Content plan template: how to plan your social media month

What a content plan gives you

A content plan – also called a content calendar – is your roadmap for social media. You decide what you’ll talk about, on which channel, in which format and on which day. You jot down ideas whenever they come to you, and do the writing in one quiet hour.

The result is a presence that feels consistent and varied: a peek behind the scenes one day, an offer the next, a face from your team after that. Your community looks forward to what’s next – and your mind is free for everything else.

The template: the columns you need

Spreadsheet, notebook or planning tool: with these nine fields, every post has everything it needs. Set them up once and reuse the template every month.

• Date and time: when the post should go live.
• Channel: Instagram, Facebook, Google Business Profile – or several at once.
• Format: post, carousel, Reel or Story.
• Topic or pillar: which of your main themes the post belongs to, for example “Craft,” “Team,” “Offers” or “Tips.”
• Occasion: holiday, awareness day, season or a date of your own, like an anniversary or the start of the season.
• Copy: the finished post text, or at least the key message and the first sentence.
• Image: which photo, video or design goes with it – and where it’s stored.
• Status: idea, in progress, ready, scheduled, published.
• Approval: who signs off on the post and when it was approved.

Content pillars: it’s all in the mix

Content pillars are three to five fixed areas your posts come from. They make your presence feel well-rounded, and you never have to think long about what to share next.

A bakery might choose “In the bakehouse,” “Flavors of the week,” “Team” and “Specials.” An agency talks about “Projects,” “Know-how,” “Team” and “Client stories.” Add the pillar to every row of your plan – and you’ll instantly see whether the mix is right.

Sample week: a bakery in October

Here’s how the week around World Bread Day on October 16 could look – four posts, plus spontaneous Stories from the bakehouse:

• Monday, Instagram and Facebook, carousel, pillar “Flavors of the week”: three fall loaves with pumpkin seeds, walnut and spelt.
• Wednesday, Instagram, Reel, pillar “In the bakehouse”: the sourdough from starter to finished loaf in time-lapse.
• Friday, all channels, post, occasion World Bread Day: a thank-you to everyone who loves bread as much as you do, plus a bread of the day to try.
• Saturday, Instagram and Google, post, pillar “Team”: the master baker introduces her favorite loaf.
• Daily, Story: the first tray of the morning, a poll on the next flavor, a look at the full counter.

Sample week: an agency with several clients

An agency plans for its own presence and for its clients. The template stays the same – but the “Approval” column matters even more here, because every client sees her posts before they go live.

• Monday, own presence, Instagram, carousel, pillar “Know-how”: five ideas for fall posts in the trades.
• Tuesday, Instagram and Facebook, Reel, pillar “Projects”: a client’s new logo – from first sketch to finished sign.
• Wednesday, for the café client, a post for International Coffee Day on October 1, prepared in advance, status “for approval” with the café.
• Thursday, Facebook, post, pillar “Client stories”: a line from a happy client with a photo of the project.
• Friday, Instagram, Story, pillar “Team”: a look back at the week from the office.

Your monthly rhythm with awareness days

Your plan gets easiest when you follow the same routine every month. Awareness days are your best source of ideas: they give a post a reason and a date. In tiaki’s free awareness days calendar you’ll find world days and quirky holidays for the whole year – no sign-up, right in your browser.

1. End of the previous month: open the awareness days calendar and mark two to four days that suit you.
2. Add fixed dates: holidays, school breaks, your own promotions, anniversaries, the start of the season.
3. Spread your content pillars across the weeks so the mix is right.
4. Write the copy and gather the images in one quiet hour.
5. Get the posts approved and schedule them with date and time.
6. Leave room for the spontaneous: the best photo of the month often happens unplanned.

Social media templates for images and copy

Besides the planning template, templates for recurring posts pay off: a fixed layout for “Flavor of the week,” an image template for holiday opening hours, a text framework for introducing new team members. Your presence looks all of a piece, and every new post is ready in minutes.

Save these templates where you plan – then they’re just a tap away when the occasion shows up in your calendar.