Creating an Editorial Calendar
As a content creator, it can be challenging to stay organized and on-track with projects. It often seems like the to-do list never ends, and there’s always more work to be done.
That’s where an editorial calendar comes in. An editorial calendar is a tool that helps you plan and organize your content marketing strategy, ensuring that you stay on top of your game.
Importance of an Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar is a vital tool for content marketers. It helps keep track of deadlines, ensures consistency in content quality and delivery, and encourages creativity by giving you the space to plan future projects.
An editorial calendar also serves as a reference for project stakeholders to review the content plan. By providing easy access to this information, stakeholders can make decisions quickly and effectively.
Building an Editorial Calendar
Building an editorial calendar for your content marketing strategy involves a few key steps. The first step is to choose a calendar format.
You can use a physical calendar, a spreadsheet, or an online tool. The choice largely depends on personal preference and your team’s requirements.
The second step is to create a notes section where you and your team can write down ideas, topics, and deadlines. This section should be accessible to everyone involved in the project, making it easy to collaborate on ideas and stay organized.
The third step is to identify content sources that you can use for upcoming projects. For instance, you might want to create a blog post on industry trends.
You can then use existing resources such as magazines, whitepapers, or other industry blogs as a reference. A robust editorial calendar often requires a range of content formats, so be sure to include your preferred media types.
Taking Stock of Content
Now that you have built your editorial calendar, it’s time to take stock of your existing content. This step involves taking inventory of your planned content, as well as the shareable content that you can use to supplement your content marketing strategy.
Identifying Planned Content
When taking stock of planned content, look at your editorial calendar and identify the projects that are underway. For example, you might have a weekly blog post, main website content updates, or a social media campaign.
Document these projects, and ensure that all stakeholders involved are made aware of the progress.
Finding Shareable Content
Finding shareable content involves sourcing for content from existing resources. Some of these resources include industry blogs, news websites, and company databases, among others.
Shareable content can be newsworthy articles, social media updates, or topical trends that you can associate with your brand. Regular content sources are great places to find shareable content, and should be leveraged for future editorial calendar planning.
Identify which content sources produce content that interests your target audience, and add them to your repository.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an editorial calendar serves as a vital tool in content marketing strategy by streamlining the creative process and fostering collaboration among stakeholders. Make sure that your calendar is comprehensive and includes planned content, as well as shareable content from existing resources.
Be sure to consult regularly with other stakeholders, look for the best sources for shareable content, and use your editorial calendar to drive your content marketing efforts. By doing so, you’ll be sure to succeed in the continuously evolving and competitive world of content marketing.
Organizing Content
Creating engaging content consistently is the lifeblood of many businesses and content creators. However, developing a powerful content strategy can be challenging, especially when you have a lot of raw content to work with.
As such, organizing content into buckets is a strategy many adopt to keep their content in order.
Grouping Content into Buckets
When organizing content, it helps to group it into different categories or buckets to make it more manageable. The two main types of content genres often used are created content and curated content.
Created content is original material that you or your team develops in-house, such as a blog post, social media update, email blast, or a video. Curated content, on the other hand, is content that you find elsewhere such as shared social media posts, infographics, or video snippets.
By grouping your content into these categories created and curated content you can focus on distribution and target marketing more effectively. You can decide the types of topics, message, and platform suited for each content bucket.
Importance of
Mixing Up Content
One common mistake content creators tend to make is repeating too much of their content, which can get repetitive and boring for the audience. The secret of successful content marketing lies in variety, and so creating and curating a mix of written, visual, and audio content can help keep audience interest.
Remember, it isn’t only about having enough content; it’s also about making sure you spread it out to create more opportunities to engage with your audience. This should include the meatiest pieces of content you have.
For example, pillar contentwhich can be a long-form video, infographic, or research report. This piece of content will be the foundation for much of your content marketing, so make sure you promote it to your target audience as much as possible.
Scheduling Content
Once you have organized your content and created a mix of content material, the next step is to figure out where to publish your content and scheduling its release.
Plugging Content into a Calendar
Determine where your audience engages most with content, whether through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn, or through your website or blog. Knowing your channels of reach is pivotal, as it can affect the type and style of content you create.
Once you have mapped out your channels of content distribution, the next step is to develop a content calendar. This is a timeline that maps out the days, months, or weeks where you plan to release your content.
The schedule should include information on the type of each content, the keywords or hashtags used, and the platform where it would be published.
Scheduling for Best Times
To maximize content engagement, it’s also essential to schedule your content for the times when your audience is most active online. For example, Twitter analytics have a feature to help you quickly spot the best time during the day or weekend for posting.
Other social networks like Facebook Insights also have similar features that can help you target the best time for posting.
It’s also vital to set up consistent publishing times, say, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or every first day of the month.
Consistency in publishing time can create expectations for your audience, helping build a happier and more engaged audience.
Ensuring Consistency and Regularity
One of the critical advantages of creating a content calendar is that it can help content creators ensure regularity in creating content. Regular content delivery can help your business establish credibility and authority by creating a sense of reliability from your audience to know when you publish content.
When established, set regular expectations on your content release, considering the demographics of your target audience. This can help ensure your content stays relevant and updated with current topics and interests.
Audience interests change, and keeping up with their trends and demands is a step towards a successful content marketing strategy.
In Summary
Organizing content into buckets allows for understanding how to effectively distribute and promote the various types of content. Variety and consistent publishing time ensure audience engagement and avoid boredom in the content delivered.
When developing a content calendar, ensure to schedule the best content posting times and establish regular expectations. By following these steps, a business or content creator can achieve a successful content marketing strategy, build credibility, and engage more with their audience.
In the increasingly competitive world of content marketing, staying on top of your game is crucial. A successful content marketing strategy is a combination of planning, organizing, and scheduling your content.
However, keeping your content fresh, exciting, and engaging can be tricky. Here are some tips to help you mix up your content and keep your audience happy.
Mixing Up Content
Mixing up content is one of the most important parts of a successful content marketing strategy. It’s essential to keep your audience interested and engaged by providing a variety of content formats.
As mentioned earlier, having a mix of written, visual, and audio content helps keep your audience interested. Another way to mix up content is to vary your message or approach on a particular topic.
For example, take a more serious tone in one blog post, then a more lighthearted approach in another post to keep things interesting. Changing up the content opens your audience up to new ideas and keeps them engaged.
Spreading Content Out
When it comes to content distribution, spreading it out is key. Don’t publish all your content at once as it can overwhelm your audience and cause them to tune out.
Instead, spread content out across different platforms and release them at different times.
Posting #tbt posts is a strategy that many businesses use to recycle old content.
This strategy consists of digging up past content and re-sharing them with their audience under the hashtag “throwback Thursday.” It’s a smart way to recycle old content, re-engage your audience, and generate increased engagement on social media.
Conclusion and Tips for Happy Scheduling
Scheduling your content and organizing your content strategy doesn’t have to be dreary. In fact, you can have fun with it! Here are a few tips for happy scheduling:
1.
Keep a positive outlook: Instead of seeing scheduling as a chore, view it as a way to get ahead, make your life easier, and deliver awesome content to your audience. 2.
Get creative with content: Don’t be afraid to experiment with new forms of content. Test out different ideas and formats to see what resonates with your audience.
3. Use tools to simplify: There are numerous content scheduling tools available online that can help you plan and schedule your content.
4. Stay organized: Keep your content strategy and schedule organized by using a spreadsheet, project management tool, or other useful software.
5. Partner with your team: Collaborate with your team members by holding regular brainstorming sessions to generate new and innovative ideas and keep the energy flowing.
6. Celebrate success: Have fun and celebrate your successes.
Focus on the positive progress you have made, no matter how small. It’s important to keep the creativity flowing by acknowledging your achievements along the way and staying motivated to create and promote high-quality content.
In summary, a successful content marketing strategy requires a mix of planning, organizing, and scheduling. Stay creative, diversify your content, and experiment with new forms of content.
Don’t forget to spread out your content, use handy online tools, stay organized, and celebrate your success. With these tips, you can achieve happy scheduling, build a loyal audience, and make your content marketing dreams a reality.
In conclusion, organizing and scheduling your content is vital for a successful content marketing strategy. By creating an editorial calendar and grouping your content into buckets, you can effectively plan and distribute your content.
Mixing up your content and spreading it out across different platforms and times keeps your audience engaged and interested. Remember to schedule your content for the best times and stay consistent to establish credibility and meet audience expectations.
With these strategies in mind, you can achieve a well-rounded and engaging content strategy that delights your audience and drives measurable results. Happy scheduling!