Planning your content

How to create a social media content calendar

A social media content calendar says what you will post, where, when, and why. Build it in five steps: set a goal, pick three to five content pillars, choose a rhythm you can keep, make a table with the right columns, and fill a month. Notion, Airtable or a spreadsheet all work. The step most calendars miss is the last one: getting the posts out. Add Ninecast to a Notion or Airtable calendar and each row posts itself on its date to every platform you connect, with a live Instagram grid of the month beside it.

Five steps

  1. One goal for the month: reach, enquiries, launches.
  2. Three to five pillars, such as tips, behind the scenes, proof, offers.
  3. A rhythm you can keep in your busiest week.
  4. The table: one row per post with the columns below.
  5. Fill a month, then schedule it so the calendar posts itself.

A content calendar that cannot post is a to-do list.

Next: batch the whole month in one sitting, and preview it as your Instagram grid.

Choosing tools: the best app to plan social media content, free content calendars and planning Instagram ahead of time.

Questions that follow

How do I create a social media content calendar?

Set one goal for the month, choose three to five content pillars, decide how often you can really post, then build a table with a row per post: date, platform, caption, media, pillar, status. Fill the month, then schedule it. In Notion or Airtable, Ninecast turns that table into the scheduler: each row posts on its date and its link comes back into the row.

What columns should a social media content calendar have?

Post name, date and time, platform, content pillar, caption, media, status (idea, draft, ready, published) and a post link. Add a results column or two if you want the calendar to double as your report.

Is a spreadsheet good enough for a content calendar?

For planning, yes. The limits are that it cannot show the feed, cannot post, and goes stale the moment you schedule the posts somewhere else.

Should I use Notion or Airtable for my content calendar?

Notion if you like writing and ideas next to the plan; Airtable if you prefer structured views and a high volume of posts. Both work with a grid preview and automatic posting.

How far ahead should a content calendar go?

A month is the sweet spot: far enough to stop daily scrambling, close enough to change for news.

Try it on your own calendar

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