How do you avoid content fatigue or burnout when following a content calendar?

If you run an agency, it's helpful to have separate content calendars with each client's specifics, while also maintaining a Main Content Calendar to ensure all clients' content needs are met.

Off topic a little: you can usually find a magazine or blog’s Ed cal by searching their site for “media kit” or “ad kit”. They are published in October (or are just ongoing) and they give freelancers a chance to pitch to exactly what they’re looking for. Some generous editors will share their Ed cal with you.

As a news mag publisher, our monthly content calendars were key to keeping the team on task. It included each person on the team and their assignments and deadlines. It was a godsend to me when I needed to follow up on their work as well as my own promo copy I crafted for our advertising customers.

I personally think the biggest value to a content calendar is how much clarity it provides into the whole process. You'll be able to quickly visualize which goals you're targeting, if you're talking too much about one topic or not, if the keywords you've picked align with your product's direction, etc. In other words, it aids strategic planning and makes it easier to switch directions in case of last-minute changes to your product or marketing plan.

To stay in the current trend and keep your marketing well-organized, a content calendar is much necessary. In general, content and the channel of publication require a process to track each post and your upcoming business plans. Using a content calendar helps you get ahead in advance of your publication date.

Always work backwards. Plan the schedule with the end in mind. My objective is always what the learner should be capable of doing when consume my content - learning content in my case. This helps me define the learning objectives and then design the solution and determine the content delivery channel. Project timelines are planned via similar process. This also helps in visualizing our final goal and breaking it into smaller tasks. This helps in designing well-strategized process pipelines for product delivery.

To dodge that content burnout, especially when sticking to a calendar, I try to think of strategy and pacing. If you haven't used CoSchedule or Trello, you should because they're game-changers. They help you see all your content in one place and help to mix things up to keep it fresh. Burnout can come on like a storm, so I also like to sprinkle in some breaks, switch between heavy and light topics, and always be ready to tweak things based on what's working and what's not. At the end of the day, it's not just about cranking out content; it's about hitting the mark with stuff that really speaks to your audience.

I've found Trello boards are extremely helpful for managing individual projects, especially when projects have multiple parts or if multiple colleagues are collaborating.

I built mine using Airtable. I love the ease of use and the functionality. I also think it looks amazing—especially the “gallery” view.