In the world where 2 million new blog posts published every day and there’s a new social media platform to learn, it can be overwhelming, and downright intimidating, to start posting content for your business. How can you organize and manage all of the outlets?
Enter: the content calendar. A content calendar is a planning document that gives you and your team a road map. In addition to giving you an overview of what’s going on, the content calendar should also act as a communication point for team members.
Why you need a marketing content calendar:
Get everyone on the same page. With content topics and post dates laid out, everyone will know what has been posted (where and when), what’s in the works (who is working on it), and what is coming up.
Strategize to reach your goals. Using a content calendar will help your company focus on its goals and create a path to reaching them. Ensure you are understanding your customer and are delivering what they want and need. This includes analyzing previous content and seeing what was successful.
Become more consistent. Creating a detailed plan with topics, dates and which platforms to post to will help increase your team’s accountability. This, in turn, will make it more likely that you stick to the calendar and help you become more consistent.
Help grow your brand. By creating a consistent presence across social media platforms and blog, you will help your brands identity grow. By posting consistently to your website’s blog you can build SEO. Not only can you build your brand by becoming an authority, but you can also create opportunities for more keywords, more link sharing, and more website traffic wanting to view new content.
What a good content calendar should answer the following:
What’s happening this week? What’s happening next week? – Clearly state the topics that are being posted as well as when and where they should be posted to.
Who’s in charge of writing, editing, and/or posting? – Delegate between your team who is responsible for what. This way, content management doesn’t fall on one person.
What should I write about? – You should have a brainstorming section on your calendar that’s full of ideas for future topics. Additionally, have a database of places you can go to gather topics or research for your posts –where does your industry news come from?
Where should my visuals come? – Have a plan in place for finding and using videos and pictures in your posts.
Start by creating your content calendar (see below for template idea) to lay the foundation for your work. Then, set aside at least 10-20 minutes a day for writing and editing . With this you should be able to create and post quality content across all platforms to keep up with your content calendar.
Would you like assistance with setting up a content calendar? Contact your Faster Solutions Account Manager to get started today.
By Maggie Paulson
