An Easy Guide to Creating Your Editorial Calendar for 2019

Source: https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/creating-the-perfect-blog-editorial-calendar

Consistency is crucial in content marketing. To be consistent, you have to put out high quality content that compels and engages your audience regularly. One of the ways you can ensure this is through creating and maintaining an editorial content calendar. It is a visual representation of every piece of content scheduled for a specific period.

The editorial calendar derives its concept from the published list of issue themes and dates commonly used for advertising campaigns of print publications. This usually contains a brief general description of what’s in each issue. The descriptions, however, are obscure enough to allow for the content to be revised as you go along.

Here’s how to go about it:

Step #1: Find a Structure that Works for You

First, think about how you would like your system to look like. Search for an editorial calendar template that contains all the elements you would need in planning and managing your content across all channels. This will allow you to see the topics and tasks you have scheduled at a glance. Likewise, it will establish a structure for your content writers, graphic designers, and all the other people involved. They will give them a clearer idea of how they should manage their time to meet deadlines. There are several options to choose from.

First, there’s Search Engine Journal’s marketing calendar template, which already has holidays plotted out so you can plan your content around them. It’s in Google Calendar format which is convenient if you prefer to use Google Suite for project management.

Source: https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/marketing-calendar-2019-1600x838.png

Hubspot also offers a variety of simple and easy-to-use editorial content calendars for download, which comes in a variety of formats such as Excel, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar. Each template also comes with instructions to help you carry out its use easier.

There are also apps like Co-Schedule and Wordpress calendar which saves your work every 30 minutes — perfect if you’re concerned about not having to back up your data every now and then while you work on filling your calendar.

On the other hand, if you prefer something more customizable, you may opt to use Trello or start a content editorial calendar from scratch using Excel. And if you prefer a more traditional approach, a large wall chart or white board can work as well. Whichever method you choose to use, remember that the premise is that it should be accessible and clear enough for everyone in your team to see.

Step #2: Figure Out Your Why

Align your intent with the brand’s marketing strategy. Good content is nothing without a sound marketing plan to back it up. You must utilize both in order to come up with an effective campaign.

According to Kim Moustos of Content Marketing Institute, here are the things you must take into consideration when planning the posts for your website.

• Reason/s for creating a piece of content
• Your target audience
• Originality
• Which platform will it be published on
• Metrics that will be used to gauge your campaign’s success

These should help determine what types of content you should use and which topics you should go with.

Step #3: Determine Who You Are Writing For

It’s important to know exactly who your target audiences are so that you can come up with content that’s tailored-fit to their tastes and needs. One of the best approaches you can take is to come up with different personas to target, so you’ll have a specific set of audiences in mind when planning your content.

Providing information regarding who the target audience is will also allow the writers to adjust the tone to make their writing resonate with readers. A buyer persona is typically comprised of an ideal customer’s needs, wants, job function, industry, and how the content you are about to publish will be useful to them.

Source: https://coschedule.com/blog/content-calendar-examples/

One brand who planned their content calendar based on their audience’s preferences and activity is Red Bull. The infographic above shows how the brand chose to post content in platforms most used by their target audience. The brand also crafted their content in non-hardsell way, just the way their audience likes it.

Another benefit of having different personas to target is that you can make your approach to content creation as broad or as specific as you want, depending on which segments of your audience you want to engage.

Step #4: Identify Your Topics

Now that you’ve established what you want to say and who you want to connect with, it’s time to come up with the topics and themes for your communication channels. Think about what topics you have already touched on and what else you have yet to explore. What is it that your audience wants to read about? If you’re managing an e-commerce site, what type of content will help you convert your readers into regular customers?

Another tactic you can leverage is seasonal content marketing. You can use it to market your brand offerings that only apply during specific seasons such as Christmas and thanksgiving. Seasonal marketing typically gets the best results when used for consumer-oriented products and services. These include food, pets, homes, fashion, gardening, hobbies, travel, and kids.

Come up with seasonal checklists detailing tips that are valuable and relevant to your audience. These should be evergreen, which means they can be updated when needed. A feature on the latest trends are useful for keeping your audience updated while promoting the relevant products and services you offer.

Step #5: Involve Your Team and Your Audience

Ask your employees for topic suggestions that you haven’t listed yet. Also, orient your employees about the desired workflow, as well as the designation of assignments. This allows every member of the team to allocate their time and resources properly to fulfill the deadlines set by the company.

Source: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/content-planning/

Don’t forget to listen to your readers as well. Addressing their concerns will encourage them to keep engaging with your content. Ann Smarty of Sprout Social recommends using a CRM tool like Salesmate (see above image) for easy documentation. You can also gather user questions, concerns, and insights through your sales and customer service representatives, whenever possible.

Step #6: Let the assignments begin

Now, all that is left for you to do is set deadlines and schedule due dates for every step of the process. Remember to give ample time for the completion of each task so that you won’t fall behind on your deliverables. Make sure that these deadlines are laid out clearly on your calendar so that all deadlines will be met.

Final Thoughts

Creating a content editorial calendar can be tedious, especially in its early stages. But once you’ve created a foundation, it will help streamline your content planning process and make creating compelling ideations a breeze.