How To Build The Best Content Calendar For Your Business | Free Template

Content raises awareness, establishes trust, and generates leads. What does content marketing promise to offer for the future? The CMI’s digital content marketing stats show that 72% of marketers say content marketing increases engagement.

All successful content marketing strategies start with a well-thought-out strategy. If you want to keep one step ahead of your competitors in the new year, now is the time to start planning your content marketing editorial calendar.

Even when the company's staff contains skilled writers and tech-savvy social media experts content calendar is needed. This is because coming up with new relevant content on a constant schedule can be a difficult process.

A concept of the content calendar could be the answer you've been waiting for, for a successful marketing campaign.  You have to build the best content calendar for your campaigns. Unfortunately, not every marketer is good at working with the calendar on the fly.

Businesses of all sizes are encouraged to generate and share more content. A lack of time and human resources prevents them from doing so. You may learn here why content marketing fits best businesses of all sizes.

For companies that conduct digital marketing, it is difficult to complete all of their targeted content. The basis of the problem is often not the number of resources, but rather their inefficient use of them as a result of poor planning.

Building the best content calendar is an easy way to combat this issue and to make the proper use of resources. It is an effective tool for coordinating content creation. It helps to divide your team’s upcoming workload into clear, easily manageable units.

By including this tool in your planning process, you will have to spend less time wondering what to write, and instead focus on the creation itself.

What is the meaning of the content calendar?

A content calendar entails planning and organizing your material, in platforms, for publish in specific time. It is an authoritative source that your marketing team, or if you're a freelancer, your marketing clients, can simply access.

Depending on your marketing objectives, this is sometimes known as an "editorial calendar." It can be organized on a weekly, monthly, or six-monthly basis.

Regardless of which method you use, a content calendar allows you to keep track of any content that is being created and published ahead of time.

What are the benefits of the editorial calendar?

➡️Helps you save time and money

The biggest benefit of editorial calendar is that it saves your time and energy in the long run. Instead of sitting down and thinking about what content to create and on which platform, a calendar is a solution. This time and money could be better spent on more innovative marketing efforts.

➡️It Minimizes Errors

Another benefit of editorial calendar is, it decreases the chances of making mistakes. Consider the error of posting the same content over different networks.

It ensures all operations run well by planning and delegating responsibilities among the members. It is necessary for larger groups since responsibilities are likely to be shared among team members. Rushing through this process may result in costly errors.

➡️It facilitates collaboration among the team

Editorial calendars make collaboration easier, whether in-house or at a digital marketing agency. Without having to contact each individual, it guarantees that everyone is aware of the status of each post.

How to build a content calendar

1. Define your content goals

The first step in building a content calendar should be to define your goals. The response to the question should be considered to determine the right channel and format based on your buyer persona.

Is the content intended for lead generation? Direct readers to a website, increase visibility, or potentially increase the number of people who follow you on Facebook?

The goals you set have a significant impact on who you publish information to, where you post it, and how often you publish it.

As a result, a marketer must understand your objectives both before and during the planning process. Content marketing always increases sales. But pushing out content without a defined aim won't help your business, it'll only waste of money. Learn here how can content marketing improves sales in your business

The person working on each project or calendar item should have a clear understanding of the desired outcomes.

2. Generating the ideas

In any digital marketing agency, the sales and customer support staff are supposed to participate in brainstorming content ideas for the calendar.

Talk about topics you haven't covered yet, to find out what questions potential customers have and what information they require to complete a purchase. You can also talk about fresh content strategies you could use to reach your target audience.

You may learn more about the 9 steps to building an effective content marketing strategy.

3. Design a content calendar template

Several online webs provide calendar functionality, feel free to choose whichever style you prefer. Examples of editorial calendar tools are Microsoft excel, Google drive, Hootsuite, Loomly, Trello, Sproutsocial, Evernote, Hootsuite, Agorapulse, and StoryChief.

You may get a content calendar template from Bridging Technologies. The best firm providing content marketing services in Tanzania.

❤️‍🔥DOWNLOAD A FREE CONTENT CALENDAR TEMPLATE FROM BRIDGING TECHNOLOGIES

However, because learning a new piece of software might take time, your content schedule can be as simple as a spreadsheet.

If you're planning content with the entire organization, the calendar should contain a share option.

Your calendar can be customized to meet the needs of your team, but it should include essential information.

4. Choose marketing channels for your content.

Find out the channels your present and potential customers communicate. This will assist you in determining the type of content you should create. Is it a good idea to post content on your blog, Instagram and Twitter? Do you have any YouTube videos or a Facebook survey?

It might be useful to publish content on a variety of platforms and in a variety of formats to reach a larger audience. Make sure, that you have the resources to focus on the platforms on which you want to emerge.

Instead of posting on every network you can choose the important channels and focus on providing high-quality content.

The simplest and least time-consuming type of content to develop is social media posts. However, make sure, that your content plan is more than just a social media calendar. It should also include more in-depth information. You can learn other types of content marketing and how to use them to get results.

Using social media to cross-promote and distribute your more in-depth content can be very beneficial.

More clients will be attracted to your website if you share an infographic from a blog post on Instagram or share an article on LinkedIn or Twitter. 32% of consumers check out a brand’s social media presence before checking out their website.

5. Check the calendar of the year

When you’re planning your content, start with the year calendar. To build the best content calendar you have to make a list of any major events. These can be the holidays, trade shows, seminars, and training that you wish to base your material on.

This simple step will assist you in determining the type of seasonal content you will require in the future. As well as estimating the incoming workload, allowing your team to plan ahead of time.

6. Add your content to the template

Start filling in the spaces with relevant content ideas once you’ve noted down all of the essential dates.

💡Theme posts – Will you be attending a trade show or a seminar? Is there a current subject of the topic that has something to do with your operations? Keep an eye on the public discourse in your profession and take note of the hot issues.

💡Serial articles – Do you specialize in a service that you’d want to inform your clients more about? Serial articles are an excellent method to educate and share your knowledge.

💡Press releases on the debut of a new product, study findings, or your firm going worldwide, to name a few.

💡Expert articles and guest blogs about your services and current issues in your sector.

💡Season’s greetings or holiday greetings.

💡Photographs and videos from events, campaigns, goods, and projects.

💡Stories and interviews with stakeholders in the form of a film or a case study.

💡Interesting and amusing facts about the company — who comes to work, and what happens during a coffee break?

Make sure you have enough interesting ideas to keep your calendar full. Keep your material interesting by mixing things up.

Also, you have to include these sections in your calendar

💡The generated topic

💡Category of the idea generated

💡Headline and subheadings

💡The selected keywords to be used

💡Sources of the images

💡All CTA (Call to action)

💡Tools during your editing (like Hemmingway or Grammarly)

💡A date for the material publication

7. Have evergreen content readily hand.

Content that isn't tied to a specific date or time will always be valuable to your customers and your business. Because current topics remain topical and are often searched online. This type of material is likely to continue to receive clicks and visitors long after the original buzz has been published.

It’s also simple to reintroduce your readers to earlier timeless articles and blog posts by linking to them from fresh content on similar topics.

When your schedule is disrupted, timeless content might also come in handy. Because it can be created and published at any time, it's a smart idea to keep ready-made content on hand for times when your team has to focus on other tasks. You can have the idea from news and trends.

There should be a spot in your calendar reserved for ideas for timeless content that may be used at any time. You may learn more about Why and How Content Marketing is the best digital marketing strategy.

8. Make advantage of previous content

You don't always have to start from scratch while creating content. Most businesses have useful content in their possession that isn't being used, such as CRM data and consumer survey results.

Old blog posts can be repurposed and updated in a variety of ways, including converting them into short videos.

Since clients seek information on a variety of platforms, it's a good idea to deliver similar concepts in a variety of formats. You'll be able to make the most of all of the valuable content you've developed by reaching out to various target groups this way.

Make sure that the content on your website is up to date, as many potential customers may browse through your older blog posts or articles. According to Dotnek, reviewing and updating them occasionally to ensure that your content is accurate will make you look professional and reliable.

Mark the updated articles to let your readers know that your content is up-to-date, and you continuously want to make it more valuable for them.

9. Establish a publishing schedule and time constraints.

Consider how frequently you can publish new content in a reasonable time frame.

Because writing content takes time, it's crucial to find a publishing schedule that works for you.

Understanding your boundaries is critical to the calendar's efficiency.

There should be enough material to drive traffic to your website and provide value to your customers.

A content calendar will assist you in identifying your company's busiest periods. Individuals and the entire team can better prepare for the company's busiest months by starting and finishing assignments far ahead of the publication deadline.

To put it another way, planning should always be time-bound to ensure that deadlines are met.

The concept of the content calendar, on the other hand, should not be set in stone. To build the best content calendar some flexibility should be considered and allowed in scheduling.

There may be times when your organization needs to react quickly to external events or breaking news in your industry. And this is another benefit of editorial calendar. It’s sometimes a good idea to reschedule the material that was initially intended and less urgent to respond to new information.
 

10. Update and review your plan

There is no precise answer to how far ahead of time you should plan your content. Planning is influenced by a variety of factors, including unique features of your organization and industry.

However, keep in mind that the further ahead of time you arrange your material, the better the content flow will be. A simple rule of thumb is to first prepare the primary content for the entire year. Then plan weekly and daily material for the following month in greater detail.

Individuals should be able to communicate their ideas and make changes to their plans as needed. It can be a good idea to discuss the concept of the content calendar with the entire team frequently. This will assist you in staying on track and adapting to potential changes.

11. Monitor how your content is received

One of the best things about digital marketing is that nearly everything is measurable.

You should spend some time reviewing your operations and data and incorporating them into your strategies. Which social media posts have generated the most discussion? Which of your blog posts has been retweeted? How much coverage has your press release received in the media?

You can adapt and generate interesting and engaging content in the future once you know what kind of content interests your readers.

CONCLUSION

The content calendar is useful for all content marketing channels like blogs and social media platforms. Once your editorial calendar is in place, you will concentrate all your planning work as a monthly task built in advance.

A content calendar can do wonders when you create and use it accordingly. For the business's success, you need to plan out before going online. In content creation and marketing there are different activities to be done. All these activities need time and money as a resource.

Sometimes you have to think the ways to decrease the overload of your online business marketing. Not only to save your budget and time but to have good results from the digital marketing experts. You might like to choose a digital marketing agency like Bridging Technologies. It will understand your customer's requirements and help you in this matter. 

Outsourcing doesn’t mean your company is weak. It shows how much you care about your brand reputation. Instead of being inconsistent you better hire the other company for the sake of your brand image.