The all-important editorial calendar

In our last blog, we talked about common mistakes businesses make with their social media strategy, and briefly discussed the importance of an editorial calendar, something we use with many of our clients. Depending on the needs of the clients, social media calendars can range from weekly or monthly to quarterly or annually, with daily content added when appropriate.

The idea of an editorial calendar is foreign to many companies, but something we feel is strongly needed.

What is an editorial calendar?

Print media have been using editorial calendars for centuries, outlining months in advance the stories the publication will communicate. Today, the editorial calendar has been expanded to include web content, blogs, press releases and social media postings to outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and YouTube, depending on the business. If done correctly, the editorial calendar creates a cohesive content strategy across many platforms. It also focuses the company on important monthly milestones that demand attention.

Today, any brand must think like a publisher.

Why does my business need an editorial calendar?

There are many reasons why any business can benefit from an editorial calendar, but we’ve picked the five most important:

1. The first reason is basic: It forces your business to know and understand your target audience and provide content that attracts attention and starts conversations. It will serve as the road map for your company’s content sharing.
2. Fresh, new content is important, although there are some shares that can be evergreen, and these are important to integrate into your calendar. When done as a whole, a pattern is established in the editorial calendar, and a mix of the important information a business needs to share becomes more obvious.
3. When you are looking at an editorial calendar, you can easily see content holes and can fill in as needed. For example, an international company needs a social media presence that appeals to people in many countries, and if the posts are written in the United States, it’s easy to become U.S. centric. In this case, it’s critical to include international news that appeals to many.
4. Your business becomes proactive and productive, because on a regular basis you are setting aside time to research, analyze, write and post to social media. Without this structure, months can go by without one post, something no business today can afford.
5. It keeps your business current. Any Internet visit can become a scouting session, looking for interesting subjects to share with your followers, customers and employees. When a business becomes engaged in providing content, it naturally becomes more interesting, something we liken to the most popular person at a cocktail party, the one who can converse with anyone on a variety of topics.

Engaging in social media is all about building trust, and the only way to accomplish this is with a soft sell. B2B social media demands a limited amount of self-promotions sprinkled between shares and posts designed to garner a following. An editorial calendar is the solution for achieving a perfect balance for your company’s social media strategy.
If you would like to see how an editorial calendar can improve your social media goals, contact Lasso Up.