FREE Social Media Calendar Template
Master social media calendar timelines with our intuitive social media calendar Gantt chart template.
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Why use our Social Media Calendar Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?
Get started with our Social Media Calendar Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.
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How to use Tom’s Planner’s social media calendar template to build and share your social media calendar.
Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.
Step #1
Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Social Media Calendar Template.
Step #2
Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.
Step #3
You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Social Media Calendar Template based on your project description.
What Is a Social Media Calendar?
A social media calendar helps you plan, publish, and manage content across platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. It’s not just a list of posting dates, either. If you look at some of the better social media content calendar examples, you’ll find these are tools to help you organize campaigns, track their performance, and keep your messaging consistent.
A social media editorial calendar template holds your social media strategy together, giving your content a cohesive rhythm and flow. Your calendar shows what you’ll post, when, and where. From creating original content to savvy cross-posting, it’s an important tool to have in your marketing toolbox.
A social media manager calendar makes sure you don’t leave your audience hanging or miss critical campaign deadlines. Of course, the challenge is finding the right tool. You can’t really expect to see serious success using Excel or Google Sheets. You’ll need something purpose-built.
With the right social media calendar template free download, not only do you save time, but you’ll also see how well your content supports your goals.
The Role of a Gantt Chart in Your Success
Let’s talk about tools for a moment. Chances are good you’ve at least seen a social media calendar Excel example. Maybe even a social media content calendar template in Google Sheets or, worse, written in Word. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with those formats, they don’t offer all that they could.
A Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner’s offering gives you capabilities that you won’t find in a social media content calendar template for Excel. How does a Gantt chart differ? It’s all about visibility and flexibility. You can create visual timelines, assign your team members tasks, and even balance resource allocation and use across multiple social media calendar templates.
When to Use a Sample Social Media Calendar
Unsure when a social media content calendar might be useful? Comparing different social media calendar examples can show just how versatile these tools are. Here’s a quick look at a few of the things you can use a free social media calendar template for:
Launching a New Campaign
When you’re rolling out a fresh product or promotion, this calendar template makes sure you can map out posts across channels without missing a beat. Visualizing your campaign from start to finish lets you coordinate efforts and deliver a consistent message.
Planning Monthly Content
For social media managers juggling multiple accounts, planning monthly content is non-negotiable. A monthly social media calendar template helps you brainstorm and organize monthly social media calendar ideas, ensuring your posts are varied, engaging, and strategically timed.
Tracking Ongoing Performance
Even if your strategy is humming along, tracking performance is critical to staying on course. Use the calendar to monitor which posts are working and where adjustments are needed. With everything in one place, optimizing your content becomes a natural part of the process.
As you can see, there are plenty of uses for a social media posting calendar template. Now let’s take a look at how you can use our offering specifically.
Who Should Use a Social Media Posting Calendar Template?
Who can use our social media calendar template? We designed our tool to be flexible enough for just about any needs, including those of:
Small Business Owners
If you’re a small business owner wearing multiple hats, this sample social media content calendar is a lifesaver. It keeps your social media efforts organized and effective, even when time is short and your to-do list is long.
Social Media Managers
For professionals managing content across brands or platforms, this template helps you have a consistent system in place. Social media editorial calendar examples like this one make planning and reporting easier, so you can focus on creative ideas and strategy.
Nonprofits and Community Groups
Nonprofits can use this calendar to coordinate campaigns, track fundraising campaigns, and keep their audiences engaged. It’s an easy way to make sure your message doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Top Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Planning a Social Media Calendar
Creating an effective editorial calendar for social media means using the right tools but also avoiding some mistakes that could derail your efforts. Below, we’ll cover three pitfalls that could reduce the effectiveness of your social media post calendar template.
- Failure to Tailor Content
If you think that the same content posted on different platforms will move the needle with your audience, you’re in for an unfortunate surprise. Failure to tailor your posts to the platform and audience expectations usually means you’ll see few if any results.
Solution: Know what works on each platform and what your audience expects. Then deliver.
- Incorrect Posting Frequency
Should you post twice a week? Twice a day? Not nailing down the right posting frequency could mean that your audience hears from you too much or not enough.
Solution: Figure out the right frequency and then stick with it. Use your social media content calendar template Google Sheets to help with consistency.
- Failure to Engage with Your Audience
Too often, businesses and organizations treat social media like legacy marketing. It’s not. That approach ignores your audience, and they won’t thank you for it.
Solution: Remember that social media is about being social. Set aside time on your social media calendar template Excel or Gantt chart to answer questions, reply to comments, and generally engage with folks.
Using the right tools to create your free social media content calendar template and avoiding the mistakes above will help you maximize the value of each social channel, much like how Gantt charts provide a clear timeline for managing projects and ensuring tasks stay on track.
What Does a Social Media Marketing Calendar Template Include?
Unlike a social media content calendar template for Google Sheets or a social media calendar Excel template, we designed our offering to include multiple functions. After all, you need a dynamic, flexible tool that will grow with you. Here’s what we included:
- Gantt Chart
The Gantt chart lets you visualize campaigns in a timeline format, so you can see when posts are scheduled, identify overlaps, and balance your content. It’s especially handy for multi-platform campaigns that need tight coordination.
- Cost Estimation
For teams on a budget, the cost estimation feature is invaluable. This section helps you assign resources—whether it’s ad spend for boosted posts or fees for freelance creators.
- Portfolio
The template includes a portfolio section to document your best-performing posts. It’s an archive of inspiration and a way to measure your evolution over time.
- Example Projects
Need a nudge? The template comes with example projects to kickstart your planning process. From seasonal promotions to product launches, these samples demonstrate how to structure campaigns effectively.
- Reference Section
The reference section includes links to key resources, like platform specs, best practices, and analytics tools. It’s your one-stop shop for all the details you need to create engaging posts.
Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines
Our goal with this template was simple: give you a flexible, customizable tool that helps you reach your audience. Here are four tips to make sure you can reach key deadlines without a problem.
Plan Early
Don’t underestimate the power of planning. Start early by using a Gantt chart and identifying key elements that will inform both your strategy and social media calendar: keywords, social platforms, audience personas, team member roles and responsibilities, etc.
Set Realistic Deadlines
Deadlines drive your social calendar. Set realistic goals when it comes to deliverables, like copy for posts or creative assets like videos and images. Often, you’ll need to get input from other team members to make sure your deadlines will work in the real world.
Use Scheduling Tools
Don’t try to go the manual route. That’s an incredible amount of wasted time and effort. Scheduling tools like Hootsuite automate many of your processes, saving you hassles and headaches.
Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize
The best social media calendar template doesn’t just show what you’ll post. It should prioritize tasks. Those include posting types, times, and channels, but you also need to leave room for interaction, keyword and audience research, and more.
Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel
| Excel | Tom's Planner | |
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| Cost | License required | Free version available |
| Learning curve | Hours | Minutes |
| Create your first Gantt chart | Hours | Minutes |
| Making an update in your chart | Several minutes | Seconds (drag & drop) |
| Sharing charts with others | At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx | Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion |
| Look & Feel | Messy | Clean, polished and professional |
| Dependencies | 
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| Filtering | 
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| Zoom in/out |
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| Automatic Legend |
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| AI-assist |
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Let our AI assist do the work for you |
| Export to image or pdf | Requires workarounds to export | One mouse click |
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