Today I’m sitting down with a friend who asked me to help generate ideas for some daily Facebook© posts. This type of project is a regular tasking for content writers. Many of you however are tasked with managing your organization’s social media on the side, or if it’s not you doing the actual posting, you’re responsible for generating the content.

Why here? Why now?

That statement came from the CEO and founder of a communications company I worked at as an analyst. She explained that any communication needed a catalyst. The “Why here?” we’ll leave for other posts. Let’s focus on the…

“Why now?”

Social media content often comes naturally: your company has some news and voila, there’s your excuse. Catalysts for any communication but specifically blogging and other posting include…

• Planned events (for example, an upcoming fundraiser)
• Unplanned events (for example, congratulations on an achievement)
• Holidays and National Year, Month, Week, Day of… (for example, unofficial National Ballpoint Pen Day)

Facebook and others of its ilk are ravenous beasts though. Ideal frequency of posting varies based on the medium, your audience, goals, and desired results, but posting any less than once a day on any social network is not recommended. A campaign to generate a post a day around a central theme sometimes alleviates the pressure to come up with constant content as long as it is planned at the outset.

Daily posting drives still require a catalyst. The alternative is something akin to reading a book by starting a third of the way in…

• The unofficial national days of, stuff, can make fun tie-ins and better yet, there are national months and weeks of stuff, too. August is National Water Quality month. If your organization has anything to do with water, quality of life, sustainability, be creative; take it and run with it every day of the month.
• Assigning a day of the week to a theme (#throwbackthursday for example) is a continuing trend. You need not wait for others to create it. Are you a company that has an international clientele? Why not #worldwednesday? (That one already exists, so use it, just do a little research first to make sure your organization is ok with the affiliation.)
• A milestone countdown is a perfect daily event. If you’re counting down a product debut, highlight a feature a day or take pictures of it in familiar locations à la the Roaming Gnome™.

Absent a “Why now?” like those above, the initiative is yours to create the catalyst. As an example, if you supply farmers with harvesting equipment, your catalyst could be: “This month we’re shining a spotlight on citrus farmers.” Daily post content would include information about citrus farming, interviews with farmers, perhaps hot topics of interest to the industry, and so on. Tying that to harvest seasons is useful, but the topic is broad enough to work without the association.

Promotional vs. Daily Posting

Before planning your daily post calendar, address the planned events you’ll be posting as direct promotions. These will be most important and should happen separate from/in addition to your dailys.

Best practices still apply in either case: keep your content positive, include a call to action, include images or videos, engage with comments, and reciprocate likes and follows.

Did you have a daily posting campaign that you found particularly beneficial?