We all know the recipe for a successful social media presence: A well-balanced strategy and a consistent posting regime. It sounds easy, but in reality, a properly planned strategy can be pretty time-consuming!
Enter Iris: Your AI Social Media Assistant, here to make social media planning quick, simple, and always on-brand.
This guide will run through how to set up Iris to produce full content calendars along with tips on refining branding for a smooth experience.
Creating Content Calendars: Step By Step
Step 1: Create Content Calendar
Click the 'Create content calendar from Iris' start page.
Step 2: Set Your Campaign Preferences
Start by defining the key aspects of your campaign to guide the types of posts Iris will generate:
Number of Posts and Duration: Decide how many posts you need and the timeframe over which they should be spread.
Content Strategy Preference: Choose the balance of your posts, whether you’re looking for a balanced strategy or predominantly informational or promotional posts.
Media Preferences: Select the type of media you want to use:
🗂️ Media you’ve uploaded.
🎨 Graphics created by Flick.
📸 Stock imagery.
✨ AI-generated imagery
In V1, choosing graphics, stock imagery or AI-generated imagery will leave the media section empty and only create your post ideas and strategy. From the scheduler, you can then choose to create a graphic and add stock or AI images. You can also select one of these options if you wish to add your own content at a later date.
Step 3: Choose Uploaded Media
Select the media from your uploads that you want to include in your campaign. This forms the visual foundation of your posts.
Step 4: Context and Product Tagging
Iris analyzes each piece of media (images and videos) and creates Alt-Text. The added context is used to create more to help tailor post ideas and captions more accurately.
Add Relevant Information: You can edit the alt-text generated to give Iris added context for example, by adding names if the images feature people.
Tag Products and Services: Inform Iris if specific media relates to a product or service you wish to highlight. This improves the relevance of the generated post ideas and captions.
Step 5: Post Ideation
This is the creative phase where your content calendar comes to life. Iris will create your full content calendar here. You'll be able to see (and edit) the post idea, the content pillar the post relates too, and the style of post would be (promotional or informational)
Before creating your posts you should check you're happy with each post and make any adjustments needed:
Review Post Ideas: Examine each proposed post idea. Make adjustments or use the feedback button to suggest entirely new ideas if necessary.
Finalize Posts: Once satisfied with the post ideas. Click 'Create Posts' and Iris will proceed to your scheudling calendar, preparing the full posts with media and captions.
Step 6: Approval and Scheduling
Each post is placed on your calendar, complete with media* and a caption. Here's what to do next:
Review and Adjust: Check each post’s caption and media. If you need to add or change media:
For stock images: Click 'Get Photos' and select an image.
For AI-generated images: Click to generate an image.
For graphics: Click 'Generate Graphic' to open the graphic wizard.
Schedule Post: Once content and timings are finalized, schedule each post at the desired time.
And there you have it! A fully planned content calendar, created and scheduled in less than 15 minutes!
💡 Top Tips and FAQ's
Captions not quite right?
Amend your Brand Voice to create captions that are more on-brand. It can take a few iterations to get your caption generation perfect. Check out our Brand-Hub Guide. If you require further help tailoring your Brand-Voice, reach out to support for some 1-2-1 guidance.
Is Alt-Text added to my caption?
No. The Alt-Text is simply to provide Iris with some further context to create the more relevant post ideas and captions.
Why do all posts appear at 1 pm?
We add all your posts at 1 pm so you cannot miss them on your calendar. You'll need to schedule them for the best time yourself. This ensures you're in control.