The end of the year is rapidly approaching and the best way to start creating a new year of posts is by planning your content in advance. Not only does planning ahead save you time, but it's also the perfect time to evaluate your 2021 content performance and maybe even try something new.

In this blog post, we provide helpful planning techniques, content inspiration, and more to give you a competitive edge on a new year of posts and content. Consider this your first New Year’s resolution. And who knows; you might actually be a Reels expert after all!  

How to Kickstart Your Content Planning for 2022

Conduct a Brainstorm 

Whether it’s with a team or by yourself, there’s nothing more fun than the content ideation phase. Start by taking a look at your current social media metrics so you can understand what works and what doesn’t work for your audience. Tracking your performance from the previous year will help guide your social media content ideas for the new year. 

Once you’ve got an idea of what’s working, it’s time to start producing ideas for your social media channels. Try channeling your target audience’s mindset at the start of the new year. Ask yourself questions like, “What new-year-specific problems can I solve?” Or, “What might they be celebrating?” Creating posts with your audience in mind will make for more valuable content that truly resonates and engages. 

Create Content Buckets

After discovering valuable audience insights, you can set up content buckets.  Content buckets are themes/topics you use to churn out consistent content that align with your brand. Examples include Q&As, product unboxings, and day-in-the-life posts. 

This is where you do a little research to find out what others in your industry will be posting on their social media platforms. 

Once you’ve gathered some good ideas, write them all down. Since you’re still in the brainstorming stage, a simple list will do. This step is super important, as who knows what content ideas will make it to the other side of your annual holiday food coma. Great ideas can get lost or forgotten during the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  Getting your ideas organized on paper will help you remember to plug them into a content calendar later on. 

Related: How to Save Time by Creating Social Media Content Buckets

Gather Visuals

Now that you’ve got all of these great ideas, it’s time to find visuals to back them up. If you don’t have a catalog of images and video content to pull from, you should probably organize a few photoshoots beforehand. Content featuring people performs better than content without and video often wins overall. 

Try to get in front of the camera for your 2022 New Year’s post. This isn’t always easy for small business owners but showing your face helps your audience form an authentic connection with you-- and, after all, isn’t that what social media is all about?

Simplify creating attention-grabbing New Year post graphics with easy design tools like Adobe Spark (they’re an official Pinterest partner, just like PLANOLY).

Another way to make your life a whole lot easier is through content batching. Batch tasks like creating visual content and writing captions together to streamline the content creation process. 

Related: How to Create Content in Batches for Social Media

Create Your 2022 Content Calendar 

You have your list of ideas and a thick folder of photos and videos to choose from. Now, it’s time to create your 2022 content calendar. 

An empty calendar might seem overwhelming-- kind of like a box full of puzzle pieces. Hopefully, you start your puzzles by connecting the edges. You can take a similar approach to your content calendar by marking all the major holidays off. Start by adding in the photos and captions for those “set in stone” days. After that, take your remaining new year post ideas and plug them into the calendar in a way that makes the most sense for you. 

If you’re working in PLANOLY, you can kill two birds with one stone by scheduling your posts to go live as you fill your content calendar. That way, you can sit back and watch the ball drop at midnight instead of rushing to publish your “Happy New Year” post. 

6 New Year’s Post Ideas 

1. Year in review: Talk about your year-- what you learned, what you’re grateful for, and how you’ll carry those lessons into the new year. 
2. Post about your word of the year: Choose a word that exemplifies your brand’s vision for 2022. Share that vision and how you plan to live it with your audience.
3. Highlight reel: Turn all your best photos and videos from the last year into a highlight reel to reminisce on good times and take advantage by reposting content that performed well the first time around. 
4. Countdown to the big day: Count the days leading up to New Year’s Day 2022 by posting a countdown series. You can share announcements, plans for the new year, brand-wide resolutions and things you’re grateful for. Anything goes, as long as the posts are cohesive. 
5. Ask your audience to show how they’re celebrating: Getting input from your audience is always good for engagement. Ask your audience how they’re celebrating the New Year. You can even ask your followers what they’re grateful for in the new year. 
6. New Year resolution memes: Memes are always a hit. Posting New Year resolution memes can make your brand more relatable and spark a few laughs, too.