Managing your physical therapy clinic’s social media can be overwhelming, especially if you’re a small team handling many platforms. Luckily, planning helps make things easier for everyone.
So, today, I’m going to teach you all about creating a social media calendar for your small business.
The topics I’m covering are listed below.
- Defining what a social media calendar is
- Why your PT clinic needs a social media content calendar
- How you can create one for your brand
What is a social media calendar?
Put simply, a social media calendar is a compilation of plans for your future posts spanning all of your social accounts. For that reason, it should be an important part of your overall marketing strategy.
It’s also super detailed with information about:
- When to post, including date and time
- Where to post
- Type of post (image, infographic, reel, story, etc.)
- Who you’re tagging in your post
- Hashtags you plan on using
Why your PT clinic needs a social media calendar
It sacrifices some time for significantly more.
Making a content calendar is going to take a bit of time, especially if you plan your content for the entire year.
“How much time?”, you ask.
There’s no specific time frame for finishing a content calendar. Depending on how far ahead and how detailed you want to go, it could be anywhere from hours to weeks.
What I can tell you, though, is that the further ahead you plan your content, the more time you save for yourself down the road. At a minimum, I recommend planning all your content for the entire quarter or however long you want your campaigns to run.
Content calendars bring more organization to your team.
We’re a small team so we understand that we have to put on many hats. And, because of that, workflows can get pretty hectic. I know you understand this struggle, too.
Content calendars can make your small team more organized because it also fosters collaboration.
For example, I’m in charge of putting out content for our website while another member of our team is in charge of creating posts for our social media accounts. We collaborated when we made our content calendar so now we operate on the same page.
Social media calendars cultivate consistency.
As exciting as it is to just post whenever you get a light-bulb moment, it’s also unreliable and inconsistent. When you plan your content, though, you have posts ready when your imagination draws blanks.
Plus, all your content can be posted at times when your audience is on social media which makes you more visible. This consistent social media presence is crucial for engagements, awareness, loyalty, and ultimately the success of your campaigns.
Planning makes you less prone to errors.
When you wing your posts, there’s also a larger chance that you post errors. I’m talking about spelling, grammar, information, and other types of mistakes that make your brand look less reliable.
On that note, social media calendars elevate the quality of your content as well as align them with your overall goals.
It gives you an overview of what your brand will look like on social media.
And last but not least, social media calendars allow you to take a step back and see what your brand will look like to your audience.
This overview is going to prove useful because it allows you to see the bigger picture of your social media strategy. When you have that, you can then ensure that your messaging, visuals, and overall branding are consistent with your standards across all platforms.
How you can make your own social media calendar
Step 1: Audit your PT clinic’s entire social network
Check everything you’ve done with your social media so far. Here’s a list of what you should go through:
- What are your goals for every platform you’re on?
- What metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) will help define your success?
- What are the best and worst-performing posts and campaigns you have?
- What gaps do you need to fill? Where can you improve? And is there room for experimentation?
- What is your posting frequency? What time do you post? Are they effective?
I recommend you jot down the answers to all these questions because they’re all going to be useful for the next steps.
Step 2: Choose your platforms, content types, and content ratios
This step is all about figuring out how to maximize your team’s efforts.
First, find out what channels your audience uses most and what type of content invokes a response from them.
Next, think about how many of those platforms and what types of content your team can handle without burning out.
Lastly, you’ll want to figure out your content mix (or content ratio). There is no one-size-fits-all here so you’re going to have to make out what works best for you. If you don’t have enough data to figure that out yet, here are a few I recommend you start with:
- 80/20: 80 % of your content is meant to inform, educate, or entertain your audience. 20% is for promotional purposes.
- 60/30/10: 60% is informative or educational, 30% is promotional, and 10% is curated content.
- 50/30/20: 50% is informative content, 30% is promotional, and 20% is interactive posts.
Step 3: Decide on the contents of your social media calendar
Of particular importance is defining what your posts will be about, where you’re posting them, and when they will be posted(including both time and date).
These details are going to be the backbone of your content calendar but I do recommend including other things that can make your life easier down the road, such as:
- What types of media you’re using for each platform
- Who you’re tagging
- What hashtags you’re using
- CTAs and landing pages you plan on using
Step 4: Create your content calendar
This step is where you write down everything that you went through with the previous steps.
You can use tools you likely already have, such as Excel and Google Sheets but other apps like Monday and Asana also have features that make creating content calendars much easier and more collaborative.
Moreover, there are also content calendar templates that you can find online. There are “general” ones that fit pretty much every brand but there are also those that are more niche-specific. I recommend the latter.
Or, you know… you could let us handle your social media. That’s an option, too.
Step 5: Create your content.
This isn’t technically part of the steps but, hey, you might as well start creating content while you’re on a roll.
Creating content can easily be overwhelming, though. So, I recommend going at this on a week-by-week basis.
Create content for all your accounts based on the information you have on your calendar. If you’re done making a week’s worth of content, schedule them with Meta Business Suite, Hootsuite, or other similar tools.
And, if after you make a week’s worth of content and you feel like you take a break, by all means, do. If not, review all the content you just made to make sure it’s error-free and up to par with your standards then carry on with more content creation.
Step 6: Review and refine.
As you go further along the calendar year, make sure to always go back to step 1.
Meaning, regularly check your metrics to see if you’re moving closer to your goals. Regularly check your content and see what’s performing and what’s not. Adjust and refine your strategy (and calendar) as you see fit.
Conclusion
Having a social media calendar is going to be invaluable for your entire marketing campaign.
It frees up so much of your time in the future, fosters organization and collaboration between your team, and ensures the quality and consistency of your content.
But, yes, it does take some time to make. If you don’t want to go through that trouble, we can always collaborate. We can handle the heavy lifting.
