Shifting your social media marketing efforts from reactive, last minute posts to being pre-planned, proactive communications designed in advance to achieve a specific goal is an ambition that every social media marketer should aspire to.
Twitter knows this and today rolled out a new service designed to help businesses and (it hopes, Twitter advertisers!) improve their editorial planning discipline. Under the hashtag #OwnTheMoment, the service can be accessed without charge at https://twitter.twimg.com/OwnTheMoment.
At the site, users can see forthcoming events and activities over the next two months that might inspire their own editorial calendar. Each event contains Twitter tips and links to add the event to Google Calendar or Outlook. And, of course, there are plenty of nudges to remind users that buying some Twitter ads could really help!
Here’s my concern with this approach. If this tool really takes off, and lots of people use it, the value of the tips and suggestions will diminish. If every business were to use this tool as the inspiration for their editorial planning, Twitter could fast become a stream of repetitive, me-too content. That said, it’s still a helpful resource and I’d encourage every marketer to bookmark the site and revisit it from time to time when they need fresh ideas and inspiration. It’s a shame the site only covers the current and next month; hopefully Twitter will improve this if the trial proves a success.
If nothing else, this should help more social media community managers understand the importance of pre-planning and working to a carefully thought-out editorial plan. Just remember to research across multiple sources for ideas, to plan as far out as possible so you have enough time to create brilliant content well ahead of those all-important deadlines.