How to Use Templates for Social Media + 4 FREE Templates

Are you a social media manager? Having a social media template for your work is key to organizing yourself and planning content.

Here we will tell you what a template is, what advantages it brings to your content strategy, and a bonus: the social media template that we use to plan our content.

What is a Social Media Template?

A template for social media is an essential document in the daily life of a community or social media manager. 

The objective is to design a content plan with everything you will share on each social network to make sense, be coherent, and not publish without rhyme and reason. 

Metricool’s Free Social Media Marketing Plan Template

You have come to the right place if you want to have your own template for managing your social networks and creating a content plan.

With this CSV template, that we use at Metricool, you can create your weekly content plan and then upload it directly into Metricool’s planner for seamless scheduling. Create a copy of this template and let it guide you through your content plan:

What does this template include?

Instructions 

In this tab, you will find brief instructions on how to use this template. Before you start, we suggest creating a Metricool account so you can easily upload and schedule content to Metricool.

Then, make sure to create a copy of this template so you can customize if for your brand. On this instructions page, you can also view the linked tutorial video. Read through this page carefully as it will provide all the information you need to get started.

Social Networks

This is where you will determine and select which social media platforms you will be creating content for and posting to. Check the boxes next on the social networks you are active, and then click “START”.

Clients

Here you can define your ideal client, including their demographics, interests, pain-points, and behaviors. Create multiple of these profiles, and use this as a reference when creating content. This can help you recognize what content they will be interested in, as well as what they are looking for.

Strategy

In the ‘Strategy’ tab, you will set the principal objectives that you are aiming for across each channel. Then, go more in-depth about how you will achieve these objectives.

At what frequency will you be posting? Define this per social network. And what type of content will you be posting? Think about your content pillars, as well as what works best for your brand on each platform..

After determining the type of content, include which clients you will be targeting. This will help you have a clear goal and idea of what copy to add based on this client.

Weekly Plan

In this section, you have the option to fill in the weekly posting calendar and detail which content idea you are going to share each day. Use the row on the left to add the channels where you will be posting.

If you have already established the content ideas to share on your platforms, this is where you will give more detail to what these posts will look like. Include the channel, client objective, and details of the content for each day of the week.

Content

Lastly, this is where you will enter in your weekly content! What is included in this tab?

✅ Text: Add the text that will appear on your post, so when you schedule it on Metricool, it will already be

✅ Date and Time: Choose the date and time that this post will be posted.

✅ Social Network: Select the social networks that this post will be published to. You will see all the social networks as you scroll through the columns.

✅ Picture URL: This is where you will attach the URL of the photo or video you are planning to post, with up with 10 images or videos. This can be from a Google Drive link or DropBox.

✅ Shortener: If your post includes a link, you can select this “Shortener” option so it doesn’t appear as long on your social media post.

✅ Type of Post: Depending on the platform you are posting to, you may need to select the type of post. For example, you can choose if the content is an Instagram story, post, or reel. For Pinterest you can choose the Pinterest board, pin title, and pin link.

✅ Brand Name: If you manage multiple brands within Metricool, this last column can help differentiate these brands if necessary.

Then when your content plan is ready, you can download this file as a CSV (Comma Separated Values) and directly upload it into Metricool’s planner. To do this, head to Metricool’s planner and click the “Import/Export CSV” option. This way, you can bulk upload and schedule content, just like that.

Do you want to schedule your weekly content on social networks?

Advantages of using a template for social networks

Perhaps you hadn’t considered until now to keep a template for your social media content planning.

Now you have realized how necessary it is … but what advantages does it bring to your day-to-day?

✅ Define your goals

This template will help you set your objectives. Which goals do you pursue with your strategy?

Give more visibility to your brand, sell a specific product, and so on. It also helps you organize your objectives according to the importance you give to each one, focusing and dividing efforts to achieve them.

✅ Organization

Nothing as beautiful as a template full of colors, ordered by dates…

This type of social media template allows you to organize your work to have the content planned by dates, special days, among others.

The main advantage of this organization is twofold:

• Working with important dates marked in your calendar: a new feature launch, for example.
• Remember a specific or commercial date that helps you generate content and interactions: Valentine’s Day.

✅ Evaluation

In the same way that you set objectives to meet, it also allows you to analyze if you have achieved them.

This type of template allows you to accompany each action carried out with data that helps to confirm this result.

✅ Team control

If you work as part of a team, in the template, you can add a column to divide the tasks of each team member, so everything is under control.

On each task, you can see how the work is progressing. You can add certain statuses such as “starting”, “goal achieved”, “in progress”, etc. This will help your team know what they have to do at all times and follow the objectives to comply with the strategy.

As you can see, the main objective is to have everything planned, including the goals, so that nothing escapes your control.

Other FREE Metricool Templates

Beyond content planning, we know there are a lot of helpful templates to evaluate competitors, conducting profile audits, and create content. We have created a variety of templates that you can utilize for free, to guide you through evaluating and executing your winning marketing strategy.

Metricool’s Competitor Analysis Template

Analyzing your competitors helps you understand what is working well in your industry, and how your content and profiles compare. This templates walks you through a SWAT analysis, as well as information about the brand’s following, engagement, posting frequency, etc.

Once again, create a copy of this template and find additional resources to successfully evaluate your competitors.

Metricool’s Audit Template

Auditing is the process of frequently updating your social media profiles to ensure all information is accurate, up-to-date, and aligned with your brands current goals. This document will explain the importance of auditing your accounts, and how to conduct a thorough social media audit.

Metricool’s Instagram Stories Template

Lastly, if you are looking for ready-to-use templates for creating content, we got you. Enjoy these free Instagram Stories templates for creating quick and easy content.

Indeed you have already convinced yourself to use a social media template.

Get ready and start preparing your social media marketing strategy with a Metricool template!

• Social Media Resources

Carlos Bravo , 23 January 2024