Create An Editorial Plan: No More Content Stress
Do you want to create a professional editorial plan step by step to control your content in the long term? With this rational basis, you can actively prevent writer’s block and reduce stress during content production.
Sounds good. We’ll tell you how to implement a realistic editorial calendar without prior knowledge of journalism.
Create An Editorial Plan: Here’s Why You Need One
Is your corporate blog barely attracting readers? Are your posts regularly drowning in social media without being noticed by your target groups?
If your content marketing isn’t taking off, it could be because you’re posting too infrequently or because you need to focus on the right content. You may need a common thread to guide you. Creating a structured editorial plan is the solution to counteract the chaos in content planning.
- With an editorial plan, you plan your content strategically and effectively.
- Long-term editorial planning optimizes internal workflow.
- Thanks to the editorial calendar, everyone involved can keep track of content production at all times.
- The content plan clarifies all responsibilities and determines suitable channels for publication.
- An editorial plan prevents writer’s block and ensures a regular posting frequency.
- With an editorial plan, you can catch seasonal topics and industry trends.
Tips For A Functioning Editorial Calendar
At the latest, it should be clear that creating a working editorial calendar is essential to an effective content strategy. While every beauty business is unique, there are some basics that a good editorial calendar should cover.
These include answering the following questions:
- What topics will be published and when?
- Who is responsible for content creation and final approval?
- On which channels will the content be distributed afterward?
This way, you don’t risk unintentionally publishing content on topics you’ve already created and don’t have to deal with blown deadlines. In addition, you can coordinate all issues and thus develop a credible expert image.
A continuously maintained editorial plan signals that content production has the same priority as all other measures of your cosmetics marketing. This pays off in the long run because inspiring newsletters, blog articles, or social media posts generate new readers or followers and drive business growth.
Ideally, it would help if you created an editorial calendar that covers a fixed period — for example, the next quarter or the coming half of the year.
Thinking About Content Strategy And Editorial Planning Together
To create an efficient editorial plan, you need a comprehensive content strategy. After all, you need to know what you want to achieve with your beauty content, your target groups, and which media presentation suits your prospects.
Collect as much data as possible on actual and potential customers. This will make it easier for you to find relevant topics to fill your editorial calendar. It’s also helpful to look at your competitors’ content for inspiration. You may discover content gaps and be able to use them profitably.
An editorial calendar gives you an excellent overview of the breadth of your topics and optimizes the organizational processes behind the scenes. It also helps you drive your content marketing forward by pointing out untapped potential.
Do your posts reflect the profile of your target audiences? Do you need to focus more strongly on trending topics in the beauty industry? Which content is flopping with your users, and which format is trendy?
Evaluate your editorial plan at regular intervals and derive target-oriented measures for the content strategy of your beauty company.
Create An Editorial Plan: What Goes Into It
From a formal point of view, it is entirely uncomplicated to create an editorial plan. Even a simple Excel spreadsheet will do the job and provides enough space to record all the essential data relating to your beauty content.
You can also find a wide selection of templates for all editorial plans on the Internet. Last but not least, several digital tools like Trello or Notion allow you to plan and edit content flexibly.
But what essential information should a bright editorial plan cover?
Date
As a rule, several texts are on the to-do list, some of which have to be created in parallel. Binding deadlines ensure that nothing falls by the wayside. Therefore, note the date of the planned publication in your content calendar.
Headline
Formulate the titles of your posts in advance. Ideally, the headline should contain the keyword and arouse the curiosity of your target groups.
Keyword
Even the most ingenious cosmetics texts are of little use to you if they cannot be found on the web. Define a keyword for each article and, if necessary, accompanying keywords for frequently searched beauty topics.
Format
What do you want to publish: A newsletter, a social media post, or a blog post? The text format will provide essential clues as to your content’s appropriate length and tone. While social media is usually short and snappy, a detailed guide article can quickly exceed 1000 words.
Responsibility
Which staff members are responsible for writing, reading, and final publication of the topic? Keep holidays in mind and work with a small buffer when setting deadlines so that there is enough time for editing. This is especially useful if you regularly work with a freelance beauty copywriters, influencers, or guest writers.
How To Find The Perfect Content Format
Ingenious content — that’s more than just text-based content. Image galleries, informative graphics, or best-of lists can generate a robust response. Accordingly, choosing the proper content format is of crucial importance.
Don’t leave anything to chance here, but proceed strategically and orient yourself to the following questions:
- Which content format is best suited to convey the desired message?
- What type of content does the target group currently prefer?
- What formats are thriving on the channels your customers are on?
- Are any content trends emerging for the beauty industry, such as TikTok videos or Instagram reels?
- Do you have internal resources for copywriting, video production, or visual collateral like infographics?
What content resonates particularly well with your users is subject to fluctuation. For example, interests may shift as soon as a new social media platform appears on the scene. Continuous monitoring is essential here.
Expect regular adjustments when you create your editorial plan. Experience shows that a balanced content mix is the most promising, i.e., the perfect blend of text, images, video, and interactive formats such as surveys.
The Right Timing Matters
Once it has been determined how often which content format is to be published and all responsibilities have been clarified, it is worth taking a closer look at the timing. The right timing is a crucial success factor for your beauty content. To reach as many users as possible, consider several things in advance.
What do you know about the usage habits of your target groups? What are the peak times according to Instagram Audience Insights? Are there any special holidays when your users are online less? Do you notice any differences during the vacation season?
When creating your editorial schedule, it makes sense to factor in beauty industry events and happenings. Along these dates, you can plan different publications and accompany your audience with relevant news. A company anniversary or a product launch also contributes to integrating corresponding content formats into the editorial calendar.
Over time, you’ll get a feel for which times work well on different channels and on which days your users are less receptive. That’s how you’ll find your optimal posting frequency.
Create An Editorial Plan: Maintain Flexibility And Openness
Creating an editorial plan is worthwhile! It is hard to imagine modern content marketing without it as a common thread. It facilitates the organization of all employees involved in content production and provides a solid basis for precisely targeting your content to the desired audience.
Still, you will need to stay flexible. There can always be unforeseen developments that affect the content planning of your beauty business. These include, for example, new products that suddenly become the talk of the town, canceled event dates, or spontaneous cooperation opportunities.
A good editorial plan allows for spontaneous content and a basic structure of fixed content formats, such as a weekly blog series. Stay on the ball, maintain your content plan continuously, and don’t lose the fun of creating relevant cosmetic topics!
Want help filling your editorial plan with fresh content ideas? Do you still need an underlying content strategy? Or are you looking for a beauty copywriter who can create professional cosmetics and wellness content for you? Then you’ve come to the right place!
