Content is king, and creating a content calendar can help you to keep your content organized, on track, and ensure that you’re always publishing something of value.
A content calendar is a tool that allows you to visualize your content strategy and plan what and when you’ll publish over a specific period of time. It can help you to keep track of your content, see what’s worked and what hasn’t, and align your content with your marketing and business goals.
Whether you’re creating a content calendar for the first time or starting from scratch, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know to create a content calendar.
1. Start with the Right Content Calendar Template
When you’re ready to create a content calendar, you’ll need to start with the right template. We have a variety of content calendar templates available for you to download, including an editorial content calendar, social media content calendar, and a project content calendar.
Once you have your content calendar template, you can fill in the blanks with the rest of your content calendar plan.
2. Create a Content Marketing Strategy
The most important part of the process is to create a content marketing strategy. This will help you understand who your audience is, what they are interested in, and how to create content that will resonate with them.
You will also want to define the goals of your content marketing strategy. Is your goal to drive traffic to your website? Is it to generate leads? Or is it to increase brand awareness? Whatever your goal is, make sure it is clearly defined and that it will help you measure the success of your content marketing.
Once you have defined your audience and your goals, you can start to brainstorm content ideas. Think about what your audience is interested in and how you can create content that will help them solve their problems or answer their questions.
3. Brainstorm Content Ideas
After you've set your goals, you need to brainstorm content ideas. These are the topics and ideas you'll use to create your content.
The best way to brainstorm content ideas is to think about the questions and problems your audience has. Also, consider holding a virtual brainstorming session to boost creativity and explore new perspectives. Then, create content that answers those questions and solves those problems.
4. Enter Your Content Ideas into Your Content Calendar
Once you've got a good list of content ideas, it's time to start adding them to the calendar. Start with the most important content first. If you're creating a content calendar for a blog, that might mean adding your pillar content topics first. It's also beneficial to categorize these ideas, for instance, you can list posts by category, author, and tags. This helps in maintaining a well-organized and searchable content database, which is crucial for both content creators and the audience. If you're creating a content calendar for social media, that might mean adding your campaigns first.
Then, start filling in the rest of the calendar with your other content ideas. Be sure to space out your content so that it's not all going live on the same day or in the same week. You should also consider the seasonality of your topics, and add them to your calendar accordingly.
5. Create a Workflow for Content Creation
Your content calendar should also include a workflow for how the content will be created. The right remote work/collab tools are especially important if you have a team of content creators in various locations that you are working with.
Your workflow should include the following:
• Who is responsible for creating the content
• What type of content will be created
• What the topic of the content will be (for example, POV on social media)
• When the content will be created and published
• What resources will be needed to create the content
• What the approval process will be
Having a workflow in place will help to ensure that everyone on your team is on the same page and that the content creation process runs smoothly by hiring a content writer.
6. Plan Your Content Distribution
Once you have your content topics and titles, you can start to plan where you want to distribute your content and how you want to promote it.
For example, if you’re writing a blog post, you might want to share it on your social media profiles, in your email newsletter, and in relevant LinkedIn groups. This is where the importance of suitable software, such as LinkedIn automation tools, becomes evident.
If you’re creating a video, you might want to upload it to YouTube, embed it in a blog post, and share it on your social media profiles.
If you’re creating a podcast, you might want to upload it to Apple Podcasts, embed it in a blog post, and share it on your social media profiles.
7. Measure Content Performance
How do you know if your content is reaching your goals? That's where measuring content performance comes in.
Once you've started to publish content, you'll want to track a few key content marketing KPIs to ensure you're on the right track. Some of these KPIs include:
• Page Views: This KPI measures the total number of times a piece of content has been viewed on your website.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): This KPI measures the percentage of people who clicked on a link in your content, like a call-to-action, that led them to a landing page.
• Time on Page: This KPI measures the average amount of time people spend on a page after clicking on it.
• Bounce Rate: This KPI measures the percentage of people who land on a page and then leave without clicking on anything else on your website.
• Conversion Rate: This KPI measures the percentage of people who completed a desired action after clicking on a call-to-action in your content, like downloading an ebook or signing up for a webinar.
• Leads Generated: This KPI measures the total number of leads generated from your content, like the number of people who downloaded an ebook or signed up for a webinar.
• Social Media Shares: This social media KPI measures the total number of times your content has been shared on social media.
• Comments: This KPI measures the total number of comments on your content.
• Backlinks: This KPI measures the total number of backlinks to your content.
• On-Page SEO: This KPI measures how well your content is optimized for search engines.
• Organic Traffic: This KPI measures the total number of people who found your content via a search engine.
• Keyword Rankings: This KPI measures how well your content ranks for specific keywords.
• Customer Feedback: This KPI measures the total number of customer feedback on your content.
• Sales: This KPI measures the total number of sales generated from your content.
• Customer Calls: how many phone calls on your contact center software you get from the content you publish.
Once you've identified the content marketing KPIs you want to track, you'll want to set up a system for tracking them. You can use a content marketing dashboard to track your KPIs, or you can use a spreadsheet.
8. Schedule Regular Content Calendar Updates and Strategy Meetings
Once you've built your content calendar, it's important to keep it up to date. This means scheduling regular meetings to check in on your progress and make any necessary changes to your plan.
You should also be prepared to make changes to your content calendar as needed. For example, if a new product launch is announced, you may need to add new content to your calendar. Similarly, if a major news event occurs, you may need to reschedule or replace planned content.
By keeping your content calendar up to date, you can ensure that your team is aligned and that you're creating content that is relevant and timely.
Conclusion
Content calendars are the best way to plan and organize upcoming content. They allow you to take a step back and see the big picture. In doing so, you can make sure that your content is well-balanced and has a good chance of being successful.
There are multiple ways to create a content calendar. You can use a template, a spreadsheet, or an app. You can also create a content calendar for social media or a blog. Think about the type of content you produce and how you would like to organize it.
If you want to learn more, read our list of the best content marketing examples.
