A content calendar is a document used to plan and visualize the publication of digital content (such as blog posts, social media posts, and email newsletters) over the coming weeks, months, or year.
Typically the calendar will show:
- What content will be published
- When and where each content will be published
- Who is responsible for each task
- Links to content assets (e.g. text and images)
Here’s a look at one of our content marketing calendar examples:
Content calendars are typically created mobile phone numbers in spreadsheet programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel), calendar applications (e.g., Google Calendar), or specialized tools (e.g., CoSchedule).
Why do you need a content calendar?
If your company produces digital content, there are seven key benefits of creating a content calendar:
- Produce better content . By planning ahead, you can give yourself or your team enough time to create each piece of content. And publish at the most opportune times.
- Increase time efficiency . You will have established deadlines and deadlines for the content creation process , which will keep your stakeholders up to date.
- Helps you manage resources . Once you know what content to create, you can determine what resources you’ll need to publish your content. Or you can make plans based on the resources available to you.
- Align team members . Content instagram reels cover templates calendars allow all team members to know who is doing what and when. This means they can plan and execute tasks more effectively.
- Clarify responsibilities within your team . Content planning determines who will be responsible for each part of the creation process. Ensure efficiency and accountability.
- Helps with reporting – A content marketing calendar makes it easy to visualize content production over time and see how it correlates to performance trends.
- Keep your marketing messages consistent . Planning your content makes it easier to keep your message consistent across all your platforms.
How to create a content calendar
When creating your content calendar, you’ll want to start by choosing a tool that makes sense for you and your team.
Then follow these steps:
1. Set a time frame
Determine how far in advance you want to plan your content. It is common for companies to plan content over the course of a month, quarter, or year.
You may find it more manageable to plan your content over the course of a month or quarter. This gives you enough time to research and develop detailed content.
2. Diversify your marketing channels
Specify through which marketing channels you will distribute your content .
Your calendar can help you publish content consistently and uniformly across all your marketing channels , allowing you to stay in touch with your audience.
You will also know how to adapt your content to each channel.
Don’t forget to include all the channels your company uses, such as:
- Blogs and web content
- Social networks
- Email marketing
- Print Marketing
- SEO
- PPC
3. Identify key metrics4
Map out relevant topics that you can reference in your content. Try to stick to topics that are useful to your audience and consistent with your brand identity .
For example, a gym company can create content about health, fitness and wellness.
4. Record notable events
Plan any vacations or special events that will occur during the designated period.
You may not create content about every holiday, but keeping track of them can help you schedule your posts more intentionally.
Be sure to write down any:
- National holidays
- Awareness days
- Peak shopping season
- Corporate events (e.g. product launches)
You can even create a dedicated holiday calendar like this one:
5. Decide on a publishing schedule
How often can you post content? Your frequency should be frequent enough to keep your audience engaged, but not so much that you overwhelm them with content.
Assign each post a publication date b2b reviews and time. You can use your content calendar to keep track of these posts, so you can quickly review how often you post on a daily or weekly basis.
If you’re new to sharing content, it’s common to publish a handful of pieces of content each month. As you grow as a business, your content output will likely need to increase as well.