Content marketing can be a powerful tool to attract, educate, and retain customers. And one of the most essential elements of it is the content calendar. A content calendar is like a road map for your content. It’s how you will know what content to create, when it should be published, and how to promote it through various channels to ensure maximum success. But if you do not have a plan to measure your efforts throughout the year with a sound strategy and a detailed content calendar, you might end up spinning your wheels aimlessly with little to show for it. While it can seem daunting, breaking down the process into manageable chunks will make it much easier for you.
Below are four questions that you should ask yourself when mapping out your content calendar:
- Are your objectives clear?
If you are just stepping into marketing, setting your goals for the next couple of weeks can seem daunting. But if you are honest with yourself and set goals that are manageable, you will be more likely to achieve them. This is why it's so important to have your content goals in mind for the next week or month. Organizing your content marketing goals can be as simple as penciling them down on a schedule. This is a great way to keep track of what you have accomplished and also, how you plan to do it.
Your marketing calendar should be set up with deadlines for everything you want to achieve throughout the year. The most important thing here is to set realistic deadlines for yourself so that you can accomplish what needs to be done in a timely manner and maintain a positive attitude about it all. This will help you avoid stress and frustration throughout the year when things aren't going according to plan.
- Do you have a template for your content calendar?
Plenty of business owners are so busy running their day-to-day operations that they don't even stop to think about what they are going to post on social media. Or maybe you do have a plan in place, but you're not sure how to create content that's different from your competitors. Either way, you need a template for your content calendar. Having a content calendar template is like having an extra pair of hands to help you get your work done. It can help you organize your thoughts, plan out your ideas and track ongoing projects. It's a way to keep track of the content you have created in the past, what you plan to publish in the future, and everything in between.
Trying to create a content calendar without a template is like trying to build a house without blueprints. Sure, you can make it work, but you're more likely to waste time and money if you don't have something to guide you. Content marketing templates let you highlight important information in one place so that you can focus on creating amazing content for your business. Of course, you don't want to just pick any old template off the web. You want something that's specifically designed for your business and helps you create relevant and valuable content that gets noticed by your target audience.
- Are you familiar with your media channels?
In order to establish a visibility strategy, you must know where your audience is and what channels they use. By knowing your channels, you can plot according to them across your content calendar, which helps distribute your material efficiently and helps elevate its impact. Knowing where most of your traffic comes from also makes it easier for you to create a well-rounded strategy that will help drive organic search engine traffic. (You wouldn't want to spend all your time creating great content that no one sees.)
For example, if your blog usually gets the most traffic on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, then those are the platforms you should start thinking about when creating your content calendar. If you are a health care business or agency and want to reach a lot of people interested in healthcare, then you might focus more time on creating videos that can be shared on YouTube. If you have a fashion line or boutique clothing store, then Pinterest might be the ideal platform for generating more traffic.
- Is your content value-driven?
If you want people to read your content, it needs to be valuable. But how do you know if it is? Tone is the easiest way to tell whether you are creating value-driven content. If your tone is informative and friendly, chances are you are doing a good job. If it's snarky and sarcastic, or hard-selling, then you're probably not creating enough value for your readers.
Tone can be difficult to pin down — sometimes the best approach is simply to ask a friend what they think of your writing. But most of the time, if you try to put yourself in the reader's shoes, you will get a good idea of whether your tone works. They have to feel like they have gotten something valuable out of the experience. If they have that feeling, not only will they continue to read your content, but they'll be more likely to take action as a result of it.
We hope the questions above will make it easy for you to create an engaging content calendar!