Every brand — no matter how big or small — can benefit from social media content planning. Investing time up front to brainstorm ideas and work them into actionable content saves time and energy in the long run.
In Module 1, we explored how to plan your digital content. This piece will build on those skills by exploring how to create content specifically to encourage engagement on social media.
Your content should always support your digital marketing goals and content pillars,, and often, it should prompt users to take the next step, like learn more or book now. To do so, you’ll want to be sure your content (post captions, IG Stories, pin descriptions, and more) includes a call-to-action (CTA). CTAs include language like:
You should always include a link on your Instagram profile (bio), whether it be to your homepage, a blog or website page, or to a Linktree-style page. The link you provide should always reflect what you’re pushing in your captions. For example, you just posted a blog containing the 7 Most Unique Restaurants on Vancouver Island, and you’ve placed a CTA in your caption to read the blog. You’ll want to make sure the link in your IG bio leads users directly to that blog post.
There’s no formula for how often you should add CTAs to your posts vs how often you’ll want to post more inspirational, storytelling, or even fluffy content— but you’ll always want to work CTAs into your content to increase website referrals. When you’re mapping out your content concepts and pieces, keep a CTA in mind that can lead users along their customer journey). When you make more in-the-moment, spontaneous posts, don’t worry about adding a CTA. Just have fun interacting with your audience!
How do you channel your creative genius and get some ideas on paper? Start from the top! Brainstorm some loose ideas, then use your content calendar template to bring some order to the chaos.
There are a few ways to facilitate brainstorming. Here are a few suggestions:
Use Your website analytics data: If you’re familiar with website analytics (or Google Analytics), look at KPIs like “Top Landing Pages” and “Time on Page” to determine which pages are drawing people in through search (and entertaining them for more than a few seconds).
Before using hashtags, do some research to discover which topics are trending in your region, community, or experience sector. Do this by searching common hashtags on Instagram and see if there are similar or related hashtags with high volume search. For example, you could search “#ExploreBC” and find similar hashtags, but if they’re all low volume, you won’t want to incorporate them into your posts. However, when we search “#OutdoorAdventure”, there are plenty of high-volume hashtags to capitalize on.
Before using a new hashtag you’ve discovered, you’ll also want to click onwards to understand who and how others are using the hashtag.
Each social platform is different – On Twitter, four or less hashtags is optimal. On Instagram, you can incorporate as many hashtags as you wish (though we recommend adding a block of 10-30 hashtags to your Instagram posts as a “comment” on your own post). On Facebook, you may choose to use 1-2 hashtags in your posts. We always recommend including your branded hashtag if you have one (for example, #VisitNelsonBC).
60% of marketers agree that authenticity is key to creating social content that converts. And there’s no other content type that’s more authentic than content generated from your guests. User-generated content (UGC) is any content— like images, videos, reviews, testimonials, blog posts, etc. – created and shared by unpaid contributors (in our case, travellers) to online platforms.
Explore UGC that others have shared about your business, and reshare it on your feeds to help grow your community and establish brand loyalty.
Be sure to always ask for permission before sharing another user’s content. If you don’t have their consent or permission, then you should not repost UGC. The easiest way to ask for permission is to directly message the user and get explicit permission to repost their content.
Learn more about UGC here.
After some great brainstorming, you’ll need to translate your ideas to actionable pieces of content. Organize your ideas a bit, then open up your content calendar template.
Review the special holidays and events you’ve documented in your content calendar— do any of them align with your content ideas? Perhaps you’re a resort with a fantastic restaurant, and you wrote down “feature our dessert menus” when brainstorming. This is a great concept — and you know July 7th is “#WorldChocolateDay”! This is a perfect opportunity to feature a special chocolate-themed dessert menu. Perhaps you post an Instagram Story asking followers to choose whether it should be a milk or dark chocolate dessert using the poll feature. Maybe you also post to your Facebook page, sharing 3-5 photos of beautifully-plated menu dishes, using the hashtag and prompting users to visit your website for dining inspiration. There are plenty of options, and with a little guidance from your content calendar, you’ll be able to turn them into actionable assets.
There are a multitude of social media holidays like this – Review a list like this one or do a Google search for more ideas.
Social media is a fast-paced medium, with trends constantly changing and features ever-evolving. If resources are low for your business during certain periods of time, we recommend planning or scheduling out some very simple posts so your feeds don’t go quiet. Consistency is key on social media — the algorithms favor accounts that post frequently and regularly. Simple is better than nothing, and posting is better than silence (Think simple, straightforward photos with short captions). Reshare popular posts to your Instagram Stories to boost engagement. There are plenty of ways to stay present on social media even during busy seasons. Check out your competitors and brands you strive to emulate on social media for inspiration.
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