How do you create a content marketing calendar and workflow that works for your team?

There are various content platforms available, each with its unique audience and features. For instance, LinkedIn is primarily business-oriented, while others emphasize video or image sharing. Utilizing multiple platforms can benefit your business, but it's crucial to understand that they differ in terms of content, users, and features, resulting in varying key performance indicators (KPIs). To optimize your online presence, create a list of platforms, classify their audiences and content types, determine what messages you can share, and prioritize them based on your business needs.

After prioritizing the platforms, you now have a list of the ones to start with. Keep in mind that platforms such as LinkedIn and TikTok have distinct characteristics and require different approaches. While you can directly call for a CTA on LinkedIn, TikTok or Instagram may require an additional step. Audience on each platform will have very different behavior, shopping preferences and approach.

Understanding what channels are your priority is the first place to start with your content analysis. What platform does my ideal audience spend the most time on? Is it Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, email, Google…? Where does my audience like to shop? Would they prefer finding things through Pinterest, Amazon, email, IG store, or AliBaba? Is my audience likely to use my website as a resource (reading, learning, building community) or are they only looking to use it functionally (transactions and tools)? These types of questions will help you determine WHERE you should be posting content. After you understand your audience and their habits, you can now design your content with their needs in mind.

While each platform has its own analytics, it's important to utilize additional tools like BuzzSumo and LinkedIn Navigator for a more comprehensive analysis. To improve your content strategy, it's helpful to analyze what type of content your competitors are using, and what content is popular right now on this specific platform for your specific audience. Look for patterns in what content has higher reach and engagement. Take note of the content structure and topics being covered.

Posting a lot of content can be beneficial, but over-posting can lead to lower reach or engagement for some of your content. To optimize your posts, focus on topics that are relevant to your brand and your audience on the specific platform where you're posting. Additionally, try to post during times when your audience is most active and engaged. Scheduling content can be an easy task, but utilizing content scheduling tools such as Hootsuite can make it even easier. This allows you to schedule posts in advance and avoid any concerns about forgetting to post.

In my experience, using a spreadsheet like Google Docs to keep track of topics, titles, content links, assets like images, and more is extremely helpful for cross-functional teams. Kanban boards in Trello, Monday.com, or other systems are also a good idea as you can design your content in stages, which is helpful for large amounts of content. If you’re a solopreneur or small business focusing on a few digital channels and posting just a few times each week, then using only a calendar can be good as long as you are able to keep up with posting consistently. For larger batches of content, using a software that helps you take a more long term view of your content is going to help you immensely.

In today's digital landscape, content creation plays a pivotal role in engaging audiences, driving traffic, and achieving marketing goals. To ensure effectiveness and efficiency in content marketing efforts, adopting two essential tools - content calendars and workflows - is vital. 1. Strategic Planning: Align content with marketing objectives for desired outcomes. 2. Audience Alignment: Engage audiences with timely and relevant content. 3. Consistency: Maintain a predictable publishing schedule. 4. Collaboration: Facilitate seamless teamwork and role awareness. 5. Tracking: Analyze performance and refine strategies based on insights.

If you build a plan to create your content but don't build a plan for distribution and promotion, you're only halfway there! And you're doing your content a disservice. When you create your content calendar/plan, proactively include a distribution plan as well. Don't wait until you've created it!

Some things I wish I knew about distribution and promotion when I started my content marketing career: 1. Distribution doesn't mean publishing; 2. Less than 7% of your organic audience will see your content the first time you publish it, feel free to recycle the same exact post 7-10 times throughout any given quarter. 3. Factor in repurposing as part of your distribution plan, can your blog post turn into a tweet, a podcast episode, a talking-head Youtube video, etc.? 4. If you're in B2B, add employees as part of your distribution channel mix. Have people on your team share company news and posts from team members.

There are several methods for distributing content, including using tools like SNAP if you're on WordPress, or HootSuite for scheduling and distributing content across multiple platforms. Utilizing tools can save a lot of time. Content promotion can be achieved through various channels, such as collaborations, influencer marketing, or paid promotion. This doesn't mean every piece of content must be promoted, do not rush and carefully choose what you need to promote and what result you except to achieve.

To improve how well your content performs, be sure to track specific KPIs and use analytics tools. Analyze the data to determine which content is doing well and which isn't, then make necessary changes. Try different styles, subjects, and approaches to see what resonates most with your readers. Keep optimizing your content for SEO to improve its visibility and ranking. Engage with your audience to collect feedback and insights to help you enhance your content further. Finally, measure your ROI to evaluate how effective your content marketing strategy is and adjust it accordingly.