{"id":13149,"date":"2022-01-27T19:54:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T19:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amplifiednow.com\/?p=13149"},"modified":"2022-06-07T15:00:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T22:00:58","slug":"do-you-use-a-content-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Use a Content Calendar? Here&#8217;s Why You Should"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We create content calendars all the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a great way to get a strategic leg up when it comes to creating a strategic content calendar for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Do You Use a Content Calendar. Here&#039;s Why You Should\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f_p2OLnmka4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s assume, though, that you already know what you\u2019re going to say. Or you at least have a good idea of the overarching topics you\u2019re going to discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But those ideas are still in your head, waiting for the day when the clouds part, the angels sing, and all of a sudden you have time to go from ideas to a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The thing that takes you from idea to plan is a content calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #37352f;color:#37352f\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #37352f;color:#37352f\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#What_is_a_content_calendar\" title=\"What is a content calendar?\">What is a content calendar?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#Before_we_get_too_far_what_do_I_mean_by_the_word_content\" title=\"Before we get too far, what do I mean by the word content?\">Before we get too far, what do I mean by the word content?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#Why_Do_You_Need_A_Content_Calendar\" title=\"Why Do You Need A Content Calendar?\">Why Do You Need A Content Calendar?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#Key_elements_of_a_content_calendar\" title=\"Key elements of a content calendar\">Key elements of a content calendar<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#Should_you_use_a_content_calendar_tool\" title=\"Should you use a content calendar tool?\">Should you use a content calendar tool?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#Schedule_every_part_of_the_content_creation_process\" title=\"Schedule every part of the content creation process\">Schedule every part of the content creation process<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#Include_more_than_just_new_blog_posts\" title=\"Include more than just new blog posts\">Include more than just new blog posts<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#How_we_use_video_to_create_content\" title=\"How we use video to create content\">How we use video to create content<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/do-you-use-a-content-calendar\/#Yes_you_should_use_a_content_calendar\" title=\"Yes, you should use a content calendar\">Yes, you should use a content calendar<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-a-content-calendar\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_a_content_calendar\"><\/span>What is a content calendar?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A content calendar is essentially a list of all the content you plan to create for the next six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why six months?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because you have to come up with a new strategy after you\u2019ve found out what kind of content works best for your business, and after six months, you\u2019ll have a really good idea of what to double down on (and what to leave behind).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"before-we-get-too-far-what-do-i-mean-by-the-word-content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Before_we_get_too_far_what_do_I_mean_by_the_word_content\"><\/span>Before we get too far, what do I mean by the word content?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll see across the internet that content can mean everything from blog posts and emails to infographics and tweets, and everything in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that\u2019s too granular, and if you do the math, your head is going to spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because if you have a separate strategy for every channel, you\u2019re going to have to create approximately eleventy hundred pieces of content in the next six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. This is where I\u2019d stop reading too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So forget it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s agree that when we talk about content, we\u2019re talking about content that lives on your website. Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This content, of course, of course, of course, can get <a href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/ultimate-guide-to-video-marketing\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"14255\">repurposed<\/a> in as many ways as possible, and should, but let\u2019s focus on creating new blog content for now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A content calendar is often referred to as a &#8220;content strategy&#8221; calendar because it helps you organize your blog posts around topics and themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-do-you-need-a-content-calendar\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Do_You_Need_A_Content_Calendar\"><\/span><strong>Why Do You Need A Content Calendar?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The main reason you should use a content calendar is so you and the rest of your team know what to expect on any given week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I told you right now that you had to write 50-100 blog posts this year, you\u2019d be a cartoon chalk outline before I could look up and assure you that it\u2019s not that hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it isn\u2019t, not really. But it can feel pretty impossible if you sit down to a blank piece of paper, look out your window, and try to come up with what you\u2019re going to talk about today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At amplifiedNOW, we write and publish two blog posts per week. We don&#8217;t care about when they get published (they\u2019re published when they\u2019re ready to be published) because the search engines don\u2019t seem to care about when something gets published, only that a site is consistently publishing. We send those posts out, nearly in their entirety, as emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Emails, unlike blog posts, stick to a schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because there\u2019s a human on the other side of literally every email you send. That one fact can be easy to forget when they\u2019re simply numbers on your email marketing platform, but don\u2019t forget them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-elements-of-a-content-calendar\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Key_elements_of_a_content_calendar\"><\/span><strong>Key elements of a content calendar<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s the truth: my brain does not do spreadsheets very well. So my content calendar is (how do I put this nicely?) UGLY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s simply a list of topic ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what I do:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>I open the results of our most recent content strategy session (yes, we do them for ourselves, too, only the deliverable is more like a working document than a beautiful presentation) and I stare at it until something jumps out at me.<\/li><li>OR, if I\u2019ve had a conversation with a client, I\u2019ll want to talk about that and turn it into a blog post.<\/li><li>I pick the two ideas I think I can write about this week.<\/li><li>I start two new documents. One with the first title, one with the second.<\/li><li>I outline the first.<\/li><li>I get stuck.<\/li><li>I outline the second.<\/li><li>I decide to write the conclusion to the second.<\/li><li>I skip around.<\/li><li>It\u2019s not pretty, and it\u2019s definitely not linear.<\/li><li>Then once I\u2019m done, I let it sit overnight, read through it again, then assign it to Emma, who runs it through Grammarly, does a bit of SEO research to find the right keyword, adds images, optimizes for the keyword she\u2019s chosen and adds it to the blog.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Our process works for us, mainly because Emma is in charge of all the moving pieces of this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your content calendar may be more elaborate than mine. But it doesn\u2019t have to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After all, its job is to make things easier for you and your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main goal of your content calendar is to keep you organized and consistent with your publishing schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"should-you-use-a-content-calendar-tool\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Should_you_use_a_content_calendar_tool\"><\/span><strong>Should you use a content calendar tool?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are tools out there that exist specifically for creating, managing, and collaborating on your content calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on how much content you publish and how big your team is, you may want to invest in content calendar software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this is a situation where the tools can get in the way of creating content. So if you feel compelled to find \u201cjust the right\u201d content calendar software, and you spend three hours finding one, that\u2019s three hours you could have spent writing and editing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So start with a list of ideas. Make it shareable within your team. When that stops being good enough, then you can start shopping around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But create the content first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"schedule-every-part-of-the-content-creation-process\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Schedule_every_part_of_the_content_creation_process\"><\/span><strong>Schedule every part of the content creation process<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As we&#8217;ve discussed, your content creation process isn&#8217;t just about writing a post. It&#8217;s also about planning, scheduling, and publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you&#8217;re doing research, schedule time in your calendar to conduct said research. If you&#8217;re writing a draft, schedule time to write. If you&#8217;re editing, schedule time to review edits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll get better results if you give yourself plenty of time to complete each step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This way, you won&#8217;t feel rushed or pressured to finish things quickly. Instead, you&#8217;ll have a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day knowing that everything was completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can even set reminders in your calendar to help you stay focused throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"include-more-than-just-new-blog-posts\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Include_more_than_just_new_blog_posts\"><\/span><strong>Include more than just new blog posts<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your content calendar should include more than just new blog posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It should also include a plan to repurpose your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For us, repurposing looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Publish, or re-publish a piece of content. First destination: the blog.<\/li><li>Adjust the content and schedule it to go out over email.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, our team goes through the most recent piece of content with an eye toward social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>We look and see where the tweets are, then we schedule them through <a href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/hypefury\">HypeFury<\/a> (Read my thoughts about HypeFury here: <a href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/hypefury-review\/\">HypeFury<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/hypefury-review\/\">review: the #1 Twitter scheduler for those who hate scheduling social media<\/a>)<\/li><li>We look to see whether we can create short, pithy videos around the same topic<\/li><li>Then we record those videos and add them to all the various video-based social media channels we care about (at the time of publishing, that\u2019s primarily TikTok and Instagram)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Essentially, repurposing content is akin to saying the same thing over and over again until you\u2019re sick of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, saying it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember that you\u2019re not the one reading this stuff. Your main responsibility is to get your message across to those people who need to see it, wherever they happen to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-we-use-video-to-create-content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_we_use_video_to_create_content\"><\/span>How we use video to create content<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We use video internally to create ugly first drafts pretty frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of those don\u2019t ever see the light of day, but they\u2019re extremely useful for turning an outline that has been sitting around gathering digital dust into something useful that we can polish and edit and get ready for publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, January 2022\u2019s playbook was all about taking your digital content and making a ton more money on it simply by rearranging things into a cohort or group coaching program. So we set out to create content around that theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"yes-you-should-use-a-content-calendar\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Yes_you_should_use_a_content_calendar\"><\/span>Yes, you should use a content calendar<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to create consistent content, first create a content calendar. It doesn&#8217;t have to be fancy, or expensive, to be useful. You just have you use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because a content calendar won&#8217;t do anything for you if you never look at it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But consistent, well written, content can change your business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So get planning and let me know how it goes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We create content calendars all the time. It\u2019s a great way to get a strategic leg up when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[308,300,309,310],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kathleencelmins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}