March 27 2018 | Downloadables , Best Practices
In the content creating world, content calendar's are a widely known term but not always utilized. They can be extremely beneficial when used in the right way! We're going to break down everything that goes into a content calendar, as well as tips for curating one that works best for you. We've even created a few downloadable content calendars to help you get started! Read on for our guide on how to create a content calendar that will streamline your planning process.
What Is It?
A content calendar is basically an overview in calendar form of all the content that you are planning to share and post on your blog or various social media outlets. The purpose of a content calendar is to plan it out in advance, so you know exactly what you're posting each day. It's helpful because it's visual and easy to quickly glance at and know what content is coming up for that month.
"The purpose of a content calendar is to plan it out in advance, so you know exactly what you're posting each day." Tweet this.
Why Should You Use It?
Planning ahead is always helpful, so using a content calendar will help immensely for staying organized and focused. Rather than winging it or scrambling at the last minute, you'll have all of your upcoming content laid out and ideally ready to post ahead of time as well. You'll also be more confident and collected knowing what is coming up on your content calendar.
How to Use It?
You can plan out your content calendar as far in advance as you'd like. We recommend breaking down your full year into quarters with Q1 being Feb. - April, Q2 May - July, Q3 Aug. - Oct., Q4 Nov. - Jan. That way, you can write out the most important dates, events, or content that you need to cover in that specific month. After that, take the next 2 or 3 months and plan out your ideal content schedule on a monthly calendar. Once you have your overview of content planned out, grab a weekly planner and write all of your to-do's for that week to make sure that you have everything you need for your planned posts. Our custom weekly, monthly, or yearly content calendars are perfect for helping you map out your plans! Download them here.
Content Calendar Planning Tips
- Keep it consistent! When it comes to blog posts and newsletters, make sure you put them up at the same times and days each week. For example, we always publish our blog posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning; that way, our audience knows when to expect them! Don't overextend yourself though - if posting 3 times a week sounds like too much, then just start out posting on the same day once a week.
- You don't have to post on all social media platforms. Pick your favorites and focus your energy on those. A realistic goal if you're just starting out would be to do one blog post a week, 7 Instagram posts a week, and 3 Facebook posts a week.
- Quality is far more important than quantity, especially if you're in the beginning stages of building your audience.
- Stay flexible. The great thing about planning ahead is that it leaves room for you to swap things around without jeopardizing your quality of content.
- Plan out your Instagram content on PLANOLY's grid while you're scheduling out blog content. That way, you'll know what images look best next to each other and which blog posts should go where. You can use the Placeholder tool to hold the spot if you don't have the actual image to post yet.
