Pulling off such a feat as publishing high-quality articles each month takes lots of organization and planning, as well as much thought about your content and topics a couple of months in advance. But the results are worth it. An editorial calendar can make you a powerhouse publishing machine!
I am going to share with you my top tips for developing an editorial calendar that will work wonders for your content marketing campaign and social media management.
Top Tips for Developing an Editorial Calendar
- Become a strategic publishing machine: Create a calendar or spreadsheet where you can track information related to your content strategy. (I prefer a spreadsheet because of all the information I want to track.)
- Decide on the frequency: When and how often will you post to your blog, social media platforms, and distribute your newsletters?
- Brainstorm topics: What does your audience want to know? What do they need help with? (Always remember to put their needs and desires first.)
- Get organized: Your editorial calendar should be a glance at everything you are publishing on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis.
- For your blog posts, consider including the date, author name, working title, category, tags, keywords, call to action, and notes and resources.
- Your social media posts can be housed on the editorial calendar as well.
- If you publish a newsletter or Ezine, be sure to work that into your overall strategy.
- Do you write for other blogs and publications? These should also be included on your spreadsheet.
- Write and publish: Remember, your editorial calendar is to help you stay organized, but it's not going to write the content for you! Be sure to schedule time to write and publish all of your wonderful ideas.
There are many online templates you can look through to find an editorial calendar that fits your needs. Google Docs has some wonderful templates which can be imported quickly to your account and set up in minutes.
I hope this article has you thinking about how to organize all of your wonderful content into an editorial calendar that will keep you an efficient, productive writer for your business.