This week I got to learn from Brooke Ihnat, who is a social media communications manager at American Express or better known as AmEx. Social media posts may seem like they just are made and posted on the day of but sometimes there is more planning and strategy behind it. Content calendars allow for a more structured and planned out way in producing content that shows up on social media. Brooke’s insights from AmEx have turned to teachings in how to create content in a professional, structured way.

Guest Speaker : Brooke Ihnat

Content calendars should be planned out, not just for timing but for several other factors based on the audience to get the best worth for your work. Brooke mentions something called “heat-moments” which are events or trends that you can capitalise on to get more engagement on social media. Along with the heat moments, AmEx uses tools like Sprinklr and Airtable to create schedules and their content calendars. These tools allow for multiple projects to be kept track of and organised with different sections and colours, which is important with multiple people working on many different things.

Brooke also shared about the type of content that AmEx produces and why it can be better for their brand. AmEx aims to make authentic content, straying away from the typical high production value and using iPhones to capture their content. She mentions that people like content that is more natural and relatable, for example, something they would see from their friend’s post. It shifts the view of AmEx’s content being an advertisement and more like a content piece that people enjoy watching.

Overall Reflections

Overall, I got to learn about content calendars and how they can be used in a strategic way. Brooke’s insights taught me that content has to be planned around “heat-moments” to ensure content is being used effectively but the way you film it is important. If your content looks too high production it can look less authentic and really turn the audience away from your content. As I keep diving deeper into the world of content strategy, there are multiple things hidden behind scenes and lots of planning to result in content creation that ever go noticed.