April 13 2018 | Best Practices
With a new season on the horizon, and with the idea of "spring cleaning" in mind, we've been exploring how to adopt this idea and have it translate into our digital habits. In an age where we see an excess of content on Instagram, it's important to be intentional when it comes to telling social stories that truly matter to your brand and your audience. So, with the start of spring, today's article will touch on making Q2 content goals and provide a refresher on a few PLANOLY tools that will help set the tone for a new (and productive) season.
Make a Seasonal Plan
Rather than thinking of this as a set-in-stone strategy, start by taking a step back and assessing what performed well in the first quarter of the year. Use those insights to build a plan that includes both specific goals for the season, while also considering long-term goals for your 2018 plan. This foundation will help focus your approach to social content and allow you to begin to weed out certain ideas, kinds of content, or things that don't serve your brand's immediate needs. With the above ideas in mind, and if you're genuinely committed to a complete social content overhaul, the beginning of a new season also presents the perfect opportunity to start over on a fresh note. One prime example of this is Jordan's (@jumpman23) recent Instagram relaunch. The brand archived all of their posts (which is bold considering their current reach is over 14m followers on Instagram alone) and launched a whole new series of people-centric content. While this may have come as a shock to their community, this is one example that demonstrates the opportunities that come with cleaning house and trying something new.
Ways to Incorporate PLANOLY
Now that we've outlined a few ways to approach your social media spring cleaning, below you'll find a few quick tips on a few of our features that can help get your creative (and planning) juices flowing.
- DRAFTS:Even in the age of immediacy, it's important to be thoughtful about what you're posting, when you're posting it and why - that's where Drafts come in. Think of your Draft/Scheduling grid as your own personal mood-board by uploading certain content and categorizing it accordingly. This will allow you to have a variety of content to work with - even if you decide not to share it right away. Sometimes it's as simple as going through the motions which can lead to a successful content strategy.
- ANALYZE: In that same vein, if you're looking to make a change in the kinds of content you're sharing, it's crucial to analyze both your creative AND data. This approach very much depends on what different brands consider to be their KPIs but from a purely data-driven standpoint, looking at what's performed well in the recent past may help inform how you prioritize certain kinds of content.
- DISCOVER: Finally, if you're somewhere in the middle of not knowing how you want your brand's social POV to evolve, look no further than our Discover feature. Through this tool, you can search and automatically upload posts from certain accounts to your scheduling grid. Even if you find yourself going down the rabbit hole, sooner or later, you'll probably start to pick up on patterns or trends of the kind of content that you're drawn to. From there, this can help set the tone for how you shape your content strategy based on either 1) what you like or 2) what you do not see enough of.
Final Thoughts
No matter the season, we hope this article serves as a reference point when it comes to honing in on your brand's social perspective. Do you have any "social media spring cleaning" tips to share with us? Reach out to our team on Instagram with questions, comments, or ways you're refining your social plan in the next few weeks!
