Whether you’re running a digital business already or you just started your brand new blog, you’ve probably quickly realized that there is a lot, and I mean A LOT of content in your life right now. Your website, your Pinterest account, your email list, your Instagram account, twitter… the list goes on.
Managing the content can quickly become overwhelming, and you can go from feeling like “I’m the king of the world!” to feeling like you’re drowning real fast.
Don’t worry, everyone has been there.
Building and scaling a successful digital business is no joke, and that why when creating a content calendar is so critical for success, especially when you’re feeling like content is running your life.
An effective content calendar saves you time and, more importantly, allows you to be strategic about the content you create. You can keep your readers engaged and drive an increase in your sales by effectively coordinating your content calendar with your promotions.
Let’s get you on the right track by creating your killer content calendar so you can focus on building abundance and scaling your business.
Why You Need to Create a Content Calendar
Let me sell you on why you need a content calendar because if you’re anything like me, you’re not about to add another thing to your to-do list if you don’t have to.
Without a content calendar you’re wasting time and losing money.
Before we get too far, let me also say that a content calendar is FREE. No investment (except your precious time) is required.
You’re Wasting Time
Have you ever had mountains of content ideas while you were walking the dog or driving the kids to school, but now you find yourself watching the cursor blink?
Ugh. Me too.
If you’re lucky, you may have a bunch of post-its or texts to yourself full of ideas that may or may not strategically related to your goals or upcoming promos.
The bottom line is that you not having your ideas thought out in advance wastes your insanely valuable time, which loses potential sales, increases decision fatigue, and brings down your confidence.
When you create a content calendar, you free your mind from the burden of having to come up with new ideas every time you sit down to work.
With a killer content calendar, you can grab your iced coffee, sit down, focus, and get sh!t done. #Boss
You’re Losing money
You might be thinking that there is absolutely no way you are losing money by not creating a content calendar.
If my first point didn’t sell you, then allow me to ask you a question.
How are you sure that you are furthering your business toward your goals with the content you create?
I’m not saying your content isn’t fantastic. I’m sure it is!
But as your business grows, managing content can become a massive task, and the goal is for it to remain fun, not be a burden.
A content calendar is a strategic tool that supports your goals.
If you have an epic holiday deal coming up, plan some epic content that entices and excites your audience about it well in advance. When you give them a taste of your awesomeness, they will keep coming back for more.
By putting the right tools in place for yourself you will scale your business and make more money.
A killer content calendar is one that you correlate with your goals and promotions to further enable your business and sales strategy.
Create Your Very Own Killer Content Calendar
Let’s create a content calendar that works for you. It’s not as complicated as you think.
Select a Tool
A content calendar needs to be useful for you. Are you an Excel guru? Do you prefer beautiful planners? Are you someone who wants everything in your life to have it’s own iPhone app?
Select a tool that you think will work best for you. You aren’t married to it, and can change it later if it’s not working.
You can use a Google calendar, an Excel workbook, or a paid-for tool for your content calendar. Whatever it is, choose one place that works for you and stick with it.
If you’re a new entrepreneur working your butt off on your side-hustle, a simple spreadsheet can get the job done.
There is absolutely no reason to pay for a content calendar at this stage in your business. There are plenty of great tools on the market that offer both paid and free versions, like Airtable, Google docs, and Trello.
On the other hand, if you have an established brand and manage a digital content team, you may want more features.
However, a Google spreadsheet can get the job done.
Choose Your Content Channels
Now that you have a tool to create your content calendar in, it’s time to choose where you will be putting your fabulous content out into the world.
Your blog, and one social media platform usually provide more than enough content work.
Since it takes a lot of time and effort to establish and maintain a following on social media, It’s essential to focus on picking the right social media channel for your brand.
With all the different social media channels, you can end up with tons of posts that need to be created, along with blog posts that need writing, your email list that needs to be maintained, and your life.
Focus on one (or two) social media channels where your audience lives to start.
Slow and steady wins the race. Once you feel comfortable on one channel, then add another.
Your content calendar will help you plan for each social media channel you choose.
Determine Your Posting Plan
Great! You have your tool and your content channels selected. Now let’s plan how often you are going to release content.
The goal is to have multiple scheduled posts for your content channels (social media, email list, blog, etc.) at least four days a week.
For example, if you will be putting out a new blog post once a week, you want to put out new support content about your fantastic new blog post 2-3 days, and you’ll want to reference your existing blog content 2-3 days.
The amount you post each day will also vary by platform.
For example, if you will be leveraging Twitter, you will want to post multiple times every day because that feed moves quickly.
The good news is that drafting a tweet is usually faster than drafting a Facebook post. On the other hand, the life of a Facebook post or a Pinterest pin is much longer.
See why it’s a good idea only to choose one social media platform in the beginning?
Time to Brainstorm Ideas
Get your umbrellas, it’s time for a brainstorm! (Am I the only one who finds that funny?).
This is the fun part, it’s time to come up with your brilliant content ideas!
Start by setting aside some time (10-15 minutes should do the trick) to come up with as many ideas as you can.
You can even get creative and grab a bunch of post-its to have content planning post-it party (I prefer to type lists, but you do you!).
The more ideas you can come up with, the better. If you have new ideas for business promotions, write those down too!
If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, look at what your audience has liked in the past.
Some ideas may include:
- How to’s and Hacks
- Frequently asked questions webinars
- Instagram Live Tutorials
- Product reviews and New product launch
You want your content ideas to add value to your audience by informing or exciting them, solving a problem they have, providing a channel for engagement, etc.
You know your brand better than anyone else. Think of ideas that feel right for your brand and your audience.
Build a Content Calendar That Works
Now that you have tons of incredible and compelling content ideas, it’s time to fill out your killer content calendar.
You want to schedule potential content out as far as you can. At a bare minimum, aim for eight weeks, but six months or more is even better.
It sounds like a long time, but I promise it will fill up fast. A single blog post can fill an entire week with content when you consider supporting social media and email!
Add in all of your planned blog posts, and supporting social media content for them, your upcoming promotions with the email campaigns to support them, and so on.
Remember, your content calendar should be aligned with your business goals and promotions.
For example, you might have some of the following types of placeholders in your content calendar:
My fantastic blog post idea to grow my email list!
- quick notes to remind me what my fantastic idea is about
- Placeholder for 5-10 Pinterest posts supporting my fantastic blog post idea
OR
My new product launch!
- New Email campaign for my life-changing product!
- Email 1: 45 days in advance, “Something big is coming!”
- Email 2: 30 days in advance, “Highlight my life-changing product value and pre-order now!”
Your content calendar is a plan to help you guide you. It will change as needed to meet your goals.
The best content calendar supports and further enables your brand!
*PS! Don’t forget that anytime you have a new great content idea to add it to your calendar. No one ever complained about having too much amazing content.
Re-Use Your Content
If you already have a lot of great content, you don’t need to spin your wheels coming up with brand-new content all the time.
You can simply re-use your existing content!
One of the benefits of creating a content calendar is that you can see when it is best to re-use, or syndicate, your evergreen content.
Sometimes, old posts may need a little dusting off to be syndicated, but that’s still easier than writing an entirely new one.
For example, if you have a new ebook coming soon that dives deeper into topics you’ve already posted about, why not re-use those old blog posts before launch? You can use them to build excitement for your upcoming ebook.
If you have old (but relevant!) FAQs that customers keep asking about? Re-post them and then consider adding instructions about how to find them in the future.
While you need new and exciting content, just because you previously posted something doesn’t mean it’s dead.
Syndication is a fantastic tool.
Don’t believe me?
Raise your hand if you still watch old episodes of Friends or The Office.
Think about how many years ago those first aired, and yet they are still wildly popular today with cult followings.
Great content is gold.
Put Your Content Calendar in Action!
Make your content calendar work for you so that you can use your time to plan for your business’s future and focus on the other areas of your marketing strategy to increase sales and turn your side-hustle in your dream job.
For more tips on how to turn your side hustle into your dream job, follow my new account on Pinterest!
