Maximize Your Social Media Strategy with Your CoSchedule Calendar

In This Lesson

• Create Social Messages On Your Calendar
• Schedule a Stand-Alone Message
• Schedule A Social Media Campaign
• Use Social Message Optimizer to Write Better Messages
• Advanced Social Strategy
• Social Analytics Report

Core Concept: Plan All Your Social Media In CoSchedule Calendar

CoSchedule Marketing Calendar is the only marketing calendar that lets you plan all your marketing projects AND write, schedule, and publish your social messages in the same place. This chapter highlights the best ways your new Calendar helps you get proactive, so you can stop wasting time with the painful and time-consuming parts of social media.

Create Social Messages On Your Calendar

There are two different ways to create social messages on your CoSchedule Calendar – a stand-alone social message and a social campaign. Stand-alone social messages are great for one-off messages that you want to post on social media. Social campaigns are a series of several social media messages that get posted to your social channels over an extended period of time. Social campaigns are usually used to promote blog posts, videos, events, or webpages.  

Schedule A Stand-Alone Message

To schedule a stand-alone social message:

1. Click to create a new project on your Calendar.
2. Choose Social and then Social Message.
3. This will open the social composer where you can create a stand-alone social media message.

Schedule A Social Media Campaign

Social Campaigns allow you to send multiple messages using your different social media platforms over a designated period of time. Using campaigns ensures your audience is more likely to see your content. This drives more traffic and helps improve the return on investment for all your hard work. There are two ways to schedule a Social Campaign in your Calendar.

1. Attach A Social Campaign To A Marketing Project

If you’re creating a social media campaign to promote another marketing project you have planned in your CoSchedule Calendar, it’s best to attach that campaign directly to your project. In this example, you’ll learn how to create a social media campaign to promote a blog post.

1. Open the project on your calendar.
2. Add a “Social Campaign” attachment.
3. Next, click the plus sign to add a social message on a specific day.
4. Add the link to your blog post by clicking the link button at the top.

If you’re not sure how you should build out your first social campaign, here’s our best practice recommendation. Keep in mind that this can be customized based on the social channels you use.

2. Schedule a Stand-Alone Social Campaign

Create a stand-alone Social Campaign for a campaign that doesn’t promote a marketing project that’s set up in your Calendar. This could be a campaign that promotes partner content, a recent news story that pertains to your business, or a positive customer review you want to promote. To create a stand-alone social campaign:

1. Click to add a new project to your calendar.
2. Choose Social, then Social Campaign. ​​
3. Name your social campaign and apply any details (like a color label or description).
4. Click the plus signs to add messages just like you did in the previous section.

Advanced Social Strategy

Use Social Message Optimizer To Write Better Messages

The Social Composer has a built-in optimizer that helps you write more engaging social messages. Once you’ve written your social media message, click Analyze. From here, you can fine-tune your message so it will perform even better on social media.

Add Alt Text To Your Social Messages

When previewing your content in full size using the Media Previewer, you will have the option to add Alt Text to your social messages. By implementing Alt Text, screen readers will be able to assist visually impaired individuals with image recognition within your Calendar as well as posts to Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Use Best Time Scheduling To Post At The Right Times

CoSchedule Calendar has built-in automation that allows you to post to your social media channels at the best times. This takes the guesswork out of posting your social media messages. With Best Time Scheduling, you can schedule with confidence, knowing your messages are being sent at the best time possible — according to research and best practices — for increased traffic, engagement, and followers. To use Best Time Scheduling, use the dropdown to select a “best time” timeframe. Your CoSchedule Calendar will automatically post your message on your behalf at the best time within the selected timeframe.

Social Analytics Reports

Social analytics reporting can be time-consuming, confusing, and difficult. With the Social Analytics Reports in your CoSchedule Calendar, you can easily translate confusing data into an easy-to-understand report to fuel your social strategy in seconds.   There are a variety of different reports you can use to gain insights on different channels and content. 

Social Engagement Report Overview 

This report allows users to get a high-level overview of your entire social strategy. You can dive in deeper using filters for social profiles, project types, tags, and color labels. This allows you to build reports that are specific to your initiatives, stakeholders, or clients. Use Social Engagement Reports to:

• Identify top-performing messages
• Download and share reports with stakeholders
• Visualize trends across your social channels
• Compare how different channels are performing

Social Campaign Report Overview

Use the Social Campaign Report to measure the success of specific campaigns and initiatives.

Social Profile Report Overview

Social Media algorithms are always changing. This tool allows you to analyze each profile’s best times, days, and message types for your channels.

Social Message Analytics

Social Engagement Analytics will be tracked for messages scheduled to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can use this information to make small changes to your promotion schedule for better results.