In several of our previous posts, we’ve talked about using tools and apps to grow your biz. There are new apps with improved features being launched every other day too. This is understandable, considering how fast the world of social media is changing. But all the tech jargon can be overwhelming to someone who’s in the initial phase of launching their biz or doesn’t have a huge budget. Well, we believe that whatever your current situation is, you can still have a killer social media calendar to stay on top of your content marketing. And all you need for it is – nothing! Yes, there are ways to organize your social media calendar for free, and they’re pretty awesome too!
5 Ways to Organize your Social Media Calendar for Free
1. Microsoft Excel
You can’t think of anything simpler (or economical) than a good ol’ excel sheet! If you’re an absolute newbie and want to get started without procrastinating too much, excel might be the way to go. Microsoft Excel is perfect for a calendar layout and multiple tabs can help you organize for future events too. And don’t underestimate it – this basic tool has pretty much all the features you need when starting out!
2. Google Sheets
If you tend to work from multiple places or simply need a tool that can travel better than MS Excel, then Google Sheets is your best bet. You get the great layout and most features of an excel sheet, only this time your data is in the cloud rather than your hard drive. Google Sheets makes it easy for you to sync up your calendar from anywhere, and can also be shared if there are multiple people working together.
3. Google Calendar
How better to organize your social media calendar – than with another calendar? Google’s free calendar is really an excellent tool to have a hold over all your social media posts. With daily, weekly and monthly views, you can put in all important dates for the future. You can also set reminders for events, list tasks and plan things down to the hour. Many of the holidays are already marked, and you can customize the color codes to your liking.
4. Evernote
Any list of organizing tools is bound to include Evernote, that’s how popular it is! In the free version, you can sync up to two devices, which is likely to be enough for a person who’s starting out. Evernote has an impressive number of features and you can customize them to make it work for your biz. The best part is that you can directly clip a link, photo or audio from a web page, to save for sharing later. You can also snap a photo and save it, using the mobile app.
5. Apps
Yes, we’re still talking about free stuff! There are many social media management apps out there, and most of them offer a free version. The advantage of using these apps is that once you find one that works for you, you can continue with it as you grow your biz. All you need to do is get the premium version. These apps also help in scheduling your posts for you, considerably making life easier.
Of course, if you’d really like to go old-school, you can stick to paper, pen and post its! And it doesn’t have to be depressing – even CoSchedule reportedly uses this method. You can try out any one or all of these ways to organize your social media calendar, till you find one that you like best. Now nothing, not even a low budget, can stop you from getting your marketing in gear!
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