Supercharge Your Content Marketing With a Content Calendar

By Sara Davis

In order to efficiently manage a content marketing campaign, utilizing a content calendar is key. Setting up a content calendar ensures that you are able to track what’s in the pipeline, as well as any deadlines.

Oftentimes marketers get bogged down in day-to-day life, and skip over content calendars in entirety. If you don’t set goals and track the content process, it is impossible to measure success. Without a content calendar you are essentially an ROI tracking ticking time bomb.

Setting up a content calendar doesn't have to be a mind-numbing, days on end task. Before getting started, you’ll want to ensure you've become an expert on your target audience and their pain points. So, if you haven’t, revert here.

1. ONE killer content idea

Look through your Google Analytics data. Did you have a blog or social media post that brought in more traffic than usual? Repurpose it.

Let’s say you had a highly popular blog post on “Mountain Biking Hacks.” Switch it up, and try targeting a specific demographic group: “Women’s Mountain Bike Hacks You Have to See to Believe.” Or try a broader approach: “These Simple Mountain Bike Hacks Could Save Your Life One-Day.”

2. Refurbish and recycle

Starting with your one idea, break that off into a content cascade. Start with the meaty content first– eBooks, webinars, videos, and white papers. After that, you can plan the supporting content – infographics, blog posts, social media, emails, etc.

Get creative. Obviously, you aren't going to write an eBook and blog post that say the exact same thing. The idea is to use your original idea as a theme, and twist the messaging in each scenario. Target different buyer personas and different pain points so that you can grab leads at each stage of the buying cycle.

3. Schedule it out

Pull up your handy dandy Google Calendar (or fancier alternative) and get to scheduling. Start with the basics, you can add in the nitty-gritty later. A basic outline of the content will get you up and running.

4. A/B testing

Make sure to include A/B testing in your content calendar. A simple tweak of wording or design can give you crazy conversion rates. Whether you schedule A/B testing daily or monthly, this is a great way to ensure you have the right messaging.

Don’t waste your time always trying to come up with hot new ideas when you already have an idea what works. You may also find that within your A/B testing your next killer content idea emerges.

More articles from AllBusiness.com:

• How to Develop a Content Marketing Strategy in 6 Steps
• Landing Page Best Practices: How to Optimize Your Web Pages for Increased Conversion
• How to Use Curated Content to Know Your Customers Better