Guide 4 of 4 in Level 3: Post it

How to plan a social media content calendar

To plan a social media content calendar with Blackbox (blackbox.plus), click Plan in the left menu. It shows one brand's month: posts that are scheduled, drafted or published on Instagram and TikTok, the brand's campaigns, and the public holidays and shopping days of each country it sells in. Set those countries once with Edit markets, then click a holiday to read your CMO's note on whether it fits your brand. With an approved strategy, the AI CMO plans six weeks ahead every week, at most 20 suggestions a month, and puts each on its day with a time, a market and why it is worth doing. Open one and click Make it with AI, Use my own photos or video or Build this campaign to start it with the day filled in, Do a different post to make something else, Not now to see it again the day before, or Dismiss. The + on any future day starts a post or campaign of your own.

You'll need
Time
About 10 minutes 19 steps Updated
You'll end with
Six weeks of posts and campaigns on one calendar, built around your markets’ holidays
Do it in Blackbox Open Plan, after you sign in
Example
Your month, your markets’ holidays and your CMO’s suggestions on one calendar

How to plan a social media content calendar in Blackbox

  1. Step 1:Open Plan

    In the left menu, click Plan.

    You'll see: Your brand’s month on Calendar, with its posts, its holidays and your CMO’s suggestions.

    Open this in Blackbox

  2. Step 2:Pick the brand

    With more than one brand, click the brand’s name at the top and pick one.

    You'll see: That brand’s month, with its tabs beside its name.

  3. Step 3:Add your markets

    Click Edit markets, then Add a country and pick a country you sell in.

    You'll see: Each country as a chip under Markets, in your order.

  4. Step 4:Save them

    Click Save markets.

    You'll see: Markets saved, and back on Plan each country’s holidays and shopping days on their days.

  5. Step 5:Read a holiday

    On the calendar, click a holiday or shopping day, such as Black Friday.

    You'll see: Your CMO’s note under Why it matters or Why nothing is planned, when people buy and ads usually start, and what is Planned around it.

  6. Step 6:See only the suggestions

    Next to Show, click Suggested.

    You'll see: Only your CMO’s suggestions, each with a dashed border and Suggested.

  7. Step 7:Open a suggestion

    Click a suggestion on its day.

    You'll see: Why it’s worth doing, What to expect, what it will be and What we’ll watch.

  8. Step 8:Make it

    Click Make it with AI or Use my own photos or video, or Build this campaign on a campaign.

    You'll see: Writing the brief…, then the brief for that day, or New campaign with the day and market filled in.

  9. Step 9:Put it off

    Not this week? Click Not now.

    You'll see: It leaves the calendar, and a note says the day it comes back.

  10. Step 10:Turn it down

    Click Dismiss, say why if you like, then click Dismiss again.

    You'll see: Dismissed. Your CMO plans around this next week.

  11. Step 11:Do your own instead

    On a suggestion, click Do a different post.

    You'll see: Make your own, for the same day and market.

  12. Step 12:Open a day

    Point at a future day and click its +.

    You'll see: Create on this day at the top, with Post and Campaign, and what is already on the day under it.

  13. Step 13:Choose what to make

    Under Post, click Instagram or TikTok. For an ad, click Meta ads under Campaign.

    You'll see: Write it with the CMO and Upload your own, or New campaign for that day.

  14. Step 14:Write the brief

    Say what the post is about, then click Write the brief.

    You'll see: Writing the brief…, then the brief, filed on that day.

  15. Step 15:Pick up where you left off

    Click a suggestion marked In progress, then Continue.

    You'll see: What you started, at the step you left it.

  16. Step 16:Deal with what can’t wait

    Above the month, under Suggestions for now, click a suggestion.

    You'll see: Its card on the right, with its own buttons, such as Approve & create or Not now.

  17. Step 17:Open a check-in

    On a running campaign, click its Check-in or Decision on the calendar.

    You'll see: The campaign’s progress, or once the check-in has arrived its card: with ad sets, each one’s numbers and the moves to approve.

  18. Step 18:Ask your CMO

    Next to the brand’s name, click Ask about and the brand.

    You'll see: A chat about the brand, its channels and its suggestions.

  19. Step 19:Check again

    Click Check again beside it.

    You'll see: Checking…, then any new suggestions on the calendar about a minute later.

Good to know

  • A suggested post opens on its day and time, shown as Planned for at the top of the post. Click it to pick another day and time on the calendar; only times ahead can be picked.
  • Your CMO plans from your approved strategy: six weeks ahead, once a week, with at most 20 suggestions in a month. Without an approved strategy the calendar still shows your posts, campaigns and holidays — see Get a marketing strategy for your small business.
  • The first time you open a brand’s calendar, your CMO starts planning and the calendar says Your CMO is planning the next 6 weeks…. It usually takes about a minute.
  • A post suggestion’s time is when your posts on that platform usually do best. A campaign suggestion shows the day it starts.
  • Holidays come from each country’s public holiday list, and occasions such as Diwali, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are added. An occasion says when people buy and when ads usually start. One your CMO says doesn’t fit the brand is shown faded.
  • With more than one market, each suggestion shows its country, and the Markets filter shows one country’s holidays and suggestions. Posts and campaigns show under every market.
  • A reel or video suggestion puts Upload first, since it is filmed. AI can make it as a carousel instead.
  • Do a different post keeps the suggestion until what you make is saved, then takes it off the calendar.
  • Past days can’t take anything new; what is on them still opens. On a phone the calendar is a list, and New at the bottom picks a day.
  • The calendar remembers your Platforms filter and your Show choice the next time you open Plan. A campaign shows on the day it starts and the day it ends.
  • Posting and scheduling happen on the post itself — see How to schedule Instagram posts.
  • Every suggestion your CMO makes for a brand is on Plan. One with a day sits on it: a check-in or decision on the day it arrived, a campaign proposal on its start day, a campaign plan on its first day, a post suggestion today. The rest, such as something to fix or reconnect, wait under Suggestions for now, and today’s date says how many.
  • A running campaign’s check-ins show on the days they will arrive. Show Scheduled to see them without the suggestions; Platforms filters both by the campaign’s channels. Something to fix shows whatever the filters say.
  • A campaign with ad sets gets one card a check-in: each ad set’s and creative’s cost per result, and the moves to approve, say 4 moves to approve on the calendar and moves made once done — see How to read your ad set test and act on the check-in.
  • A campaign draft that was never approved shows once, on its start day, marked Draft. Only a campaign created on an ad platform shows its days running.

Read next

Small business marketing ideas: four weeks, in the order that works

If something doesn't work

There are no suggestions on my calendar

Your CMO plans only for a brand with an approved strategy, so approve it first. The first plan takes about a minute; open Plan again after that. Suggestions start six weeks out, so a month further ahead fills as the weeks pass.

I see Plan the next 6 weeks

Your CMO hasn’t planned this brand yet, or its first try didn’t finish. Click Plan the next 6 weeks. If it says it couldn’t start, click Report so we see it.

Which social media holidays should I post on?

Add the countries you sell in under Edit markets, then click each holiday on the calendar. Your CMO says why it matters to your brand, or why nothing is planned, and builds its suggestions around the ones that fit.

A holiday I expected isn’t on the calendar

Check the country is in your markets: click Edit markets and add it. If Markets is set to one country, click All markets to see the others.

A suggestion I put off came back

Not now brings it back the day before its date, so you can still make it. To take it off for good, click Dismiss; your CMO plans around it next week.

It says Connect Instagram instead of Make it with AI

The brand has no Instagram account it can post to. Click Connect Instagram and connect it on the Data page, then come back to the suggestion.

Stuck at any step? Send us a message and we'll do it with you on a call. All of Level 3: Post it