- Welcome to The Journey.
Today, we're gonna give you six steps
to create an editorial calendar.
Ever wondered how some
of your favorite social media accounts
are able to post on multiple platforms
and multiple times per week?
Well, we can almost guarantee it's not without some help.
Keeping up with content creation can be challenging.
I've heard that once or twice,
and one of the only ways to ensure that you execute
and consistently publish high-quality content
that drives results for your brand
is through using an editorial calendar.
Do you have one? I'm curious.
Let us know below,
but let's talk about what an editorial calendar is,
why it's important,
and how to create one to help you stay on track
and reach your business goals.
- Yeah, it's basically a schedule
that outlines your content publishing for the weeks, months,
or even years to come, if you're that ambitious.
While its name implies that it's a calendar,
it's far more than that.
It can have days for scheduling and publishing,
but it also includes the relevant details needed
to create a streamlined content creation process
that produces content aligned with your brand goals.
- So why is an editorial calendar important?
Well, when you use an editorial calendar
that includes both scheduled dates
and details about the content,
it can help you to organize yourself,
your team, and your plans.
It also helps you identify gaps
and avoid content duplication.
- Now let's get into how to create an editorial calendar.
First, you're gonna wanna decide
how often you want to publish.
There's really no magic number
for how often you should post,
and each platform is definitely unique.
You need to choose what is right for you based on your goals
and your resources.
I'd start with a schedule of once a month
and then decide if you can post more than that.
Don't push past what you think you can do.
It's better to be consistent, even if infrequently,
than to really post a lot of content sporadically
and then disappear and ghost your followers.
Reusing content for multiple streams,
such as like using a clip from your new YouTube video
as an Instagram reel to promote the original video
is very useful and a common marketing strategy,
but it can get complicated to manage without a calendar.
You don't have to overwhelm viewers
who follow you on multiple platforms
and risk they don't want to engage with any of your content.
- And also, I bet your brand
has some pretty important dates.
You don't wanna ignore those,
so go ahead and mark important dates throughout the year
to have content to match.
And then by syncing your calendar with a schedule
of what is going on with your business,
you'll be ahead of the game and you won't be left scrambling
to just post something, or anything.
It'll have more meaning, like maybe your anniversary.
Hey, we've been open for five years.
That's super exciting.
Have content to match.
- And to add to that, look at the holidays too,
look at important dates around the holidays,
especially when it impacts your business.
Consider the big holidays and even the small ones.
Decide if you want to engage
in any of the holiday marketings
and then plan if you want to release warm wishes posts,
or other fun themed holiday content
to really get in the spirit and be timely with your content.
- I'd also encourage you to look at social holidays.
So don't just focus on nationally recognized holidays,
also look at a calendar of fun social holidays,
which are unique days that are often celebrated
on social media through hashtags.
So there's days like National Dog Day,
#nationalcheeseloversday.
There's for sure a #pizzaday.
And then what that can do
is it can give you some fun inspiration for posts
and it can help you to promote your posts
when it's published,
and just piggyback off of
some user generated-content as well,
which is just gonna get you some more exposure
for your brand.
- Definitely, and this can all be overwhelming to post,
so we recommend working backwards to assign deadlines.
So start with the date that you wanna publish
and then work backwards to assign due dates
for each step of the process,
from creating a title to then creating the content,
and then creating the captions, things like that.
So blocking your calendar for times to work on your content
is also just as important.
If you don't set aside time to do this,
there's always gonna be something else
that's gonna take priority.
So block off an hour or two a week
to set up the editorial calendar
and give it some of that TLC,
and you'll definitely thank yourself later.
- And be sure to anticipate changes.
While an editorial calendar is great,
because it for sure assigns set dates for creation
and publishing, you can't expect it to be set in stone.
Things will happen
that will change the dates on your calendar, so is life,
and anticipate that shifts in the world and your business
that will likely cause your calendar to change.
I'd encourage you to be flexible
and know that even with the best planning,
no editorial calendar is permanent.
- Doing this can help you build SEO value,
attract new followers,
drive existing audiences back to your website,
generate leads, and initiate sales,
but it can be difficult to achieve these results
if you don't have a plan to consistently create content
for your platforms.
Use what we've taught you about how to create
an editorial calendar and get to work.
- All right, that's a wrap, and good news,
your journey doesn't have to stop here.
We have over 200 videos for you to check out.
And, hey, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.
Thanks for watching.
This is The Journey.