Why You Need an Editorial Calendar

By Carina Claassens - 1866 views
calendar.jpgAt the beginning of each year it is a good idea to review the previous year’s content. You might notice a pattern that your own content followed and realise why certain articles didn’t do as well as others. This is where an editorial calendar is helpful – it is a simple way for you to organise your content in such a way that it is well structured, relevant and logical. 
 
An editorial calendar is an important, and often underestimated, element of a content marketing routine. It shouldn’t be confused with a content strategy, which is – so to speak – the first step you should take.

What Exactly is an Editorial Calendar?

An editorial calendar is a chronological list of all your content to be published within a specific time frame. The list is detailed and should include all types of content – including your blog posts and social media updates. Articles to be written should be well planned out and should include working titles. Basically, an editorial calendar is a means for a business to plan out its content.

The three essential elements of an editorial calendar is:

1) The listing of content,
2) over different channels and platforms,  
3) making planning and dividing the work load between different individual roles, such as writers and editors, easy.

Why it is Necessary?

Working on a day-to-day basis when it comes to generating good quality content has many negative points.

  • It’s stressful:
Firstly, it’s stressful. You might suffer from writer’s block or you can’t make it into work to write whatever you have in mind for that day. What then? When you deviate from your regular publishing schedule readers – and potential customers – are disappointed.

  • Manage your time:
Another down point is that writing quality content takes time. When you have to write an article, but at the same time other work keeps flowing in, you can quickly become flustered with the amount of work in front of you. Most of the time, cluttered and distracted brains make for mediocre content.

When you make use of an editorial calendar you will be able to manage your time efficiently and divide writing tasks better, easing the work load on individuals. You will be more organised and have ample time to conduct proper research and editing – ensuring that your content is excellent.

  • You’ll be more attentive:
Another plus point of using an editorial calendar is that you will be more aware of what you need to know. When you read something about, let’s say, lead generation and you know that you have an upcoming article covering the same topic you’ll be more attentive and form better arguments for your own work.

  • Repurposing content is easier:

Repurposing your content will be easier if you have an editorial calendar. You’ll be able to see how many articles you have on a certain topic allowing you to easily convert it into an eBook or podcast.

Planning Your Content

As mentioned earlier in this article, reviewing the previous year’s content can assist you in deciding what content to write this year. You’ll be able to see which articles were more popular than others by looking at social media shares and engagement. These numbers are obviously important and a good indication of quality content, but you should also look at the content that generated the most leads.

You should divide your content into different channels such as social media, podcasts and blog posts. All of these will then correspond, connecting your content across multiple platforms.

An editorial calendar allows you to plan out your content by looking at what worked, what didn’t work and what you need more of.

Have any tips about setting up an editorial calendar that you’d like to share? Comment below or connect with me on Twitter @SoundIdea.

Sound Idea Digital is a complete digital marketing agency. For more information, contact 012 66 44 227 or email to info@soundidea.co.za

Carina Claassens is a Writer for Sound Idea Digital l carina@soundidea.co.za l Sound Idea Digital l www.soundidea.co.za

   

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