aff // There’s nothing worse than a creative block when you’re a blogger or business owner. We’ve all heard how “consistency is king” when it comes to being an online creator but it’s hard to be consistent when you’re stuck for ideas! So in this post, I’m going to share a bunch of social media planning prompts for your blog or business!
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m far from an expert when it comes to content calendars and social media content planning. If you read my post on 6 Ways To Start Enjoying Instagram Again then you’ll see one of my pieces of advice is to actually DITCH the schedule.
For some people, I think ditching the schedule can be hugely beneficial. For others, it’s better to have a more mapped out social media content calendar. Neither way is right or wrong (in my HUMBLE opinion although I’m sure social media managers and strategists will be coming for me with their pitchforks) – you gotta do what’s best for you.
You’ll see on my own Instagram, I’m following a fairly loose schedule and calendar at the moment. Flitting each day between a photo and a graphic that I’ve made myself on Canva. If you’re looking to head down that route, then I’d HIGHLY recommend signing up for Styled Stock Society, who offer a ton of beautiful social media planning prompts templates to make your life easier!
When it comes to using your social media planning prompts for either your blog or your business, you might find it easier to establish a diary or planner to keep track of when and what is going live. You might benefit from the social media planning cards featured in this post or make a simple spreadsheet on your laptop – that’s what I do!
You might want to keep to the same social media calendar week after week. I know a fair few business owners who do this and have dedicated days for different things and it works really well. Or you might want to switch it up week by week. The important thing is that you’re keeping your content exciting, new and fresh.
And always providing your readers, followers or customers with an insight into you, your blog or business and your key messages.
Whether you use templates or not, it’s always a good idea to keep your social media content on brand with your blog or business. So here are 40 social media planning prompts to help you create a consistent and exciting content calendar. Take what’s relevant to you!
1. Introduction to yourself, your blog or your business
2. Asking your readers or customers a question
3. A motivational quote
4. A meme to showcase your brands personality
5. Customer feedback / a positive review
6. A goal you have for your blog or business
7. Another business or blog recommendation that you use
8. A behind the scenes shot of your work space
9. A sneak peak of something you’re working on
10. A round up of your favourite blog posts
11. Industry news
12. Your reaction to something happening in the industry
13. Your top tips for whatever your niche is
14. A freebie
15. A limited time offer on your products
16. A Throwback Thursday post
17. Play a game of this or that
18. Answer a frequently asked question
19. Share the story of your blog or business
20. A Reel or video
21. Host a giveaway
22. Behind the scenes of what you do in your spare time
23. Resources you use to help you in your business / on your blog
24. A time management tip
25. Share a wish list
26. A milestone celebration
27. An interesting statistic
28. A charity you support and want to raise awareness of
29. Something you’ve learned from your blog / business
30. Customer or reader input
31. Re-sharing one of your most popular posts / products
32. Sharing the benefits of using your products
33. Behind the scenes look at how you switch off after work
34. Create a step by step guide or tutorial
35. Share what you’re grateful for in your business / blog
36. Do a live video
37. Share an honest post of something you struggle with
38. Collaborate with another blogger / business owner and cross-promote
39. A piece of advice that’s helped you in your blog / business
40. A thank you piece to your readers and/or customers
Social media is always a great option for your blog or your business. It helps to introduce more people to your writing or products, allows you to engage with likeminded people and find new and exciting opportunities. Building up a presence on social media – whether that’s one platform or 3 – is really important.
It can be difficult to manage social media platforms alongside your blog or business and everything else that comes with that (the list is endless!) but by establishing a content calendar and using social media planning prompts, it can help you by ensuring you already know what’s happening on your social accounts, to free up your creative mind for what’s more important.
So depending on your niche, the above social media planning prompts may need to be tweaked slightly to fit in with your blog or brand but most people will be able to use a variation of those above in their monthly content calendar.
Over to you! Do you use social media planning prompts for your blog or business?
For more free resources to help you plan your content, sign up to my mailing list for access to my freebie library where you can grab your 3 month awareness days content ideas sheets plus more eBooks, workbooks and checklists.
wow amazing ideas thank you
Great ideas! I tend to rely on the same things mostly – funny memes and sharing old posts. It’s nice to mix it up. Thank you for the ideas.
Definitely! But sometimes sticking to what you and your readers know is beneficial too 🙂
Oh wow, you have so many great ideas here! I am going to bookmark this so that I have it to refer back to anytime I’m feeling stuck. Honestly, it’s a feeling we all have at one time or another – right?
Absolutely it is! Nothing to be ashamed of either 🙂
These are all such great ideas to fill up your content calendar. Sometimes I struggle with coming up with creative content to fill up the weeks. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome, hope these ideas help!
These are great tips and provided lots of inspiration for my next steps with social media content. It’s sometimes difficult to find ideas.
Thank you 🙂 Hope these help!
These are great ideas, my goal of achieving a schedule goes on it’s still hit and miss ha, ha, ha
It’s certainly a work in progress!
Ooh I love this! I recently created my instagram account so this came at the perfect time. I love the idea of a this or that and I’d love to do some collabs in the future! Thank you so much for sharing these ideas with us x
Amazing to hear! Good luck with your Instagram 🙂
I have been playing around recently with at least putting together a loose schedule of what I would like to post and when, especially when it comes to alternating between writing and personal posts, which I have only just recently begun sharing. So far, I am loving it and I enjoyed your content ideas; there are plenty to choose from! <3
That’s great to hear that you’re enjoying it so far!
This is such a useful post! I often get stuck for ideas for Instagram and then end up taking an unplanned long break. Thank you for sharing these!
You’re welcome, hope they help!
this post was so helpful for us content creators. 🙂 thanks for these suggestions. i never realized there were so many tasks for us bloggers.
Thank you 🙂
Love these ideas! Thank you – I will be bookmarking this page for my next planning session. I was just thinking I might re-use some posts because I didn’t have more ideas, so you’ve saved me from doing that!
I’m glad! Hope these ideas help 🙂
I don’t use social media prompts and I can go weeks without posting anything on Instagram (woops), but the prompts do seem like a good idea and these are all great ideas for ones to do!
Definitely not just useful for Instagram either!
Thanks for these awesome prompts Jenny! I hear ya, I don’t stick to a schedule per say as I just kind of use my main pillars as I feel within my social media. I’m definitely going to come back here when I need some inspiration! Thanks.
That seems to work great for you! 🙂
I’m a big fan of Throwback Thursdays and repurposing content. I also love “How it started vs. How it’s going posts as one of my freelance clients is in design/engineering sector so seeing the original sketch alongside a site photo always generates engagement. And I love posting pictures of people – people relate to people, it’s social media after all. Fab content prompts, Jenny, I can see quite a few to steal! xx
Oooh yes I bet that’s an excellent way to get people engaged in that type of client/content!
I have such a hard time with Instagram – I spend so much time taking photos or creating content and sometimes it can feel like a wasted effort. This is such a helpful list of ideas though, so thanks for sharing!
I totally agree, Instagram is so hard to use right now with the algorithm x
I have been posting daily on my blog and instagram lately and therefore need to plan and schedule my posts. Your prompts are very helpful and I will be sure to look back on them frequently.
I hope you find them helpful when you need them!
Living these ideas! I constantly find myself running out of ideas so I will definitely be using some of these!
Hope they help!
I’ve saved this post for when I’m stuck for ideas! These are some brilliant social media planning prompts! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Hope they help, thank you! 🙂
I have been posting daily on my blog and instagram lately and therefore need to plan and schedule my posts. Your prompts are very helpful and I will be sure to look back on them frequently.
I personally don’t use the content calendar for Instagram. I post whenever I want to share something – can be 5 times a month or less. Even though I know I need to promote my work on social media, I can say that Instagram is my least favorite social media. I like to share stories tho, These prompts can help me to come up with some ideas in the future 🙂 Thanks for sharing Jen x
Instagram is definitely a hit or miss right now, the algorithm and lack of engagement is making it very difficult for people to enjoy x
This was brilliant; and much needed. Thanks for these great ideas and tips!
You’re welcome! 🙂
I don’t really have a content calendar or plans when it comes to social media in general, but these tips are super helpful. I used to do this or that’s on my stories quite regularly, I think it’s about time I brought them back! x
Definitely! They’re great fun x
I’m awful at branding and knowing what to post about so thanks for the tips!
You’re welcome 🙂
This is such a good idea! Thanks so much for sharing. I feel like I’m a bit cba with Instagram at the moment. You’ve got some cool prompts here though!
Claire.X
http://www.clairemac.co.uk
Thank you 🙂 Oh same, I’m not putting much effort into it at all at the moment x