How to create the content plan you need

Content is a must — it is one of the key vectors for promoting and developing a web resource. To manage and plan content production, specialists draw up a so-called content plan.

Here is the key task — create high-quality, engaging content that fully meets the needs of the target audience. The following aspects are taken into account when developing a content plan:

• topic of the material;
• author and co-authors;
• status;
• format;
• web resource or channel for publication;
• deadlines (including publication dates).

Why you need a content calendar

A calendar is an effective means of work — it helps specialists handle a number of tasks:

• plan work;
• streamline the content production process;
• manage content systematically.

1. Work planning

By creating a calendar, you build a clear work plan for the near future and the long term. You can define deadlines and build a precise mechanism for producing the necessary content. In other words, work planning comes down to one thing — efficient use of resources. 

2. Organizing work

Content creation is labor-intensive — a production process involving copywriters, illustrators, SMM specialists, SEO specialists, and other staff.

With a calendar you can clearly define each employee's work — deadlines for preparing topics and materials for the copywriter, creating illustrations — for the illustrator, identifying trends and social media promotion methods — for the SMM specialist, and overall website promotion — for the SEO specialist.

Practice shows that having a plan disciplines specialists and helps them do everything on time, setting the right priorities and spending their own resources wisely.

3. Streamlining

Content creation is a cycle — the same one every time. The calendar sets both the deadline and clear steps. Moving forward, you will save time on creating detailed plans by using the established algorithm as a foundation. This streamlines the process.

4. Unified management

All specialists and managers have access to the calendar and can monitor the process or analyze staff performance at any time. All information about the content is stored in one place. This provides access to necessary data at any moment and simplifies communication between specialists and departments.

How to build a high-quality calendar

Preparing a calendar by itself leaves the main task unsolved. Even clear, strategic planning is no guarantee of great, high-quality content for your resource. First, you need to determine what content to create, what goals it meets, and whether it satisfies the target audience's needs.

After validating the strategy, you can start building the calendar. You can use a simple document or spreadsheet to format it. Some specialists use dedicated software. The calendar remains effective and useful regardless of the chosen tool. 

It is important that it reflects two aspects — the type of content and the timeline for its creation. You can also add other important aspects:

• funnel stages;
• assignee;
• information about the target audience;
• task status;
• notes, comments, etc.

Remember to mark the intermediate tasks that preceded the content publication.

You can create separate calendars for different types of content. For example, social media posts differ from blog posts in how the information is presented and how often it comes out.

Tips from professionals

You can create an effective and working calendar through trial and error. You can also leverage the experience of other specialists who gladly share it with their peers.

If you decide to create a content calendar, consider the following tips:

1. Make periodic adjustments. A calendar created today may no longer meet your needs in six months due to team growth, increased workload, and other factors. When this happens, switch to different tools, add new features, and improve your workflow.
2. Account for delays. The human element is always present in work. Specialists may miss deadlines for valid reasons, and you need to anticipate this. When setting task deadlines, add a buffer of a few working days to avoid disrupting the entire content plan.
3. More is not always better — a large content plan by itself guarantees no website promotion. Publishing too often sometimes leads to unjustified expectations — and the expected traffic growth does not happen. The content plan and calendar can contain just a few tasks, provided they are all essential for achieving your goals.

Try creating your own content plan and calendar, and you will see what an important and effective tool it is for your work.