What is an editorial calendar?
An editorial calendar is a powerful organizational tool in any content creator’s arsenal designed to answer five key questions:
- What content needs to be produced?
- Who should produce it?
- When should it be produced?
- When should it be published?
- What content has been published?
If you want a more in-depth understanding of this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: What is the purpose of an editorial calendar?
As we have seen in the previous section, the main purpose of an editorial calendar is to help content creators stay organised and stay on top of all the content they are putting out at all times. It is extremely helpful for creators (or teams of creators) who pump out a lot of content across different platforms.
Just imagine how difficult things would be if you had to put out several pieces of content for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and your blog, every single week and you had to keep track of everything in your head.
But things can get way worse if you are working with a team. Everyone would have to waste a lot of time and energy figuring out what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and who is supposed to do it every single week.
Question #2: What are the benefits of using an editorial calendar?
Again, the biggest benefit of using an editorial calendar is that it helps content creators (or teams of content creators) stay organised, no matter how much content they need to produce and how many platforms they use—but it can be further broken down into four:
- It helps with content planning
- It helps with delegation
- It helps with meeting deadlines
- It helps with hitting goals
Let us take a closer look at each one:
First, using an editorial calendar makes it easier for you (and your team) to plan your content production. Instead of always wasting time trying to figure out what type and how much content you need to produce (and when you need to publish it), you can just refer to your editorial calendar and instantly get all the information you need.
Second, with an editorial calendar, everyone on your team knows what they need to do at all times, completely eliminating the need for people to waste time going back and forth with each other before actual work can be done.
Third, with editorial calendars clearly laying out all upcoming deadlines, you and your team can more effectively manage your individual schedules to ensure everything is finished on time.
Finally, since editorial calendars essentially provide you with concrete goals to hit instead of just the vague idea that you need to create a content type, it becomes easier to actually take action.
Question #3: Is it always necessary?
The short answer is no, an editorial calendar is not always necessary. While it is definitely beneficial for creators (or teams of creators) who pump out a lot of content across a lot of different platforms, someone who just publishes a single post a week on one or two might not need to use one.
For example, if you run a food blog and post a single food review a week, using an editorial calendar may actually end up needlessly complicating your content production process. Instead of using a full-on calendar, a simple list of restaurants or dishes you want to try over the next couple of weeks might be a more suitable solution.
Question #5: Are there any tools I can use to create one?
There are many tools you can use to create an editorial calendar, such as:
But if you are looking for something super simple and familiar, you can always just use MS Excel (or something similar) if you work alone or Google Sheets if you work with a team.