Editorial Calendar Template: Tips + a Free Template
We’re living in a world of content. According to Dihuni, there are 2.5 Quintillion bytes of data created every day.
But have you ever wondered how businesses and creators are able to manage all this content? We’ll let you in on a secret – it’s by using an editorial calendar.
Whether you’re looking for a way to improve your content workflow or hoping to break into the content space, we’ve got you covered.
In this article, we’ll cover the basics of editorial calendars and share one a free editorial calendar template you can use today.
What is an Editorial Calendar?
Editorial calendars are used to help organizations or content creators plan, organize, and schedule content in advance.
They were first used by media companies, like magazines, newspapers, or other publications to help manage editorial content.
These days editorial calendars are used to manage all types of content. This can range from blog posts and articles, to videos, social media posts, newsletters, and so much more.
What's Included in an Editorial Calendar?
Most editorial calendars will include information needed to get content ready for publishing.
This can include:
- Dates: When will the content be published and at what time?
- Due dates: When does the content need to be ready? As well as the current status.
- Key topics: What is the key messaging or topic that the content will cover?
- Medium: Where will the content be published? (Video, article, newsletter, social post, etc.)
- Assigned writer or creator: Who is responsible for creating the content? This is typically only relevant for teams.
How is an Editorial Calendar Useful?
Taking content from a concept to a published piece can often be a huge project.
You might be wondering why you’d want to add an extra step into the process, but there are many benefits to using an editorial calendar to manage your upcoming content.
Keep content organized
Whether you’re running a blog or a full-fledged publishing empire, there is usually more content than you can keep straight. An editorial calendar is a central hub that makes it possible to see what’s coming up at-a-glance.
Not only will you be able to stay organized and plan ahead, but it'll also help ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
Create quality content
Editorial content typically aligns with a goal – whether it’s your content strategy or marketing objective.
Using a calendar, you can easily see all the ideas in your pipeline and make sure that everything ladders up to your key messaging. You can even set themes for certain months or times of the year to help manage how you curate content.
Plus, you’ll be able to have better quality control by planning everything in advance, so you’re not in a rush to get content out the door.
Improve your editorial workflow
An editorial calendar also helps you put processes in place when it comes to new content. It should make you more efficient and make the tasks along the way more effortless.
It might require some time to adapt, but an editorial calendar should enhance, not hinder, your workflow.
For example, your editorial calendar can help you keep track of tasks in one place. It can also make it easier to assign content.
Finally, a good editorial calendar can often automate tasks, like adjusting deadlines or notifying team members of changes – which should save you time and improve your workflow.
Who needs an Editorial Calendar?
While initially designed for publishing editorial content, editorial calendars are versatile and can be used by a wide range of teams and individuals.
Publishers and media companies
Publishers and media companies are some of the first users of editorial calendars. This is primarily driven by stringent schedules and campaigns that are planned months in advance.
When working on deadlines or managing massive amounts of content, editorial calendars are key to keeping everything organized and at the ready.
Marketers
Editorial content isn’t the same as advertising content, but that doesn’t mean marketing teams don’t need editorial content.
Whether it’s producing blogs, social media content, or even managing newsletters, marketing teams can leverage editorial calendars to make sure they’re staying engaged with their target audience at the right time and place.
Bloggers and content creators
In the digital age, creating editorial content is easier than ever before. This means we get to enjoy content from all types of creators and bloggers.
Many bloggers or influencers post daily, so an editorial calendar can make sure that there is something lined up for every day of the week.
Agencies
Agencies typically manage editorial calendars for several clients at once.
By having an automated template that is easy to use, they can be more efficient at keeping content organized and communicating progress with stakeholders.
Entrepreneurs and business owners
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners utilize blogging, thought-leadership and other marketing content in their growth strategies.
Using an editorial calendar can help business owners manage content while still juggling everything else on their plate.
How to use an Editorial Calendar?
Before you start using your editorial calendar, it’s important to make sure you have a strategy in place. What’s your niche? And what are your goals?
But once you have that, you can start using your editorial calendar.
- Set a publishing schedule: How frequently do you want to post your content? Some editorial calendars have hourly schedules, while others are monthly. Pick a cadence that feels sustainable for you and your team.
- Fill your calendar: Now that you know when you need to publish your editorial content, it’s time to fill up those gaps. The benefit of having an editorial calendar is that you can easily see where you don’t have anything planned – so you never miss a beat.
- Assign content and deadlines: It’s best not to push creating content until the last minute, so set deadlines to get you there! Larger teams may also need to assign content to writers or creators. If you’re a one-person team, this person may always be you – for now!
- Review your editorial calendar: Your editorial calendar isn’t a one-and-done process, you should constantly be reviewing it to optimize the content and your publishing schedule.
- Publish: Once publishing day comes around, make sure to hit publish so your audience can relish your hard work!
Free Editorial Calendar Template
Data Blaze’s free editorial calendar makes managing editorial content a breeze. Manage new content ideas and collaborate with your team from anywhere.
With Data Blaze, you can manage your data using views, filters, and sorting and edit it using rich data types (text, numbers, images, dates, etc).
Our free editorial calendar template below allows you to quickly track your upcoming blog posts, their expected publishing dates, the authors of each pieces, and any other information required.
Here are some cool things you can do with our editorial calendar template:
- Quickly generate a list of recently published posts.
- Add a new post to the list from any site or app.
- Automatically remind your team that specific posts need edits.
Wrapping Up
Using Data Blaze's free editorial calendar template, you can quickly track your blog posts and all of their required assets or information.
Data Blaze makes it easy to add data, update it, and view it from any website or app via Chrome or Windows.
All that, and Data Blaze is completely free. What are you waiting for?
Give Data Blaze a try for free today!
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