How to Create an Editorial Calendar [Examples + Templates]

If you're anything like me, you're consistently working out of at least 20 browser tabs, four journals, a yellow legal pad or two, and a myriad of Post-it notes stuck around your computer monitor.

To the average overseer, it's nothing short of chaos. To the blogger, it's evidence of a (desperate) need for an editorial calendar.

当我与团队合作时，我的混乱系统会发生巨大变化。我意识到对组织和结构的需求，这比管理博客不需要。如果没有每周的计划，写作和计划内容的相互商定的系统，您就可以发现自己陷入一堆错过的截止日期，未经编辑的博客文章和相当多的团队紧张状态。

没有完美的社论日历，这完全取决于团队的需求。但是，您应该问自己很多问题，以确定您的编辑日历应该是什么样的。这些包括：

• 您多久发布一次内容？Do you have stuff going live every day? Once a week? Perhaps multiple times a day? Finding out how often you publish can tell you how best to visualize your editorial calendar on a regular basis.
• 你创建一个以上类型的内容吗?如果您将文章发布到公司博客时将尽可能多的视频上传到YouTube，则编辑日历将需要区分两者。bob全站app
• How many people will use this editorial calendar?The best editorial calendars allow multiple people to brainstorm, collaborate, and provide feedback on assignments in real time — directly on the calendar.
• What are the various stages content goes through before it's published?How complex is your content pipeline? Is there a substantial review or approval process that each piece of content goes through? Make sure your calendar can distinguish between two similar assignments that are in different stages of creation.
• What format will you use to organize this calendar?You'll want to choose the system that best aligns with your goals and your team's workflows. The next section discusses the most common formats.

Choosing a Format for Organizing Your Content Calendar

没有所谓的完美的社论盖伦dar, but some formats will be better than others at helping you solve for your team's goals. Once you choose a format, you'll also want to decide on how you will implement it — picking a tool or platform that offers the features or interface your company needs most.

以下是格式化编辑日历的一些不同方法：

1. Traditional Calendar or Calendar App

无论您是在桌子上的大纸日历上跟踪截止日期，还是通过Google日历之类的应用程序，这都是了解发生了什么以及何时出门的最直接方法之一。

The disadvantage, though, is that there's more to project and content management than publishing dates, and a calendar may not always be effective enough on its own.

2.电子表格

Spreadsheets have always been a favorite for content management. There's something so satisfying in seeing all your necessary data points aggregated in one place and organized neatly into rows and columns. With Microsoft Excel andGoogle Sheets，电子表格易于访问，并且没有高度学习曲线。

One advantage of using spreadsheets is that they can be easily paired with calendar apps and content management tools. By importing a .csv file, you can load the information into multiple places as needed for the tasks at hand (see the Google Sheets and Hootsuite Planner combination in the next section for inspiration).

3.Kanban Board or Other Project Management Tool

Kanban is a visual system for project management that involves moving cards through different stages of a project. It's popular in editorial management because it can be easily used to represent an editorial workflow no matter what your quality assurance process is or how many hands touch a piece before it's published.

This means that a Kanban board can easily accommodate your content calendar if you require more planning and management to push things live. Popular options for this type of system includeTrello,可通行， 和Meistertask。

4. Content Calendar (and Management) Apps

Taking the calendar concept a little further, there are apps and software platforms that have been designed specifically for content management. They include both the calendar and the project management aspects that are required to get the job done along with other helpful features for high-volume content marketing teams. Examples of these platforms includeCoSchedule,Contently， 和织机。

编辑日历示例

为了帮助您实施编辑日历，我们还包括真实的例子from a few of the most successful content teams out there. Check them out below and find out what makes their calendar so useful.

1.HubSpot Editorial Calendar [Template]

The interactiveHubSpot Editorial Calendar Template是为作家和内容战略家建造的，以概述其发布策略。其中包括内容的提示，其中包括内容的标题，元描述，URL，CTA等。该模板是完全免费的，可以在Google表和Excel上使用。

2.缓冲区的编辑日历

平台：Trello

This is the actual editorial calendar ofBuffer, a social media content scheduling platform. Naturally, the company's own content is supported by an editorial calendar that describes an assignment's author, title, publish date, and where it is in the company's editorial workflow (content can be in the "Ideas" stage, in the "Pipeline," "In Progress," or "Editing").

Each rectangular tile shown above represents an individual piece of content — whether it's a blog post, video, or even a podcast episode.

As you might be able to tell, Buffer's editorial calendar is built on Trello, a common project management tool. And although you can use Trello more than one way, Buffer uses most of its available features so everyone has the information they need within a few clicks — regardless of what they do for the company and how the calendar affects their work.

Buffer的编辑总监Ash Read说：“编辑日历应该是整个团队的资源，而不仅仅是内容创作者。”“这应该是任何人都可以轻松访问的东西，看看即将发生的事情并建议内容想法。有时候，最佳的内容建议将来自您营销团队以外的人。”

In the next screenshot, above, you can see what's inside each rectangular tile. When you click on an assignment, Buffer logs feedback as the content is created and reviewed. Says Ash: "It's not just a calendar, but a place to share feedback, editing notes, pitches, ideas and more."

3.Unbounce的编辑日历

Platform: Google Sheets

这是Unbounce的编辑日历，是登陆页面的创建者和营销人员相关的转换工具，以及HubSpot integration partner。与Buffer不同，该公司使用Googlbob全站appe表来管理其整个内容制作，并且他们自定义上面的电子表格的方式将令人愉悦。

除了按月组织他们的项目外，您可能会从上面的屏幕截图中注意到的是，Unbounce还可以按照他们的内容对他们的内容进行分类campaign他们在服务 - 按照左侧的前两列。这使企业可以查看多个分配 - 在第三列上垂直列出 - 具有共同点，并跟踪内容超出了该内容Unbounce博客。

如下所示，Unbounce Blog有一个separateeditorial calendar in Google Sheets that allows the blog to work alongside the larger company initiatives. Nonetheless, using spreadsheets for both content workflows has proven to be the best choice for the company's growing operation.

"We're a small content team, so other platforms would likely overcomplicate things," says Colin Loughran, editor in chief at Unbounce.

Ultimately, this editorial calendar keeps Colin's team in sync. "While we try to lock dates a few weeks in advance," he explains, "the reality is that sometimes we need to make changes very quickly. A product launch might move into a slot we'd planned for something else, for instance, or a guest contributor will be delayed in delivering a revised draft. When that's the case, having a centralized resource that everyone can check is a necessary safety blanket."

4.数字权限的内容日历

平台：Coschedule

Digital Authority, a marketing agency that specializes in content and social media, draws the distinction between their big picture content goals vs. their smaller content-related tasks.

来源

Digital Authority uses CoSchedule to plan out timelines for pieces such as blogs and social media posts. The advantage of this is the color categorization, calendar and task views, and the ability to create social posts across platforms from within one portal.

There are also features to keep the team actionable, on the same page, and agile with drag-and-drop features.

5. Hootsuite's Content Calendar

平台：Google幻灯片和Hootsuite Planner

Hootsuite, another social media scheduling platform, has a ton of content to publish both on a daily basis and far out in advance. That makes their content calendar a major component of their production strategy.

来源

由于该量，Hootsuite团队会提前使用Google表格来计划和组织跨频道的内容。一旦创建并执行了该策略，就可以在Hootsuite Planner上代表准备发布的帖子。

Editorial Calendar Template

准备制作自己的社论日历了吗？无论您最终想从哪个平台上进行工作，电子表格都可以帮助您库存您所拥有的内容以及从头到尾的速度移动的速度。尝试我们的免费博客编辑日历模板。

Using the templates linked above, you'll be able to organize, categorize, and color code to your heart's content. Use these templates to target the right readers, optimize posts with the best keywords, and pair each topic with a killer call-to-action.

In this download, we've included three different templates for you to choose from. Why three? We recognize that not all content teams are the same. While some feel most efficient with a centralized editorial calendar solution, others may need the gentle push of an upcoming deadline right on their personal calendar. Therefore, you'll have access to all three templates in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar.

With a little customization, your blog calendar will be running smoothly, leaving you time to be the content-writing, lead-generating machine you strive to be.