How-to-Guide for Creating an Effective Editorial Calendar, 1

The backbone of any content strategy is the editorial calendar. Whether you are embarking on your first blog, creating a company newsletter or implementing a content marketing program, the editorial calendar is the North Star that guides your content development and management efforts.

Like any major initiative, establishing an editorial calendar is a strategic endeavor. The editorial calendar needs to be aligned to a set of goals, serve the needs of its target audience and be improved continuously with feedback obtained from key performance indicators (KPIs). This post will cover the first three steps to create an editorial calendar that works for any program, organization or initiative.

The Six Steps

• Identify Topics for Publication

• Establish an Editorial Board

• Select a Publication Frequency

• Assign Roles

• Create a Production Calendar

• Gauge Content Effectiveness

Identify Topics for Publication

Once you understand who your readers are and have a clear strategy for reaching them, you need to identify topics for publication. (Read this post to get up-to-speed on how to understand your audience and this post to choose the right strategy for engaging readers.)

A great way to start identifying topics is by following subject-matter experts and keeping a running list of the themes they are covering through their blogs or social media. You can also identify the topics your competitors are publishing.

Surveying your target audience is another great way to pinpoint the topics that are relevant to your readers. I suggest you perform at least two surveys per year: One toward the end of the year to identify forward-looking content for coverage during the first half of the coming year and one during the second half of the year to ensure your editorial calendar is still on track.

Establish an Editorial Board

Creating an editorial board is a great way to stay abreast of the latest trends and topics of importance to your readers. This editorial board should consist of internal subject-matter experts (SMEs) who can provide advice on topic relevancy and review planned content for accuracy. You can also request a handful of actively engaged clients who represent a cross-section of your target demographic to become part of your board.

It is important that the editorial board meet regularly, at least quarterly, to provide ongoing feedback on scheduled topics. It might not be a bad idea to request board members to serve for a one- to two-year term, depending on the meeting schedule.

When identifying board members, choose individuals who are well-versed in the industry, are SMEs on the topics you will be publishing throughout the year and can commit the time to help review planned content. The more members you can recruit, the more you can spread assignments, so that the same individuals are not reviewing all materials throughout the year.

Select a Publication Frequency

You have identified which topics you are planning to cover for the next six months and have tentatively penciled in potential topics for the remaining six. Now you need to select a publication frequency that is realistic based on:

• Internal Resources — Are you the only full-time content developer or are you part of a group? Do you have access to freelance writers and other external editorial resources like proofreaders and copy editors?

• Production and Marketing — In addition to writing and managing the editorial calendar, will you coordinate the production, distribution and marketing aspect of each piece, or are you able to leverage the expertise of a digital marketer or production coordinator?

• Other Commitments — Will you dedicate 100 percent of your time to managing all editorial efforts or do you have other work responsibilities that are equally important

• Availability of Reviewers — How often will the editorial board meet? Are reviewers available to provide timely feedback and content ideas throughout the year?

It is important to set realistic expectations in terms of how much content you will be able to produce, manage and oversee. Let's assume your goal is to manage a twice-weekly blog (including writing, production, distribution and marketing). This might be feasible if you don’t have additional responsibilities. However, if managing the editorial calendar is one of many tasks vying for your attention, and you can't leverage additional resources, you might need to scale back to a weekly or twice-monthly blog.

In Short

Creating an editorial calendar is important as you look for ways to expand the reach and return on investment of your content. These three steps are the first part to establishing an editorial rhythm that works for you, your business and, most important, your readers. The next blog will discuss the remaining steps.

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