Benefits of an Editorial Calendar

Looking for ways to stay organized in your business?  Many companies use document management tools, password tools, and financial tracking apps to stay orderly.  If you need a way to manage content such as your business blogs, publications, and social media postings, an editorial calendar may be the right choice. An editorial calendar is an excellent place to brainstorm, track and arrange the content your company publishes. Let’s review the function and benefits of an editorial calendar whether it is a simple spreadsheet that can be shared online through your company cloud or a purchased app to keep your company headed in the right direction.

What exactly does an editorial calendar do?

If you regularly publish blogs, email newsletters, or posts on social media, there should be central location where you list the topics, dates, and publication locations.  For example, if you blog weekly, a calendar would include categories that show what blog topic was covered, what date it was published and where it was published. This calendar could also have a link to topics that may be used in the future. Think of the many times an idea has hit you while working.  Now there is a place to jot down the idea where you will find it when you need it,  instead of on a stick-it note somewhere on your desk. Next time you sit down to write a post or blog you will have a list of topics handy to use. A properly updated calendar can also stop duplicates of the same content from being accidentally published.

An editorial calendar is also a great place to edit your content.  If you use Google Drive or other sharing sites, multiple contributors and editors can work on the same publications.  If there are many people managing your online community, it is a great way for them to chart the progress of the publication and add their “two-cents.” A final edit, copy edit, fact checking, and rewrites can be completed as a link to the calendar.

Editorial calendars are outstanding for tracking short and long term writing goals.  For example, with a calendar shared by many at your business, content can be aligned with major holidays, events and milestones significant to your field or company.  If your field of work has an annual trade show, content for publications during the weeks and months leading up to the event can reflect topics and discussions that will be held at the show. The ability to plan ahead and publish content relevant to current events shows the professionalism and organization of your business.

Creating an editorial calendar is not hard and will help keep your ideas, content and links to content locations in an easy-to-find folder right on your desktop or mobile device.  Use this spring as a time to get yourself organized and try using an editorial calendar for all of your businesses publications.

Categorised in: Blog, Blogging, Established Business, Idea for Business, Technology