Maximise Your Instagram Content Calendar for Growth in the Next Quarter

Photo by Windows on Unsplash

An Instagram Content Calendar is a template that will help you organise your content ideas and maintain a consistent posting schedule.

This article will serve as a guide to creating an Instagram Content Calendar that is less random, and fits your long-term plan.

Before you buckle down to come up with ideas for the next quarter, do a little preparation so that you don’t go into the task blindly. It’s important to have a direction and structure, so that the content ideas you come up with, serve a purpose. Or else, all your efforts will be in vain.

Here are some factors to consider before you start with your content calendar:

The Goal of Your Content

Ask yourself: What does my content need to do this quarter? If you are clear about your business goals for the next quarter, and what you expect out of your content on Instagram, you have half your work sorted.

Consider the following to help you identify the goals of your content:

• What is my main objective for this quarter? (reaching more people, fostering a connection with your community, more sales, identifying more segments of your target audience, etc.)
• What kind of content pieces will help me achieve my objective?
• How can I answer the frequently asked queries in my content?

Dive into Instagram Insights

If you know the Instagram metrics to track according to your brand objectives, you can now collect the data from Instagram Insights, and analyse it to know the kind of posts that give you your desired results.

Also, note the following in Instagram Insights:

• The headlines/visuals/hooks that got the most engagement
• Content formats (reels, statics, carousels, etc) that performed the best?
• Day/time the audience is most active?
• Demographics of your audience (gender, city, country)

Revisit your Content Pillars

By choosing the right Content Pillars for your brand, you have already given your Instagram content planning some structure. If you have been sticking to a few content pillars for a while, maybe you would want to revisit them to ensure they are still aligned with your goals.

Utilizing Instagram Insights, analyse the performance of your content pillars to identify which pillars have yielded positive results and generated engagement. Leverage this data to brainstorm additional content ideas that align with and further strengthen these successful pillars.

Reuse. Recycle. Rehash.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time. Just recycle your best-performing content! Instagram Insights will give you all the information you need.

Here are some ways you can repurpose your old content:

• Re-share without any changes if it was posted 2 months ago
• Turn an informative reel into a carousel post
• Turn a carousel into an infographic
• Turn a static into a simple reel with trending audio

Dive into User-Generated Content

Collect everything (good) your users have been saying about you so that you can sprinkle it across your calendar to build trust and credibility with your existing and new audience.

Now that you have all the information you need for your

Don’t miss the Topical Content

Topical content is an amazing opportunity to connect with your audience. By keeping up with the latest trends, and being aware of the cultural days, you stay relevant to your target audience, while keeping the content fresh and relatable.

Topical and moment marketing acts as good filler content, and also gives your audience a break from your usual posts.

Posting Frequency

Has the frequency in which you have been posting working for you? Are the posts too many and it is stressing you out, or do you think you should post more often to increase engagement?

Rethink your posting frequency keeping the present quarter in mind. Keep it manageable to avoid burnout!

Creating your Instagram Content Calendar:

1. Paid Tools/Templates

Hootsite, Buffer, Hubspot, Zoho, Sprout Social — there are many tools that let you plan and share your content calendar with your teammates. Some of these tools are paid, while some have templates ready for you to download for free.

You can save hours of your time by just using one of these tools to create your Instagram Content Calendar.

2. Google Sheets

I prefer making my own social media calendar on Google Sheets. Every brand has a unique requirement. With Google Sheets, you can customise your calendar, and also easily share it with your team.

As a small business owner, you don’t need things to be fancy, you need them to do the work. So if you don’t want to invest in a paid tool to create your content calendar, Google Sheets is a reliable tool you can use.

Since you have already done all the preparation for your Content Calendar, I am sure you already have ideas popping up in your head. If not, get researching and referencing for your posts now!

Here’s a tip — Start with the Topical Days. It will fill up some of the calendar, and you will feel less stressed.

Here are the columns that your Calendar on Google Sheets should have.

1. Content Idea
2. Google link to the creative
3. Caption
4. Date to Post
5. Time to Post
6. Content Pillar
7. Content Format
8. Objective
9. Post Link
10. Budget (if you will be boosting any post)

You can colour-code the content ideas according to the pillar, skip a few columns if they don’t serve your purpose, or switch up this structure any way you want.

Easy, isn’t it? And it won’t take you that long.

I hope planning and preparing this way has made the task of creating the calendar for the next quarter seem less daunting. As you brainstorm ideas, keep your goals and your audience in mind.

You’ve got this! Now, dive into creating your Instagram Content Calendar with confidence. Comment below if you would like me to share a Google Sheets template with you for the same!