How to Create an E-Commerce Social Media Content Calendar
An e-commerce content calendar is the best way to plan and optimise upcoming content for your e-commerce business. Read on to find out how to get started.
Your Guide to Social Media Marketing
A strategy around social media can help you get your brand out there and the content calendar is where to start.
According to Buffer, 73% of marketing professionals say that social media marketing was great for business growth (2021).
The pandemic has also been responsible for consumers’ changing behaviour, as they have relied more on social platforms during the discovery, research, and purchase phases of their shopping journey (Mintel, 2020).
We’ve also seen developments such as tabs for shopping on Facebook and Instagram, making it easier than ever to sell and distribute produce on social media.
What is an e-commerce content calendar?
In short, an e-commerce content calendar is an overview of upcoming posts. It usually covers each post’s date, time, content, word count and external links.
It can be in the form of a spreadsheet, Google calendar or interactive dashboard (if you’re using a social media management app).
Why do businesses need an e-commerce social media content calendar?
1. Organises content across social media channels
Managing content for different social media channels can be a tough challenge, especially as you have to cater to the demands of each platform.
For instance, while Facebook and Instagram may prefer long-form posts, Twitter’s style is short and punchy.
Adhering to the tone of the platform, as well as developing your own themes for different pages, is a tricky job.
Social media content calendars help you to imagine all these possibilities in one table, allowing for a clearer train of thought.
2. An opportunity to get ahead of competitors
Want to be the first to post about SpaceX’s Elon Musk’s next rocket launch? Of course, you do!
Jumping on a topic first puts you ahead of competitors as it’s likely to get more engagement and shows your audience that you’re aware of trending topics – i.e. there aren’t spider webs on your company Macintoshes.
You can also use news and key dates as an opportunity to leverage your branding and promote some new products.
There’s also a chance that the platform’s algorithm will pick up your post and suggest it to other users.
3. Allows you to think of ideas in advance
Starting your research early on helps you to identify the key areas your business can focus on.
The topics you discover in this phase can lead to clever campaigns and posts: just what you want to stop the consumer in their tracks while they scroll their socials.
4. You can automate your content
Depending on what platform your content calendar is built on, you may be able to schedule automated posting.
This allows you to manage your content all in one go.
Being organised also prevents the stress involved with updating social media daily – just let your calendar do the work and sit back with a nice cuppa while the likes roll in!
How do I plan monthly content for my business using an e-commerce content calendar?
Step 1: Review what you need to promote
This is where you might want to ask yourself questions about:
What is the core message that you want to relay to consumers? What’s your mission statement and how can you leverage your brand around it?
What is your target audience (demographic and psychographic)? Do some digging – you could, for instance, check out your competitors’ social media pages to see what kind of audience they’re engaging.
What are the key products you need to promote this season?
Note this all down. A mind map is usually best for this as it helps to visualise all the information in one place.
Step 2: Decide when you want to promote your content and on which platforms
This requires research. If already active on social media, look at your engagement – likes, follows. You can check out insights on Meta for Business Suite depending on the type of account you have or via your social media scheduler.
This will help you to find out what times and platforms your content is most successful on. It also helps you discover your audience profile for each platform – as promoting different products on various platforms (to capture the specific audience of that platform) is the best way to make use of your presence.
Remember it’s not just about what you post, but also how you allocate your time to maintain your social media presence.
Think also about the most important times of year for business – Christmas, bank holidays, Black Friday. There are plenty of seasonal holidays and national holidays to keep track of and you can use your social media calendar to keep on top of this.
Step 3: Find out what else is going on that you need to talk about
Knowing about current events, retail days and major e-commerce holidays can be critical to getting engagement. But you also need to be aware of the key dates trending, and discussions taking place within your industry.
Check out this post by Terry Price (Consulting):
You can use our Key Dates Finder tool to get the best out of your social media strategy. With a mix of national days and key events, the tool will make it easier to plan ahead. Or check out the freebie calendar here.
Step 4: Prepare your content
This is the fun part.
With all the information you now have, you can get creative with what content you want to manage.
Content could be written (articles, blog posts, short posts), videos, infographics, contests etc. See Mailchimp’s article for more inspiration on types of content.
Step 5: Make sure you have a populated calendar
Remember earlier, when we said that the frequency of content can be as important as the content itself?
Sure, social media can be time consuming, but the benefits speak for themselves. Studies have revealed posting on Facebook should be kept to once per day, while another peak social media posting frequencies differ.
Step 6: See if there are any gaps and get your team to look over and feed in
Don’t snooze on the job!
While it may be tiring to keep updating your social media, there, unfortunately, isn’t much leeway when it comes to taking a break.
What you should be looking for is continued engagement to get circulation and sales.
Remember that not every post needs to be about your product. Some posts can be informational and/or increase your brand’s sensitivity – key dates can be a great resource for this as many are based around awareness for social issues.
Top tip: Apps such as MissingLettr can really help with this process. You can plan content in advance so there’s no need to be checking every day.
Step 7: Get your team involved
Is there anything your team want to talk about on social media?
Maybe HR want to promote new hires, or another division may wish to talk about a new product being developed.
Take note of this, so you can do your best to get this information to your audience on time.
Top 10 Key Dates for your E-Commerce Content Calendar
Valentine’s Day (14 February )
Valentine’s Day celebrates love and romance. But there’s no reason you can’t encourage your audience to celebrate friendship too.
Why not create a Valentine’s Advent calendar, where you can make use of this highly commercial holiday with a 14-day marketing campaign?
Pink Friday (19 November)
Pink Friday is the ‘small business spin’ on the traditional Black Friday experience, reminding people to #ShopSmallFirst. Find out more at The Boutique Hub (they’ve got great tips for marketing campaigns).
Black Friday (25 November)
No doubt a knock-out event for e-commerce businesses. 2020 saw desktop orders at 49%, while smartphones accounted for 43% during a record-setting year.
Mother’s Day (8 May US, 27 March UK)
One of the biggest shopping holidays of the year. There’s lots of competition so it’s important to get your stock and marketing ready early. You could offer giveaways to get your audience talking.
Do your research as this day can fall on different dates throughout the year depending on the country.
Father’s Day (19 June for UK and US)
The men’s market is constantly diversifying. Beauty is an emerging area, with an increasingly open attitude to gender.
You might want to turn your focus to women, as research shows they spend as much as 50% more than their male counterparts. Don’t forget also the 28% of female shoppers buying gifts for their husbands this Father’s Day (National Retail Federation, 2018).
Pride Month (June)
A biggie. It’s an especially good time for kindness and inclusivity marketing campaigns. Get your terminology and sentiment right by following this Forbes article.
National Selfie Day (June 21)
Get your followers talking. Why not offer a selfie competition – most creative selfie earns a giveaway. Be sure to create a hashtag for it. This can increase your brand’s exposure while creating a community with your audience.
Halloween (October 31)
Offer some scaringly-good deals this season! It doesn’t matter if your brand doesn’t offer fancy dress. Kylie cosmetics shows us that you can push your brand outside its limits with just a hint of creativity:
Small Business Saturday (November 26)
Created in 2010 by American Express, Small Business Saturday aims to draw attention to small business owners by encouraging customers to support local businesses rather than industry giants.
If you’re a small business owner, November 30 might be a great time to share the story behind your brand or your brand values and beliefs.
Christmas Eve and Day (December 24–25)
Get behind this MASSIVE festive season by planning in advance. You could create an exclusive Christmas online catalogue, offer gift cards, gift wrap and free shipping.
This season is all about telling stories, so remember your target audience and core mission when it comes to marketing and sales.
Takeaway
This guide discusses the what, why and how of content calendars for e-commerce businesses, with key examples and dates to get you started.
A content calendar is required for two main things: planning and content. Planning is a stress-free way to nab opportunities for engagement, and streamlining content allows for a more comprehensive narrative for your consumer base.
Creating one is fairly easy and, with a bit of work, it can improve efficiency for the company.
Written by Zoe Papadopoulos
