Content is undoubtedly the lifeblood that fuels the success of web and social media platforms. We’ve seen it in TikTok’s meteoric rise, in the viral reels that keep us scrolling for hours and the witty X threads (formerly known as Twitter threads) that leave us in stitches.
But behind every successful piece of content is a well-planned and organized content calendar.
The difference between brands that consistently churn out engaging and relevant content and those that struggle to keep up is their ability to create and execute an effective content calendar.
In this content planning guide, we’ll learn what a content calendar is and dive into content calendar creation best practices that will set your brand up for success in 2024 and beyond.
Table of Contents:
• What Is a Content Calendar?
• Why Do You Need a Content Calendar Software?
• How To Create an Effective Content Calendar
• Content Calendar Examples to Inspire Your Next Campaign
What Is a Content Calendar?
A content calendar, sometimes called an editorial calendar, is a schedule that lays out all your upcoming content, organized by date and time. It helps you plan and organize in advance so posts are expertly curated instead of shepherded in at the last minute.
Traditionally, content marketing experts rely on spreadsheets like Excel to map out their content calendar. However, with the rise of content calendar software and social media content scheduling tools, digital teams can plan their content in a more collaborative and streamlined manner.
Why Do You Need a Content Calendar Software?
Creating content without a plan is like building a house without a blueprint. It’s chaotic and ultimately leads to disorganized and inconsistent output, which can hurt your brand’s credibility and authority.
Here are some key benefits of using a content calendar software:
• Improved Organization and Efficiency: A content calendar software provides a centralized location for all your content ideas, assets and publishing schedule. This makes it easier for team members to collaborate and stay on track with deadlines
• Better Organization and Time Management: Content calendar tools allow you to plan content in advance, giving you more time to create high-quality pieces that boost your content marketing strategy.
• Consistency in Brand Messaging: An editorial calendar ensures consistent messaging across all content, which helps strengthen your brand identity and build trust with your audience.
• Opportunity to Repurpose Content: Efficient content management allows a content marketing strategist to identify opportunities to repurpose or update previously successful posts.
• Effective Collaboration: A centralized content calendar software enables easier collaboration among team members; anyone can view and contribute in real-time.
• Clarify Responsibilities Within the Team: With a content calendar, everyone knows what they are responsible for and when ensuring accountability and efficient teamwork.
• Improves Performance Tracking: Content scheduling tools allow you to track and analyze the success of your posts and make data-driven decisions for future content planning.
• Boost Conversions: With a content calendar, you can align your content with your sales funnel, ensuring each piece is tailored to convert leads into customers.
Investing in content calendar tools may seem like an added expense, but the benefits outweigh the cost. With a well-organized and efficient system, you can save time, improve consistency and ultimately drive more engagement with your brand’s content.
How To Create an Effective Content Calendar
Content marketing generates over three times the number of leads compared to traditional outbound marketing but costs 62% less (CMI). To get the full benefits of content marketing, these content calendar creation tips will come in handy:
1. Conduct a Content Audit
A content audit assesses your past content’s performance and identifies gaps in your existing content marketing strategy. It will help you identify which posts resonated best with your audience, the topics that generated the most engagement and areas where you can improve.
You can also run a competitive analysis to see what content your competitors produce, their posting frequency and audience engagement. This will give you a better idea of what works and what doesn’t in your industry.
Content marketing experts can help interpret your content audit data and provide actionable insights to strengthen your content calendar.
2. Set Specific Content Goals
Having clear, measurable goals is essential for efficient content management. Your strategies will have direction, and your team will clearly understand what needs to be achieved.
Some examples of content goals include:
• Increase website traffic by 20% in the next quarter
• Boost social media engagement by 30% this year
• Generate 50 leads through content downloads in the next month
• Increase email subscribers by 15% in the next six months
If you’re having trouble setting goals, consult with a content marketing strategist who can help you develop a customized plan based on your brand’s goals.
3. Create an Editorial Workflow
An editorial workflow outlines the process of creating and publishing content from ideation to delivery. This includes identifying key roles and responsibilities within the team, establishing deadlines and setting up a review and approval process.
A clear workflow ensures everyone knows their responsibilities and can work together efficiently to deliver quality content on time.
4. Define Preferred Channels and Content Mix
Your content audit should give you an idea of the types of content that work best for your target audience.
Consider creating a mix of blog posts, videos, infographics and social media posts to keep your audience engaged and interested. For instance, a fashion brand could include a mix of outfit inspiration posts, behind-the-scenes videos and trend roundups in their content calendar.
Here are standard rules to follow when curating a mix of content:
The Rule of Thirds
Source: Hootsuite
• Allocate one-third of your posts to promoting your business or generating conversions.
• Dedicate another one-third of your posts to sharing carefully selected content from industry thought leaders.
• Engage in personal interactions with your followers for the remaining one-third of your social posts.
The 80-20 Rule
This principle, rooted in the Pareto Principle, suggests that 80% of your content should be focused on delivering value to your audience – such as educational pieces, entertainment or engaging stories – while the remaining 20% should be reserved for promoting your brand or products.
After creating your content mix, decide which channels will work best for each type of content. You may find that certain platforms perform better than others in terms of engagement and conversion.
The preferred channels for most content marketing experts include:
• Blogs and website content
• Social media
• Email marketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
• Print marketing
• Influencer marketing
Testing and experimenting with different channels and content types will help you discover new opportunities for attracting and retaining your target audience.
5. Set a Realistic Publishing Schedule
Creating an overly ambitious publishing schedule may lead to burnout and lower-quality content. Consider how much time and resources your team can dedicate to creating and publishing content.
Consider factors such as:
• How frequently do you want to publish new content?
• The resources (time, budget, team members) needed for each piece of content
• Your target audience’s preferences and behavior (e.g., do they prefer daily updates or weekly roundups?)
Quality is more important than quantity, so don’t force yourself to produce content every day if it compromises the quality of your output.
6. Use the Right Content Calendar Software
There are numerous content calendar tools available, each with unique features and pricing plans. These tools often have templates that you can use to plug in your content ideas, deadlines and distribution channels.
Some popular options include:
• Hootsuite: A social media content scheduling tool with a built-in content calendar feature.
• Asana: A project management platform that allows you to create and organize tasks for your content team, including deadlines and collaboration features.
• CoSchedule: A comprehensive marketing platform with a content calendar feature, social media scheduling and analytics.
• Monday.com: A customizable project management tool that allows you to create workflows and track progress.
• Google Calendar: A free, basic option for creating and managing a content calendar.
Choose one that best suits your team’s needs and integrates seamlessly into your workflow.
7. Keep Room for Flexibility
While having a content calendar helps with planning, it’s important to remain flexible. Unexpected events or changes in your industry may require you to shuffle your schedule around.
Make sure to leave some room for flexibility in your content calendar, whether by having a buffer week for unexpected topics or leaving certain days open for timely news.
8. Note Key Dates and Events
Include important dates and events relevant to your industry in your content calendar, such as holidays, product launches, conferences or industry awards.
These key dates can serve as inspiration for content ideas and also help you plan around them. For example, you may want to create holiday-themed content during Christmas or plan a product launch campaign around an upcoming event.
Sensitive events, such as national tragedies or crises, should also be noted in your content calendar. This allows you to avoid tone-deaf or insensitive content in light of current events.
A holiday calendar like this one from Semrush can help you keep track of important dates and events throughout the year.
Source: Semrush
9. Decide on a Posting Cadence
Posting cadence refers to the frequency at which you publish new content. This can vary depending on your industry, audience preferences and resources.
For example, a news site may post multiple times a day to stay relevant and up-to-date with current events. On the other hand, a niche blog may only post once or twice a week since its audience is more interested in in-depth, well-researched content.
Ultimately, your posting cadence should align with your content goals and audience expectations. Try to keep a consistent posting schedule so your audience can anticipate new content from you.
10. Implement a Post-Publishing Plan
Creating a content calendar doesn’t end with publishing your content. You should also have a plan in place for promoting and repurposing your content.
For instance, you can schedule social media posts to promote your latest blog post or send out an email blast to your subscribers. You can also repurpose older content into different formats, such as creating an infographic from a blog post or turning a video into a podcast episode.
Keep track of your content performance and use analytics to inform your future content marketing strategy. This will help you continually improve the quality and effectiveness of your content, leading to better engagement with your audience and ultimately driving more leads for your brand.
11. Review and Revise Regularly
An editorial calendar is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. It should be reviewed and revised regularly based on the success of your published content, changes in your industry and audience preferences.
Set aside time monthly or quarterly to review your content calendar and make adjustments as needed. This will ensure that your content marketing strategy remains relevant and effective in reaching your target audience.
Content Calendar Examples To Inspire Your Next Campaign
Here are some examples of content calendars from different brands and industries to give you some inspiration for your content planning:
Jotform Social Media Calendar
Source: Jotform
Jotform’s social media content scheduling calendar strikes a balance between design and functionality. The tabs at the top allow for easy navigation between each category, and users can add contributors, tags, date ranges and more to keep things organized.
Hootsuite Planner
Source: Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a versatile social media management tool that enables you to draft, preview, schedule and publish posts across multiple platforms including Facebook (now Meta), Instagram, TikTok, Twitter (now X), LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest.
With Hootsuite’s Bulk Composer, you can schedule hundreds of posts across various social profiles.
HubSpot Social Media Content Calendar
Source: Hubspot
If you prefer the classic spreadsheet format, Hubspot’s free content planning guide and template allow you to track your social media posts alongside your content offers, blog post schedule and other marketing initiatives.
Color-coded blocks make it easy to track content types and themes, and you can easily add and remove rows as needed.
Master the Art of Content Calendar Creation With Thrive
The saying, “failing to plan is planning to fail,” rings true when it comes to creating quality content. Without planning, your content may lack direction, consistency and purpose.
Creating a content calendar is crucial for staying organized, planning ahead and tracking the success of your content. For even better results, partnering with a content marketing strategist can help you fine-tune your content calendar and elevate your overall content marketing strategy.
Thrive Internet Marketing Agency offers comprehensive content marketing services that include content planning, creation, publishing and promotion. As a full-service digital marketing agency, we implement other tactics like SEO, social media marketing and email marketing to boost your content’s reach.
Don’t leave your content strategy to chance. Contact Thrive today to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with our content marketing experts.
