In the CMO survey, 17% of marketing budgets are spent on social media and this is expected to increase to 20% this year. With increased spending, it is more important than ever to ensure you are spending that money effectively and efficiently. Placing the wrong content on the wrong platforms can be like showing up to a track meet with dress shoes or a wedding in track spikes.

What does the wrong content look like?

Let’s say you’re an apparel company and your audience believes your brand is out of style. You won’t convince them with Tweets about quality materials. High quality images of your new styles on Instagram and collabs with fashion influencers on TikTok would be a better fit. Yet a Twitter post sharing stats and facts about climate change could be good for a nonprofit cause that supports the environment.

When considering social media platforms, think about the kinds of content that will work best and the platforms ideal for that type of content. A good way to think this through is to first answer these three key questions about your target audience:

1. What does the target audience currently think?
2. What would we like the target audience to think?
3. What visual/verbal message will move them from one to the other?

Why is the right place, for the right people important?

Getting the right content in front of the right audience at the right place is key. People go to different platforms for different reasons and may be in different stages of the buyer’s journey. You don’t want to squeeze a longer how-to video for current customers into a short Facebook video trying to attract new ones. Current customers would be searching for tutorials on YouTube.

Also, consider that different target audiences spend more and less time on different platforms and different products and services require different content. A gum brand like Orbit doesn’t need a tutorial or testimony, but for a business software service company like IBM tutorials and testimonials work. Each requires specific types of content to shift thinking.

How do I plan out the right content for the right platform?

The social media content planning template below considers different types of businesses or industries such as finance or fashion that tend to require different types of content.

First, decide your industry sector or category. Research and list the types of content customers in that industry market tend to seek. You can do this with consumer reports from market research firms like Mintel, conduct your own surveys, or simply talk to current customers and/or your front end employees and salespeople. They are the closest to your customer’s questions and needs.

Next, consider that your target audience may also need to see different types of content based on the stage in the buyer’s journey. Take your long list of content ideas and categorize by buyer’s journey stage:

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Consideration
4. Conversion
5. Use
6. Opinion
7. Sharing

Finally, consider the type of content appropriate for your industry, ideal customer, and stage. Keep in mind the following categories of types of social media content:

1. Educational
2. Interactive
3. Inspirational
4. Authentic
5. Entertaining
6. Promotional

This social media content planning template presents what we just discussed with example types of content under each category to help jump start your thinking.

A social media content planning template can help you brainstorm content for your client, company, or organization based on the industry and content needed in the buyer journey stages.

This could be especially useful after conducting a social media audit. To turn audit recommendations into a social media plan, use the content planning template above to brainstorm types of content for the most effective and efficient social media.

Does the shoe fit when it comes to your social media marketing content and platforms?

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