Finding content, remembering holidays and planning ahead for social media can be overwhelming but an editorial calendar can help. Even a simple one.
What is an editorial calendar?
An editorial calendar is a place for you to plan your future social media content, keeping track of holidays, seasonal topics you want to write about, community events you want to promote and more. A calendar can be created a number of ways, whether you want to keep it basic with a spreadsheet or use an online calendar app, like Trello.
How can I create an editorial calendar?
With a spreadsheet, you can map out your months, then list relevant and timely content ideas for each month. You can also include content ideas that are good year-round, which are often referred to as evergreen topics. Download a sample editorial calendar spreadsheet we’ve created here.
With an app like Trello, you can create reminders for your content directly onto a calendar. Many will let you add notes, links and attachments, which can be helpful if you want to remember to use a specific image or video with a post. Notifications and email reminders can help you stay on track.
What does an editorial calendar look like?
A spreadsheet can include various color-coded sections for holidays, evergreen content, reminders to share content about Long & Foster’s affiliated businesses and general content ideas that can serve as springboards for finding and selecting content.
With a planning app, you can similarly fill in holidays, relevant topics, evergreen content, community events and more. You can color code them by type or topic, share the calendar with other people on your team and more.
Tips for creating your own social media editorial calendar:
- Vary your content. Offering content that’s informative and educational in addition to content that promotes your services and expertise can help keep followers engaged.
- Consider incorporating community events. Share information about a long-standing festival, a parade, a cooking class at your favorite restaurant, a coat drive and more. Show followers you’re involved in the community.
- Check the Long & Foster Marketing Gallery frequently. Our marketing team shares social media images and videos that you can use, and new content is added consistently throughout the year.
- Look for trustworthy sources when searching for articles to share on social media. Good examples include major news outlets and well-known trade publications.
For more helpful information on social media, visit the Social Media section of the Long & Foster intranet.