My sociology professors taught me that I’m not quite the Rae Padilla Francoeur I think I am. I inhabit many roles and practice a number of skill sets. And people relate to me according to the role I’ve adopted in the moment.
Some of my roles: Mornings, when I’m fortunate, I’m a creative writer plugging away at my work in progress. At noon I transition while I eat lunch. In the afternoons I move my attentions to my arts/nonprofit marketing business, New Arts Collaborative. That’s just the tip of my complex set of interlocking enterprises and the same is true for most of us.
Sometimes my marketing business informs my writing business. This year I’ve begun offering clients content calendars to help them manage their social media postings. After some research and a few discussions, during which we determine the tone, type and frequency of the social media postings, I use an Excel spreadsheet to organize and assign the type of posts, the dates, the angles and the staff to make the posts.
It has only recently occurred to me that writers of all kinds can make good use of the content calendar approach to social media self-promotion. By now, most of us know and accept that we’re not just writers, we’re marketers, too. This role is a lot more palatable when you’ve got a plan. Consider creating your own simplified version of a social media content calendar and order yourself a hat that reads: Mad Men have nothing on me.
Here’s the systematic way to do it, on a monthly basis:
Mine your current work and your month for angles that include: topics worthy of comment; areas of expertise; timely connections; opportunities to cross-promote colleagues, literary projects like yours or that you like, simpatico organizations; quotable lines; events like publishing dates, readings and conferences. Because it’s important to acknowledge and honor others in your tribe, be sure to include their events, their quotable lines, etc., as well.
Make a list of your findings.
Assign posting dates to the items on your list, being strategic. If you want to entice your tribe members to a reading, post events on Facebook as soon as you know them but use social media for reminders a week out.
Assign type of social media including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, short video, op eds (not exactly social media). Stick to those you are comfortable with and focus on one or two where you are most likely to shine.
Determine frequency, such as twice a day for Facebook and Twitter; once a week for blogging; one or two photos via Instagram. Try to generate original content for each platform when you can.
Make the schedule. A simple monthly Excel spreadsheet is easy to populate and is somewhat reusable, month to month. Start with columns for date, type of social media, angle or specific post, notes. Other methods: Create a list in Word and organize by date or buy a cheap monthly calendar at the drugstore and fill it in.
You can print your spreadsheet and review it every morning (or whenever you put on your ‘better than Mad Men’ hat) and check off posts as you complete them. And you can use schedulers like Hoot Suite to release your Tweets, for example, on the schedule you determine.
Notes:
Remember the 80-20 rule: You should post specifically about your own work no more than 20 percent of the time. Be well rounded and perfect your voice.
If you are ambitious, make a style sheet that dictates your voice/tone/content by type of media. For instance, on Instagram you can decide: Pretty picture with contrasting pithy comment. This adoption of voice according to medium is a version of the role playing we all do all the time and sets expectations.
If you do this planning monthly, you can keep this exercise under two hours.
Expand the calendar to include related editorial deadlines, if it makes sense.
Be flexible and open to spontaneous posts and ideas, but revel in the security of a plan that trains you when and how to post.