How to use Canva’s Content Planner to automate your social feeds

The easier way to plan your social content

Creating engaging social media content is important (and challenging). Making sure it drops at the best time to reach your audience is just as important, and, thanks to Canva’s Content Planner, it’s now super easy.

Plan your content for those optimal times, days, and weeks ahead while you track impressions, clicks, likes, and comments with social media performance analytics and a regular social media audit⁠(opens in a new tab or window). You can also ace the social media game with a well-crafted social media plan⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Post your content in fewer clicks

Chances are, you’re already using Canva to create beautiful graphics and videos for your social media channels. The old workflow was to download your designs and then upload them to a social platform or scheduling tool.

Your new workflow helps you plan, manage, and even automatically post your content straight from Canva, saving you lots of time. Having a content planner built into Canva means you can do it all in one space—creating a seamless workflow from designing to posting through to reviewing analytics.

The easy way to plan social content

It’s worth noting the Content Planner is part of Canva Pro. Canva Pro⁠(opens in a new tab or window) gives you access to tools like the Background Remover⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and Magic Switch, two of our most popular tools and two great ways to save a tonne of time. Canva offers a free trial so you can test all the Pro features for yourself.

Every plan needs a calendar

On the Canva homepage, click ‘Content Planner’ and you’ll land on the calendar screen. This is where you can see an overview of your social content for the weeks ahead.

You’ll notice popular social media dates from around the world are already in there. These are perfect for giving you ideas about possible content and how you can share your voice in potentially viral and high-traffic hashtags.

If you prefer to start from a blank canvas, you can remove these by going to ‘Filters’ and unchecking the ‘Social media holidays’ box. You can also add in any local holidays or relevant anniversaries or celebrations relevant to your business.

Schedule an existing design

Scheduling content is super easy. In the Content Planner, choose a date on your calendar and click the plus sign. From here, you can browse through your recent projects, start a new design from scratch, or use a template.

If you’re using an existing design, click on it, select the channel you want to post to, and add your caption. You can either schedule it right away or save it as a draft for later. And, if you change your mind, there’s always the option to edit or delete your post.

Scheduling new designs

Click ‘New’ then hit ‘Post’ and choose a template. There are thousands to choose from, which makes creating content so much easier. And, using the Magic Switch⁠(opens in a new tab or window) tool, they can all be resized to work with any platform.

If you want to start with a completely blank design, you can do that, too. Customize the template however you need, such as adding in different text or changing the color palette. When it’s ready, all you have to do is click the ‘Share’ button, then ‘See all’ to access the social sharing options. Click the channel you want to share it to. Then, all that’s left to do is add a caption, edit the date if needed, and schedule your post or save it for later.

Watch our video guide

If you want to take a deeper look at how to use Canva’s Content Planner, check out our video guide⁠(opens in a new tab or window).