What is an editorial calendar? Wikipedia says editorial calendars are "used by bloggers, publishers, businesses, and groups to control publication of content across different media, for example, newspaper, magazine, blog, email newsletters, and social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook fan pages. They are an extremely efficient way to control publication of content across diverse media outlets over time."
What it does is create for you a map of what, when, and how you will post your content to share it with your audience. So for example, let's say you have a couple of upcoming programs, a new product and an ongoing service you provide. You want to make sure your audience is aware these things are coming, but you want to divide up the messages to avoid information overwhelm.
Here is an example of what an editorial calendar may look like. Mine has elements of written content but also a few other tasks I like to consistently do. Some of mine is adapted from a calendar shared with me by one of my favorite mentors, Nancy Marmolejo over at VivaVisibility.com:
IM Nirvana has a cool downloadable spreadsheet here. Or you can try another that's more social media-based like the Loud Few here.
My friend and social media guru, Tai Goodwin, shared a great tool with me recently called DivvyHQ. This site has a great interactive calendaring system you can use to map out different points within your marketing campaigns. Personally, I'm a spreadsheet geek, so I love using Excel and other spreadsheet-style tools to map my progress.
I'd love to hear what you currently use to keep track of and post your content. Share in the comments section below.
WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative business strategist and coach specializing in showing service based entrepreneurs like coaches, consultants and freelancers how to save time & money with simple, yet profitable systems that engage leads and clients. Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market. Claim your instant access to a free 12 point checklist at: www.bepromotable.com.
Comments