Over the past three years I’ve learned a lot about blogging and social media. I mean, I had a blog and my social accounts before I started at MLP, but since I’ve been here I’ve learned a lot about the strategy behind content marketing. On my personal accounts, it’s easy to just throw up a quick post about my day, or a funny observation. But creating content for a business (whether that’s MLP or one of clients) is a different matter. You not only have to develop a voice for the business, but you have to create regular content that fits with your strategic goals. But creating that regular content can sometimes fall by the wayside. It’s easy to focus on other aspects of your job and let the blogging and social media fall by the wayside. Then you look at your online presence and realize you haven’t posted in anything in weeks. Oops!
That’s where an editorial calendar can be a lifesaver. Think of it like an appointment book, except the appointments are designated times when you have to produce content. It might seem a little overwhelming (“What do you mean I have to be creative right now?!”) but having required content laid out like that is actually incredibly motivating. Another benefit of the editorial calendar? The ability to divide tasks amongst your team members. Say your goal is to have three blog posts and ten social posts each week; there’s no reason you have to do each of those yourself! Share the calendar with your team and assign time slots to different team members. Sharing is caring, and by spreading the tasks across a few different people you ease the burden on each individual.
So how do you make an editorial calendar? There are a few options. You can create an Excel spreadsheet each month and assign tasks that way. But shared documents aren’t always easy to work with; people get locked out, conflicting copies are created… Another option is to create a shared Google Calendar. This is probably the easiest way, since Google Calendar comes free with a Gmail account, which is also free… Anyhow, you create a shared calendar, put the posts into their time slots, then assign them to team members by adding those team members as “Guests” to the event. Then there are paid options like CoSchedule and Redbooth – Redbooth, at least, is nice because you can chat with team members, track time, and upload files. If you have a team of people that work remotely, Redbooth is a great option for project management, including content creation. If you need more inspiration, Pinterest has a ton of ideas for editorial calendars, many of which you can create on your own. Finally, you can come to us. We’ve worked with multiple clients to create editorial and posting calendars, and can work with you to develop strategy and content for your online presence. Want to learn more? Contact us today!