5 Free Social Media Calendar Templates for Google Sheets

Video how to make a social media calendar in google sheets

Keeping track of your social media presence can be a daunting task without a proper calendar. While there are numerous apps available for this purpose, why spend money when you can easily build a social media calendar in Google Sheets yourself?

In this article, we will guide you through the process of creating a social media calendar template for Google Sheets. Whether you’re a marketer tracking engagement or planning content, a social media calendar can streamline your efforts and boost productivity. If you prefer a ready-made template, we’ve got you covered with our free templates: the Weekly-Monthly-Yearly Google Sheets Social Media Calendar and the Daily Google Sheets Social Media Content Calendar Template. Download them and get started right away!

What Is a Social Media Calendar?

A social media calendar provides an overview and helps you plan your social media posts by date. By using spreadsheets, you can customize your calendar to meet your specific needs. Typically, social media calendars include the following elements:

Date and time of the post
Social media network and account for posting
Links to assets required for the post, such as videos, pictures, and audio
Tags and additional links

While the elements may vary depending on the purpose of your calendar, such as marketing or content creation, it serves as a valuable tool for managing your social media campaigns.

Why Should You Build a Social Media Calendar Template for Google Sheets?

Creating and utilizing a social media calendar is essential for several reasons:

1. Stay Productive with a Google Sheets Social Media Calendar

Having all your planned content in one place makes it incredibly easy to see your schedule at a glance. Gone are the days of switching between multiple tabs and windows to plan your content. With a social media calendar, everything you need is right there in front of you, enhancing your productivity and workflow.

2. Maintain Consistency

A social media calendar allows you to have an overview of your social media schedule, ensuring that you can stay on track. By following a set posting schedule, you can be consistent and reliable, which is crucial for building a strong readership and establishing your brand’s credibility.

3. Organize Your Social Media Efforts

Having all your data in one place helps you stay organized and saves you from searching through various apps and websites for previously posted content. With a social media calendar in Google Sheets, you can neatly organize everything you need. Additionally, with a dashboard template, you can effortlessly keep track of all your social media platforms in one sheet.

Overall, staying organized allows your brand to grow faster, improves SEO, and attracts more viewers to your posts.

4. Strategize Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

A social media calendar lets you be more strategic in your approach to social media marketing. By comparing the performance of your content, you can identify what works and what doesn’t. Understanding audience engagement with your posts helps you make improvements and avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Moreover, you can easily share your social media strategy with your marketing team, facilitating collaboration and coordination.

5. Simplify Collaboration with a Social Media Tracking Spreadsheet

Managing social media accounts becomes more challenging when working with a team. However, incorporating a social media calendar into your workflow makes collaboration much easier. With social media editorial calendar templates, each team member is aware of their responsibilities and tasks, minimizing mistakes and ensuring a smoother workflow.

How to Make a Google Sheets Social Media Scheduling Template

Creating a social media content calendar template in Google Sheets is a flexible process that allows you to customize your calendar according to your needs. While the steps provided can be followed, feel free to deviate and personalize the template to align with your specific requirements. To get started, follow the steps below:

Open a new Google Sheets spreadsheet by selecting “Blank” under the “Start a new spreadsheet” tab.
Designate the month:
- Write the first date of the month in a cell (e.g., 7/1/2022).
- Navigate to “Format > Number > Custom date and time.”
- Select “Month” and “Year” from the options.
Highlight the first cell containing the month and the following columns beside it. The number of boxes depends on your needs. In this example, we selected 12 boxes.
- Click on the top bar and then on “Merge cells.”
- Click on “Merge all.”
Add the required data to fill the columns. Customize the colors, font size, and style as desired before entering the entries.
If you want to divide the calendar into weeks, merge the cells underneath and write the text “Week 1” into the box.
Format column B for dates by highlighting the column header and navigating to “Format > Number > Date.”
Type “=A1” into the first date cell. This formula will populate the date from the first cell throughout the column.
In the cell below (e.g., B5), type “=B4+1” to display the next date in sequence.
Highlight the cell with the formula and drag the small blue box until the date shows in seven cells.
Get the days of the week in column A:
- Click the column header A.
- Navigate to “Format > Number > Custom date and time.”
- Select “Day” only.
- Type “=B4” into cell A4.
- Click and drag the fill handle to encompass all applicable cells.
Add checkboxes to the social media channel cells:
- Highlight the cells (e.g., F4:H10).
- Navigate to “Data > Data validation.”
- Under the “Criteria” menu, select “Checkbox.”
- Click “Save.”
Repeat steps 5-11 for each week, starting with the cell reference for the last date of the previous week (e.g., B10 for the first cell of Week 2).
At the bottom of the sheet, name it “Month 1.”
Right-click the sheet name and click “Duplicate.”
Name the duplicate “Month 2.”
In the top cell of Month 2, type the following formula: =EDATE('Month 1'!A1,1). This formula updates the dates on the new sheet based on the first cell of the previous sheet.
Keep duplicating the sheets and using the EDATE formula with the previous sheet’s name as the first argument in the first cell of the new sheet for as many months as you need for your campaign. For example, the formula for Month 3 would be =EDATE('Month 1'!A1,1).
Delete any overlapping dates at the bottom of applicable months, as the months have different lengths.

Remember, the type of calendar you create depends on your requirements. Using Google Sheets gives you the freedom to customize your calendar to your liking. So feel free to experiment and be creative with your approach when making a Google Sheets social media calendar. However, if you find the guide overwhelming, you can always download our social media calendar templates for Google Sheets in 2023.

Download Social Media Calendar Google Sheets Templates

To save you time and money, we have created free social media calendar templates in Google Sheets for 2023. You can freely make a copy and use them for your social media campaigns. Here are the available templates:

Weekly-Monthly-Yearly Google Sheets Social Media Calendar
Daily Google Sheets Social Media Content Calendar Template
Social Media Report Dashboard Template
Daily Social Media Schedule Template 2023
Weekly Social Media Marketing Calendar Template

Simply click on the respective template links to access and use them in your Google Sheets. Note that for the Weekly-Monthly-Yearly calendar, you only need to change the initial date in cell A1, and the rest of the sheets will update automatically. These templates can be utilized for planning your social media campaigns or as retroactive social media report templates in Google Sheets.

We hope this comprehensive guide has equipped you with the necessary knowledge and tools to create your own social media calendars or utilize our free templates. Whether you build your own template or use ours, we wish you success in smashing your social media goals! Let us know in the comments how it’s working out for you.