A social media content calendar, from empty week to ready-to-review posts

Choose the questions before the dates

For this example, the studio wants local beginners to understand a cup-making workshop and read the booking details. Its first three questions are simple: Can I do this? What happens in the class? What should I bring? Each deserves a separate answer.

Start with questions you already hear in enquiries, demonstrations or customer conversations. If a topic does not help someone understand your offer or do something useful, leave the slot empty. You can add a post later; you cannot recover the time spent producing one with no clear purpose.

This plan uses three posts a week because that gives our example enough room for a photo, a process explanation and a short video. It is a planning choice, not a rule about how often an account must post.

Map two weeks without repeating the same pitch

The first week answers the questions someone asks before booking. The second goes deeper into the process. Keep a genuine teaching post useful on its own, even when the reader never books a class.

The downloadable CSV contains these six example rows. Its empty operational fields are deliberate: add your real account names, files, reviewer and dates. The spreadsheet is a planning aid; Hub does not import it automatically.

Turn Monday's idea into a complete brief

An idea like 'show a cup' still leaves the editor to guess. The record below identifies the reader, caption, file, account and review owner. Someone should be able to pick it up without searching a chat thread for the missing instructions.

• Use an exact account name. 'Instagram' is not enough when you manage several brands.
• Link to the final file, not a folder of almost identical exports. Include a version in the filename.
• Keep the reviewer and the current decision together. 'Needs review' and 'scheduled' mean different things.
• Record the local time and an IANA timezone such as Europe/London. A bare '9 am' becomes ambiguous when people work in different places.
• Add the publication reference after scheduling, then the platform link after checking delivery.

Build Wednesday's carousel slide by slide

The carousel has more space than Monday's photo, so use it to explain the sequence. Avoid putting the same invitation on every slide. The reader should learn what to expect before reaching the booking link.

Here is a storyboard, not a finished claim about a real workshop. On slide four, the studio must supply its actual firing and collection arrangements. An attractive photograph cannot fill that information gap.

Worked example · fictional ceramics studio

Wednesday's carousel

Give each slide a different job

SLIDE 01

Can I make a cup?

Start with the reader's question.

SLIDE 02

Watch the demonstration

Show the instructor shaping the cup.

SLIDE 03

Add the handle

Show the next action in the session.

Collection date
Pickup location
How we contact you

SLIDE 04

When can I collect it?

Add the confirmed collection date, location and contact instructions.

SLIDE 05

Read the session details

Give the reader one useful next step.

Move the ready version into Mellow Hub

Prepare a separate post when a destination needs a different file or substantially different copy. One useful idea can produce several versions without being pasted unchanged into every feed.

1. Select the correct brand profile. Check the destination names under Accounts.
2. Finish the media first. In Creative Studio, you can start from a free carousel template, edit its text and order, then inspect the exported slides.
3. Open Compose. Select the intended recipients, add the caption and finished media, and complete any fields required by the selected destinations.
4. Review the actual preview and the validation messages. The validator can find input problems; it cannot know whether your workshop really includes materials or whether the photo shows the right product.
5. Check the account, file version, caption and local publishing time against the calendar. Authorize the post only when they match.
6. After the scheduled time, check every destination's result and public link. Mark the row verified live only after that check.

Use the next week to fix one real problem

First check whether the plan was executable. If Wednesday's carousel stalled because nobody supplied the collection details, that is a briefing problem. Add those details before assigning another process post.

Then review what readers did. Questions about price might mean the booking page needs a clearer link. Visits without enquiries might justify checking that page before making more posts. Use a consistent measurement window and keep these interpretations provisional.

Carry the useful questions into the next calendar. A small plan that gets reviewed and delivered gives you more to learn from than a month of empty placeholders.

Keep going

• Generate an editable Instagram calendar
• Build the carousel in Creative Studio
• Review the final post before it goes out