Managing a marketing campaign is no simple task. Utilizing software tools, working with teams, and even designing campaigns can be overwhelming if not managed properly.
The most challenging part within a marketing campaign is managing and scheduling your company’s content. In order to make the best out of your campaign, it’s always better to have an organized approach and create a content calendar.
Whether you’re looking for a social media content calendar, or a general content calendar, here are some helpful tips on how to create a content calendar for your business.
Create an outline for your marketing calendar template.
Picking Your Data Management Tool
When beginning to construct a content calendar, it’s always helpful to pick your management tool. Every business is different and will need varying tools in order to properly provide a content calendar that reflects their purpose.
Here are some examples of helpful content management tools that you may want to begin working with.
Microsoft Excel. Depending on the complexity of your business structure, Microsoft Excel’s database-type set up may suit your company’s needs. What makes Excel attractive is that it’s low-cost, and can create complex content and analysis tracking. Some people find Excel to be challenging, and it’s fairly common to have to be trained to use the program. Once this is accomplished, however, the sky’s the limit with your calendar building abilities.
Airtable.com. If you aren’t one to get your hands dirty building your own content calendar with Excel, Airtable has a very nice, easy-to-use solution that seems to have efficient means. With pricing beginning at a minimal cost, you are able to not only plan your content, but you can also upload attachments to your goals in order to provide a visual guide to those working on the content itself. There are many other software tools out there like this, but we recommend a low cost, robust solution like Airtable; simply because it’s affordable, easy to use, and isn’t too much bang for your buck.
Google Calendar. This might sound crazy, but Google G-Suite, is one of the cheapest content calendar alternatives on the market. Like Excel, but less robust, utilizing Google Calendar provide you with cloud-based access to scheduling that can be easily shared within your team. Google G-Suite also comes along with a variety of other tools for absolutely free.
How to Create a Marketing Content Calendar
Creating a content calendar doesn’t have to be complicated, once you’ve chosen your software program.
The key to focus on when building a content calendar is defining the types of content you need as a business, and understanding what needs to be communicated at what time during the day or week.
Believe it or not, there actually is a science behind when people communicate and what will most effectively work to reach them. Wording, timing, and theme always make a difference in your marketing efforts.
To begin creating a content calendar, you will want to begin with the following:
Organize Your Data. Make sure that you’ve met with your team and know what unique sales, promotions, and/or advertisements you’ll be offering. We suggest breaking your promotions down into quarterly objectives and offerings to begin with. This will allow you to have sufficient time to measure your results and allow for ultimate customer interaction.
Schedule Your Mediums. Your mediums for communication, such as social media, email, blogs, etc… , should all have consistent time frames that they are published within. Social media, for example, should be scheduled for publishing several times per day in order to reach full market saturation. Emails, on the other hand, should only be used sparingly and have the most purpose and intent. Sticking to your schedule will provide measurable consistency to your audience and also your results.
Set Your Schedule. Make sure to utilize the software of your choice and schedule the medium that your working with to be published. You should note, however, that just because your content or medium topic has been scheduled, it still has to be completed! Ultimately, a team of one to three people should be enough to help you set your content schedule and make sure that your tasks are completed.
Create Regular Accountability. What good is a content calendar if it’s not being utilized properly? Make sure that once you’ve scheduled your content on various mediums, that you’re holding the individuals accountable for the completion of that content. Whether at weekly meetings or via email, make sure that your team is communicating the completion of your tasks on a consistent basis.
Analyze Your Data. A content calendar is of no use to anyone without the usage of it resulting in effective data. Did your content deliver higher results when it was scheduled for 2pm on a Wednesday, or 5pm on a Friday? Are there consistencies in peaking interactions? Do your customers prefer one social media medium over another? All of this information is relevant and will help you understand your customer in a more localized and consistent way.
The point of using a content calendar isn’t just to keep you on task and organized. Content calendars allow your business to measure the results of their work, how effective ideas are, and if the efforts that have results have turned into revenue.
What’s the point of marketing in any fashion, if the efforts behind it aren’t yielding positive results for your business?
Let Us Handle Your Content
Why not schedule a consultation with our team to learn more about how you can put your content calendar to use and yield the best results? Contact us now for a free consultation and to learn more about how you can grow your business. As always, we provide a 100%, no strings attached guarantee with any of our consultations, so no worries.
Schedule your consultation below.
Be sure to continue learning about how to grow your content by following us on Facebook. We understand the needs of the consumer and how to best communicate any business’s message in a clear, interesting, and interactive way.
