How can you create a content calendar that's easy to stick to?

1 Define your content goals

Before you start filling your content calendar with topics and deadlines, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your content. What are your content marketing objectives? Who are your target audiences? What are their pain points, needs, and interests? How can you help them with your content? How will you measure your content performance? Answering these questions will help you align your content strategy with your business goals and create content that serves a purpose and adds value.

2 Choose your content types and channels

Next, you need to decide what types of content and channels you will use to reach your audiences and deliver your messages. Depending on your goals, budget, and resources, you may want to create different formats of content, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, ebooks, infographics, webinars, newsletters, social media posts, and more. You also need to consider where you will distribute your content, such as your website, email list, social media platforms, online communities, or third-party sites. Choosing your content types and channels will help you diversify your content mix and optimize your content for each platform.

4 Generate and prioritize content ideas

Now that you have a clear vision of your content goals, types, channels, and inventory, you can start generating and prioritizing content ideas. There are many ways to come up with content ideas, such as keyword research, competitor analysis, audience feedback, brainstorming sessions, content tools, and more. However, not all ideas are equally valuable or feasible, so you need to prioritize them based on factors such as relevance, demand, difficulty, and impact. You can use a scoring system or a matrix to rank your content ideas and select the ones that match your criteria and resources.

5 Create and update your content calendar

Finally, you can create and update your content calendar, which is a visual representation of your content plan and schedule. A content calendar can be a simple spreadsheet, a calendar app, a project management tool, or a specialized software that allows you to organize and manage your content production and distribution. A content calendar should include information such as content title, description, type, channel, audience, goal, keyword, deadline, status, and owner. A content calendar will help you keep track of your content workflow, deadlines, and responsibilities, as well as communicate and collaborate with your team and stakeholders.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?