Content calendars are a great way to keep your marketing efforts organized and on the right track. Any successful social media team uses a well-thought out and laid out content calendar. Start your content calendar today!
What Is Your Goal?
Determine what the main goal of your content is. What channel you use and what format your content comes in will be determined by your answer to that question. Is it simply informational, are you trying to generate leads, or are you trying to direct readers to your website?
Once you define your goals, you should have a clearer picture of where and when you need to be posting, which will dictate what your content calendar looks like.
Design Your Content Calendar
There are a number of templates to choose from for content calendars. Choose one that suits your eye and keep it simple to avoid overcrowding or confusing anyone else who needs to contribute to the content calendar.
No matter what you go with, make sure it includes the following information:
- Where the content is being posted
- What topic the content covers
- What format the content is in
- Date and time for publishing
- Who is responsible
- Was this published on time?
Select The Right Channel
Since you already know the goal of your content, you know what channel your target audience uses the most. Be specific as to which platform you’re using, whether it’s TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube.
Content calendars don’t have to be just for social media. If you are writing expert articles, press releases, or guest blogs, those should be included in your content calendar too.
Keep Evergreen Content on Hand
Coming up with fresh, new content constantly is an impossible task for even the most creative individual. That’s why evergreen content is your friend when it comes to planning content calendars.
You can have a certain type of content that is easy to fill out and comes out on a regular basis which isn’t tied to a certain time, date, or contemporary themes. It’s good to have some of this ready-made for when there are delays in your schedule and you feel you need to get something out there.
Use Old Content
Old content can always use a refresher. If you’re running into a mental block, comb through your old blog posts or social media posts to see if anything can be repurposed into a short video or if you can update it with relevant information and republish it. This is also a great SEO strategy that can help boost old pages that performed well when they were published!
Don’t Overstuff It
A common mistake when making a content calendar is overcrowding it. While some may think more content is better, this actually accomplished the opposite of what you want. Your content’s quality will suffer, each individual post won’t get the time it needs to breathe, and your team will end up overworked. Take the time to come up with quality content ideas and give your team time to work on each one so you don’t overwhelm your followers and you can be proud of the content you put out.
Monitor How Your Content is Received
Monitor the performance of your content along with the feedback of your followers and readers. No matter how you choose to do that, give yourself a space on your content calendar to note how each piece of content does. Over time, this should give you an idea of what types of content perform well and which ones don’t.
