Do you have good intentions to publish posts to your website and/or social media sites several times a week but can never seem to get it done? Do you have ideas planned out for a few months in advance but need help from your team to get information written or researched? Or are you drowning in plans with no thought of how to execute them for your business?
If this sounds familiar, you may benefit from an editorial calendar and then by default, a content calendar. As a marketing company, this is a topic we discuss with all of our clients. How can you, as a business, share your plans, thoughts, and ideas with your team and your followers? Creating an editorial calendar gives you and your team time to plan, research, share, and create everything your company needs for success.
What is an editorial calendar?
- Planned approach to themes, content, timelines and visual lists
- A way to organize and schedule content
- Document that others can add to, edit, and share information all in one place
- An outline for your content marketing plans
- A way to know what you want to publish and when
- A guide
sfor the content that will be published that allows time for creating, curating or repurposing content
What is a content calendar?
A content calendar is the nuts and bolts of the editorial calendar. It is the actual written content to be used, links, blog posts, and times when it is to be published throughout the month. After creating an editorial calendar, you can then drill down the specifics for the month using a content calendar.
Make an editorial calendar work for you
- Use a calendar that works for your needs. There are many templates available online, but a simple word calendar or an Excel spreadsheet might be all you need.
- Color code it by content. What themes, holidays, and big ideas are you using for the month, what CTAs and keywords do you want, what are your short and long term goals?
- Be consistent when planning. Is there a theme or action for each month? Knowing your plan helps to keep everyone in the loop.
- Plan out timeframes for new information so it doesn’t get overlooked.
- Share it, so your whole team can look it over, add information, and coordinate/collaborate with others.
- What will your schedule be? When do you want to post to your website and your social media channels?
- How many days a week are you going to post to the various channels and your website?
- Research what your audience wants to see and know. How will you be the expert for them?
- Assign tasks to people and then everything is accomplished.
What to include on the editorial calendar
- Important dates
- Goals/themes/topics – informational, inspirational, entertaining
- Promotions
- Content ideas
- Keywords
- CTAs
- When to post – daily, weekly, monthly
- Which channels to post and when – social media, website, newsletter, etc.
- Who is responsible for what items
- Recycled content throughout the year. A topic may be relevant every few months. (Let’s face it, not everyone sees everything you post, so reuse good content during the year.)
How it helps your business
- Track keywords used
- Topics that resonate with your clients
- Track events
- Creates a big picture of your company goals with regards to marketing
- Time management
- CTAs
- Content is scheduled effectively and consistently
- Reduces stress as everything is planned out and everyone knows what is going on, who is doing what, and what needs to be written
Creating an editorial calendar, especially if you create several months at a time, is an organizational dream. Nothing gets overlooked, nothing has to be completed last-minute, and your team is all on the same page in regard to the plan.
Then from there, you can dial down and create a monthly content calendar, with the specific text, links, and photos/videos/blogs needed for the monthly postings. Assigning one person to take the information from the editorial calendar to the content calendar keeps everything organized and punctual.
You’ll post website updates, new information, curated content appealing to your followers, new projects, holidays, industry news, blogs, sales, and good news about your employees and clients. Some of this came from those big topics on your editorial calendar and the rest is specific to your followers for the month.
Remember to post entertaining and educational posts, not just events or sales.
Here at Burgie MediaFusion, we see tremendous value in creating editorial calendars. It’s streamlined and efficient. It’s easy to assign blog topics, research, gather content and share your business with your followers if you are organized and on topic. How can we help you?
