How To Plan Your Content material (With Template)

Entrepreneurs and enterprise homeowners are spoiled for selection on the subject of the numerous social media platforms out there for rising an internet viewers.

From BlueSky to TikTok, LinkedIn to Patreon, social media advertising has by no means been extra sturdy, or, arguably, time-consuming.

Nevertheless it doesn’t need to be. Fortuitously, you don’t need to be all over the place directly.

The place you select to indicate up on-line must be based mostly on the place your goal clients spend most of their time. Select these platforms purposefully.

Additionally, streamlining your social media advertising is made simpler with the suitable planning software in your arsenal – and no, it doesn’t require fancy software program options.

On this information, I’m sharing a free, easy-to-use social media planning template, plus useful steps on tips on how to make it give you the results you want.

It’s as easy or as customizable as you want it to be. No pointless bells or whistles.

Free Social Media Planner Template For Google Sheets

Planning your social media content material doesn’t need to be difficult – or require the usage of costly instruments.

With the free Planner Template, you’ll discover a neater option to plan, arrange, and schedule your social media content material.

Whether or not you might be a person, enterprise proprietor, or marketer, this template is designed that will help you publish content material persistently, keep organized, and make higher choices about your social media technique.

With this Google Sheets template, you may:

• Plan your content material calendar prematurely, see what you’ve printed, and know what’s arising subsequent.
• Schedule posts for a number of social media accounts from one calendar.
• Observe the progress of your content material and use the data to tell your future technique.
• Collaborate with others by sharing entry together with your staff.

Observe: Click on on File > Make a Copy to edit your template. You don’t want to request edit entry.

Make a duplicate: Social Media Planner Template for Google Sheets

How To Plan Your Social Media Content material

The Google Sheet template makes it simple to see your schedule nicely prematurely and save your whole social media property in a single place.

Right here’s tips on how to plan your social media content material this yr.

Step 1: Create A Copy Of The “Social Media Planner Template”

Upon getting entry to the template, click on “File” after which “Make a Copy.” This may create a brand new copy of the template that you would be able to edit.

Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, Could 2025

Subsequent, give your copy a descriptive title, similar to “[Business name] – Social Media Plan Q1-This autumn 2025,” and reserve it to Google Drive.

Step 2: Establish Your Present Quarter/Month

Relying on once you’re studying this text, it would be best to determine the quarter and/or month wherein you propose to start out your social media planning.

The underside of the template contains tabs spanning from “Q1: January” to “This autumn: December” of 2025.

Open the tab for the month wherein you wish to begin planning your content material:

Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, Could 2025

For simplicity, we began with “Q1: January” and started filling out the primary few matters for instance:

Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, Could 2025

Additionally, you will see within the left-hand columns that there’s a calendar for every month. That is merely a reference to the right days of the week/month for 2025 so you may plan accordingly.

You possibly can, in fact, replace this for 2026, 2027, and so forth.

Step 3: Select Your Social Media Platforms (“Platform”)

Column Okay features a dropdown of assorted social media platforms to which you’ll be publishing your content material.

You possibly can choose from this record of choices (Weblog, Instagram, LinkedIn, Fb, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, or Different), or you may add your individual by clicking the pencil icon:

Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, Could 2025

This dropdown lets you simply determine which platform you propose on publishing to. Whether or not it’s Fb, Instagram, X (Twitter), or some other platform, this can enable you to maintain your content material organized.

Step 4: Plan Your Subjects

Now, it’s time to fill in your subject concepts.

There are fairly a number of methods to consider participating social media matters, which we coated in our information on tips on how to create genuine social media content material.

Nonetheless, the analysis course of doesn’t need to cease there. Listed here are a number of methods to provide you with social media posts:

• Conduct competitor analysis: Take a look at what your opponents are doing on social media and use that as inspiration on your future social media posts.
• Take a look at trade developments: Keep up-to-date on trade developments and information, and use this data to create related and well timed posts on your viewers.
• Make the most of user-generated content material: Encourage your followers to share their very own experiences and use that content material as inspiration on your posts.
• Take a look at hashtags: Analysis and use related hashtags to extend the visibility of your posts and attain a wider viewers. This can be a option to discover content material concepts.
• Schedule common promotions: Share your promotions and reductions to drive engagement and improve gross sales.

When you suppose up some concepts, you can begin filling out your social media planner.

Simply fill out Columns J by R together with your “Title/Matter,” “Description,” and the like.

Step 5: Add Content material And Publishing Notes

Begin enhancing the template by including related data, similar to your descriptions, content material doc hyperlinks, hashtags, publish dates, and monitoring hyperlinks (if wanted).

Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, Could 2025

Be happy so as to add rows, columns, or fields to fit your wants.

Within the “Photographs” and “Video/Media” columns, you may add hyperlinks to the visible property you propose to make use of in your social media submit. You are able to do this by including a hyperlink to a Google Drive folder with pictures or your chosen Digital Asset Supervisor (DAM).

Step 6: Add Publish Dates

Subsequent, use the template to schedule your posts prematurely by including the date and platform for every submit.

Don’t overlook to replace the “Standing” column (I) as you’re employed by your social media plan.

You may as well use the template to trace the success of your content material by including metrics similar to likes, feedback, and shares.

Step 7: Share With Your Workforce

In case you are working with a staff, share the template together with your colleagues and provides them entry to edit the template.

This may let you collaborate and work collectively to take care of a constant social media presence.

The “Notes” column is for any miscellaneous notes about your upcoming content material, together with particulars about your upcoming content material, drafts, due dates, and so forth. and you need to use this to work together with your staff async.

Step 8: Plan Forward And Repeat

Planning your social media content material prematurely presents quite a few advantages that may enormously improve your social media presence.

By taking the time to plan your content material, you may guarantee that you’re persistently publishing related posts that have interaction your viewers and drive outcomes.

With a transparent content material plan in place, you may deal with creating high-quality content material that’s aligned together with your general advertising technique and keep away from the pitfalls of impulsive, unplanned posting.

I like to recommend utilizing the social media planner to plan no less than one quarter’s price of content material, so that you’re not scrambling to write down the copy, acquire the property, schedule the posts, and so forth.

Plan And Publish Social Media Content material Like A Professional

Social media advertising doesn’t need to be a headache. With the suitable course of, you may streamline your social media content material planning and publishing schedule.

In as little as a number of hours per quarter, you may plan your content material nicely prematurely, taking the guesswork out of your social media posting.

Utilizing a planning template lets you be proactive in your subject planning, get organized, and keep on schedule. Over time, planning your content material will really feel like second nature relatively than a chore.

With social media planning, entrepreneurs achieve:

• A no-nonsense system for monitoring content material matters and scheduling.
• Time effectivity and a streamlined publishing cadence.
• Consistency in publishing well timed, related posts.
• Improved visibility into efficiency and outcomes.

Additionally, once you plan your social media posts prematurely, you may higher allocate price range and sources to your efforts, guaranteeing you’re utilizing your time in the simplest manner potential.

So, benefit from the free social media planning template, make it yours, and save time in your social media advertising efforts.

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Featured Picture: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal