If you are part of the 69% of companies that use an editorial calendar for their blog content, keep reading. This is an effective way to store ideas, plan out future content, and keep your entire content team on the same page.
Committing to publishing content on a regular basis means you will eventually run out of ideas.
We wanted to know how marketers resolve that problem. We asked 64 marketers to share their techniques for filling their editorial calendars with highly relevant topics.
(I’m talking about the ones that are really well-written and interesting.) The articles that are well-written and interesting are the ones that their audience actually want to read.
We found that the most effective way to manage our editorial calendar was to break it down into 20 essential tasks. But first…
What is an Editorial Calendar?
An editorial calendar is a document that organizes all of the content your team has published or plans to write in the future.
Content and marketing teams can plan the topics they want to write about, the audience they want to serve, and all the necessary dependencies for getting the content written.
An editorial calendar is a tool used by publishers to plan the topics and timing of their content. A content calendar is a tool used by marketers to plan the topics and timing of their content. An editorial calendar is a planning tool that marketers use to map out their content strategy in advance. By having a pre-planned editorial calendar, marketers can ensure that their content is aligned with their broader marketing goals and objectives. They can include topic ideas, different types of content templates, desired output, and similar items.
Content calendars are more specific than general publishing schedules and allow you to better manage your team’s monthly content plans on a daily basis. Content calendars help teams make changes flexibly and quickly, while still being consistent.
The term “editorial content calendar” refers to a calendar that combines the best features of both worlds.
There are a number of editorial calendar tools marketers use to stay organized, including (in no specific order):
Project management tools:
- Asana
- Trello
- Kapost
- Airtable
- Basecamp
Content calendar (management) apps:
- CoSchedule
- HubSpot
- Contently
- DivvyHQ
Spreadsheets
- Google Sheets / Docs
- and more…
5 Benefits of Using an Editorial Content Calendar
1. It helps you stay on track and focused on your goals.
If you have an editorial calendar, you and your team can plan and organize your content in advance. Looking at your planned topics for the week or month helps you make sure your content is working well with your content marketing strategy and business goals.
2. Fosters team collaboration
An editorial calendar helps your team contribute ideas for content proactively and collaboratively. It also helps to keep everyone informed about content tasks, deliverables, deadlines, etc.
3. It helps with consistency
One way to keep your team members from slacking on content creation is by using an editorial calendar. Scheduling content in advance can help you maintain consistency in publishing and promoting content, especially on days when you have other work priorities.
4. Easily identify content gaps
An editorial calendar can help you stay organized and see which topics you have already covered and what new topics you could explore. This means that you can create content that is related to certain holidays that occur throughout the year.
5. Measure the effectiveness of your content efforts
An editorial calendar can help you see patterns or trends in the type of content you publish. Do certain topics perform better than others? When do you experience the most engagement throughout the day? This information can be used to help you decide what kind of content to produce, how often to post, and what times are best to post.
What Makes a Good Topic?
What makes a good piece of content?
Ronto believes that the main objectives for your content should be to improve the experience for your consumers, become a well-known source of information in your area of expertise, and potentially generate traffic to your pages that will result in sales.
The easiest way to add value is to find a gap in the current landscape of your niche and fill it with original content, answer a specific question that people are looking for, or create content on a topic that is much better than what is available.
Now that we are clear on that, here is how our experts find topics that will fill their editorial calendars.
If you’re looking for content ideas for days that are more eventful, check out our list of 24 content ideas to add to your editorial calendar. We try to include some helpful tips, guidance, or resources for each idea to make your experience better.
1. Lists
Lists are a tried-and-true content marketing favorite. You love them. We love them. But, most importantly, readers love them. Some of the most popular content on the Convince & Convert blog is in the form of lists. You can find examples of great university websites by looking at lists like “25 Best University Websites for 2022”.
2. How-To
If you want your audience to be able to do something better, then you need to offer them how-to content. This kind of content provides step-by-step, process-driven information that will help them achieve their goal. It’s specific and to the point. This type of content is helpful and not promotional, so it will do a good job of creating a bond with your audience. It’s a good idea for your brand to appeal to both audiences.
Convince & Convert’s blog has a lot of how-to content, such as “How to Build a Content Calendar (Plus a Free Template)” and “How to Manage a Social Media Crisis.”
3. Questions and Answers (Q&As)
Q&As are fantastic because they’re genuinely helpful. We can produce great content simply by answering the questions our audiences are already asking us. Oh, and Q&As can be incredibly entertaining.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO has changed so much over the years. Google is now focusing on semantic search, rather than simply targeting key words. Use any process you have to uncover hidden content opportunities by looking at a variety of channels, not just keyword volume. e.g. related searches, shares on social media sites.
5. Testimonials
A testimonial is when a customer of yours tells their story from their perspective. This is similar to a case study, except that it is told by the customer instead of someone else. These are words that they came up with themselves to promote interest in what you’re offering.
6. Interviews
Asking questions to people who are considered influencers in your industry can give you new perspectives and ideas that you may have never thought of before. This is especially useful if you are looking for ways to improve or change your business. If you want to use late night show interview content in your own marketing efforts, one easy way to do that is by creating podcasts.
Pat Flynn is well-known for his podcasts featuring people from all walks of life Even if you’re not able to host an event yourself, think about being a guest.
7. Demos
A demo is a way to show off your product or service virtually. Some demos can be very long, but you can break them down into shorter parts so that people can watch them more easily.
8. Product Review
Promote it on your blog! If you have a product that you think your audience will like, promote it on your blog! I’ve been using [Product] for a while now to help me with [Task]. It’s been a big help, and I think it can help my audience with [Task] as well.
9. Opinions and Rants
If you want your content to go viral, one way to do it is to make it controversial. While rants may be interesting, you should not make them your goal.
An example of this would be CoSchedule’s post about the best blog post length, which generated a lot of reader reaction and comments.
10. Personal Stories
Greg Digneo’s life story on Copyblogger received many responses from the audience. He talked about how quitting was the most profitable thing he’s done, and how it was inspiring for a lot of other people who read it. If you want your readers to engage with your writing, make sure to connect your personal story to what they care about.
11. Predictions
Joe Pulizzi is notorious for making content marketing predictions. He jokes about his plans that don’t come to fruition. He achieves thought leadership status while simultaneously establishing a personal and relatable connection with his readers through his sense of humor.
12. Â Company Goals
The company Groove lays out their goals and tells the story of their progress to their customers. This way, the customers are able to know what the company is aiming for and how they are doing.
All of the posts on their blog read like stories, which help the reader understand how the company is working towards its goals. At the same time, these posts also draw the reader in, making them more likely to become a customer. It’s a brilliant, bold, and super-unique type of content.
13. Research
Your customers and audience are an excellent source of information for your research. Become the source for industry research and studies. Research is essential for understanding your audience and becoming a credible source in your industry.
14. Facts and Stats
This is when you present the findings of your research to your audience. Finding a good source of information can save you time from doing research yourself, while also making you the go-to source of information for a specific topic.
15. Worksheets
Turning the actionable advice from guides into printable materials for note-taking, brainstorming, and ideation are great ways of helping your audience understand the material you are sharing with them.
16. Templates
Templates can be used to incorporate information from guides, worksheets, and checklists into one type of content. This can help walk your audience through a step-by-step process, and make it clear to them how to do something.
17. E-Books
If you have a blog with a lot of individual posts, you can turn them into an ebook by compiling them into a larger content format. It is beneficial to create ebooks to share longer stories that provide more detailed information.
18. Audio Books
In addition to your ebook, create an audio version for your auditory learners. If you want people to spend more time interacting with your content, try adding an audio element. Adding audio articles to your website can help increase the amount of time visitors spend on your site.
19. Data Visuals
Use data visuals to make your research-intensive content more exciting. Pie charts, bar graphs, and line graphs are all great ways to add visual interest and prove the points you’re making.
20. Photography
Over the years, stock photography has improved significantly, but custom photography always produces the best results. Your photography should show the people and places where your company works, as well as the humans who are behind the scenes.
21. Memes
Sure, sometimes these have no business value at all. One of the main reasons people share content on social media is because they find it humorous or entertaining. If you want to show some personality in your content, like in a blog post, memes are a great way to do it with a bit of flair.
22. Animated GIFs
Animated GIFs take screenshots to the next level. They are great for adding content to show how something works or how to use a new feature on your website, blog, or in your software.
23. Emails
Sometimes, it’ best to just go back to basics. Emails are an effective way to communicate, especially when the content is well suited to the medium. Email is one of the most effective channels because it generates $38 for every $1 spent.
24. Courses
Courses offer educators a way to create learning content that is focused and organized. We would even add workshops to this category, too.We have seen firsthand how beneficial they are for expanding your email list and creating a brand community.
PRO TIP: Measure Your Website Content Marketing Performance Like a Pro
You can use Google Analytics to learn how many people interact with your website, which pages they arrive on, which pages they engage with the most, and more. This information can help you optimize your website’s content for conversion.
Although you can find the data you want in Google Analytics, you may have to look in several different places and reports. You can now monitor your content performance with a single dashboard that tracks key metrics.
It’s easy to set up and use as a standalone dashboard or in marketing reports, and it’s free!
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