Why you need a content calendar

Have difficulties in producing content regularly? Content calendar to the rescue!

In 1996, when the Internet was still in its infancy, Bill Gates wrote an essay entitled ‘Content is King‘, where he explained that content is how businesses make money on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.

More than two decades on, the Internet has become part of our daily lives, and he was proven right. Content is everywhere — from articles and blogs, to emails and videos, or content on social media. All of these are produced as part of your content marketing strategy, meaning that you create and distribute relevant content to attract your target audience to your business.

Content does not necessarily need to be about direct hard sell in the beginning — it can be used to build authority and trust, but eventually, you’ll want to convert the audience into sales.

Content marketing is often synonymous with a content calendar. But, what exactly is a content calendar?

What is a content calendar?

Like a usual calendar that reminds you about the date and day to keep you on schedule for your activities, a content calendar has the same function.

It’s a schedule consisting of when and where your content will be published. It includes the status and updates of your upcoming content.

Why having a content calendar is important

Keeps your business on track and organised

Creating content is not a one and done process, but a continuous one. You’ll need multiple pieces of content across different channels to attract different segments of the public. But how do you look at the whole picture?

Juggling lots of content and ideas can be a challenge. And writing your content plan on different pieces of paper and post-it notes is not an efficient way to go.

Instead, keep your content planning organised with a content calendar, which also allows you to track each stage of the content making process. You and your editorial team can collaborate through it and make sure to get things done to produce content regularly.

Ensure consistency in quality with the content published

Offering quality information that is educational, relevant, and useful is key to building your audience’s trust. It enables them to view you as a business that gives them reliable information.

A content calendar helps you create new content, and will also serve as a reminder for what has already been produced so you do not to touch on a similar topic too soon. Without it, you may not notice that you already discussed a particular topic two to three months ago.

For instance, you may want to create content about “Types of Cyber Attacks You Should Know in 2021” if you’re an IT company. But unless you have different parts of the topic (e.g. going in-depth about each different type of attacks) to make it a planned series, you would not want to keep discussing this same topic in weeks to come.

Having a content calendar also allows you to keep track of what you’ve published and refreshing those pieces to keep them relevant, as we discuss in our earlier blog on the need for repurposing content.

Keep your audience engaged

Consistency not only refers to the quality of content you produced but also in terms of publication. When you post your content regularly, your audience knows when to expect it. This will help them keep engaged with your business.

Irregular posting, no matter how great your content is, will lead to lower engagement rates and affects your ability to sustain an audience.

Imagine having a TV show with different time slots every week; it will not find a proper audience. The same thing can be said of your business, so having a content calendar is a necessity to help manage consistent publishing. Read our blog here on why consistency is so important.

How do you build one?

Compile a list of existing assets and add ideas for future content

Repurposing your existing content to different forms can be an excellent place to start when you feel like you’re running out of fresh ideas. That’s why listing your assets are essential to begin the process.

Creating a content calendar also opens up space for brainstorming, where you and your team can and should list ideas for future content.

Break down steps of the content creation and put it into the calendar

The process of creating content has multiple steps and can get overwhelming or lost if no one is tracking which stage each content is sitting at.

With blogs, you can break this process down to keyword research, outlining and writing the content piece itself, and the design process to add images to the post.

Meanwhile, video content has four steps: find a topic, write the script, film the video, edit the video, and add graphics.

By breaking down the content creation process, you can be sure to track where each piece of content is in terms of stage and stay on top of them — ensuring they will be published on schedule.

Assign a person in charge to ensure accountability and easier collaboration

Creating a piece of content is a collaborative process.

For writing a blog, you need an SEO specialist to choose the right keywords, a writer to write the piece, and a graphic designer to create images for the blog.

When it comes to video, you’ll need a scriptwriter, a director, and an editor. All these different functions need to work together to create the right content. Think of them as someone who’s directing traffic to ensure a smooth journey.

A content calendar gives them a sense of accountability, meaning that they know what and when their work is expected. If it runs behind schedule, you can find out who’s causing it.

As content marketing plays a more prominent role in your marketing strategy, having a content calendar is a must. It gives you the ability to create and publish content consistently on time. It’s like a train conductor that makes sure every train on the station runs on schedule.

Want help in creating consistent content each time? Don’t hesitate to ask our content director, David Austin, at [email protected].

Read more from Click2View:

1. How to make sure your content stays accessible to all.
2. This is why it’s important to repurpose content.
3. This is the value of creating emotional content.

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Click2View is Southeast Asia’s premiere full-service independent B2B content marketing agency servicing clients like Microsoft, Google, Visa, Prudential, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.