2012/07/17

Blog Post Planners and Social Media Calendars - Small Biz Survival

Blog Post Planners and Social Media Calendars

Posted: 17 Jul 2012 04:07 AM PDT

Blogs and social media can be effective marketing tools for small town businesses, but they take planning to make the most of.

This is true for small businesses and for tourism groups. Don't let important events, holidays, and tie-ins sneak up on you. Use your calendar to connect your social efforts to the real world.

First, plan out your blog posts. Use the free blog post planner from Productive Flourishing, updated every month. Go to their Free Planners page, and scroll down for Blog Post Planners. You can read their instructions page for more detail.

The Blog Post Planner, below, helps you brainstorm for new posts by category.

The Blog Post Calendar, below, organizes the process of scheduling those posts. You can also make note of local events, fairs, festivals, sales, and other things you want to be sure to write about.

Second, plan out your social media. I don't mean to be artificial about what you share on social networks. I do mean to think ahead about what it makes sense to share at certain times. To help you plan that out, customize this Social Media Calendar. It's available as a DOCX or PDF.

For example, you know you want to promote the local car show, so schedule it in on your calendar and what you might do for it in different media.

I've used these tools to plan out special campaigns that spanned several months. What do you use to plan ahead for your online promotions and content?

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