Keep Up to Date with Your Content Calendar
It’s not important how you do it. It’s not even too important when you do it. Making sure you have an up-to-date editorial calendar is, however, one of the most fundamental requirements in ensuring your content strategy delivers more traffic, leads, conversions and sales.
Not sure where to get started? Then just read on …
What goes in a Content Calendar?
Once you’ve got ideas and inspiration for your content, it’s time to start some strategic planning. Your content calendar should include the answers to the most important questions, namely:
- When will you publish?
- Which piece of content?
- On what topic?
- Who will write the content? And finally…
- Which channels or mediums should it be published on?
It’s a good idea to plan your content strategy well in advance. Plan for each coming quarter or even full year. If you use Excel, for example, have a column for the content’s title, its date of publication and its URL, as well as for tracking its success.
Once you know the kind of content you want to publish, where, it’s time to start refining your calendar.
Define your goals
Knowing what you want to achieve with your content strategy already puts you well on the way to achieving it. Do you want to gain better SEO rankings or just more interaction on social media with your target group? Is it more important for you to increase sales or increase brand loyalty among your customers? Once you’ve defined your goals, prioritise them and find out what type of content will help you achieve these goals most efficiently.
Define your frequency
Once you’ve got your priorities and your goals fixed, adjust your publishing frequency accordingly. If your goal is greater interaction with your target group and you’ve decided social media publishing is the way to achieve this, then you’ll want to publish content more frequently than, say, if you were to concentrate on publishing e-books with seasonal information. Make sure you know when you can reach your target audience, too. If you’re working with LinkedIn, for example, it’s worth knowing that new content is mostly published on a Tuesday.
Define your topics
This is where real strategic thinking is needed – planning your content. Whether you use keyword research to indicate the topics or whether you get inspiration from your sales team or your customers themselves, it’s useful to categorise your ideas. If you have new services or products, plan to publish press releases. If you want to inform or entertain, plan engaging pieces such as interviews or surveys. Knowing what keeps your target audience happy is a great way to guide your chosen format.
Define your distribution
All good things are even better after they’ve been shared. Make sure you make your content accessible to your target group but don’t be afraid to try out new platforms and media channels too. You never know whom you might reach!
Stay flexible!
As effective as content planning is, it’s equally important to remain flexible. Keep your eye on the newest trends and crazes, and don’t be afraid to react to negative or surprising feedback.
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