An essential part of your content marketing strategy is a well-thought-out content calendar. Without a calendar, you may find yourself scrambling for ideas at the last minute and suffering from unnecessary stress. To create an effective content calendar, consider the tips we have outlined for you below.
Set Clear Goals
As with every aspect of your content marketing strategy, goal setting is a crucial first step. You want to determine the main goal of why you are creating a content calendar in the first place. This first step is particularly important for newer businesses. When we set out on a business venture without much experience, it can help to look to others for guidance. Unfortunately, what so often happens is that we take on others’ habits and strategies without having a clear reason why we are doing so.
Set clear goals to get the best results from your calendar. Consider which platforms, which schedule, and which types of content will be most appropriate to achieve goals such as more leads, greater conversions, or higher engagement rates.
Design the Calendar
Use a calendar template, an excel spreadsheet, or an online tool as your calendar format. With a template ready, decide how far in advance you will plan your content. Many marketers plan six months, some two months, and some a year. Two to six months can be a good choice if you are still adjusting your strategy. Trends come and go, and sometimes you might need to rearrange the order in which you publish your content.
Organise Your Content
It is good practice to use different forms of content to portray your message effectively. For example, blog posts are great, but if you only ever post blogs, you risk boring your audience. The best marketers know that different forms of content can work together to keep audiences interested and engaged. Instead of another blog post after you have just shared one, try an infographic, a video, or a social media post. You could even try different types of blogs, such as how-to’s, long-form, and short-form.
The type of content you create and publish will depend on your type of business. Once you have developed a brand identity, make sure that the content you publish reflects that identity.
Once you know what you want to publish, organise your existing and near-future content into different categories, perhaps colour-coded. By colour-coding content on your calendar, it becomes easier (for some!) to visualise the calendar.
Determine a Schedule
Determine a posting schedule to optimise engagement. You could post daily, weekly, or monthly, but be consistent. Let your audience know how often you will post, so they know when to expect new content. This applies to social media, your website, and even email newsletters and updates. Consistency is key here. Other than outlining when your audience can expect content, consistency is a sign of professionalism. If you promise a certain posting frequency and fail to stick to it, you show your audience that you are inconsistent. This can damage your reputation.
Repurpose Content
Throughout your calendar, it is perfectly acceptable to add older content. You don’t need to constantly create new content to keep your audience engaged and satisfied. You can re-use older content if it applies to recent trends in the market.
Try to adjust your older content to make it as fresh as possible. This could mean taking a long-form blog post and converting it into a vlog or a podcast. You could take an informational blog post and create a how-to or a listicle. You could also take the key information from shared research and create an infographic. If you repurpose older content, make sure to update any outdated information, such as statistics.
The more you can use the same content effectively, the easier it will be to succeed with your content marketing efforts.
Use Your Calendar to Optimise Engagement
If you post a blog on Facebook on Friday, consider posting a status or a quote related to that blog on the same day. One post will spark interest in the topic, and the complementary post will satisfy the audience’s curiosity and spark interest.
Remember to post on multiple channels. Depending on your type of business, different platforms will be more suitable. LinkedIn is an excellent choice for B2B businesses, while Instagram is a great means of telling a visual story. Identify your audiences’ preferences and schedule your content in terms of time and platform accordingly.
Measure Your Performance
Once you have published some content, evaluate its performance. One of the benefits digital marketing has over other types of marketing is that everything you do is much easier to measure. Metrics such as engagement, shares, conversion rate, and traffic sources provide valuable insight into which areas of your strategy serve your business well, and which areas are letting you down.
With this information, you can organise your calendar to post successful content types consistently and in the right places.
Conclusion
An effective content calendar is one that serves your business growth. By following the tips outlined above, you give your business the best chance at gaining a reputation as a consistent source of relevant, engaging information.
One final piece of advice we would like to offer is to remember that no one is an island. Success in content marketing requires a collaborative effort with a dedicated team. Ask your team for advice and ideas from day one and brainstorm your content calendar. You don’t have to use every idea that comes up, but what doesn’t work one day may be appropriate another time. Keep your team’s ideas ready for the future.
