Editorial Calendars for Content Marketing

Includes FREE content calendar template

Find out what we can do to grow your business. Call us on 0800 088 7486 or visit clickthrough-marketing.com

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INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR?Editorial calendars, or content calendars, let brands like yours plan regular, targeted content updates to reach your audience in the most effective way possible.

Editorial calendars have long been used in print journalism, and they’re equally essential as part of the modern marketing mix. We’ll show you how to create a digital editorial calendar to optimise your content delivery for the web, start engaging your audience more effectively, and get quality leads that provide insights into what your potential customers want.

With an editorial calendar in place, you can expect:

• A higher volume of better leads.

• More traffic and improved engagement.

• More social shares and interest.

• Better brand recognition.

• Recognition as a trusted authority.

• More conversions and more profit for your business.


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CONTENT MARKETING AND THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

“The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing.” Doug Engelbart

It’s so easy to forget just how much the web has changed our lives, not to mention our jobs.

The control of information is no longer in the hands of newspapers and traditional publishers. Any brand with a blog can potentially reach a readership of millions. And the social media revolution has destroyed all obstacles to direct communication with customers.

There are now billions of Internet users worldwide*, and they’re hungry for useful information. They’re hungry for great content.

Any company, in any industry, can take advantage of this opportunity. But becoming a successful content marketer means ditching the old digital norms.

You need to take the traditional approach to publishing, and apply it to the new. You need a structured content plan that allows you to publish a steady stream of engaging content, and gives you the freedom and focus to adapt to big happenings and interest trends.

Structured content marketing is the key to digital marketing success, whether your

business needs better leads, more traffic or wider recognition.

The alternative: Abandoned blogs that advertise a lack of commitment. Rushed content regurgitated from other sites. Your business, left behind by content- savvy competition.

ANY COMPANY, IN ANY INDUSTRY, CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY. BUT BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL CONTENT MARKETER MEANS DITCHING THE OLD DIGITAL NORMS.


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SIX BENEFITS OF CREATING A CONTENT CALENDAR

ENSURE A STEADY STREAM OF PUBLISHED CONTENT THAT SUPPORTS YOUR STRATEGY.

Your content strategy needs purpose. Simply writing and publishing whatever takes your fancy is like throwing darts blindfolded – you might hit the target every now and then, but it’s much harder to predict which throws will strike. And you’ll have trouble measuring success too.

Define goals and key performance indicators for your content marketing efforts, just as you would with any other digital marketing campaign. Then use your content calendar to plan and publish a steady stream of content that supports your goal – whether this is lead generation, improved engagement, more traffic, or all of the above.

No matter the results you’re aiming for, the road to success is the same – produce

quality content targeted to your audience personas to build and nurture your user base. Because users who are invested in your brand are more likely to become committed customers.

GET A CLEAR VIEW OF CONTENT FOR THE WEEKS AHEAD

Getting the balance of quality and quantity right can be tough. But there’s a bigger and tougher problem to solve – the problem of consistency.

It’s all very well to promise yourself you’ll publish ten blogs each month, but if your resources are stretched and you don’t have a clear plan of action, this is unlikely to happen. What’s more likely is that you’ll end up publishing a raft of blogs in week four, diluting their effect and throwing a spanner into the nurturing process.

Putting a content calendar together ensures you have clear visibility of upcoming content, and when it needs to be published. This makes it much, much easier to plan your time effectively, so your content is written and published at the optimum time.

When is the ‘optimum time’? Well, that brings us on to our next point…

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CREATE CONTENT PROACTIVELY.

Big news story? Emerging trend? Special event? These are perfect opportunities to publish some relevant content and benefit from a surge in user interest.

But if you miss the boat by even a day or two, it’s likely this wave of interest will have died down, and – to continue the watery metaphors – your content will look like a bit of a wet fish.

A content calendar lets you identify opportunities in advance, and ensure you have some highly relevant content ready to go out when demand is peaking. These opportunities could be as simple as a public holiday, like Halloween, or a key product launch. But by using tools like Google Trends, you can identify less obvious opportunities that other publishers might miss.

The scope is limitless. But without a clear content plan, chances are you’ll have to publish your content reactively, rather than proactively. In other words, you’ll have to publish your content when the world has stopped listening.

COLLABORATE AND BRAINSTORM TO CREATE BETTER CONTENT.

Robert Wilensky once said: “We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.”

Humorous though they are, Wilensky’s remarks are not entirely accurate. Digital publishing has given more people more access to a wider range of content than ever before. But Wilensky had a point – when everyone is a publisher, you have to work harder to stand out.

It’s not enough to publish content regularly. You have to publish great content regularly.

A well-designed editorial calendar can help you create better content. Get your calendar right, and it will act as much more than a content diary – it will act as a platform for collaboration, brainstorming and resource management.

Don’t simply copy your competitors. Get every expert in your business involved in generating content ideas. Widen the scope of your expertise. Start producing content that’s worth copying.

Collaborators could include people who don’t usually work on content. It’s likely that product managers, directors, call centre staff, salespeople and technical experts would have plenty to say that your usual content creators (and competitors) would never think of saying.

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If an external agency works on your content as well, it’s important to get them involved in idea creation. Make sure they’re as well-informed about your products, services and ethos as you are, and put their outsiders’ insight to good use in brainstorming sessions.

TIE IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY.

If a tree falls in a forest, and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?

If a brand publishes great content, and there’s nobody there to read it, is it worth bothering?

Simply publishing content does not constitute a content strategy. To really reap the benefits of your creative content, you’ve got to work hard to let your audience know it’s there.

Social media is one of the key delivery channels for content. Your social audience is not only ready to consume great content, they expect it. They’re waiting for the next great thing to land in their feed, so you

should make every effort to make sure your content is ready when your customers are ready to receive it.

Every company is different, and the way you use social media will vary widely depending on your aims, your audience and your industry. But integrating social media planning with your editorial calendar is a crucial step in ensuring all your content delivery channels are aligned with your wider strategy.

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EVERY COMPANY IS DIFFERENT, AND THE WAY YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA WILL VARY WIDELY DEPENDING ON YOUR AIMS, YOUR AUDIENCE AND YOUR INDUSTRY.


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TRACK CONTENT MARKETING PROGRESS.

Without defining goals and planning delivery, you can’t track the progress of your content marketing campaign. But with a content calendar, everything you publish can – and should – be tracked, reported on and learnt from.

By keeping all your planning and reporting in the same place, you can effectively apply learnings to all aspects of your content marketing efforts. This is important because even the smallest consideration – from the time you send an email to the style of blog headlines you use – can vary depending on industry, location and other factors.

It makes sense to research and follow best practices, but the only way to truly optimise your content marketing efforts is to test, track, learn and repeat.

WITHOUT DEFINING GOALS AND PLANNING DELIVERY, YOU CAN’T TRACK THE PROGRESS OF YOUR CAMPAIGN.

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HOW TO MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR

THE INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT CONTENT CALENDAR1. A content schedule

Your content schedule is the hub of your content calendar. In fact, it’s the hub of your entire content marketing strategy.

This is where you plan content delivery over the coming weeks, or months. It lets you align content marketing activities for the best impact, and plan ahead for key events and trends.

The example above is for a B2C retailer, but the content types and layout can be adjusted to suit your own needs and goals.

An important aspect of the content schedule is the ‘Outcomes’ column. The key to a robust content strategy is learning from what worked and what didn’t hit the mark, and applying these learnings to future content.

Note outcomes in this column to track which experiments went awry, and which content took off with your audience.

Date Day Important dates

Blog posts Press releases

eBooks Emails Infographics Website content

Other Outcomes

01/01/2018 Monday JANUARY SALE LAUNCH

JANUARY SALE EBOOK

JANUARY SALE EMAIL

JANUARY SALE LANDING PAGE

02/01/2018 Tuesday BLOG 1

03/01/2018 Wednesday COMPETITION LAUNCH

BLOG 2 COMPETITION PRESS RELEASE

Media interview with CEO

04/01/2018 Thursday BLOG 3

05/01/2018 Friday INDUSTRY EVENT

BLOG 4


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2. A hub for content ideas

Your content calendar can be much more than a list of dates and actions. It can become a forum for collaboration, brainstorming and resource management.

For a successful content strategy, you should encourage everyone who’s engaged with marketing your business to be engaged with content publishing. Foster a collaborative culture, where everybody shares ideas via the content calendar.

Contributors don’t necessarily need to write these posts, but their unique set of expertise, skills and opinions will help keep your content offering fresh, varied and unique. And the more contributors you have, the more chance you have of establishing your brand as the industry expert.

This section can also help you plan who writes what, and when – as well as SEO keywords, key outreach targets, and more.

Topic/Title Content type Suggested by Possible Author

Resources Content goal Persona target

Keyword targets

Outreach targets

Notes

Funny Hats: The New Trend Sweeping America

Blog post Joe Bloggs Joe Bloggs See blog at funnyhats.com

Engagement Suzie Stylish funny hats, weird hats

The Anatomy of a Great Winter Outfit

Infographic Joe Bloggs John Johnson Refer to latest catalogue insert for examples.

Social shares Suzie Stylish winter clothing, winter fashion, winter outfit

Fashion blogs, social influencers

Five Shoe Brands Adored by the Stars

Blog Post Jane Normal Jane Normal N/A Engagement Suzie Stylish celebrity shoes

The Definitive Guide to Dog Grooming

eBook Jane Normal Joe Bloggs See email. Lead capture Dave Dogsworth

dog grooming, dog fashion, canine care

Dog grooming websites, social influencers


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3. A social plan

Most social media management tools include some functionality for scheduling tweets, posts and updates. Even if you make extensive use of these tools, however, it can still be useful to map out your strategy on your content calendar. This provides a central hub for your social media team to work from, ensuring all social activity is aligned with your overall content strategy and goals.

As mentioned earlier, your social strategy will be unique to your business. We recommend you use tools and tracking to learn how best to use social media, and build out this section of your content calendar accordingly. You may find that tweeting more often works for you,

for example – or publishing Facebook posts at different times of the day.

It’s also important to consider how the content you publish and the messaging you use may vary across social platforms. A fun, light-hearted Facebook update may not work as well on LinkedIn, for example.

YOU MAY FIND THAT TWEETING MORE OFTEN WORKS FOR YOU, FOR EXAMPLE – OR PUBLISHING FACEBOOK POSTS AT DIFFERENT TIMES OF THE DAY.

W/C 01/01/2018 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Important dates January sale starts Big New Year Competition launch

Key product launch

Blog content “10 New Year Trends You Don’t Want to Miss”

Big New Year Competition blog

Product launch blog

Other content Make Big Savings in our January Sale - eBook

Tweet 19:00 AM

January sale eBook Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog post

Conversational tweet Promote Friday blog post

Tweet 211:20 AM

Conversational tweet January sale eBook Conversational tweet Promote Thursday blog post Promote Thursday blog post

Tweet 32:30 PM

January sale eBook Conversational tweet Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog post

Promote Friday blog post

Tweet 47:00 PM

Conversational tweet Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog post

Promote Thursday blog post Conversational tweet – product launch

Facebook 11:00

January sale eBook Tuesday blog post Wednesday blog post Thursday blog post Friday blog post

Facebook 18:00

Conversational post Conversational post Promotional post – Big New Year Competition

Conversational post Promotional post – Big New Year Competition

LinkedIn Promote media interview with CEO

Google+ January sale eBook Tuesday blog post Big New Year Competition Thursday blog post Product launch


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4. A list of contacts and influencers

Outreaching to influencers and leveraging existing contacts is a valuable way to build your brand’s voice, authority and influence. Use your content calendar to maintain a list of crucial contacts, noting important information about them and tracking the progress of your relationship.

Again, build this out to suit your own marketing and outreach activities. For example, although Twitter follower counts and Klout scores (https://klout.com/) are good measures of a person’s social influence, you may decide to include other metrics that better suit your business.

Type Name Expertise Twitter URL Twitter Username

Number of Followers

Klout Score Contact Address/URL

Website URL Notes

Influencer Sue Popular Fashion Etc... Etc.. Etc.. Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Influencer John Knowsalot Jewellery Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Associate Mindy Business Marketing Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Blogger Bob Gossip Celebrity Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Journalist Tricia Wordsworth

Fashion Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

OUTREACHING TO INFLUENCERS AND LEVERAGING EXISTING CONTACTS IS A VALUABLE WAY TO BUILD YOUR BRAND’S VOICE, AUTHORITY AND INFLUENCE

https://klout.com/


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5. Reporting dashboards

Your content strategy is nothing if you can’t effectively report on progress and key performance indicators. Building reporting dashboards into your content calendar makes it easy to adjust your strategy based on learnings gleaned from your reports.

The table above is an example of a reporting dashboard for measuring engagement across various marketing channels. But you’ll almost certainly need to build in more detailed reporting capabilities than this. You can, and should, report at a much more granular level.

For example, by reporting on metrics for individual blog posts and emails, and – if your strategy is focussed on lead generation – by tracking the number of leads gained through separate channels.

With robust reporting in place, you can test the effectiveness of every facet of your content marketing efforts, from the value of blog headlines, to the optimum time to send emails and social media updates.

Your free editorial calendar template includes many more examples of reporting dashboards. Download yours using the link on the following page.

Month/Year Monthly Traffic

Average bounce rate

Average pages per visit

Average session duration

Blog traffic

Email traffic Facebook traffic

Twitter traffic Etc…

November 2017 13,545 50% 3.5 2:02 5,532 Etc… Etc… Etc… Etc…

December 2017 14,015 48% 3.7 2:10 6,334 Etc… Etc… Etc… Etc…

January 2018

YOUR FREE EDITORIAL CALENDAR TEMPLATE INCLUDES MANY MORE EXAMPLES OF REPORTING DASHBOARDS. DOWNLOAD YOURS USING THE LINK ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE.


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WHAT NEXT?

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE EDITORIAL CALENDAR TEMPLATEWe’ve put together a free example editorial calendar to get you started. Download yours at: http://clikth.ru/ctm-calendar

Now start publishing!

WANT HELP WITH YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY?ClickThrough Marketing has helped dozens of brands get better leads and improve ROI with quality, web-friendly content.

We’re proud to have some of the industry’s most qualified content marketing, search, social media and conversion experts on our team. And we’ve worked with household names like Dunelm, Peugeot and Halfords Autocentres, as well as enterprising SMEs across a wide range of sectors.

Our creative content marketing got us to the finals of the first-ever RAR Digital Awards, whilst our friendly, honest approach means we’ve built up genuine and trusting relationships with our clients.

Want content that your competitors would kill for? Need a strategy that delivers great results and is firmly tied to your KPIs?

Talk to our experts now on 0800 088 7486.

http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/

*As of November 2014 - http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/

CLICKTHROUGH MARKETING HAS HELPED DOZENS OF BRANDS GET BETTER LEADS AND IMPROVE ROI WITH QUALITY, WEB-FRIENDLY CONTENT.

http://clikth.ru/ctm-calendar

http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/

http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/

http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/


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ClickThrough is a digital marketing agency, providing web development, search engine optimisation, pay per click management, conversion optimisation and content marketing services.

Since 2004, ClickThrough has helped several companies from big brands to small start-ups grow Google rankings, boost conversions, increase return on digital marketing investment, and stretch Internet marketing budgets to get value for money.

We pride ourselves on giving honest advice based on the latest digital marketing best practices. Our RITE core values of Results, Innovation, Trust and Excellence drive everything we do.

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Whether you are thinking of changing your search or digital marketing agency, or just looking to improve your online conversion rate, our team of search conversion experts can help.

Find out what we can do to grow your business. Call us on 0800 088 7486 or visit www.clickthrough-marketing.com

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