How do you balance consistency and variety in your content calendar?

Creating a content calendar is a key step for any social media marketer who wants to plan, organize, and publish engaging and relevant content for their audience. But how do you balance consistency and variety in your content calendar? How do you avoid boring your followers with the same type of posts every day, or confusing them with too many different topics and formats? Here are some tips to help you find the right mix of content for your social media strategy.

1 Define your goals and themes

Before you start filling your content calendar, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your social media content. What are your main objectives, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or building community? How do you measure your success, such as reach, engagement, or conversions? Based on your goals, you can also identify the main themes or topics that you want to cover in your content, such as education, inspiration, or entertainment. These themes should reflect your brand voice, values, and personality, as well as your audience's interests and needs.

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Izabella (Bella) Pivo

Co-VP of WeBuild @ WISE | Outreach Director @ IDEA | Speaker Coach @ TEDx | Social Entrepreneur | Huntington 100 | Presidential Ambassador | Influencer | on track to change the world
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In my experience, I thrive on making content where I am having fun and expressing my values. Humor, empathy, and leadership are my top priorities I want people to see when I post. Sticking to these traits has allowed for my content to spread in many different areas, including “A Day in My Life, How To: A College Guide, and Storytimes”. All of these are different kinds of content, but they touch on one or all of my values. From there, I can see how my audience responds to these different perspectives and continue making similar content without sharing the same information. I recommend priortizing your values and finding why they are important to you. Doing this can help show yourself more authentically!

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2 Use a content matrix

A content matrix is a tool that helps you map out different types of content based on two dimensions: format and purpose. Format refers to the way you present your content, such as text, image, video, or audio. Purpose refers to the intention behind your content, such as awareness, consideration, or action. By using a content matrix, you can ensure that you have a variety of content formats and purposes in your content calendar, and that you align each piece of content with your goals and themes. For example, you can use a video to raise awareness about a problem, a blog post to educate your audience about a solution, and a testimonial to persuade them to take action.

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3 Plan your frequency and timing

Another aspect of balancing consistency and variety in your content calendar is deciding how often and when to post your content. This depends on several factors, such as your audience's preferences, your resources, and your platform's algorithms. You want to post frequently enough to maintain your visibility and engagement, but not too much to overwhelm or annoy your followers. You also want to post at the optimal times to reach your audience when they are most active and receptive. You can use tools like analytics, surveys, or experiments to find the best frequency and timing for your content.

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4 Curate and repurpose content

Creating original and high-quality content can be time-consuming and challenging, especially if you have multiple social media channels to manage. That's why you should also consider curating and repurposing content in your content calendar. Curating content means sharing relevant and valuable content from other sources, such as influencers, partners, or customers, with proper credit and commentary. Repurposing content means adapting and transforming your existing content into different formats or platforms, such as turning a blog post into a video or a podcast. By curating and repurposing content, you can save time and resources, increase your reach and authority, and diversify your content.

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Izabella (Bella) Pivo

Co-VP of WeBuild @ WISE | Outreach Director @ IDEA | Speaker Coach @ TEDx | Social Entrepreneur | Huntington 100 | Presidential Ambassador | Influencer | on track to change the world
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A good way to curate a voice online is through articles or newsletters. These are usually focus topics posted weekly, which makes it easier to repurpose or create content around that segment. With an article, I like to pick out a few main takeaways I want my audience to know and I make LinkedIn posts, video ideas, and Instagram feeds using information from the article. Here, you can direct your audience to your article and share snapshots of your perspective that may intrigue them to read further. This also helps with retention and sharing your profile to new visitors.

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5 Test and optimize your content

Finally, balancing consistency and variety in your content calendar is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process. You need to monitor and analyze the performance of your content, and use the insights to optimize and improve your content strategy. You can use metrics like impressions, clicks, shares, comments, or conversions to evaluate how well your content is achieving your goals and engaging your audience. You can also use tools like A/B testing, polls, or feedback to experiment with different content elements, such as headlines, images, captions, or hashtags. By testing and optimizing your content, you can fine-tune your content calendar and deliver more value to your followers.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How do you balance consistency and variety in your content calendar?

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1 Define your goals and themes

2 Use a content matrix

3 Plan your frequency and timing

4 Curate and repurpose content

5 Test and optimize your content

6 Here’s what else to consider

Social Media

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How do you balance consistency and variety in your content calendar?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define your goals and themes

2 Use a content matrix

3 Plan your frequency and timing

4 Curate and repurpose content

5 Test and optimize your content

6 Here’s what else to consider

Social Media

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