How a Content Library Can Improve Your Social Media Performance

April 29, 2022
By
Kyra Goodman

Get a social content library, never run out of ideas again.

Ever had one of those days where no matter how much caffeine you have, you just can’t come up with any clever content ideas for your social media?

It’s not just these creative blocks that many social media managers find overwhelming. Trying to be present on every platform all the time comes with stress. With so many options nowadays, you want to be sure you’re making the most of your social media content and still having time for a life outside of work.

We’ve got just the thing to help - it’s called a content library.

Your content library is the best tool you can have in your social media manager toolbox when those creative ruts strike. It guarantees you’ll always have that perfect photo or video and a selection of captions on hand. It also helps ensure your content is meaningful and provides value to your audience. 

Let’s dive into how to create an organized content library for social media and how it fits into your overall content strategy.

What is a Content Library?

Before we go any further, let’s pause for a moment and explain what exactly a content library is. 

Think of a content library like your social media bank account - you can make a withdrawal from it anytime you need to post on social media.

Your library can be organized by social media platform and sorted visually so you can curate that oh-so-important aesthetic Instagram grid. The most important thing though is that it’s full of value for your audience and serves a clear purpose for your business.

Why You Should Organize Your Social Media Content Into a Content Library

Whether you’re a social media manager or a small business owner, brainstorming creative post ideas for each day is likely only a small part of your job. You might be responding to your followers’ comments, engaging with other accounts to grow your following, or even working on the design of your social media posts and stories. Let’s be real - you don’t have the time to sit there for hours each day coming up with the perfect, witty caption. 

A content library can help you streamline your workload and save you hours - yes, hours - thanks to a work technique called “batching.” Batching allows you to write a ton of captions or import several photos at once so you can be confident you’ll have a pool of valuable, relevant content to draw from even on your busiest days.

How a Content Library Fits Into Your Social Media Strategy

As someone who works in digital marketing, you probably know that high-quality content is crucial to your success on social media. 

Crafting a single piece of good social content is easy, but it becomes infinitely more difficult when trying to maintain that quality and consistency at scale.

This is where a social media content library can come in handy! Your content library will help ensure you’re hitting each of your content pillars, or the key topics that will anchor your social media content. By having a vast content library to draw from, you can guarantee that you’re mixing it up often enough to prevent your audience from getting bored and see which topics or areas you might need to invest more into.

Here are some other ways a content library can help you take your content strategy to the next level:

  • It helps you stay organized. By setting up your content library in a methodical, strategic way, you’re making sure that you’re covering the topics necessary for your brand to shine on social media.
  • It improves your content targeting. Organizing your library by content pillars forces you to examine your audience’s needs and create content that speaks directly to their unique challenges.
  • It boosts creativity. We know coming up with fresh, innovative ideas each week isn’t easy. Creating a content library full of relevant topics forces you to take a more disciplined approach to your content creation and dig deeper into your business’s “why” so you can deliver top-shelf content.

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What Types of Content to Add To Your Content Library

As much as we’d love to create unique content for each platform all the time, it isn’t always realistic. Not only does content creation take some investment, it also takes time to script it, film or shoot it, and edit it for your social channel of choice.

Here are some ways you can populate your content calendar without breaking the bank:

  • Blogs/articles/podcasts. Sharing articles from popular blogs in your industry or niche is one way to generate some quick content. It also has the added bonus of positioning you as a subject-matter expert in your field and shows your followers that you’re on top of the latest trends and happenings. Try browsing Twitter or platforms like Bloglovin’ that allow you to read, organize and discover relevant blogs for your content library.
  • Relatable content or memes. No matter your industry, memes and relatable humor need to be a part of your content marketing strategy in 2022. The rise of platforms like TikTok have shown us that entertaining content and humor resonates with people. On top of that, engagement metrics like comments and shares are one of the best ways to get in the Instagram algorithm’s good books. What better way to increase shares than a hilarious meme or gif that your followers will want to send to all their friends?
  • Inspirational content. You can never go wrong with a quote, piece of advice, or sharing a lesson you’ve learnt in your business. People like to see that there are actual humans behind their favorite brand, so stepping in to offer a personal thought can resonate with your followers in a way that overly curated content just can’t.
  • Content repurposed from your other platforms. Content from your website, blog, or other social media platforms is a gold mine of inspiration. Break your blogs down into bite-size content nuggets that can easily be shared as Tweets, Instagram carousel posts, or even quick tips that can be shared via a TikTok video or Reel.
  • User-generated content. One of our favorite content strategies! What better place to find quality content than from the people who already follow and love your brand? Whether it’s from an influencer or a happy customer who’s raving about your products or service, user-generated content is a fantastic way to spread some love to your community and show your audience why people love your brand

How to Organize Your Social Media Content Library

Your content library doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You can start with something as simple as a Google Sheet or spreadsheet to start organizing ideas. 

Start by breaking your sheet into your different content pillars. In general, your brand should have 3-5 content pillars that depend on the size and diversity of your target audience, as well as the key messages or features you want to convey in your marketing. Create a column for each pillar that allows you to easily pull content from that topic whenever you need it.

Next, it’s time to set up your rows. Your rows will be your social media channels (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) You can even break these rows down further into the different content types for each platform, such as Reels, Feed Posts, and Stories for Instagram. 

Once you’ve set up your sheet, allow yourself 30 minutes to an hour to sit and do some content brainstorming. We know it can be hard to focus in this age of constant pings from your mobile phone, but try to minimize distractions and get into that content groove. Write as many posts as you can during that time so you’ll have a fully stocked repertoire of content ready to go.

How to Set Up Your Posts

Once you’ve created a social content library that’s brimming with value and creativity, it’s time to start sharing those posts with the world. But to do that, you have to actually share it. 

There are tons of apps out there to help take your social media content from plans to reality. We recommend using a social media scheduling tool like Sked Social. At the start of each week, you can populate your scheduler with the ideas from your content calendar, saving you hours and making your life easier. 

If you really want to speed up your workflow, a tool that contains built-in templates for hashtags and @-mentions is your friend. If you find that you’re spending hours per week manually researching and entering hashtags, a template can do the heavy lifting for you and make social media feel like less of a chore. 

Here’s another handy trick - our Queue tool is one of the best and easiest ways to guarantee consistency in your posting. If you have evergreen content in your content library, you can easily drag and drop them into the Queue to keep things fresh when you’re busy with other tasks. Pick your best times and days of the week to post on social media and we’ll fire it off when you’re ready.

One last thing - don’t forget about aesthetics. Social media marketing pros know that how posts look on your grid is a huge part of brand building on Instagram. The advantage of using an Instagram-first tool is that your feed grid is at the forefront of your content planning, not an afterthought! Our Visual Feed Planner allows you to slot in your posts and move them around based on your feed aesthetic. That way, you can make sure everything looks perfect before sending your content out into the world.

From planning to scheduling, Sked Social has you covered!

Plan and create content in one go and we’ll post it for you - feed posts, stories, carousels, you name it. Our 360 visual marketing platform lets you plan, create, store, find, and post all your marketing content in one place. Set it, forget it, and take your time back with our 7-day free trial!

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