Corporate | Programs | Free Tools | Learn | About | Contact | Subscribe via SEP RSS Feed

Forrester Research:
US online marketing will ramp up to $61 billion by 2012

An Editorial Calendar You Say?

by Kristina Smith on February 1, 2012   Follow me on Twitter

Last week, we looked at creating a social media schedule to remind us to post, tweet, and blog on a regular basis.

An editorial calendar serves a similar purpose - whether you're planning out email marketing content, new site pages, or Facebook posts - but is more detailed and will help you organize and streamline your content.

Used for eons by publishers (like magazines), an editorial calendar is simply a plan of the topics you'll be covering over the next quarter, six months, or year, to promote your business. The time period is up to you: plan far enough in advance that you’re organized and deliberate, but not too far that you can’t take advantage of changes or opportunities.

Your calendar should take all marketing channels into account: web site content, press releases, blogs, social networking, video, email marketing, contests, promotions, even advertising (PPC, and print).

There are many benefits to mapping out your topics over a period or time. Having a direction for content in advance allows your team to focus on writing or shooting or interviewing or posting - rather than worrying about what to write about. Plus, you can spend unhurried time prepping and researching for later content.

Laying out the topics you’ll cover allows you to see gaps, and be more open to creative opportunities, and will ensure that you’re not covering the same thing in a short period. Not to mention, when something is in writing, you and your team are more likely to feel accountable, and commit to doing it!

Finally, the editorial calendar allows you to clearly see how the content flows across channels, so you are telling a universal story across your web site, blog, social networks and emails. Not to mention, it lays the framework for advertisers - and really takes your web analytics to new heights.

Check back next week for tips to help you get that gorgeous calendar on paper!

{ 0 comments }

Worth Every Darn Minute: Why You Should Create a Social Media Schedule

by Kristina Smith on January 25, 2012   Follow me on Twitter

Last week we looked at content creation, and why you should consider outsourcing it to get it done right, and regularly.

Speaking of regular, let’s talk about schedules. How often should you be posting to your blog? Sharing your incredibly interesting and useful new content on Facebook or Twitter?

Taking the time to sit down and plan a content schedule for social media is not exciting. There are at least twenty other things you can think of doing that are definitely more stimulating than this. But there is nothing more important.

When there is a schedule you start to look forward to things (think sports or your favourite show), and miss them when they’re not there. The same can go for your fans, followers, readers, and customers. Provide them with great content on a regular basis, and they’ll look forward to it, warm up to your brand, and probably share it all with others.

A schedule or calendar allows you to plan, prepare, and take change of your online marketing. The schedule does not have to be chock-full, but it does have to be consistent. Once you set it out on paper, you will start to see how content can be shared across different channels (with a little tweaking), and how you can use one channel (i.e. Twiiter) to get people excited about something you’re offering somewhere else (i.e. a giveaway on Facebook).

So now you’re asking, which social media tools should I use, and how often? Use this list to schedule your initial tweets, posts, and emails. Monitor performance in the way of sharing, new fans or followers, and visits to your website, and adjust your schedule from there.

  • Update Twitter at least once per day. Share news links, retweet other interesting content, or direct folks to your free content. Use a URL shortener before posting links so you can monitor performance.
  • Update Facebook daily. Use the Insights Dashboard to see what content or status updates have the most Engaged Users and number of People Talking About This (see Facebook for an explanation of these metrics.
  • If you use LinkedIn, update your status once a day. You can share news, or a post from your blog.
  • Post to your blog weekly. Use a sharing tool (like Ping.fm or Hootsuite) to share that content on Twitter, Facebook, and others (this counts as an update!)
  • Email your list once per month, to start. It doesn’t have to be a long newsletter; even a simple product update is valuable to your customers. Try out different times of day, and days of the week, to see where you get the best engagement.

Once your schedule is ready, give yourself enough breathing room every week to execute. You’ll soon find ways to share faster, schedule updates in advance, and monitor activity like questions and comments (try NutshellMail) to save time.

Next time: focus on fresh content – how to create an editorial calendar.

{ 1 comment }

← Previous Entries