Editorial Calendars for Content Marketing

Includes

FREEcontent

calendar

template

Find out what we can do to grow your business. Call us on 0800 088 7486 or visit clickthrough-marketing.com

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR?

Editorial calendars, or content calendars,

let brands like yours plan regular,

targeted content updates to reach your

audience in the most effective way

possible.Editorial calendars have long been used

in print journalism, and they’re equally

essential as part of the modern marketing

mix. We’ll show you how to create a

digital editorial calendar to optimise your

content delivery for the web, start

engaging your audience more effectively,

and get quality leads that provide insights

into what your potential customers want.

With an editorial calendar in place, youcan expect:

• A higher volume of better leads.

• More traffic and improvedengagement.

• More social shares and interest.

• Better brand recognition.

• Recognition as a trusted authority.

• More conversions and more profit foryour business.

2


CONTENT MARKETING AND THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

“The digital revolution is far more

significant than the invention of writing

or even of printing.” Doug Engelbart

It’s so easy to forget just how much the

web has changed our lives, not to mention

our jobs.

The control of information is no longer inthe hands of newspapers and traditional

publishers. Any brand with a blog

can potentially reach a readership of

millions. And the social media revolution

has destroyed all obstacles to directcommunication with customers.

business needs better leads, more traffic orwider recognition.

The alternative: Abandoned blogs that

advertise a lack of commitment. Rushed

content regurgitated from other sites.

Your business, left behind by content-

savvy competition.

There are now billions of Internet users

worldwide*, and they’re hungry for useful

information. They’re hungry for great

content.Any company, in any industry, can take

advantage of this opportunity. But

becoming a successful content marketer

means ditching the old digital norms.

You need to take the traditional approach

to publishing, and apply it to the new. You

need a structured content plan that allows

you to publish a steady stream of

engaging content, and gives you the

freedom and focus to adapt to big

happenings and interest trends.

ANY COMPANY, IN ANY INDUSTRY, CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY. BUT BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL CONTENT MARKETER MEANS DITCHING THE OLD DIGITAL NORMS.

Structured content marketing is the key todigital marketing success, whether your

3


SIX BENEFITS OF CREATING A CONTENT CALENDAR

ENSURE A STEADY STREAM

OF PUBLISHED CONTENT THAT

SUPPORTS YOUR STRATEGY.

quality content targeted to your audience

personas to build and nurture your user

base. Because users who are invested

in your brand are more likely to become

committed customers.

1

Your content strategy needs purpose.

Simply writing and publishing whatever

takes your fancy is like throwing darts

blindfolded – you might hit the target

every now and then, but it’s much harder

to predict which throws will strike. And

you’ll have trouble measuring success

too.

GET A CLEAR VIEW

OF CONTENT FOR THE

WEEKS AHEAD

2

Getting the balance of quality and

quantity right can be tough. But there’s a

bigger and tougher problem to solve –

the problem of consistency.

Define goals and key performance indicators

for your content marketing efforts, just as

you would with any other digital marketing

campaign. Then use your content calendar

to plan and publish a steady stream of

content that supports your goal – whether

this is lead generation, improved

engagement, more traffic, or all of the

above.

It’s all very well to promise yourself you’ll

publish ten blogs each month, but if your

resources are stretched and you don’t have

a clear plan of action, this is unlikely to

happen. What’s more likely is that you’ll end

up publishing a raft of blogs in week four,

diluting their effect and throwing a spanner

into the nurturing process.

No matter the results you’re aiming for, theroad to success is the same – produce

Putting a content calendar together ensuresyou have clear visibility of upcoming content,

and when it needs to be published. This

makes it much, much easier to plan yourtime effectively, so your content is written and

published at the optimum time.When is the ‘optimum time’? Well, that bringsus on to our next point…

4


CREATE CONTENTPROACTIVELY.

COLLABORATE AND

BRAINSTORM TO CREATE

BETTER CONTENT.

3 4Big news story? Emerging trend? Special

event? These are perfect opportunities to

publish some relevant content and

benefit from a surge in user interest.

Robert Wilensky once said: “We’ve

all heard that a million monkeys banging

on a million typewriters will eventually

reproduce the entire works of

Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the

Internet, we know this is not true.”

But if you miss the boat by even a day or

two, it’s likely this wave of interest will have

died down, and – to continue the watery

metaphors – your content will look like a bit

of a wet fish.

Humorous though they are, Wilensky’s

remarks are not entirely accurate. Digital

publishing has given more people more

access to a wider range of content than

ever before. But Wilensky had a point –

when everyone is a publisher, you have to

work harder to stand out.

A content calendar lets you identifyopportunities in advance, and ensure you

have some highly relevant content ready

to go out when demand is peaking. These

opportunities could be as simple as a public

holiday, like Halloween, or a key product

launch. But by using tools like Google Trends,

you can identify less obvious opportunitiesthat other publishers might miss.

It’s not enough to publish content regularly.You have to publish great content regularly.A well-designed editorial calendar can help you

create better content. Get your calendar right,

and it will act as much more than a content

diary – it will act as a platform for

collaboration, brainstorming and resource

management.

The scope is limitless. But without a clear

content plan, chances are you’ll have to

publish your content reactively, rather

than proactively. In other words, you’ll

have to publish your content when the

world has stopped listening.

Don’t simply copy your competitors. Get

every expert in your business involved in

generating content ideas. Widen the scope

of your expertise. Start producing content

that’s worth copying.

Collaborators could include people who

don’t usually work on content. It’s likely that

product managers, directors, call centre

staff, salespeople and technical experts

would have plenty to say that your usual

content creators (and competitors) would

never think of saying.

5


If an external agency works on your content

as well, it’s important to get them involved in

idea creation. Make sure they’re as well-

informed about your products, services and

ethos as you are, and put their outsiders’

insight to good use in brainstorming

sessions.

TIE IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIASTRATEGY.5

If a tree falls in a forest, and there’s

nobody around to hear it, does it

make a sound?

If a brand publishes great content, and

there’s nobody there to read it, is

it worth bothering?

should make every effort to make sure your

content is ready when your customers are

ready to receive it.

Simply publishing content does not constitute

a content strategy. To really reap the

benefits of your creative content, you’ve got

to work hard to let your audience know it’s

there.

Every company is different, and the way

you use social media will vary widely

depending on your aims, your audience and

your industry. But integrating social media

planning with your editorial calendar is a

crucial step in ensuring all your content

delivery channels are aligned with your

wider strategy.

Social media is one of the key delivery

channels for content. Your social audience

is not only ready to consume great

content, they expect it. They’re waiting for

the next great thing to land in their feed, so

you

EVERY COMPANY IS DIFFERENT, AND THE WAY YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA WILL VARY WIDELY DEPENDING ON YOUR AIMS, YOUR AUDIENCE AND YOUR INDUSTRY.

6


TRACK CONTENTMARKETING PROGRESS.6

Without defining goals and planningdelivery, you can’t track the progress of your

content marketing campaign. But with a

content calendar, everything you publishcan – and should – be tracked, reported on

and learnt from.

By keeping all your planning and reporting

in the same place, you can effectively

apply learnings to all aspects of your

content marketing efforts. This is important

because even the smallest consideration –

from the time you send an email to the

style of blog headlines you use – can vary

depending on industry, location and other

factors.It makes sense to research and follow best

practices, but the only way to truly optimise

your content marketing efforts is to test,

track, learn and repeat.

WITHOUT DEFINING GOALSAND PLANNING DELIVERY, YOU CAN’T TRACK THE PROGRESS OF YOUR CAMPAIGN.

7


HOW TO MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR

THE INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT CONTENT CALENDAR1. A content schedule

Your content schedule is the hub of your content calendar. In fact, it’s the hub of your entirecontent marketing strategy.

This is where you plan content delivery over the coming weeks, or months. It lets you aligncontent marketing activities for the best impact, and plan ahead for key events and trends.The example above is for a B2C retailer, but the content types and layout can be adjusted to suityour own needs and goals.

An important aspect of the content schedule is the ‘Outcomes’ column. The key to a robust

content strategy is learning from what worked and what didn’t hit the mark, and applying

these learnings to future content.

Note outcomes in this column to track which experiments went awry, and which content took offwith your audience.

8

Date Day Important Blog posts Press eBooks Emails Infographics Website Other Outcomes dates releases content

01/01/2018 Monday JANUARY SALE LAUNCH

JANUARY SALE EBOOK

JANUARY SALE EMAIL

JANUARYSALE LANDING PAGE

02/01/2018 Tuesday BLOG 1

03/01/2018 Wednesday COMPETITION LAUNCH

BLOG 2 COMPETITION PRESS RELEASE

Media interview with CEO

04/01/2018 Thursday BLOG 3

05/01/2018 Friday INDUSTRY EVENT

BLOG 4



2. A hub for content ideas

Your content calendar can be much more than a list of dates and actions. It can become a forumfor collaboration, brainstorming and resource management.

For a successful content strategy, you should encourage everyone who’s engaged with

marketing your business to be engaged with content publishing. Foster a collaborative

culture, where everybody shares ideas via the content calendar.

Contributors don’t necessarily need to write these posts, but their unique set of expertise,

skills and opinions will help keep your content offering fresh, varied and unique. And the

more contributors you have, the more chance you have of establishing your brand as the

industry expert.

This section can also help you plan who writes what, and when – as well as SEO keywords, keyoutreach targets, and more.

9

Topic/Title Content type Suggested by Possible Resources Content goal Persona Keyword Outreach NotesAuthor target targets targets

Funny Hats: The New Trend Sweeping America

Blog post Joe Bloggs Joe Bloggs See blog at funnyhats.com

Engagement Suzie Stylish funny hats, weird hats

The Anatomy of a Great Winter Outfit

Infographic Joe Bloggs John Johnson Refer to latest catalogue insert for examples.

Social shares Suzie Stylish winter clothing, winter fashion, winter outfit

Fashion blogs, social influencers

Five Shoe Brands Adored by the Stars

Blog Post Jane Normal Jane Normal N/A Engagement Suzie Stylish celebrity shoes

The Definitive Guide to Dog Grooming

eBook Jane Normal Joe Bloggs See email. Lead capture DaveDogsworth

dog grooming, dog fashion, canine care

Dog grooming websites, social influencers



3. A social plan

Most social media management toolsinclude some functionality for scheduling

tweets, posts and updates. Even if you make

extensive use of these tools, however, it can

still be useful to map out your strategy on

your content calendar. This provides a central

hub for your social media team to work from,

ensuring all social activity is aligned with youroverall content strategy and goals.

for example – or publishing Facebook postsat different times of the day.

It’s also important to consider how the

content you publish and the messaging you

use may vary across social platforms. A fun,

light-hearted Facebook update may not

work as well on LinkedIn, for example.

YOU MAY FIND THAT TWEETING MORE OFTEN WORKS FOR YOU, FOR EXAMPLE – OR PUBLISHING FACEBOOK POSTS AT DIFFERENT TIMES OF THE DAY.

As mentioned earlier, your social strategy willbe unique to your business. We recommend

you use tools and tracking to learn how best

to use social media, and build out this section

of your content calendar accordingly. You mayfind that tweeting more often works for you,10

W/C 01/01/2018 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Important dates January sale starts Big New Year Competition launch

Key product launch

Blog content “10 New Year Trends YouDon’t Want to Miss”

Big New Year Competition blog

Product launch blog

Other content Make Big Savings in ourJanuary Sale - eBook

Tweet 19:00 AM

January sale eBook Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog post

Conversational tweet Promote Friday blog post

Tweet 211:20 AM

Conversational tweet January sale eBook Conversational tweet Promote Thursday blog post Promote Thursday blog post

Tweet 32:30 PM

January sale eBook Conversational tweet Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog post

Promote Friday blog post

Tweet 47:00 PM

Conversational tweet Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog post

Promote Thursday blog post Conversational tweet –product launch

Facebook11:00

January sale eBook Tuesday blog post Wednesday blog post Thursday blog post Friday blog post

Facebook18:00

Conversational post Conversational post Promotional post – Big NewYear Competition

Conversational post Promotional post – Big NewYear Competition

LinkedIn Promote media interview with CEO

Google+ January sale eBook Tuesday blog post Big New Year Competition Thursday blog post Product launch



4. A list of contacts and influencers

Outreaching to influencers and leveragingexisting contacts is a valuable way to build

your brand’s voice, authority and influence.

Use your content calendar to maintain a list of

crucial contacts, noting important information

about them and tracking the progress ofyour relationship.

Again, build this out to suit your own marketingand outreach activities. For example, although

Twitter follower counts and Klout scores

(https://klout.com/) are good measures of a

person’s social influence, you may decideto include other metrics that better suit

your business.

OUTREACHING TO INFLUENCERS AND LEVERAGING EXISTING CONTACTS IS A VALUABLE WAY TO BUILD YOUR BRAND’S VOICE, AUTHORITY AND INFLUENCE

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Type Name Expertise Twitter URL Twitter Number of Klout Score Contact Website URL NotesUsername Followers Address/URL

Influencer Sue Popular Fashion Etc... Etc.. Etc.. Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Influencer John Knowsalot Jewellery Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Associate Mindy Business Marketing Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Blogger Bob Gossip Celebrity Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

Journalist TriciaWordsworth

Fashion Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...

https://klout.com/

https://klout.com/

https://klout.com/

https://klout.com/



5. Reporting dashboards

Your content strategy is nothing if you

can’t effectively report on progress and key

performance indicators. Building reporting

dashboards into your content calendar

makes it easy to adjust your strategy

based on learnings gleaned from your

reports.

Your free editorial calendar template

includes many more examples of

reporting dashboards. Download

yours using the link on the following

page.

The table above is an example of a reporting

dashboard for measuring engagement

across various marketing channels. But you’ll

almost certainly need to build in more

detailed reporting capabilities than this. You

can, and should, report at a much more

granular level.For example, by reporting on metrics forindividual blog posts and emails, and – if

your strategy is focussed on lead generation– by tracking the number of leads gained

through separate channels.YOUR FREE EDITORIAL CALENDAR TEMPLATE INCLUDES MANY MORE EXAMPLES OF REPORTING DASHBOARDS. DOWNLOAD YOURS USING THE LINK ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE.

With robust reporting in place, you can

test the effectiveness of every facet of your

content marketing efforts, from the value of

blog headlines, to the optimum time to

send emails and social media updates.

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Month/Year Monthly Average Average pages Average session Blog Email traffic Facebook Twitter traffic Etc… Traffic bounce rate per visit duration traffic traffic

November 2017 13,545 50% 3.5 2:02 5,532 Etc… Etc… Etc… Etc…

December 2017 14,015 48% 3.7 2:10 6,334 Etc… Etc… Etc… Etc…

January 2018


WHAT NEXT?

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE EDITORIALCALENDAR TEMPLATE

We’ve put together a free example editorial

calendar to get you started. Download

yours at: http://clikth.ru/ctm-calendar

Now start publishing!

WANT HELP WITH YOURCONTENT STRATEGY?

ClickThrough Marketing has

helped dozens of brands

get better leads and

improve ROI with quality,

web-friendly content.

Talk to our experts now on 0800 088 7486.

http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/

*As of November 2014 - http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/

We’re proud to have some of the industry’s

most qualified content marketing, search,

social media and conversion experts on

our team. And we’ve worked with

household names like Dunelm, Peugeot

and Halfords Autocentres, as well as

enterprising SMEs across a wide range of

sectors.Our creative content marketing got us

to the finals of the first-ever RAR Digital

Awards, whilst our friendly, honest

approach means we’ve built up genuine

and trusting relationships with our clients.

CLICKTHROUGH MARKETING HAS HELPED DOZENSOF BRANDS GET BETTER LEADS AND IMPROVEROI WITH QUALITY, WEB- FRIENDLY CONTENT.

Want content that your competitors would kill

for? Need a strategy that delivers great

results and is firmly tied to your KPIs?

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Editorial Calendars for Content Marketing