Creating an Editorial Calendar: The
Foundation of Your Content Marketing Strategy
According to a
recent survey conducted by Gleanster Research, managing the overall content
creation process was the single biggest challenge that most medium- and
large-sized companies faced on a daily basis. To make matters worse, 36
percent of respondents indicated that they were missing deadlines on a
regular basis, significantly derailing their efforts as a result.
Luckily, the exact cause of these types of issues also happens to be one
that is easily avoided. By creating an editorial calendar, you essentially
create the backbone of your entire content marketing strategy. Your entire
team can reap the benefits in a number of important ways.
Why You Need an Editorial Calendar
On the surface, an editorial calendar is a calendar that outlines the
specific due dates for all important content launches well into the future.
It's a wonderful, visual way to see where you stand and what you need to do
in terms of your short-term and long-term goals.
Underneath, however, it's an invaluable resource to start putting better
content out into the world immediately. Think of it like a daily planner -
each day you know what type of content is going to be launching, who is
going to be writing it, what important details are going to be included,
and more. It's an opportunity to take this resource and bend it to your
existing workflow. Instead of laying down guidelines for your team and
forcing them to adjust the way they like to work to meet this new tool, the
tool itself is inherently malleable by design.
An editorial calendar is also a great way to plan for the entire process of
content creation from start to finish. Everything from idea conception to
publishing is all handled through one centralized point of access, not only
giving you all of the benefits of firm project management but also helping
with communication. Everybody can be on the same page at the same time (no
pun intended) because all they have to do is check the calendar to see
where they've been, where they are, and where they're supposed to be going
next. It doesn't get much easier than that.
Forming the Backbone of Your Future Content Planning
Once you've had the chance to get your editorial calendar up and running,
you'll have access to a wide range of different benefits that would be
difficult to get in any other way. For starters, a calendar allows you to
custom build your content marketing strategy for specific audiences in a
much easier way than ever before. Based on user preferences and behaviors
you can clearly outline what types of content are making their way to which
channels and, more importantly, when.
An editorial calendar also gives you the ability to plan keywords well in
advance, letting you design the content around the keywords your users are
paying attention to, rather than trying to cram those keywords into a piece
once it is already finished.
These are among the many reasons why taking the effort to create an
editorial calendar is well worth your time. The great thing about it is
that it is a resource you only have to build once. As soon as your
editorial calendar is up and running, everything from creating content to
distribution becomes significantly less challenging and the results that
you're after are well within your reach.
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