What is an Editorial Calendar?

An editorial calendar is used by bloggers, publishers, businesses, and groups to control the publication of content across different media. It’s one of the best ways to get a birds-eye view of your content plan, make sure you’ve got a good spread of topics and you’re on top of upcoming messaging.

An editorial calendar can be used for all types of content, such as newspapers, magazines, blogs, email newsletters, and social media channels. More often than not these days it’s used primarily for social media planning.

Here at Four Drunk Parrots, we map out content for the upcoming 30 days, send it to our clients for review, and publish after approval to the respective channels. We normally follow a routine of different content forms and types (e.g. Mondays: an inspirational post, Tuesdays: an industry article, etc.).

We also research effective hashtags on behalf of our clients, using them as appropriate to relate to the content and the industry.

Here is an example of an editorial calendar for Instagram:

What is an editorial calendar

 

Most of our clients focus on Instagram and Facebook as their primary channels, but an editorial calendar can be used for all types of media. Once we’ve created a content plant, we send it along with the drafted images to our clients for review.

Why is an editorial calendar important?

It’s the same as anything in life: if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’ve arrived? Planning is important for ensuring your goals are on track. What’s more, the effectiveness of your social media arises in part because of your consistency. The more regularly you post, the more engagement you’re likely to see and the more customers you will generate.

If you’re planning ahead, it’s much easier to stay on track with regular posting.

Where to get help

If you’d like to chat with a team who know how to set up a solid editorial calendar (and manage it for you, if you like) give us a bell. We’d love to chitterchatter with you.