Free content calendar in Adobe Express.

Create a standout content strategy with the Adobe Express content calendar. Available on desktop and our mobile app.

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A calendar in the background with a black arrow pointing to a post scheduled using the Adobe Express tool.

How to create a social media content calendar.

1. Plan.

Plan your content calendar across multiple channels by storing post concepts as Unscheduled or Draft posts. Get inspiration from national events and effortlessly create your content calendar with drag-and-drop ease to ensure your strategy perfectly aligns with your goals.

2. Create.

Pick from thousands of free templates, design assets, and Adobe Stock imagery to quickly and easily make standout social media content. Generate social captions with AI, speeding up content creation, while ensuring your content stands out from the crowd.

3. Publish.

Link your social channels to ensure your messages land when your audience is most active, maximizing engagement and impact. Preview how your content will appear before you publish to give you total confidence in your content plan.

What is a social media content calendar?

A content calendar is an essential component of any content strategy. A user-friendly calendar lets you plan out all your content in advance, giving you a bird's-eye view of what's scheduled, when it's going out, and on what channels. The content calendar keeps you on track ensuring you never miss a posting opportunity.

Why do I need a social media content calendar?

Content calendars are invaluable tools for effective social media management. They help you plan your work, visualize your social strategy, and ensure a streamlined planning, creation and publishing process. By highlighting important dates and seasonal content, a content calendar ensures your posts remain both relevant and timely. Content calendars save time, promote consistency (which algorithms favor), and provide an overview of your posts, helping you identify gaps in your content strategy. They also serve as a source of inspiration for future posts and help you identify evergreen content for repurposing. Furthermore, content calendars facilitate team collaboration, maintain consistent messaging across platforms, and ensure a streamlined approach to your social media efforts.

A mobile mock-up surrounded by social media icons, showcasing a photo collage of a person wearing a white shirt and giving a thumbs-up gesture.

Calendar showcasing the post scheduled for September 12th, the copy and the design in the back made with Adobe Express.

What should I include in a social media content calendar?

When creating a social media content calendar, it helps to include a variety of elements to keep your content diverse and engaging. Start with holidays and seasonal events, which offer opportunities for additional engagement. Next, include important dates specific to your organization, such as events and product launches. You can add these into your calendar as ‘Draft posts’. Finally, create content ‘pillars’ that will give structure to your content calendar. These pillars should align with your overall organizational objectives, which may include raising awareness, educating your audience, showcasing your services, or promoting your products and services. By incorporating these pillars into your social media content calendar, you ensure that your online presence consistently supports your broader goals.

Frequently asked questions.

What is a content calendar?

A content calendar is an essential component of any content strategy. A user-friendly calendar lets you plan out all your content in advance.

You can get a bird's-eye view of what's scheduled, when it's going out, and on what channels. The content calendar keeps you on track ensuring you never miss a posting opportunity. In addition, you can easily drag and drop posts to shuffle things around as needed.

What are the benefits of using a content calendar?

A content calendar is a game-changer for social media growth. A content calendar helps you stay organized and plan your posts in advance. You can easily see what's scheduled and when, across all your channels–helping you feel in total control.

But that's not all–a content calendar lets you maximize engagement by scheduling posts for those peak times when your audience is most active online. And with the ability to drag and drop posts, you can easily shuffle your schedule. A content calendar is essential for anyone wanting to grow their presence on social media by helping you save time and boost visibility.

What social platforms can I publish to?
You can connect to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), Pinterest, and LinkedIn for free.
Can I tag other accounts?
Yes, on Instagram and X (Twitter) you can manually type the @handle which will ensure the user gets notified when you post.
Can I get Adobe Express for free?
Yes, there is a free plan available to everyone, which includes access to Content Scheduler where you can post up to 1000 posts/month in addition to everything you need to stand out, such as thousands of templates, hundreds of thousands of Adobe Stock photos, videos and music and thousands of design assets and fonts to choose from. Upgrade to the Premium plan to connect up to three accounts to each social channel with our new multi-account publishing feature in Content Scheduler. See our plans and pricing for more details.
Can I schedule posts on my mobile device?
Content Scheduler is now available on the Adobe Express mobile app.