Insurance Marketing Quick Tip: How to Create a Social Media Editorial Calendar, Part 2

8 April, 2014

Make social media marketing more time-efficient and relevant to business strategy by incorporating an editorial calendar into your insurance marketing approach. Last week, our social media blog discussed the benefits of using a social media calendar to streamline efficiency, reduce time spent on day-to-day social media updating and align content to your insurance business strategy. Check it out for more ideas and examples for themes and topics to be scheduled in advance. Now we’ll delve into the technical aspects of creating and building a social media editorial calendar.

How should I organize my social media editorial calendar?

After brainstorming the themes and topics that could be leveraged throughout the year, it’s time to put it in writing. It can be as easy as typing it out in Word; see the example below.

 

Month: March

Theme: Real Estate Insurance

 

Week 1 (March 1-7)

Content: In-house blog, “How real estate risk affects your profits”

Channels to post: LinkedIn, Twitter (two tweets), Facebook

*Supplement with external news articles that are real estate insurance related

 

Week 2 (March 8-14)

Content: Real estate insurance benefit #1

Channels to post: LinkedIn, Twitter (two tweets), Facebook

*Supplement with external news articles that are real estate insurance related

 

Week 3 (March 15-21)

Content: Video on real estate in your region

Channels to post: LinkedIn, Twitter (two tweets), Facebook, YouTube channel

 

Content: Real estate insurance benefit #2

Channels to post: LinkedIn, Twitter (two tweets), Facebook

*Supplement with external news articles that are real estate insurance related

 

What are the tools that can be used for an editorial calendar?

If you are looking for a more robust organizational tool, there are plenty of tools to help in creating an editorial calendar.

  • Microsoft Excel: A standard tool that can be formatted into a calendar to fit your specific social media content needs, especially with a tight budget.
  • Google: Set up a Google calendar or Google doc for an editorial calendar – an optimal solution for low-budget collaboration amongst team members at a small business.
  • Hootsuite: A social media tool that is low-cost for the basics but perfect to be comfortably introduced to social media scheduling.
  • Wordpress Editorial Calendar plugin: An ideal tool if your insurance company already uses Wordpress to update a blog to keep content in one place.

Tap into the energy of a new year and create your social media editorial calendar now. It will help streamline messaging, reduce the daily stress of updating social media channels and keep content focused on the business strategy. Have questions about social media content for your insurance marketing? Give us a call today!