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Oct 23 2018 
Social Media Calendar: Create a structured impact
Running a successful brand isn’t easy. Add to that, posting regularly on all your popular social media platforms? You are bound to miss out on posting some day or the other. Or keeping it till last minute, you wouldn’t know what to post and miss out on a particular time you favour.
How do you structure everything and make your life simpler? This is where a social media calendar comes to rescue.
What is a social media calendar?
A social media calendar is exactly as the name suggests. A calendar which helps you plan in advance for your posts; be it Facebook, Instagram or even Twitter. Details such as what to post, the correct hashtags, when to publish, all can be planned in advance.
Why use a social media calendar?
1. Post consistency
Social media is all about consistency. New, fresh content keeps your existing followers engaged and attracts new followers. Miss a moment and it may cost your brand big. As a brand, you will never have a “what do I post?” or “I missed my favoured time!” moment if you pre-plan all your content. You will be prepared for the coming few days or weeks, and posting will be a 2 minute job rather than a half-an-hour panic.
via www.onlinemarketinghq.co.uk
2. Perfect content mix
Maintaining an Instagram grid is not an easy task. Coming up with new set of hashtags customised day-wise becomes tedious. All these and more can be solved through pre-planning with a calendar. Make your content mix, the perfect mix – with posts on information of your brand, interactions with your followers (#AskMe) or even select posts/news from your industry.
via blog2social.com
3. Avoid cross-platform errors
Planning ahead and segregating posts as per platform helps you to avoid mistakes like using Instagram hashtags on Facebook, or last minute editing of captions to be Twitter ready. Another advantage is that with a calendar you can keep track of the correct handles to on the right platform instead of having to search last minute for the account or tagging a wrong account.
via buildmyplays.com
4. Content Planning
Careful and systematic planning = NEVER REPEAT YOUR POST (unless #throwback or #flashback). Having a clear outline of your week ahead, helps you to prepare content for the next few weeks. This also gives your graphic designer, copywriter enough time to devise something spectacular for you.
Curate your best work, create your best mix and put it all on (digital) paper, and YOU ARE GOOD TO GO!
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Oct 15 2018 
Make your Instagram, Grid-friendly
Social media today, is dynamic. Trends are changing rapidly to grab the maximum attention. From worded content, to picture content and videos, digital-info consumption is evolving continuously. Instagram is about pictures & videos and we all keep looking for new ways of attracting potential digital traffic to your account and have them press that ‘follow’ button. The latest trendsetter with Instagram is the ‘grid’.
Grids are nothing but a set pattern which helps page owners attain the look that they have envisioned for their brand/page and eventually helps attract the digital traffic that your brand page is aiming for. Also, it’s always easier to work in a routine and Instagram grids are here to do just that. Specially if we are aiming to be the gen-next influencers that want the Instagram page to attract not just viewership, but also economic gains and business prospects.
3 CREATIVE (AND EASY) HACKS TO MAKE A GRID
1. CHECKERBOARD
Content that is ‘tile’ style. Make a visually appealing theme, alternating your posts between either two theme colours or alternating between a minimalistic slide and busier slide. Think of a pattern that resonates with your brand theme, showcases your CTA (call-to-action) and convinces a viewer to respond immediately. Not very difficult to maintain, just remember to alternate your posts correctly and the grid will maintain itself
via schedugr.am2. HORIZONTAL LINES
Do you want your Instagram page to tell a story, appealing to the people who are scrolling through your page? Travel, restaurant and pages that put up elaborate and picturesque posts, turn towards this style of planning their Instagram posts. It requires careful editing techniques to make a picture into 3 or 6 parts, maintain continuity in all pictures but also has a maximum impact on a viewer about to scroll down through your account
3. VERTICAL LINES
Only if you are prepared to be very very VERY committed to maintaining a grid, look no further. This grid simply requires you to maintain 3 equally attractive rows of content. Your visitors are now hooked on to the creativity (with discipline) exhibited and will keep scrolling down to look further into your brand and the variety of information you offer
via refinery29.comOther than the above, themes can also be maintained with a singular colour background or a single colour border. Something as simple as a plain white border can also help sustain a theme or grid.
Instagram grids give your visitors, instant gratification. A few scrolls and they get the gist of what your page is all about, your highlights and takeaways. Well-maintained grids in Instagram pages give that extra nudge to your visitors to not just ‘double-click’ a few pictures here and there but also add your account to their must-see list.
So choose your grid and start planning now!
