depending on the size of your organization), and then rolled out to appropriate individual departments. 

The approach should be modified depending on the level of social engagement.  A social co-ordinator can oversee the implementation of this for your entire organization, with mini social media co-ordinators in various departments.  These “co-ordinators” have other activities, and they are rarely dedicated to Social Media in smaller companies, it simply becomes a part of their job in a Social Company.

Ideally, Social Plans and Goals should to be automated so alerts and reminders are sent to the Contributors and Co-ordinators.  I suggest using your existing organizational calendar system, versus a separate one if possible.  It’s easier to sustain when you are not introducing new systems or processes for people to follow.

The Schedule should capture, at the minimum: 

(i) Who is going to post.

(ii) On which specific topic.

(iii) How often.

(iv) Which days and what time will they post.

(v) How the organization and the person posting are going to measure the effectiveness of their post. 

Before filling in your Organization’s Social Schedule you should read chapter four on How to Grow Your Followers, specifically the “10 Commandments of Posting” in my new book.  In summary, if you are not a news-media company, posting three times a day maximum is ideal, or three times a week minimum.  Anymore you might start losing your followers, as the number one reason people stop following someone is because they Post too often.  If you Post less than three times a week, it`s unlikely very many people will see your efforts, so, best not to even start. 

The following is an example schedule.  This was created as an outcome of a Social Media Strategy I facilitated for a Resort & Spa. 

Who	Topic	Frequency	When	Measure
Chef	Food	Twice a week	Thurs & Fridays at 10am	Clicks to the Photo of the food uploaded to the website. & Reservations
Sports Director	Team Group Fitness Activities	Twice a week	Tues & Weds at 10AM	Sharing of the Activity Photos & Request for group activities
Spa Manager	Spa Treatments	Once a day	Monday to Fridays at 2pm	Sharing of the Spa Photos. & Reservations for Spa Treatments
Wedding Co-ordinator	Wedding Excellence	Twice a week	Twice on Weekends	Sharing of the Wedding Photos. & Wedding Packages Enquiries
Social Media Co-ordinator	Business Marketing Specials	Once a week	Fridays at 2pm	Increase Reservations Clicks

As seen in the above schedule, a knowledgeable Co-ordinator would fill any gaps with other’s informational Posts which support the intent of your Social Media efforts.