Choose a Content Calendar

How to Choose a Content Calendar for Online Sucess 

A surefire way to make things happen is to plan and start a plan. People in the content creation industry rely on this for their livelihood. My goal in this article is to show you how even the most distracted person can run a successful business. At the beginning of each year, I create a marketing and content calendar that is key to my success.

Get a Content Calendar To Succeed Online
A small business owner's marketing efforts will be more successful when he or she can carry out consistent outreach. Many small businesses struggle with content production. Having a content calendar can help.

Local businesses are best started with content calendars. They are also called editorial calendars. These schedules outline content to be published. Your goal is to inform the public about your business and your niche. Using the calendar, you can schedule your materials for publication.

How to Create a Content Calendar for Blogs?
A blog is a quick and easy way for entrepreneurs to reach out to their audiences. Content marketing should be conducted in two ways. Creating content and promoting it are both important. Effective marketing campaigns combine both efforts.

Content is one of the most effective ways to get your audience’s attention online, but if your content drives traffic to your offers, you’ll compete for their attention. The only way to beat the competition is to outperform them. The purpose of a content calendar is to help you create a content distribution and promotion strategy.

You Can Shape Your Strategy With A Content Calendar
Consider it a roadmap. After you’ve researched the specifics of the campaign, it’s time to plan your strategy on paper. You can easily forget a component or miss a deadline if you don’t keep track of your progress.

Developing a content strategy must outperform the competition. A plan allows us to compare our operation against the competition. We can create content tailored to outperform their YouTube videos.

Content Calendars Help to Keep the Team Working Together
Owners of small businesses compete with much larger companies for the same audience. Success online may require a team. There may be writers producing articles and video sales scripts, while others are creating graphics.

A content calendar is more like a project management tool. All team members, whether they are contract workers or employees, have access to the same information. Weekly meetings focus on tasks completed or pending, according to the calendar.

The Calendar Keeps the Entire System Running
Every project involves several steps, so all the boxes can be checked from conception to publication and promotion. Through the calendar, content can be tracked and updated. Everyone involved understands their role.

You can do this using your calendar, for example, to make sure the work has been promoted on time. It is a waste of time and money to create content but not promote it properly. You can now complete tasks on time.

When the time comes to track and monitor the success of the campaign, the calendar is there to show you what’s been done. No more second-guessing, your entire marketing strategy is laid out from start to finish.

What is the Best Content Calendar for Your Business?
Having understood the need for an editorial calendar, the next step is deciding which one to use. There are a variety of tools available; some are free and some charge a small fee.

Content marketing calendars can range from extremely complex to very simple. You may not need all the fancy bells and whistles if you are a solo entrepreneur running an online business.

Five Essential Components for Your Content Calendar
In a highly competitive market, you might need to use a complex system. The calendar should have at least five essential elements.

Editorial Content
Media Platforms
Promotional Outlets
Performance Tracking
Concept Dump

Let’s start with editorial content. The plan of action results from research on your target market and your competition. Suppose you choose video, blog posts, and Pinterest content for the next 12 months. Here is where you map out your entire strategy.

Your display could include 48 videos, along with articles and images, based on your calendar. In your plan, you could include all the supporting keywords for each video and article, along with link examples of your competitors.

A company may use their calendar to outline only six months of content, while others include the entire year. The amount of flexibility the company needs depends on its market. Technology changes rapidly these days.

Depending on the content you plan to produce, you’ll decide what media platforms to use. Using our example above, we publish company blog posts, YouTube videos, and Pinterest images once a week. Starting with a blog post and YouTube video, the production could begin. Images on Pinterest could link back to them.

Promoting your content involves both online and offline outlets.
You may include these items in the promotional section of the calendar:

Podcasts.

Facebook advertising.

Email marketing campaigns.

Other social media posts.

Link building strategies.

Calendar entries for these events should be included. Their importance cannot be overstated. Each segment of the process may be handled by a different team. These teams can coordinate by using the editorial calendar.

Performance tracking
occurs as needed. It can be done quarterly. The purpose of this is to keep tabs on the process. The results of the campaign must be improved. A campaign segment is reviewed for adjustments.

Concept dump
is basically a place on the calendar where upcoming ideas can be recorded. The campaign may need a radical change because of dramatic changes in current events. Sometimes it’s just a place to record ideas for future campaigns based on updated insights into the market.

The Variety of Content Calendars Available to Small Business

As I mentioned earlier, there is an online calendar to fit every need. Small business owners can use a Google calendar to schedule promotional events weekly.
WordPress offers editorial calendars.
Examples include:

Airtable -
This is a content management tool that individuals and agencies can use to organize their content. Basic features are available for free. When managing complex workflows, agencies should go for the paid version.

Answer The Public -
You can discover what people think about different terms by using Answer The Public. It provides content ideas for your team. You can use various keywords to come up with topic ideas.

Asana -
The app is a useful tool for managing projects. It can handle many projects and tasks at once. The software can be extended by adding apps.

Coschedule -
Content management application CoSchedule has a wide range of features. You can manage workflows and tasks for content management. Shared read-only calendars can be accessed by team members. Content projects, processes, and teams can be coordinated and managed with the app.

Evernote -
Besides serving as a note-taking app, Evernote is also a content management system. Group members can be assigned tasks and audio and PDF files can be attached. You can also search for texts in email, notes, and images using the app’s powerful indexing feature.

Google Calendar -
Google Calendar makes online scheduling easy and efficient. On the cloud-based app, users can set due dates and assign tasks. Users can sync information between PCs and mobile devices.

Hubspot -
Managing the blog team is easy with HubSpot Blog Editorial Calendar Templates. Templates such as this one can manage content for websites and social media profiles. Each template can be customized according to the needs of the user.

Kapost -
Managing content teams is easy with Kapost. The application does not feature advanced scheduling features. Even though Kapost is a content management application, its basic features will satisfy most users. With this application, you can align the content strategy with your customers. You can manage small content teams with basic features.

Loomly -
You can manage your content tasks effortlessly with Loomly, a highly effective content management tool. The application is equipped with advanced features to simplify workflows. Post ideas can be generated by this app, as well as hashtag suggestions, audience targeting, and advanced analytics.

Monday.Com -
Both individuals and agencies can benefit from this task management and scheduling app. You can use the app to assign tasks, monitor tasks, set priorities, and view the due date and timeline of the assigned tasks. It can manage marketing, CRM, sales, HR, IT, and construction projects.

Semrush.com  -
Website owners can use this marketing calendar app to analyze and monitor their sites. Content managers can assign tasks to the calendar app. Users can also see traffic, rankings, social media results, and more from their competitors’ websites.

Socialpilot -
The app is billed as the ultimate platform for marketing firms and professionals. Social media and website content management is made easy with this application. Social media and website content can be managed. Digital marketing firms will find the tool useful for handling complex group projects.

Sproutsocial -
Apps like this can be invaluable for managing large, complex content marketing projects. Several features make it easy for diverse teams to manage content remotely.
The most prominent features include social calendars, review management, and competitor profiles.

Trello -
This is a suitable choice for all levels of content management. Trello allows you to manage large teams and tasks. Individuals can use it easily.

WordPress Editorial Calendar -
Use this plugin to manage content teams on WordPress websites. Posts can be edited and published with the app’s free editorial calendar. Administrators can view and approve drafts created by guests.

Wrike -
This app bills itself as a work management software. In the same way as other high-end content marketing systems, you can customize the system to meet your needs. Wrike allows you to track projects, manage them, and communicate in real time.

An Editorial Calendar Should Have These Features
Ensure that the process is easy to monitor. Avoid complicated calendar apps. Prepare an outline of your plan, and jot down any supporting information you need. If you’d like to publish a blog every month, you will have simple requirements. If you are using multiple media sources along with a support team, things will be more complicated.

Should You Choose a Free or Paid Calendar Service?
Many paid services offer free trials; however, you should prioritize based on your needs. A Google calendar could fulfill your basic content marketing requirements. However, if you are working with employees or vendors, you may need something with more power.

Explore the features of the companies on the list above. By plugging in components from your plan, you can test out a few of them. If you don’t need all the features of an app right now, you might use the free version.

You can scale your operations using a majority of free and paid software options. Most companies offer basic, standard, and pro plans. Bigger companies usually have enterprise plans. For instance, one of the biggest online content marketing calendar apps is
Monday.com.

Contact these companies directly if you will have 10 or more members on your team. Negotiating terms will help you make the most of your content marketing investment.

Conclusion
Consider your specific needs when analyzing each app. Content ideas are the focus of apps such as sproutsocial and answerthepublic. Content marketing apps will complete the tasks set for them within the constraints. It is best to keep things simple.

When it comes to simple content calendars, Google Calendar can schedule tasks. Editorial calendars in WordPress are also available to users. Content tasks can be managed with HubSpot Content Calendar Tools.

I can recommend using a content calendar tool as the most useful piece of advice you can receive. You can make the process a barebones as a spreadsheet. Making an Excel template for a content marketing plan will put you ahead of your competitors.

I am grateful to sources like GetApp, G2 Crowd, SoftwareAdvice, Buffer, Backlinko and Softwaretestinghelp.com for including almost 40 tools in this category in their software reviews.