Marketing-Wissen

Social media thrives on information, communication, conversation and interaction. Social media thrives on quality content. The challenge is organizing your content in a thoughtful manner and to ensure you don’t lose track of your social media strategy.

Get organized with an Editorial Calendar

Take a page from magazine editors and utilize an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a way to plan your social media content in advance as it is a detailed schedule of what you are going to post to each of your social media channels.

What does a Social Media Editorial Calendar look like?

One organization’s calendar will vary from another because different organizations have different editorial priorities, goals and needs. The key is finding the tool that works best for you and your company. You can choose from a variety of different formats: Excel spreadsheet or Google Docs, Google Calendar, WordPress editorial calendar plugins or you can even use paper and pen. (Recommended Reading: “Top 15 Life-Changing Editorial Calendar Tools“)

An Social Media Editorial Calendar should at least contain the following items:

• Title and details about the content
• Supporting media (image, video, podcast)
• Who will be responsible for producing and publishing
• Where the content will be distributed (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest).
• When it will be published
• Deadline for content development
• Workflow status (in production, under review, ready for publication, and so on)

Download our free Sample Social Media Editorial Calendar (2021)!

The benefits of using an Social Media Editorial Calendar

Download our free easy-to-use Excel template to plan out your content. There are lots of benefits to using an editorial calendar:

• An editorial calendar gives you structure!
• Team Management: An editorial calendar allows you to effectively organize the team. Team members / editors are clear about their role, duties and tasks.
• Resource Allocation: An editorial calendar will allow for delegation of tasks and oversight for all to see what is upcoming and needs working on.
• Documentation: An editorial calendar serves as a system of record.
• Important Dates: You won’t miss important dates and events and you always know just what’s coming up next.
• Forward Planning: By using an editorial calendar you schedule and plan your social media content in advance.
• Control of Success: An editorial calendar helps you measure social media content results.
  
• Targeted: An editorial calendar also helps you stay focused on your mid to long term goals.

Be flexible! Don’t feel you have to stick to the calendar. Editorial calendars should be agile and flexible.

I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments

How do you currently organize your content? What calendar do you use for your social media marketing?