Our intern, Sara MacIntosh, shares her tips for creating a digital content calendar.

Engaging your audiences online is one part art, one part consistent effort. If you’re responsible for your organization’s social media, the need for content may feel like it’s never ending.  Keeping up is challenging, but a content calendar can help you take a strategic approach to both storytelling and time management.

A content calendar (AKA an editorial calendar) is simply an outline that lists your social media channels and plots out content opportunities over a given time period. It typically includes post copy, relevant links, and an indication of the images and video you’ll use. At a glance, you’ll be able to see what is to be posted and when, making gaps or overlapping content easy to spot.

Here are my five tips for creating an effective content calendar:

1.     Start with a solid understanding of your audiences. Which of your social media channels reach which of your audiences? And what kind of content is the audience interested in? Not all of your content will be appropriate for every channel.

2.     Determine the calendar range and set a frequency. Identify the amount of time you are working with. Are you planning for week? A month? Working month-to-month is often a good place to start. You get the benefits of planning ahead without the information gaps that might exist with longer range planning. Frequency is important to consider – some organizations will post multiple times a day, while for others a few times per week will be sufficient. Either way, if you set an explicit frequency goal, you are more likely to achieve it. 

3.     Identify the stories you want to tell. What does your organization have to say? Are you making announcements, launching new products? What insights can your leadership team offer on your industry? When you don’t have internal stories to share are there universal topics that you can tag onto (eg: holidays, larger news stories)?

4.     Words + visuals = content. The words you use to tell the story are important, but no social media post is complete without an image or a video. Write posts and source images ahead of time where appropriate. Whenever possible, include a call to action in the post.

5.     Pre-schedule your posts. Social media management tools like Hootsuite are a community manager’s best friend. They allow you to pre-schedule posts, helping reduce the pressure of posting on the fly. Having said that, it’s important leave some room in your social media plan for spontaneity. The real social media magic happens through genuine conversation with your audiences – and that can’t be scheduled!

Elettra Communications provides social media strategy and content development services. We build content calendars for all platforms. Contact us at info@elettra.ca.

Two months ago I began my internship at Elettra. I’ve somehow time warped into my last week, because it feels like yesterday was my first day. That being said, I’ve been fortunate to accomplish a lot in eight weeks. Between helping out with events, drafting communication tools, creating social media content and putting together media kits, it’s been an exciting time. For the sake of being short and sweet, I won’t recap everything I’ve experienced here. Instead, I’ll share the top three lessons I’ve learned.

Lesson 1: Know your industry Completing PR school in Toronto, I was curious about how Vancouver would compare. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that practical skills are only as valuable as your knowledge of the industry. Being a good writer means nothing if you don’t know who to pitch to, or how to address your audience.

At Elettra I spent plenty of time familiarizing myself with the Vancouver media landscape – studying local newspapers and blogs, scanning for coverage, and composing media lists.

Lesson 2: Be detail-oriented I was lucky to experience the Pacific Centre Make an Entrance fashion show from planning stages to event day. I quickly learned how important attention to detail is, as we examined every angle of the event – from what to do if it rained, to what kind of skirting to use on the runway.

Simone warned me, be ready for anything. If you can imagine it, it can happen. Behind the scenes, the ladies of Elettra were prepared for any possible situation. This meticulous mindset resulted in a successful and memorable event.

Jenny

Lesson 3: Think creatively Throughout my internship I also worked on creating social media content for Harbour Centre. In agency you’re forced to think creatively, as each client has a unique set of needs. The challenge here was crafting content that’s appealing for their audience, while remaining relevant to current news and events. Generating ongoing, original content encouraged me to explore new methods of thought.

Team brainstorm sessions certainly help with the creative process. Thankfully I was able to listen and contribute to quite a few during my internship. The fantastic part about Elettra is their collaborative environment, which breeds excitement and innovation within the team.

So that about sums it up. It’s hard to list only three takeaways, because I’ve learned countless things during my internship. I owe a huge thank you to the ladies of Elettra for offering me their knowledge, insight and support. As for me, onto the next chapter of my PR story!

You can reach Jenny on LinkedIn here.

Elettra Communications has an immediate opening for a full time Account Coordinator. We are looking for an enthusiastic and driven professional who is keen to take the next step in their PR career. Responsibilities:

Media Relations

• Writing media materials, including news releases, fact sheets, articles, and web copy.
• Developing media lists, distributing media materials, and pitching stories.
• Responding to incoming reactive media inquiries.
• Monitoring media and developing campaign recaps.

Social Media

• Monitoring social media channels on behalf of clients.
• Developing social media content and assisting in strategy development.

Events / Community Relations

• Coordinating events and community programs, working with clients and suppliers.

General

• Supporting senior team members on a variety of communications projects.
• Supporting administrative functions of the agency.
• Contributing to Elettra’s social media profiles. Creating content for Elettra’s blog.
• Conducting research on a variety of topics.

Requirements:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Business, Marketing, Public Relations, or Arts.
• Previous experience (6 months – 1 year) working in a public relations agency or within a communications team. This can include internships.
• Strong media literacy and interest in local, national, and international current affairs and news.
• Active user of social media, including all major platforms. Experience in content development and monitoring.
• Exceptional writing and oral communications skills.
• A wealth of knowledge about, and passion for, the city of Vancouver.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Flexible with hours and able to respond to media inquiries / attend events outside the 9-5, Monday-Friday workweek.

Please apply with cover letter and cv to info@elettra.ca.

Elettra Communications is working with Saint Bernadine Mission Communications to showcase Harbour Centre’s variety of retailers through soccer with a social media contest called “Spot the Footie”. As part of its “Spot the Footie” contest, Harbour Centre is offering a chance to win a grand prize of a pair of 5-pack Whitecaps FC tickets.  Each day from June 12 to July 16, 2014 there will be a Whitecaps soccer ball placed at a different Harbour Centre retailer.   @Harbour_Centre will tweet a daily clue describing the location of the footie.

In order to participate, individuals need to take a photo of the Whitecaps Footie in its newest location and share the photo on Twitter and/or Instagram.  To keep track of the submissions, participants are asked to include #HarbourCentre and #Footie, and are required to follow @Harbour_Centre on Twitter.  Every participant can enter once a day throughout the contest.  To bring attention to the contest we worked with Vancity Buzz on some separate contesting for their readers and followers.

So far we have seen many submissions, a substantial increase in both Twitter followers and interaction with the @Harbour_Centre account.  This has been the result of strategic hashtag usage, monitoring and consistent engagement from the @Harbour_Centre.

More contest details can be found on Harbour Centre’s website. Look forward to seeing your entry!