How to Create an Editorial Calendar

THE BASICS

OVERVIEW

Branding is all about strategy. When telling your story—whatever the medium—each piece of content should work within the bigger picture. An editorial calendar isn’t just intended to help you organize your tasks or prevent action items from falling off the grid—it allows your team to outline high-level thematic frameworks that will focus and enhance your storytelling every step of the way.

In addition to helping you streamline your content ideation and workflows, an editorial calendar will ensure that your messaging is always strategized. You can set out your objectives at the start of the year and work toward meeting them with tailored content. The calendar can include new product or service releases, campaigns, important dates (events, seasonality, etc.), and monthly themes or topics that your brand will explore. The calendar should identify and assign key distribution channels (website, social media, etc.) and establish a posting cadence based on analytics.

OPTIMIZE

ESTABLISH YOUR OBJECTIVES

What are your main objectives when producing and promoting content for your intended audience? Are you cultivating stronger brand imagery, a lifestyle that goes beyond your service or product? Are you working to boost your SEO, acquire new audiences, and get more new eyes on your brand? Are you establishing your brand as an authority in its industry by publishing regular articles and original content? All of the above?

RESEARCH TOPICS AND KEYWORDS

Even if your objectives are more nuanced, you should always have SEO at top of mind when creating digital content. Whether you’re producing content for your website or posting on social media, SEO will only help get more eyes on your brand and its offerings.

As you plan out your editorial calendar, research topics that will be trending during different times, months, or seasons, and create a list of potential keywords that would be on brand. Can these be tied into campaigns you already have in the works? Do certain keywords resonate well with product launches that are coming up?

USE ANALYTICS TO ADJUST YOUR APPROACH

Always use data to drive your decision-making process. The content you may get most excited to create and share isn’t necessarily going to be what resonates, drives traffic, or converts your audience into customers. Pay attention to the numbers and adjust your approach accordingly. That said, you shouldn’t be creating content with the sole means of hitting certain numbers. Sometimes the benefits of authentic brand storytelling can be less tangible—especially as you’re creating distinctive content that strengthens your brand. Find a happy medium of content that will produce immediate results and content that build your brand over time.