It’s that time of year again (content calendar time!)
Folks, it’s already November. I’m eyeing my Christmas decorations, itching to give my home its holiday glow.
But there’s also something else happening right now that’s near and dear to my heart: It’s content calendar season!
Is it the “most wonderful time of the year?” Debatable. But is it one of the most important times of the year for your business’s social media, blogging, and other content marketing efforts?
WITHOUT A DOUBT.
In my humble opinion as a marketing professional, content calendars are an essential part of your marketing strategy. Managed correctly, they directly contribute to the development of your brand and the growth of your business.
Here are just a few of the reasons why we recommend content calendars.
Content Calendars Focus Your Marketing Goals
What are you trying to achieve through your social media? Build your community? Increase your sales? Something altogether different?
Well, whatever your goal is — even if that goal is just setting a goal — then the content you’re posting should be in direct support of that goal.
Your content calendar actualizes this and organizes this so you can see, brick by brick, what you’re building towards.
Preparing for a new product launch? Hosting a community event? Holding a limited-time sale? Your content calendar ensures that you have a strategy in place to make the most of the moment, and removes ad-hoc posting and in-house scrambling that can occur when the plan isn’t fully baked.
Content Calendars Create Consistency
Publishing blogs and posting to social media should not be an “I’ll get to it when I get to it”-type situation.
When I work with our clients, we clearly define the goals, the types of content that will support those goals, the platforms best suited to publish that content on, as well as the best dates and times to do so.
You’ll see plenty of advice out there on when the best time to publish blogs or posts, or when to send emails, but my best recommendation is to feel open to experimenting with those variables.
If we’re all getting the same “best advice,” then odds are that we’re all clogging up people’s feeds and inboxes during those peak times. More importantly, I think, is to simply be consistent.
Post blogs on specific days. Create a calendar for your social media that outlines the type of content you’re posting on which days — Mondays are for useful tips, Wednesdays are for highlighting products or services, and Fridays are for community events or employee features.
You’re creating predictability. You’re setting expectations. Building anticipation for the next post.
Create Accountability With Your Content Calendar
Remove any and all, “I thought you were going to do that” from your marketing. With the way that I set up our content calendars, everyone knows all of the pertinent information, including who is responsible for what throughout the production process.
Having the idea is the easy part, but the writing, reviewing, editing, approving, and posting takes real effort, not to mention promotion, responding to comments, and reviewing data.
You need a system to ensure that no one drops the ball, and content calendars create a level of clarity that keeps you focused on the things that matter.
Your Calendar Will Help Your Track Performance and Plan Ahead
Depending on our clients’ preferences, I typically create content calendars that map out three-to-six months, so we can analyze data and create a clearer picture of what the next three-to-six months should look like.
This gives us a strong sense of what is resonating with the audience, creating the opportunity to invest more time in that space by going even deeper into that niche. It also tells us what isn’t working so well, giving us the option to either approach that content from a different angle (if it’s truly that important to the business), or we can pivot to a different type of content altogether.
The point is, we’re no longer shooting in the dark. We’re working with real data, and we can now set new benchmarks for the next phase of our strategy.
Would we have data without the calendar? Sure. But the calendar creates a foundation. The calendar helped us create a pattern of posting that helps us better understand that data, and makes that path forward that much clearer.
It’s a simple method, but sometimes simple is best.
These are just a few of the reasons why a content calendar can help create growth for your business. I’ll be sure to cover more in the future. Just know that by using this straightforward tool, you’re giving yourself an advantage over your competitors, one that will help define your brand and connect with more customers. I’d love to show you how!
Has your business used a content calendar? Are you interested in learning more about how to best implement one into your business? We’d love to help you!
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you drive growth for your business through original, relevant, and useful content.