One of the most important parts of content marketing is consistently providing relevant, interesting, and engaging content to current and potential customers. How do you achieve that? Well… it’s not as simple as posting whatever comes to mind on social media and hoping for the best.

Even with some of the brightest minds on your team, success can remain elusive. This is because it’s challenging to consistently create the relevant, high-quality content necessary for long-term success. That’s where a content calendar comes in to help.

Nowadays, you won’t find a successful content marketing campaign without a content calendar. The competition is fierce, and you need to stay ahead of the curve to stand out. A content calendar helps coordinate all content creation efforts, provides the team with clear workloads, and establishes measurable goals to assess performance and results.

But how do you create an effective content calendar?

I once walked into a marketing meeting at a small startup by mistake, where they were deciding what to post on social media. Their approach was to brainstorm random ideas and assign dates to them in a calendar. They’d say things like, “We’ll publish this post on this date.” Unfortunately, such an approach is destined to fail.

Here’s how to do it better!

Define Your Content Marketing Goals

Why do you create content in the first place? This should be your number one question before doing anything else, as it dictates everything in your campaign.

You need a primary goal. Is your content aimed at:

  • Generating new leads?
  • Increasing brand visibility?
  • Boosting website traffic?
  • Gaining followers on social media?

Exact goals will vary from one campaign to the next, but you must have them. These goals will influence:

  • Where to post your content
  • How often content should be published
  • The best type of content to create
  • How well the team understands their tasks

Every person working on the content, whether creating or publishing it, needs to know why they’re doing what they do.

Create Your Calendar Template

There are countless tools available to help you create great content calendars. Choose one that you and your team are comfortable with. However, it’s understandable that adopting new software can feel frustrating and time-consuming. Plus, it often requires training your team. Thankfully, you can always use familiar tools like Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet programs.

Your calendar just needs to have an option for sharing or exporting copies. Using a cloud-based tool is recommended—platforms like Google Sheets allow real-time updates, ensuring everyone on the team stays informed about changes.

At a minimum, your content calendar should include:

  • Who is responsible for what
  • Where the content will be published
  • The topic
  • The content type
  • Publication dates
  • Follow-through accountability (someone needs to ensure the content is actually published)

Choose the Channels You’ll Use

Focus on your target audience. Learn which channels your current and potential customers actively use, as this will determine the type of content you should create. For example, ask yourself when and where you should publish:

  • Blog articles
  • Instagram photos
  • YouTube videos
  • TikTok clips
  • Short videos

Sometimes, you may need to publish content in various formats across multiple platforms. However, this can be time-consuming. It’s often better to focus on a smaller number of platforms and do it well.

Prioritize the channels where your target audience spends the most time. This approach allows you to produce high-quality content rather than publishing just for the sake of publishing.

While social media posts may take the least time to create, they shouldn’t dominate your content calendar. Social media should complement other forms of in-depth content, such as:

  • Guest blogs
  • Expert articles
  • Press releases

These types of content should already be part of your yearly marketing plan. Social media can then be used to cross-promote this content. For example, shorter versions of long videos can be shared on platforms like TikTok.

Use the Calendar Year as Your Base

The calendar year should be your baseline for planning. Some people use a weekly content calendar, but this can quickly become confusing. By using the calendar year, you gain a clear view of when and where you need to publish content. This allows you to plan content around important times, such as trade fairs, holidays, training sessions, and seminars.

For instance, you don’t want to start your holiday marketing campaign too late simply because you didn’t realize how close the holidays were. A calendar-year approach helps prevent such oversights.

This approach also lets you focus on seasonal content and estimate upcoming workloads so your team can be well-prepared in advance.

Add the Content

Once you’ve marked the important dates, start adding your content ideas. Examples include:

  • Theme posts—e.g., during an industry event
  • Expert articles—or guest posts related to your industry and services
  • Serial posts—to educate your audience
  • Press releases—for product launches or studies
  • Seasonal greetings
  • Event photos or videos
  • Interviews
  • Customer stories

Don’t Forget About Evergreen Content

Don’t make the mistake of only including time-sensitive content in your calendar. While these generate buzz, it’s often short-lived. Evergreen content ensures your pages stay relevant and continues to drive traffic long after it’s published.

For example, evergreen blog posts can consistently attract visitors over time. You can also repurpose such content by linking it in new posts or reintroducing it to a new audience. Evergreen content is especially useful during busy times when your team can’t create new material.

Revisit Past Content

Many marketers make the mistake of focusing solely on creating new content. Don’t overlook the value of what you already have! Past content, such as customer survey results or older blog posts, can often be refreshed and reused.

For instance, a detailed blog post can be repurposed into a YouTube video or a series of social media posts. When doing this, be sure to update the original post and mark it as “updated.”

Set Time Limits and Publishing Frequency

Content creation is more time-consuming than many people realize. As such, it’s crucial to establish a realistic publishing frequency that works for your team.

If your calendar is too full, you’ll end up with lower-quality content. However, you also need to post frequently enough to achieve your goals. This balance can be challenging to strike, but planning ahead ensures your team is prepared and able to complete projects before deadlines.

Remember to allow for flexibility. If an unexpected event occurs in your industry, you should be able to adapt your schedule to respond quickly. This is easier if you’ve already prepared content in advance.

Constantly Update and Review

Your content calendar should span at least a year, but you also need to revisit and update it regularly. Industries change, and your company’s priorities may shift.

Review your content calendar periodically to stay on track and make adjustments as needed.

Monitor Results

Not every strategy will work, and that’s okay. The key is to learn from your mistakes. Monitor the results of your campaigns by tracking:

  • Best-performing social media content
  • Posts with the most comments
  • Media pickup of press releases
  • Open and click-through rates for newsletters
  • Mentions and engagement
  • Time spent on your site

Use these insights to refine your approach and create better content in the future.

Final Thoughts

The tips above will help you create a highly effective content calendar. Remember to plan at least a year ahead, allow for flexibility, and continually analyze your results. By doing so, you’ll set yourself up for long-term success.

Also, check out these resources for extra help:

Discover more from Adrian Cruce's Blog

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.