Editorial calendars are the backbone to every successful online business that revolves around content creation. This simple yet versatile tool can transform your online business into an organized, cohesive, and content producing powerhouse.
I’m going to be honest with you though, I wasn’t always on board with consistent editorial calendar planning and content creation. I had fallen into the trap of letting my business and surroundings control me rather than controlling my business and surroundings. Once I made that transition in my business, the results have been tremendous.
If you are ready to take control of your business and lead rather than being led then take notes on the following 5 steps to creating an editorial calendar. If you prefer a little more coaching with your editorial calendar planning join us each month in the Premier Social Media Society.
5 Steps to Create an Editorial Calendar
1.Pick a theme
Choosing a theme for your monthly content will make the process of creating an editorial calendar a million times easier. In choosing a theme first consider your niche, target market, and the time of year you are planning.
For example, common January themes include personal and business goal setting, New Year’s resolutions, healthy eating, dieting, etc. Common summer month themes include vacations, work life balance, back to school, etc.
2. Draft blog post titles
Once you’ve chosen a theme it is time to draft working blog post titles. These titles aren’t set in stone but rather give you a basis to start from and remind yourself of when it comes time to sit down and write the article content.
The number of working titles will depend on how often you publish new blog content on your site. If you publish once per week then jot down 4 blog titles that relate to your monthly theme. These 4 titles can all closely relate to one another or they can talk about 4 different aspects of your theme.
For example if you are a frugal living blogger and you are planning July content with a frugal travel theme your blog posts might be:
- Top 10 Tips for Frugal Summer Travel
- Save Money on Summer Airfare
- Top U.S. Summer Destinations that won’t Break the Bank
- Staycation Ideas for Budget Friendly Summer Travel
Each of these 4 blog posts are very different but all revolve around the frugal summer travel theme.
Once you have your blog post titles drafted you are ready for the next step.
3. Social Media Content Planning
Once your blog posts are drafted then you can begin planning your social media content. Assuming you have already determined how often you post on each of the social sites you will have a rough estimate of how much content you will need to curate to plan an entire month of social media posts.
The type of content you plan will depend on the platform you are scheduling.
4. Live Broadcast Planning
If you broadcast live on your Facebook or Instagram account you will want to include broadcast titles in your editorial calendar. The number of titles you plan will depend on how often you broadcast on your channels.
If you go live once per week on Facebook then plan a live broadcast with a similar topic to each of your blog posts that you’ve already drafted.
5. Gather Quotes for Memes
Once you determine your theme you can begin gathering quotes related to that topic. The quickest and easiest way to find related quotes is to do a Google search with your topic and quotes.
For example, “(your topic) quotes”
This search will return images and blog posts with collections of quotes related to your theme. Using these quotes you can then create your own original memes for you social media channels.
So there you have it, these are the top 5 steps to planning your editorial calendar. Although this isn’t an exhaustive list, these 5 steps will get you well on your way to planning a rock solid content calendar which will put you well on your way to driving traffic and income to your website.
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