Yes, your online presence really would be that much better with a content calendar.

What is a content calendar? Before we get into that, consider: if you are investing in online marketing and you’re not using a content calendar, you’re likely spending more time than necessary trying to figure out what to write about, when to write it, and how often you should be adding content to your blog.  Without a plan or map to follow, this process can be cumbersome and exhausting every time you sit down and go through it.

A content calendar is a tool for you (or your virtual assistant) to plan, organize and schedule the content you want to write about, when to post it on your website, and subsequently to your various social media channels. It can be an actual calendar or even a spreadsheet. At Admin Slayer, we use Google Sheets for real-time collaboration within the team. To start, you need to set aside some focused time to brainstorm topics and themes you want to cover and plot them into your content calendar. You don’t have to rustle up an entire year’s worth of topics at once, but mapping out your intentions and a theme to follow for a few months at a time can seriously help you focus your marketing efforts.

By having your content in one place, you and your team will have the ability to quickly identify which topics you’ve previously covered and what’s coming down the pipe. You can also add any other variables you want to track on your spreadsheet - such as when your writing time has been scheduled, when the draft is due and when the article will be published. If you have multiple writers on your team, you can add drop down menus to easily see who is responsible for writing each article, and you can add links to the draft documents where the article text will be written, so you (and anyone else who needs access - such as your marketing team or the person responsible for posting on your blog) can go to your draft article without having to dig through your digital files. 

Intrigued? Ready to take the plunge?

Steps to creating a content calendar:

• Start with a spreadsheet (or better yet, a Google Sheet, ideal for sharing).

• Decide how frequently you can realistically commit to writing. You may be tempted to publish something every week, but consistency is more important than frequency. Once a month is fine, and can actually be quite a bit of work.

• Plot out a row for each interval (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc), and think about what your audience will be doing around that time. Pick a theme that fits with your industry and service offering.

• Set a deadline for publishing, and put a reminder in your calendar, with time set aside for writing.

• Figure out any other variables you want to track - such as whether writing time has been scheduled, when the draft is due and who is writing the article.

• Also, writing is just one format for content. If you feel more comfortable on video than in writing, video content works too.

Benefits of using a content calendar:

• You’re more likely to stick with your content development habit and publish consistently.

• It’s much easier to write when you already have the topics laid out in advance.

• It’s easier to collaborate with people outside of your organization, and even request guest submissions.

• You will save so much time and your team will feel much more organized with the calendar as a reference.