Categories help you organize your scheduled posts by content type. Assign color-coded categories like Educational, Promotional, or Inspirational to easily filter and find posts in your calendar.
What Are Categories?
Categories are color-coded labels you can assign to posts to organize your content calendar. They help you:
- Quickly identify post types at a glance
- Filter your calendar to show specific content
- Maintain a balanced content mix
- Track how much of each content type you’re posting
Default Categories
Viraly includes these preset categories to get you started:
| Category | Suggested Use |
|---|---|
| Educational | Tips, how-tos, tutorials, and informative content |
| Entertaining | Fun, humorous, or engaging content |
| Inspirational | Quotes, motivation, and uplifting messages |
| Nature | Outdoor, environmental, or nature-related content |
| Promotional | Product promotions, sales, and marketing content |
You can use these as-is or create your own custom categories.
Assigning Categories to Posts
To assign a category when creating or editing a post:
- Open the post composer
- Click the + Category button in the toolbar
- Select one or more categories from the dropdown
- Selected categories appear as colored tags on your post
Posts can have multiple categories. For example, a post could be both “Educational” and “Promotional” if it teaches something while promoting a product.
Creating Custom Categories
Create categories that match your content strategy:
- Click + Category in the post composer
- Click + Create a new category at the bottom of the dropdown
- Enter a Category Name
- Select a Color from the preset palette or choose a custom color
- Click Create Category
Choosing Colors
The color picker offers:
- Preset colors — 12+ pre-selected colors for quick selection
- Custom color — Click the custom option to pick any color you want
Choose distinct colors for each category so they’re easy to tell apart in your calendar view.
Category Ideas
Create categories that reflect your content pillars:
- Behind the Scenes — Company culture and team content
- User Generated — Customer photos and testimonials
- Product Launch — New product announcements
- Industry News — Relevant news and trends
- Q&A — Questions and answers from your audience
- Seasonal — Holiday and seasonal content
Filtering by Category
Use categories to filter your calendar view:
- Go to your Post Scheduler calendar
- Use the category filter dropdown
- Select one or more categories to display
- Only posts with those categories will appear
This helps you review specific content types—for example, see all your promotional posts to ensure you’re not over-promoting.
Managing Categories
Editing Categories
To edit an existing category’s name or color, access your category settings from the category dropdown and click the edit icon next to any category.
Deleting Categories
Deleting a category removes it from all posts that use it. The posts themselves are not deleted—just the category assignment is removed.
Best Practices
- Keep it simple: 5-8 categories is usually enough. Too many becomes hard to manage
- Be consistent: Always categorize posts as you create them
- Use distinct colors: Make each category visually distinct in your calendar
- Review your mix: Periodically check that you have a balanced content mix
- Match your strategy: Categories should reflect your content pillars