On top of my own social media, I also maintain the social media platforms of multiple clients. I’ve always been very vocal about the fact that one of the most important tools that I use to manage all this content is a social media content calendar.

The constant flow of new content, ideas, and news across different niches means it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day management of these accounts and a lot can slip through the cracks. A social media calendar saves me time and lets me track different strategies. It also helps me to be more consistent in my posting, as well as with each brand’s voice and style.

Here are some of the top tools I use for my social media content calendar to get the job done:

1. Google Sheets to Create a Centralized Calendar

One of the biggest problems I’ve encountered when it comes to tracking and monitoring social media content calendars is versioning issues. As the calendar gets passed around between team members and clients, it’s easy to lose track of the final version. This makes it very difficult to find the final version for publication and causes a lot of posting errors and confusion.

A simple and easy way to avoid this is to create your calendar on a Google Spreadsheet. This not only allows you to eliminate versioning issues, but it also means you can quickly edit, update, and make necessary changes on a calendar without having to worry about whether your entire team is in the loop.

2. Buffer to Schedule Posts Across Multiple Platforms

Scheduling posts in advance, especially when you’re managing multiple accounts, is easier when you can automate everything. With Buffer, I can easily post for multiple clients across multiple social media platforms. I have it all mapped out in a visual, easy to understand dashboard.

3. Trello to Keep Track of Social Media Team Tasks and Status

Trello is a powerful organizational tool that shines in its simplicity. The visual platform provides a big picture overview of current team tasks. It also provides a central repository for all the necessary links needed to maintain your social media platforms across different clients. The features are flexible and customizable. It’s easy to use and encourages collaboration between team members. It also fosters transparency between all the people involved in the creation and publication of social media updates, ensuring smoother implementation.

These three things have proven to be great tools that allow me to get my job done efficiently. Most are free to try so you can easily assess whether they can be as useful for you as they are for me. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email via Leadspanda and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.