How to Create the Perfect Content Calendar [Free Template]

December 24, 2021

Jonas Sickler SEO Manager

Key Points

How bash companies similar HubSpot and Salesforce consistently people truthful overmuch high-quality content? Yes, they person tons of talented radical involved. But, contented instauration astatine standard requires much than talent. It requires spectacular enactment successful the signifier of a contented calendar.

Content calendars (sometimes called editorial calendars) assistance marketers signifier everything astir the originative publishing process.

What is simply a contented calendar?

Content Calendar

Definition

A contented calendar is simply a elaborate docket to program and negociate upcoming content. Project managers, bloggers, and contented creators usage calendars arsenic a cardinal determination for each contented ideas, scheduling, and workflows.

Content calendars usually incorporate immoderate oregon each of the pursuing elements of a brand’s wide contented strategy:

• Important dates, including publication, sharing, merchandise launch, etc.
• Key milestones starring up to publishing dates
• Target assemblage conception oregon persona of each contented piece
• Target SEO keyword for each contented piece, erstwhile applicable
• Who is liable for each task successful the creation, publishing, and promotion process
• Promotional activities erstwhile contented is published

Since brands make truthful galore antithetic types of content, it’s important to person a contented calendar to streamline your content marketing execution and springiness stakeholders a high-level presumption of your activity.

You tin besides usage this model for circumstantial channels. For example, a societal media contented calendar helps signifier your full societal media strategy. This whitethorn necessitate somewhat unsocial information, specified arsenic hashtags, influencers, and which societal media level you volition people definite contented on.

Content calendar vs. editorial calendar

While the presumption contented calendar and editorial calendar are often utilized interchangeably, determination are a fewer notable differences betwixt them.

Editorial calendars supply a agelong word blueprint for readying your contented calendar.

They tin beryllium utilized to make a contented program for six months oregon adjacent 1 year, but the extremity is to supply a monthly breakdown of themes for your contented squad to use. The deliverables for each period tin beryllium based connected circumstantial concepts, events, holidays, important events, oregon different topics your marque wants to absorption on.

Now, with an editorial calendar successful manus your contented squad tin statesman creating the contented that focuses connected the deliverables noted.

This is wherever the contented calendar becomes beneficial.

Content calendars are utilized to way and show the instauration and promotion of contented that is being created based connected the editorial calendar deliverables. With an strategical contented schedule, marketers tin spot astatine immoderate constituent successful clip wherever a contented portion is successful the accumulation process.

Ideally, you should person some an editorial and contented calendar successful place. In fact, immoderate organizations harvester them for the champion results. Using some tin maximize your publishing docket and quality to deed defined goals.

Why are contented calendars important?

Content calendars usher your strategy

Content calendars assistance you make an effective, cohesive contented selling strategy that aligns with your overarching concern goals. Without a strategy successful place, it’s casual to  suffer show of what you are trying to execute and people contented that doesn’t align with your concern goals.

For example, if 1 of your goals is to pull much qualified leads done integrated search, the contented you people should bespeak that goal. Your contented calendar helps you enactment focused connected publishing contented that volition fertile for applicable keywords and not get caught up successful creating trendy contented that doesn’t assistance you execute your goals.

Content calendars support you organized

There are a batch of moving parts successful contented creation, publishing, and promotion. There are usually aggregate squad members, tools, platforms, and channels involved. Content calendars assistance you enactment organized passim the full process.

All tasks progressive are successful a cardinal location, on with who is liable for those tasks. This helps support everyone accountable and ensures that thing slips done the cracks.

Content calendars promote collaboration

Content calendars besides marque collaboration importantly easier. By sharing a communal document, writers, designers, and editors tin each cognize expectations and deadlines. They tin spot what contented is being created, erstwhile it is scheduled to beryllium published, and immoderate applicable notes oregon comments.

It besides ensures that determination is capable clip for things similar rewrites, edits, oregon additions. And it opens up much possibilities to repurpose contented crossed antithetic channels. A societal media manager could consolidate upcoming contented from a blog station and stock it connected Twitter oregon LinkedIn to grow the scope of your article.

Editorial calendars amended consistency

It’s hard to consistently make high-quality contented if you don’t program successful advance. There are simply excessively galore steps involved.

Content calendars assistance you way performance

Finally, a contented calendar helps you way the show of antithetic pieces of content. Including regular show reviews successful your contented docket tin assistance you amended aboriginal contented by seeing what worked and what didn’t. It besides makes it easier to recognize which channels are performing best, making it easier to allocate your resources accordingly.

Without regular show tracking, you can’t cognize if your contented is moving you person toward your concern goals. You tin extremity up spending important resources publishing contented that doesn’t truly assistance your business.

How to make a contented calendar

1. Determine contented types

The archetypal measurement successful creating a contented calendar is to find the types of contented you program to publish. There are respective things to consider

• Capability – Do you oregon idiosyncratic connected your squad person the indispensable skills to make the content? For example, infographics tin beryllium a large benignant of contented but you request to person the indispensable plan skills to make them.
  
• Time/Resources – Do you person the clip and resources to make contented that is highly invaluable to your audience? When moving with an bureau to nutrient content, bash you person the clip and bandwidth to put to guarantee the task stays connected docket and connected budget?

• Audience – What types of contented resonate astir with your audience? If you merchantability apparel for teens, TikTok mightiness enactment overmuch amended than a podcast to scope your audience.

In bid to consistently people large content, you request to absorption connected those types that lucifer your capabilities, your disposable clip and resources, and the desires of your audience.

2. Select topics and categories

The adjacent measurement is to prime the topics and categories your contented volition screen implicit a fixed clip period. To assistance you successful this process, see the following:

• What are the superior symptom points of your audience?
• What are their goals?
• Do they person unanswered questions?
• What keywords and phrases are they searching?

The much your contented speaks straight to the symptom points and desires of your audience, the much effectual it volition be.

Another adjuvant mode to deliberation done the subjects your contented volition screen is successful presumption of taxable clusters. A topic cluster includes a central, in-depth portion of contented that covers a wide taxable astatine a precocious level (often called a “pillar page”). Supporting the pillar leafage are aggregate clump pages, with each clump leafage addressing a azygous taxable astatine a overmuch deeper level than the pillar page. The pillar leafage includes links to each clump leafage and vice versa.

Structuring your contented this mode helps some hunt engines and users recognize however contented is related and tin supply a important SEO boost.

3. Map contented to buying stages

It’s important to representation your contented to the buying stages of your audience. Different types of contented are much effectual depending connected wherever they are utilized successful the customer journey.

For those successful the consciousness stage, you request contented that highlights customers’ symptom points and desires. This mightiness see things similar LinkedIn posts, blog posts optimized for top of the funnel keywords, escaped ebooks, etc.

For those successful the information stage, make contented that further educates prospects and shows them the astir effectual mode to lick their problems oregon execute their goals. Webinars, achromatic papers, agelong signifier blog posts, and different in-depth contented are effectual for this signifier of the purchaser journey.

Those successful the determination signifier request to beryllium convinced that your product/service is amended than your competitors and is the perfect solution. Case studies, merchandise demos, and different contented that demonstrates the worth of your product/service are effectual here.

4. Set deadlines successful your contented calendar

When creating a contented calendar, it’s indispensable to acceptable deadlines for each the tasks progressive successful creating content. This helps guarantee that everything is done connected clip and that you’re not rushing to get thing published. When you’re dealing with hundreds oregon thousands of contented pieces successful a year, deadlines are a mechanics to tame the chaos and guarantee a dependable travel of published content.

Depending connected the content, immoderate of the tasks with deadlines mightiness include:

• Brainstorming topics and ideas
• Researching keywords and phrases
• Writing drafts
• Editing and proofreading
• Designing images oregon graphics
• Publishing content
• Creating societal media posts
• Monitoring results

When mounting deadlines, beryllium realistic astir however agelong tasks volition take. If you aren’t realistic, you won’t person capable clip to dedicate to each task and the prime of your contented volition suffer. If you person to choose, ever instrumentality prime contented implicit quantity. High-quality contented is what strengthens your brand, attracts imaginable leads, and drives much revenue.

5. Assign tasks

Once you’ve acceptable deadlines for each the tasks progressive successful creating content, it’s clip to delegate those tasks. Every task should travel with wide expectations of what volition beryllium done and what the expected results are. 

For example, if you are assigning a blog station to a writer, they should besides person a contented little that includes:

• Exactly what topics are to beryllium covered
• Keywords to beryllium included
• The people connection count
• Who the assemblage is
• What the code of dependable should be
• Examples of akin posts
• Any different applicable details

This helps guarantee that everyone is connected the aforesaid leafage and that expectations are clear. When everyone knows what’s expected of them, it leads to amended results. Make definite everyone progressive feels comfy asking questions astatine immoderate constituent earlier oregon portion they’re performing their task.

6. Select contented organisation channels

It’s not capable conscionable to people a portion of content. You besides request to present it to your audience. Instead of expecting radical to find your content, you request to actively beforehand it done the close organisation channels.

For example, if you people a caller video, you tin beforehand it to your email list, connected societal media, connected your website, with paid advertising, etc. Your contented calendar needs to see not conscionable the contented you’ll create, but besides however you’ll beforehand it. It doesn’t payment you if you make contented but precise fewer radical spot it. A strategical program for however you’ll get your contented successful beforehand of your people assemblage is highly important.

7. Monitor progress

The past measurement is to show your contented advancement connected some a micro and macro level. On the micro level, you request to guarantee that each the idiosyncratic instauration and promotion tasks are connected way and you volition beryllium capable to deed each the established deadlines.

At a macro level, you request to guarantee that your contented is inactive aligned with your concern goals. When you’re heavy successful the weeds of creating assorted pieces of content, it’s casual to drift from your superior objectives. Building advancement monitoring into your contented calendar helps you enactment connected track.

You besides request to show the results your contented is producing. Are your wide efforts helping you execute the intended results? Do definite types of contented execute amended than others? What adjustments tin you marque to amended your results?

Beware of chasing vanity metrics. For example, if your extremity is to generate much leads, it doesn’t substance however overmuch postulation a leafage gets if it doesn’t nutrient leads.

Stay laser focused connected your KPIs and usage them to usher your integer selling efforts.

If you’re the caput of contented for a ample brand, you’ll request overmuch much powerfulness than what Google Calendar tin offer. Fortunately, determination are galore contented calendar tools and templates that tin marque contented creation, publishing, and promotion overmuch easier to manage.

Free contented calendar template

Fill retired the signifier supra to download a illustration contented calendar template for free. This is simply a modified mentation of Terakeet’s calendar that includes columns for:

• Content name
• Type
• Format
• Objective
• Keyword
• Word count
• Audience
• Publish date
• And much, overmuch more!

Content calendar applications

CoSchedule

CoSchedule is an all-in-one contented selling level that helps you plan, publish, optimize, and measurement your content. It offers a wide scope of features, including:

• Content calendar
• Editorial planning
• Social media selling scheduler
• A/B investigating tools
• Blog station templates
• WordPress plugin

DivvyHQ

DivvyHQ is simply a robust contented selling level that streamlines the full process and makes it casual for teams to collaborate. It includes features specified as:

• Content calendar
• Asset management
• Team collaboration
• Task management
• Workflow automation
• Third-party integrations

Spreadsheet contented calendar examples

If you don’t person the fund for an all-in-one contented selling platform, it’s communal to make contented calendars utilizing spreadsheets.

Cloud-based tools similar Google Sheets, Excel Online, oregon Zoho Sheets marque it comparatively elemental to make a contented calendar and collaborate with your selling squad connected each the tasks involved. Using spreadsheets does necessitate much attraction to item since you don’t store assets straight successful the spreadsheets, but it shouldn’t beryllium overmuch of an contented unless you’re publishing immense amounts of content.

An added payment of utilizing spreadsheets is that determination are dozens of escaped contented calendar templates available. Instead of starting from scratch, you tin find the 1 that works champion for you and physique connected apical of it.

Database contented selling calendar examples

Historically, astir database applications were complex, clunky, and not perfect for managing contented production. However, successful the past fewer years, a fig of powerful, yet easy-to-use database apps person been released.

For example, Airtable combines the simplicity of spreadsheets with the powerfulness of databases, making it highly elemental to make a functional contented calendar.

In fact, Airtable created a contented calendar template specifically for contented selling teams to use. Tasks tin beryllium assigned, assets tin beryllium uploaded directly, and workflow automations tin beryllium easy created. Depending connected your preference, you tin show your advancement with a calendar view, arsenic Kanban boards, oregon arsenic a Gantt chart.

Similar to Airtable, Monday is different almighty database app that works good arsenic a contented calendar.

One unsocial diagnostic is the quality to make documents straight wrong the platform, which is peculiarly utile if you are penning blog posts, achromatic papers, etc.

Content calendar FAQs