Importance of a Content Calendar
A content calendar is a place for you to organize your upcoming content by detailing what and when you will post. It gives you a better perspective of your overall marketing strategy and is a great way to stay on track with your schedule. It gives an at-a-glance overview and is easily sharable with coworkers within marketing, or any other department.
Why is a Content Calendar Important?
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the number of social channels to manage and the amount of content you’re scheduling. A social media calendar helps formalize the process of creating and publishing content by giving you a structured schedule to work with.
What Does a Content Calendar Look Like?
A content calendar can be made on an actual calendar, whether a physical or digital one, or through an online content planning service. You can even plan content in an Excel or Google Sheet if you are on a limited budget.
A typical content calendar will have each piece of content organized by what day it’s supposed to be posted, the time, the caption copy and link if applicable, and what platform it will be posted on.
Some marketers go back into their content calendars and add analytics of how the post did in terms of likes, comments, and shares. The analytics can be used by your content creation team to see what content performs the best when designing future content.
What to Include In a Content Calendar
Each calendar will vary depending on your brand’s specific needs. A content calendar could include the following: the channel to post on, the type of content, the date and time to post, the topic, any copy needed, a landing page or link to include, the person on the team in charge of the content, and any follow-up information.
Content Calendar Best Practices
A content calendar is a framework to map out what your company plans to share and promote. Don’t get too rigid with it and still allow flexibility to add in sudden trends, lives, and user-generated content as it pops up.
When planning out content to put on the calendar, it is best to do so at least a few weeks in advance. A good rule of thumb is to plan out a month’s worth of content the month before. This rule will relieve any stress from trying to brainstorm content and post it all on the same day, every day.
Before you even begin to plan your content, you will need to define your goals. What do you hope to achieve with the content you post? Do you want to grow your audience, get conversions, or increase engagement? Then you must audit the current platforms that your company is using. See what content in the past has done well and what hasn’t. Take what has done well and create similar content or repurpose old content that will help reach the goals you set.
Plan It Out with PMD Group
If your content marketing strategy needs a boost, consider incorporating a content calendar into your plan. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from professionals either. Our experts at PMD Group can help with your content marketing to produce the results you need. Contact us today.