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WELCOME HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY OPTIMIZELY, THE LEADER IN DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
PLATFORMS.

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Welcome has been acquired by Optimizely, the leader in Digital Experience
Platforms. Read the announcement here.


HOW TO CREATE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR IN 10 MINUTES


by

WELCOME

March 29, 2022
reading time: 9 mins

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For time-starved marketers, sitting down to create an editorial calendar can
feel like a monumental task. 

There’s always a deadline looming or a publishing date approaching that needs
your attention ASAP.

So, it’s no wonder that 46% of marketers don’t have a documented content
strategy. 

The irony is that creating an editorial calendar can actually save you time. So,
we’re going to walk you through the process of quickly creating an editorial
calendar. Here are the cliff notes: 

 1. Determine your overall content goals
 2. Decide which platform to use to build your calendar
 3. Determine your content workflow
 4. Determine your content distribution plan 
 5. Assign relevant tasks to relevant people

Before we dig into the details, though, let’s cover the basics: 


WHAT’S AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

An editorial calendar is a long-term timeline for planning and executing your
content marketing strategy. Closely related to other planning tools like
publishing schedules and content calendars, an editorial calendar often serves
as the primary or master calendar from which more detailed plans are derived. 

As for why it’s important, Michele Linn, co-founder and chief strategy officer
at Mantis Research, puts it this way: ”Regardless of where you are in your
content marketing efforts, it’s important to have an editorial calendar to keep
your content consistent and relevant. It also helps keep your marketing team on
the same page and is a great reference for your management.”

Here are a few other perks of having a good editorial calendar: 

 * Reduces the amount of time spent writing and scheduling because your team
   isn’t constantly planning on the fly or re-inventing the wheel when creating
   content. 
 * Makes it easier to handle unexpected events because you can see the big
   picture and move things around accordingly. 
 * Improves collaboration within your marketing team, with management, with
   other departments in your company, and with outside stakeholders. 
 * Provides the vantage point needed to repurpose your existing or evergreen
   content and use your resources more efficiently. 
 * Allows you to measure results based on your marketing objectives and change
   course when needed instead of winging it. 


WHAT DOES A GOOD EDITORIAL CALENDAR TEMPLATE LOOK LIKE?



As you can see in the editorial calendar example above, a good template details
how various elements connect to your overall content strategy. It often takes
major events or campaigns occurring over the next 12 months and breaks them down
into the following categories: 

 * Goals
 * Tactics and frequency 
 * Person or department responsible
 * Important collaborators
 * Key distribution channels
 * Publishing deadlines

You can use a variety of tools to make your editorial calendar. Many large
marketing teams use content calendar software, but you can also use spreadsheets
(as shown above), traditional calendars, whiteboards with markers and sticky
notes, Kanban boards, or other project management tools. 

Wondering why there are so many options? It’s because different tools allow you
to visualize your editorial calendar in different ways. You should also consider
things like ease of use, personal preferences, size of your team, integration
with other tools, and scalability before deciding on which method to use. (We’ll
go into more detail on how to choose the best one for your organization in a
bit.) 


HOW TO CREATE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR QUICKLY 

Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s time to get into some details. In this
section, we’ll cover five steps to creating an editorial calendar as fast as
possible. 


STEP 1: DETERMINE YOUR OVERALL CONTENT GOALS

Since your editorial calendar is a plan for executing your overall content
goals, figuring out what those goals are is the best place to start. What are
you trying to achieve? What outcome defines success? 

If you already know the answers to these questions, take a minute to jot them
down. If not, you can use the following common content marketing goals as a
starting point: 

 * Building brand awareness
 * Educating your audience
 * Building credibility and trust with customers and industry peers
 * Generating demand and leads
 * Nurturing subscribers and leads
 * Building loyalty with existing customers
 * Driving attendance to events
 * Generating sales and/or revenue
 * Building a subscriber list
 * Supporting the launch of a new product

You may have multiple goals, and that’s okay — in fact, it’s probably the most
likely scenario. But it makes it even more important to clearly identify them
now so you take them into account when planning out your calendar. 

After all, your goals are going to determine everything from the type of content
you create to the distribution channel you choose to the language in your CTA.
Sometimes different goals require a different approach; other times, there may
be areas of overlap or opportunities for synergy. 

For example, let’s say you’re trying to build a subscriber list while
simultaneously supporting a new product launch. You could approach them both
separately, using different blog articles and social media ads for each goal. Or
you could develop a webinar designed to both attract subscribers and promote the
new product. 



STEP 2: DECIDE WHICH PLATFORM TO USE TO BUILD YOUR OWN EDITORIAL CALENDAR 

Once you’ve determined your goals, the next step is to choose a platform to
build the actual calendar. So, let’s take a deeper look into the tools we
mentioned earlier to figure out what’s best for your team. 

SPREADSHEETS 

Whether you build them through Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, spreadsheets
are a favorite tool for many content marketers. Besides being free, they have a
relatively short learning curve and can be paired with calendar apps and other
planning tools. 

However, spreadsheets can be a bear to maintain—especially if you have a large
content marketing operation. They’re also not great for collaborating as
comments can be hard to keep track of, often necessitating another form of
communication that’s not tied to the calendar itself. 

CALENDAR APPS

Digital calendar apps like Google Calendar or Apple Calendar are a
straightforward way to keep tabs on content deadlines and publishing dates.
They’re free, easy to use, and familiar to just about everyone. 

The main problem is that there’s a lot more to editorial calendars than just the
key dates, and you’ll have to find a separate way to track that information. 

WHITEBOARDS

Back in the day, editors would use whiteboards to keep track of everything. And
this method does still have its uses, including brainstorming content ideas and
providing a visual representation of the editorial calendar. However,
whiteboards fall short when it comes to communicating the information on them to
anyone else on your team. 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Visual Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and other project management tools are great
for managing your editorial calendar once it’s created. There are a number of
kanban software programs out there, like Jira and Trello, that provide templates
to set up a board quickly. 

The main downside of going this route is that it’s often just another siloed
solution — disconnected from your other marketing tools, calendars, and
communication methods. 

CONTENT CALENDAR SOFTWARE



As you’re probably picking up by now, many tools tend to solve one problem while
ignoring another, often leaving marketers to hobble together an inefficient
solution. For this reason, many teams are switching to content calendar software
to create and manage their editorial calendars. 

For example, Welcome’s content calendar software is custom-built for marketing
teams, bringing together all the tools you need in one easy-to-use platform. If
you’re thinking you probably can’t afford it, even the free version of Welcome’s
software includes the following: 

 * Spreadsheet planning
 * Monthly editorial calendar
 * Timeline and Gantt views
 * Kanban boards
 * Collaborative messaging
 * Project management
 * Flexible workflows
 * Alerts and notifications

For a better idea of how content calendar software can improve your efficiency,
take the case of Orolia. Like many others, Orolia’s marketing team was
struggling with visibility and collaboration, mostly caused by a haphazard
collection of point solutions and a mar-tech ecosystem that wasn’t strategically
integrated.

As Patrick Bark, Senior Marketing Coordinator at Orolia, explains: “The team as
a whole had hit a roadblock. We were using multiple tools; each solved a
specific problem and had limited interaction with another. We resorted to an
excel file to track campaigns in one place and soon enough, it had 8 tabs! It
took us up to 4 hours of meetings every week to align everyone. We were at a
critical point — but we needed a better way”

So at the end of 2020, Orolia decided to try out Welcome’s content calendar
software. Here’s what happened: 

 * Shared calendars helped align stakeholders with campaign plans and important
   details. 
 * Customizable workflows allowed Orolia’s marketing team to define a repeatable
   content creation process. 
 * Content optimization tools enabled subject matter experts (SMEs) to
   collaborate in real-time and ensure compliance. 

To date, team productivity at Orolia is up thanks to centralized planning and
streamlined collaboration. Plus, 87% of the time previously spent in weekly
meetings is now used for productive work. 


STEP 3: DETERMINE YOUR CONTENT WORKFLOW

Once you’ve chosen your platform, the next thing to think about is your workflow
for content creation. Specifically, how does a piece of content move from the
first to the last draft in your organization? What steps does it go through
before it’s ready to publish?

Often, this depends on the size of your team and the amount of content you’re
producing. For small teams with minimal output, your content may only go through
one or two touchpoints before being published — from the writer to the content
strategist, for example. 

For larger teams that generate loads of content, your pieces may pass through
many more stages between the first and last draft. In this case, your workflows
are going to have a lot of dependencies, meaning certain tasks can’t be started
until another one is complete. 

Let’s say you’re creating a long-form blog post in conjunction with the product
development team. Here’s an example of what a workflow may look like: 

 1.  Research keywords
 2.  Interview SME from the product development team 
 3.  Develop title and outline
 4.  Write article based on research and SME interview
 5.  First round of edits
 6.  First round of changes
 7.  Final round of edits
 8.  Final changes
 9.  Final approval 
 10. Add visuals and graphics
 11. Publish article and/or send to client for review

Fortunately, you don’t have to begin assigning tasks for every single piece of
content while creating your yearly editorial calendar. That can be saved for the
monthly content or editorial calendar, which is more focused on day-to-day task
management. 

However, you need to have a general idea of how long it takes a piece of content
to move from start to finish. Otherwise, you’re likely to create a publishing
schedule that’s either impossible to execute or way too lax. 


STEP 4: DETERMINE YOUR CONTENT DISTRIBUTION PLAN

The next thing to wrap your head around is the distribution channels you plan to
use to get your content in front of your audience. To do this, you’ll want to
back up a bit and think about where your target audience usually hangs out
online.

For example, if you’re targeting B2B buyers, LinkedIn is going to be one of your
best options. If you’re targeting B2C Gen Z buyers, on the other hand, platforms
like TikTok and YouTube are typically a better bet. 

Whichever channels or mix of channels you select, it’s important to identify
them during the editorial planning process because they can dictate the type of
content you produce. Using the example above, long-form blog articles,
short-form thought leadership content, and white papers are better suited for
LinkedIn while short, fast-paced videos are better for TikTok. 

Another consideration for content distribution is frequency or publishing
cadence. Each channel has its own rhythm and expectations for how often you
should be posting content. Even within social channels, each platform has its
own ideal frequency: 

 * Instagram: 3-7 social media posts per week.
 * Facebook: 1-2 posts per day.
 * Twitter: 1-5 tweets per day.
 * LinkedIn: 1-5 posts per day.

It’s important to get this right — otherwise, your content may not have the
impact you’d expect. In fact, 27% of consumers say low-quality or infrequently
published content would lead them to believe that a brand is out of touch or not
up to date with customer habits.


STEP 5: ASSIGN RELEVANT TASKS TO RELEVANT PEOPLE

Now that you have a general idea of workflows and channels, you can begin to
assign tasks to the appropriate people. Going back to the blog post workflow we
outlined above, here’s an example of what this might look like: 

TASK

PERSON(S) RESPONSIBLE

Research keywords 

Content strategist or SEO expert 

Interview SME from the product development team

Content strategist or writer

Develop title and outline 

Content strategist or writer 

Write article based on research and SME interview

Writer

First round of edits

Editor

First round of approval

Strategist

Make changes

Writer

Final round of edits

Editor

Final changes

Writer

Final approval and/or changes

Content strategist

Add visuals and graphics

Graphic design team or creative director

Publish article or send to client

Producer or content strategist/manager

As we said before, you don’t need to assign each step in the workflow at this
point. However, this is a good exercise to go through on a general level to make
sure you have the staff necessary to execute your plan. 

For example, let’s say you have one writer on staff who has the capacity to
handle two articles per week. If you’ve planned to publish five articles a week,
you know right off the bat that you’re going to need to hire additional
writers. 


EDITORIAL CALENDAR FAQS


WHAT DOES AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR INCLUDE?

A 12-month editorial calendar typically includes key elements that connect to
your overall content marketing strategy, focusing on the who, what, when, and
where of content production. Examples of such elements include tactics, content
ideas, deadlines, posting frequency, publishing dates, collaborators, and
distribution channels. 


WHAT IS EDITORIAL CALENDAR MANAGEMENT?

Editorial calendar management refers to executing the plan laid forth in the
calendar itself. It’s like creating a schedule for the year and then making sure
everyone is following it on a daily basis. 


WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR AND A CONTENT CALENDAR?

In short? Scope. An editorial calendar focuses on the big picture whereas a
content calendar gets into the finer details. Another way to think of it is that
an editorial calendar is a zoomed out, long-term plan for executing your content
strategy. In contrast, a content calendar zooms in, outlining a day-by-day plan
for meeting the deadlines in the editorial calendar. 

That said, many content marketing professionals use the terms editorial calendar
and content calendar interchangeably. Oftentimes, this is because the editorial
and content calendars are combined into one tool or spreadsheet. 

In this case, the editorial calendar acts as the primary calendar, allowing
marketers to see everything at a glance. Separate calendars or tabs are then
integrated within the primary calendar to allow marketers to dig deeper into
each task, seeing what needs to be done on a daily basis. 


CONCLUSION

There you have it! Now you know how to create editorial calendars in a snap. We
know you’re busy, so we’ll let you get to it. Best of luck out there! 





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