Content marketing is certainly the buzzword lately, and more than that, it's an incredibly effective way to gain search rankings, brand your company, energize social media and much, much more. With the vast array of content publishing options available today, one thing is abundantly clear: to be awesome at this you're definitely going to need a content marketing calendar.
Precisely as a result of ease with which you can publish content in various forms all over the Web in the blink of an eye, having an organized plan of attack and strategy is more valuable than ever before. Let's examine some of the hallmarks of an effective content marketing calendar, and how you can implement one.
How many and who's going to do it?
You might be tempted to think that with so many different forms of content you could be marketing with, each of them should have their own content marketing calendar, but you'd be wrong. Fight the urge to let each department run it on their own, and insist on a consolidated plan that incorporates all aspects of your content marketing. Put specific people in charge of managing the content marketing calendar, and set up a system that alerts you when tasks are falling through the cracks, as they inevitably will.
The reasons for this are many. Primarily though, you want to be able to execute an overall strategy, and to have it segmented across multiple calendars is amazingly counter-productive, as some departments drop the ball while others thrive, accountability and promotion will be the casualties here.
What form should the content marketing calendar take?
Often the simplest solution is best, and for those just starting out, or even for the more experienced, a simple spreadsheet is usually sufficient for the task. Obviously you will want to customize it for your company's particulars, but this is easily done. Plus, there are many that have gone before you in this endeavor, and a Google Image search will give you plenty of examples to check out.
Software like Basecamp, Teamwork and others provide useful platforms for running projects, and can help you keep track of complicated campaigns easily. There is a cost and learning curve involved with this, however.
In most cases a simple solution is best, and we would encourage this to start. Switching to more complex systems can always happen down the road if need be.
If you need professional help with your content marketing calendar, schedule an appointment today!
Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting
