How to Create a Content Calendar for YouTube

If you’re like most content creators out there, you probably have a lot on your plate. Not only do YouTubers have to set aside time to film and edit their own videos, but they also have to plan and organize content ideas, promote videos on social media, and do administrative duties such as contacting brands and organizing new products. Oh yeah, that’s also in addition to school, work, or family life — YouTubers are busy!

It’s important for anyone creating content to be published online to create a content calendar. How detailed you want it to be is completely up to you, but most YouTubers find planning out their content and promotion an incredibly helpful thing. One of our very own Octoly users Adyel uses a traditional planner to keep track of her filming and uploading schedule:

Adyel’s method is a great option, but there are several other ways to organize your content and run your YouTube business smoothly, too. Keep reading for some more of our favorites.

Set Goals

Setting goals is the first step in organizing your YouTube videos. Before you sit down to plan out your content each month, ask yourself what you are looking to highlight, what opportunities were missed the month before, and what results you’d like to see this time around. This will give you a clear vision of what kinds of content you really want to create, and will help you avoid creating “fluff” content that isn’t truly impacting anyone.

Organize Your Notes

Most YouTubers are notorious for jotting down notes wherever they can; in their phone, in notebooks, heck — even on napkins! Creativity can strike at anytime, so it’s important to always be prepared with somewhere to store your video ideas. We really like Evernote, as the tool enables you to search, share, and organize your notes seamlessly.

Create a Calendar

Whether you choose to write it down manually in a planner, create a Google Calendar, or use a template like this one, organizing all of your content is so important. A great first step is to add any important dates onto your calendar. For example, you may want to film a Get Ready With Me for your birthday dinner, a vlog for your Graduation Day, or a gift guide for Christmas. Planning ahead for these important dates can ensure you allow yourself enough time to film, and also gets you to think ahead in terms of social media promotion. For national holidays and days, we like to search BrownieLocks.

Schedule Social Posts

Pre-uploading your videos as soon as they’re done is one of the biggest time savers you can use! Just schedule the videos to go live, and you can operate ahead of schedule, allowing yourself more time to work on new content. In addition, you can also schedule your social media posts to promote your videos. Facebook has a native scheduling tool, but you’ll have to use a third-party app to schedule to sites like Twitter. BufferApp has a free plan that works incredibly well for YouTubers!

Reflect

Don’t ever post content without referencing back to it at the end of the month! Use studying your analytics as a chance to regroup and prioritize for next month. What did you do really well? What did you forget about? What’s coming up next month? These are all valid questions that reflecting upon your past content can help you figure out.

Let us know: What are some of your favorite ways to plan out your YouTube videos?
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