Do you want to create a fantastic editorial calendar but don’t know where to start? An editorial calendar can help you plan your content and ensure that all of your marketing materials are cohesive and on-brand. This blog post will show you how to create the perfect editorial calendar and provide some examples of what it might look like. Keep reading for tips and advice on how to get started!

If you don’t have a weekly content planning, authoring, and scheduling strategy, you may find yourself buried in missed deadlines, unrevised blog entries, and considerable team conflict.

Creating the Perfect Editorial Calendar

There is no ideal editorial schedule; it all relies on your team’s demands. Nonetheless, there are several questions you should consider to decide the format of your editorial schedule. These consist of the following:

How many users will this editorial calendar have?

The finest editorial calendars let several users generate ideas, interact, and offer real-time feedback on assignments immediately on the calendar.

How often do you post new content?

Do you have content that goes live daily? Once weekly? Perhaps many times every day? Knowing how often you publish will help you picture your editorial schedule consistently.

Do you produce many types of content?

If you post as many videos to YouTube as you do articles to your company’s blog, you will need to differentiate between the two in your editorial schedule.

How do you want to structure this calendar?

It would be best if you chose the solution that corresponds most closely with your objectives and your team’s processes. The following section describes the most prevalent forms.

What are the many steps material undergoes before publication?

How sophisticated is your content pipeline? Exists a comprehensive review or approval procedure for each piece of content? Ensure that your calendar can differentiate between two similar tasks in different stages of development.

Table of Contents

Choose an Organizational Framework for Your Editorial Schedule

There is no perfect editorial calendar, but specific layouts will serve your team’s objectives better than others.

Once you’ve selected a format, determine how you’ll apply it by selecting a tool or platform that provides the capabilities or interface your business needs most. Here are some of the several ways your editorial calendar might be formatted:

Excel Spreadsheet:

Pros

Simple collection and structuring of data
A short learning curve and wide availability facilitate cooperation
Integration with calendar applications and content administration systems

Cons

Hard to visualize your calendar
At a glance, it is challenging to acquire an apparent breakdown.

Content Calendar

Pros

A straightforward method to determine what’s leaving and when.
Color coding, tags, and assignments to arrange material by channel, content kind, and more

Cons

There is more to project and content management than publication dates, and a calendar alone is not always sufficient.

Project Management Tools

Pros

Easily illustrate an editorial workflow regardless of your quality assurance procedure or the number of hands touching an article before publication.
Designed for the administration of content and more
Better cooperation and visualization

Cons

It can be daunting if you simply need a content calendar.

Do you have any specific questions about creating or implementing an editorial calendar? Don’t hesitate to reach out – we would be happy to help!

Identify Your Primary Marketing Channels

Editorial calendars are extremely graphical instruments. Using color coordination to differentiate your schedule for the platforms you publish will avoid misunderstanding among your marketing staff.

To ensure that you plan the appropriate material at the appropriate time, make your editorial calendar simpler to comprehend by separating the sorts of articles or topics using distinct visual signals.

Posting Consistently

Consistency is critical when it comes to editorial posts. No matter how good your content is, you will not get the traction you want if you’re posting inconsistently.

That’s why it’s essential to have some sort of editorial calendar to help you track when you need to post. There are many different ways to do this, from a physical planner to a digital tool like Google Calendar. Find what works for you and stick with it. Also, plan for holidays and other times when you know you’ll be busy. If you can plan ahead, you’ll be much more likely to stay on track.

Your Competition

It’s essential to keep an eye on your competition. Not only do you want to know what services or products they’re offering, but you also want to be aware of their marketing strategies. One way to stay ahead of the competition is to study their editorial posting frequency. This will give you insights into their content strategy and allow you to adjust your editorial calendar accordingly.

For example, if you notice that your competitor is posting new blog content every day, you might decide to increase the frequency of your posts. Or, if you see that they’re only posting once a week, you could choose to post more often to attract more attention from potential customers. By understanding your competitor’s editorial posting frequency, you can make informed decisions about your content strategy and stay one step ahead of the competition.

Examples

Buffer’s Open Blog Editorial

This is an editorial calendar built by Buffer that uses the Trello platform. It coordinates the open blog’s content and the whole editorial process, from concept to draft to editing to publication. Each card symbolizes a single blog post or concept that moves from left to right when published.

Existing Content Ideas
Pipeline
Ready for Publication
Posted

Buffer’s Social Blog Editorial

Digital Authority utilizes the platform CoSchedule to schedule blog entries and social media postings. Color classification, calendar, task views, and the ability to generate social postings across platforms from a single site are all advantages of this system. There are also drag-and-drop tools that keep the team dynamic, on the same page, and actionable.

Have any content marketing questions? Check out our blog for more helpful information!

Creating an editorial calendar is one of the best things you can do for your content marketing strategy. Not only does it help keep you organized and on track, but it also gives you a visual representation of what content is being published and when. This helps ensure that you’re publishing various types of content at optimal times, keeping your audience engaged and coming back for more. If you’re ready to create an editorial calendar that works for your business, check out our website for more tips and tricks on content marketing.

Last Updated on October 23, 2022 by Hilda Wong

How to Create the Perfect Editorial Calendar with Examples

Creating the Perfect Editorial Calendar