A content calendar is a useful tool that can help you create a consistent publication schedule for your company’s content. Not only does it keep you and your team organized, but it also ensures that all workflow is running smoothly. To reap the benefits of a content calendar, it’s important to implement a good content calendar strategy to help boost your company’s marketing efforts.
The more you understand how and when to use a content calendar, the better you can use it to your advantage. This article defines what a content calendar is, why to use it, how to create one for your business or brand, and tips to ensure you get the most out of it.

What Is a Content Calendar?

A content calendar is a calendar businesses use to schedule and control their content for its various media platforms during a given time period. Also known as an editorial calendar or publishing schedule, a content calendar can coordinate content for publishing on platforms such as blogs, magazines, newspapers, or social media. Content calendars typically take three formats: a spreadsheet, an application, or a printed calendar. These formats hold a publication schedule for a brand’s content.

To use a content calendar effectively, it’s important to create a solid content calendar strategy. Every entry into your content calendar should be well thought out and help boost audience engagement and readership.

What Should a Content Calendar Include?

A content calendar should include the name of the content you’re publishing along with a variety of detail. The more information you include, the more useful it will be. The information you provide will also help the team members you share it with, so it’s important to keep them in mind when determining what to include. Here are some of the main things you can include on a content calendar:

• Date of publication
• Time of publication
• Title, headline or content topic
• Author of content
• Status of content completion
• Content completion deadline

You can also include the platform it’ll be published on, the content type, if there will be visual elements, the URL, and the overall topic. In addition, it’s useful to include a section to track audience engagement and overall analytics. This is useful for a social media content calendar. Including these elements can help you determine what adjustments — if any — need to be made to your publishing schedule.

What you include will ultimately depend on the needs of your team and what you’re wanting your content calendar to track. This can also change over time as your business grows or other factors become more prominent.

When Should You Use a Content Calendar?

​Use a content calendar when you want to better organize and schedule your company’s content. This publishing schedule allows you to streamline your company’s efforts overall. If you find that your company’s posts are lacking structure or if you’re publishing content without purpose or strategic thinking, consider using a content calendar.

It’s important to note that a calendar is most useful when you’re using it effectively to keep track of deadlines, create quality content, and strategically consider future publications.

How to Create a Content Calendar

​In order for a content calendar to be useful, it should take into consideration the format you’ll use, where you want to publish and when you want to publish, among other factors. Follow these steps to create an effective content calendar your company can use:

1. Determine the Format or Platform to Use

​The first step in creating a content calendar is determining where your content calendar will live and what shape it will take. Take into consideration your company, how your team operates and the resources available to you. From here, you can decide if your calendar will be printed, a spreadsheet, an application or a program. If you prefer a calendar you can share with several team members, use an online content calendar that you can share with a simple link. This will help your team plan their week and visibly see what is in the works for publication.

2. Figure Out the Content You Want to Publish or Re-Purpose

​Next, determine the content you want to publish. It’s best to create and publish content that meet’s your audience’s needs. This involves understanding your overall target audience. Is there something they need to know? Is there something they want to know? Find this out and plan to create content your audience will find useful.

It’s also important to consider the type of content you want to publish. There are several forms of content you can use to your advantage, like a blog post, video, eBook, podcast, infographic, or another format. Whereas one topic would be better served as a blog post, another might be more effective as an infographic or video.

3. Determine the Channels Where You’ll Publish Content

​Once you’ve figured out the content you’d like to publish, determine where it’d be better served. Where do you plan on distributing your content? Typically, a certain type of content is better suited for a particular medium. For example, social media is great for promoting new content whereas newsletters or surveys are best through email.

It’s also important to consider where your audience is most active. For example, it’s possible that your target audience is more active on social media rather than your website. Consider shifting your focus toward publishing on social media and linking back to your website to increase engagement and readership on that platform. Determine the best mediums to publish your content on to increase your audience and audience retainment overall. This will depend on your own company’s content, analytics, and target audience.

4. Determine a Publishing Schedule

Now that you know the type of content you want to publish, you can finalize a publishing schedule. Determine the days and times you want to publish and the content type. For example, perhaps you want to publish three blog posts a week, one video per week and one podcast each quarter. Depending on your analytics, you may increase or decrease your publishing schedule. It’s important to remain as consistent as possible. Ultimately, it’s important to find a schedule that fits you and your audience’s needs.

5. Fill in Your Content Calendar

​Once you’ve determined when you will publish, you can fill out your content calendar based on you and your team’s needs. This can include the name of the content you’re publishing, the content type, the date and time it’ll be published and what medium it will be published on. This will help you better organize your publishing schedule and distribute publications effectively. Another way to help organize your calendar is through the use of color. Here is how to use color in your content calendar:

6. Share Your Content Calendar with the Appropriate Parties

​After your content calendar has been filled in, share it with the appropriate teams. This is typically anyone who has content to publish. Sharing it with them will allow them to see when they need to submit their content by and view the other content coming through the pipeline. In addition, sharing the content calendar can help you and your team members brainstorm future content.

7. Review Analytics and Adjust Your Publishing Schedule Accordingly

After you’ve used your content calendar for some time, plan to review your website or platform’s analytics regularly. Determine if your current publishing schedule is increasing your reader engagement. Do you see a drop off in the number of visits to your website on a particular day? Do you notice less readership over the weekend? Make adjustments accordingly. If you see room for improvement, consider tweaking your content calendar and publishing schedule to optimize visits to your platform and overall engagement.  Ensure your content calendar strategy is up-to-date with the latest trends in audience engagement.