Quit stalling.
Your digital marketing needs some new content. But instead of writing something interesting, something that only appeals to your fans, something not everyone will like but is true to your personality, you write what you wrote last year. You’re having a sale. There’s a special. You’re so much better than the competition.
Ugh.
Part of the reason you went that route is because it was easy. Rewriting your old stuff is the path of least marketing resistance. No one will call you out, no one will make fun of you. No one will really notice. But you can check “done”.
A much, much better way to go is to create a content calendar. Planning out your content inspires creativity and gives perspective. If you’re putting time and money into digital marketing, you want to make a content calendar. Here’s how:
Make Some Strategy Decisions: You need to think about platforms, distribution, and consistency. Also tone, style, and substance. All the content in the world isn’t going to make a difference without the planning to make it worthwhile. Who are you writing for? How often? What does your reader need? Who will do the writing? Who owns it after it’s done? What are the outcomes you want at the end?
Define Your Subjects: One cool thing among the many offered in a typical blog platform is the ability to categorize your work according to subject. I’ve had a lot of success starting here in a whiteboard session. If I want to plan out blog posts for a year, it’s going to be a lot more cohesive if I can define several subjects that my posts will cover. It’s a great method for staying on the path you set out with your strategy.
Calendars Aren’t Always Temporal: Another thing I’ve learned is that a content calendar doesn’t always have to follow a time schedule. For instance, if you group your topics according to 6 subjects, you might want to fill each subject with 8 topics, for a goal of 2 posts a week for a year. Then you can pick and choose which topics to write about according to what you’re learning as you write (metrics, man… metrics).
Timely Posts Are Smart: Having said the above, it can also help to plan your topics out according to day. IF there’s a big conference in your vertical, it’s probably good to have a plan to how you’re going to talk about that. Planning your calendar according to day can also help motivate writers; deadlines have amazing power when wielded by the right editors. If, in your case, that’s the same person, all the better to keep you on track.
So, here’s one process for doing all that:
-Sit all the principles down in front of a big whiteboard.
-Discuss the strategy points listed above. Depending on the scope of your project, this phase alone can take hours or weeks. Plan accordingly. Also, be ready to change strategy as the process unfolds.
-Write out your subjects. Make sure they fit in with the strategy points you’ve decided on.
-Fill those subjects with topics.
-Arrange as necessary. Go with a calendar. Assign topics. Whatever structure works best for your project, you’ll need to build it before you start writing.
-Follow through by updating, revising, editing, and monitoring your work. It’s not dead once you hit the publish button (the map is not the terrain, after all).
What do you think? Ever built a content calendar before? What do you do that’s not included here?
Share, people. Share.
