How to Create an Editorial Calendar in 7 Easy Steps

What Is an Editorial Calendar?

An editorial calendar is a visual document that helps you plan and manage your content production workflow periodically. 

It outlines: 

• What your content will be about
• Where and when you’ll publish it
• Who’s responsible for creating it

An editorial calendar can be the go-to place for planning, managing, and coordinating the different stages of content creation. Like brainstorming topics, assigning them to authors, scheduling content delivery and publication deadlines, and tracking task progress. 

In this article, we’ll explore the types, components, and benefits of editorial calendars, followed by steps to build one efficiently.

What Should an Editorial Calendar Include?

An editorial calendar typically factors in:

• Topics: The subject matter of each content piece. For example, “healthy eating tips.”
• Type: The format of the content you produce. Like ebooks, blog posts, whitepapers, print articles, social media posts, email newsletters or campaigns, podcast episodes, etc.
• Due date: The deadline for when the content requires completion
• Publish date: The date when the content will go live and appear online
• Owner: The person responsible for creating or managing the content
• Status: The current stage of the content, such as “In progress”, “Waiting”, “Stuck,” “Published.”

Like this:

You can also include other elements, depending on your specific content workflow. For instance, adding a column that explains how you plan to promote your content across different channels. 

What are the Benefits of an Editorial Calendar?

An editorial calendar can help content marketing teams:

1. Stay organized: You can coordinate and manage your team’s content-related tasks from one central location
2. Improve team collaboration: Team members can clearly see their responsibilities, monitor task progress, and stay on top of upcoming deadlines
3. Manage resources efficiently: Using an editorial calendar lets you plan better for resources needed for your upcoming content production, including budget, people, and tools 
4. Track past performance: Content marketing teams will be able to analyze their historical performance. For instance, how many content pieces they planned to publish versus how many they actually published in the last quarter. This can help them identify and fix issues in their content production pipeline.
5. Plan content strategically: An editorial calendar helps you see how each piece of content fits into the larger strategy
6. Establish & maintain publishing frequency: Your team can align on a clear plan for regular content creation. The calendar acts as both a strategic content planning tool and a coordination hub to ensure a consistent schedule.
7. Manage and meet deadlines: Pre-planned due dates and task assignments make coordination easier. So that work stays on track without last-minute rushes. 

Types of Editorial Calendars

You can create separate editorial calendars for different content formats, channels, or teams.

For example, a social media marketing team will draw up a social media-specific editorial calendar. It can also build a separate calendar for the group responsible for blog post production.

Here are four different types of editorial calendars you can build for your content.

1. Blog Post Editorial Calendar

A blog post editorial calendar lets you plan, manage, and coordinate the creation and publication of content on your blog. Helping you maintain a consistent publishing schedule.

When you regularly post fresh, high-quality content—including blog posts—search engines may recognize your site as an authoritative source of information. Which can improve your search engine rankings.

A blog post editorial calendar may include additional elements. Like target keyword, featured image, title tag, etc.

Keyword: The term or phrase your post targets for blog search engine optimization (SEO). By optimizing your content for this keyword, you improve its chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPS) when users search for the term.

Search volume: The number of searches the target keyword receives each month. It can be location-specific (for targeting audiences in specific regions) or global (for reaching a worldwide audience).

Title tag: The HTML element that specifies to search engines and internet browsers what webpage title to display. It can appear in search engine results and page link previews.

Meta description: The HTML element that provides a short summary of the webpage. This can appear below the title tag on SERPs.

Featured image: The main image associated with the blog post, often appearing at the top of the post and in previews on social media and other platforms

Use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to identify the most promising and relevant keywords for your business. 

Enter a broad term related to your business/product/service in the tool. And select your target country (e.g., U.S.). 

You can include your website’s URL in the “Enter domain for personalized data” field. To understand how challenging it might be for your site to rank for these keywords.

Click “Search.”

The tool will present a list of related keywords. Along with additional information like:

• Volume, or monthly search volume
• Keyword Difficulty (KD%): How difficult it is to rank for a specific keyword
• Personalized Keyword Difficulty (PKD%): How hard it would be for your domain to rank in the top 10 search results for a given keyword
• Intent: Why users search for the keyword in question

And more.

From here, you can use filters to find the best keywords for your business needs.

For instance, filter by “Intent” to identify keywords with high-purchase intent—namely the terms labeled “Commercial” or “Transactional.” 

Use the PKD% filter to identify easy-to-rank-for keywords for your site.

You can also apply a combination of filters to identify the most relevant keywords to include in your editorial calendar. 

Further reading: How to Use Semrush for Keyword Research

2. Podcast Editorial Calendar

Running a podcast is a great way to position your brand as an authoritative and credible source of information in your industry. 

Besides the elements listed under “What Should an Editorial Calendar Include?”, a podcast editorial calendar can also feature the following:

• Script link: A URL or link to the script document for each episode. This allows team members to easily access and review the content planned for recording.
• Interviewee details: Information about guests on the podcast, such as their names, email addresses, and social media handles. This helps you coordinate with them and promote the episode effectively.
• Sponsor: Details about any sponsors for individual episodes. Including the sponsor's name and the specifics of the sponsorship deal, like what mentions or promotions the sponsor will receive during the episode.
• Original audio link: A link to the raw, unedited audio file of the podcast episode—useful for review and editing purposes
• Final audio link: A link to the completed, ready-to-publish audio file of the podcast episode. This is the polished version you’ll upload for listeners.

3. Downloadable Assets Editorial Calendar

You can create a separate editorial calendar for downloadable assets such as ebooks, whitepapers, and user manuals.

It’s possible to combine this with your blog post calendar—both are website resources. But managing one calendar for both might get confusing if you have a high volume of content production. A separate calendar helps keep things clear and organized.

Here are some elements you can add to your editorial calendar for downloadable assets:

• Document link: The link to the working document where the asset is developed. So team members can access and contribute to the content before it's finalized.
• PDF file link: Once the asset is complete, it’s often converted to PDF format for distribution. This link provides direct access to the final PDF file, ready for sharing or uploading to your website.
• Download URL: The direct link where the end users can download the asset. It's typically hosted on your website or a platform that handles downloads, such as a content management system or a file-sharing service.
• Thank you page URL: After downloading the asset, users are often directed to a 'thank you' page. This URL might include additional user engagement elements like related resources, signup forms, or further instructions.

4. Social Media Editorial Calendar

Social media marketing teams usually have a large publishing cadence. Using a social media editorial calendar can help them stay organized. 

Other elements that can feature in a social media editorial calendar are:

• Social network: The social media platform where you’ll post your content. Like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and so on.
• Image/video link: A link to the visual content that will accompany the post
• Caption: The text that will accompany the image or video
• Hashtag(s): The hashtag(s) you want to include in the post
• Tagged user: Any relevant users or partner brands you plan to tag in the post

Semrush’s Social Poster makes it easy to build and manage an editorial calendar for social media teams. 

You can use other social media tools from the Semrush Social Toolkit to manage your social media marketing efforts from a single interface. Including Social Inbox (to respond to comments or messages) and Social Analytics (to track your social media performance across multiple platforms). 

How to Create an Editorial Calendar in 7 Steps

To build a winning editorial calendar, begin by replicating our free editorial calendar template. It’s available as a Google Sheets document. 

In this template, you’ll find two tabs.

• Content calendar: Contains elements you can can use for all kinds of content calendars, no matter the format 
• Additional fields: Components for adding information specific to the content formats and channels we outlined in the previous section

Keep this template by your side as you follow the below steps for how to make an editorial calendar to fit your needs.

1. Build Your Content Marketing Strategy

Your editorial calendar should closely align with your content marketing strategy. In other words, it has to reflect your content marketing goals, target audience, and content distribution channels.

So, first lay out your strategy before working on your content calendar.

A content marketing strategy is a plan designed to create and share content that resonates with your target audience and supports your business objectives. Documenting it properly increases your chances of marketing success.

Proceed to define these key components of your content marketing strategy:

• Goals: Clearly articulate what you aim to achieve with your content marketing efforts. This could be increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, and generating leads. Your content marketing goals should directly tie in with your business objectives. 
• Audience personas: Gain a deep understanding of your target audience, including their needs, interests, and behaviors. This information can help you create content that is relevant and valuable to them.
• Online channels: Identify the best channels where you plan to publish content. Like social media platforms, blogs, websites, and email newsletters. Choose channels that your audience uses frequently and makes purchasing decisions on.
• Distribution: Build a plan to promote your content to reach a wider audience—potentially increasing your marketing performance

Further reading: The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Content Marketing Strategy

2. Assess Your Budget & Available Resources

Take into account your monthly/quarterly content marketing budget. Plus the resources at your disposal. 

This assessment can give you an idea of how many content pieces you can realistically produce or commission. And the quality you’re able to maintain. 

Consider the following factors to see what you’re working with and it what it can achieve for your business:

• Budget: Determine your total budget for content production. Such as costs for hiring writers, designers, videographers, and any tools or software you need.
• Human resources: Identify the team members available to create content—including different people with different skills—like content writers, copywriters, graphic designers, and team coordinators. 
• Tools and software: List all the tools and software required for content creation, management, and distribution. This could include SEO tools, content management systems, graphic design software, and social media scheduling tools.
• Existing content library: When starting out, you might have limited resources for producing new content. Revisit your existing content library to find pieces you can repurpose—saving you time, money, additional resources, and effort. 

3. Identify Digital Marketing Channels to Target

It’s important to identify the best digital marketing channels—or digital advertising channels—for your business at this stage. So you can reach your audience where they hang out. 

Determine which channels you can realistically focus on, budget- and resource-wise, to achieve your business and content marketing goals effectively. Examine whether you’ll be able to meet these goals with what you have available. 

For instance, if your budget is low and your content marketing goals are highly ambitious, you may need to adjust your expectations.

Here are some digital marketing channels to consider.

Organic Search

Organic search refers to unpaid listings that show up in search results. By creating and optimizing your content for search engines to find and rank it, you can improve your site’s organic search visibility. And drive more traffic as a result. 

For example, Oracle’s blog post titled “What Is Big Data?” holds the No. 1 position in organic search for the keyword “what is big data.”

So why organic search?

Because billions of people use search engines to find information. 

By targeting keywords your target audience searches for, you have a better chance of boosting your online brand visibility and attracting more organic traffic. Potentially resulting in higher conversions.

Social Media

Billions of people use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. They offer an effective way to reach your target audience and engage with them directly. 

Regularly posting quality content on your social media platforms can help you: 

• Build a loyal following
• Increase brand awareness
• Boost site visits

But which platform(s) should you establish your presence on?

Focus on social media channels where your target audience not only spends time but also makes buying decisions.

For example, if your target audience includes B2B professionals, it may be better to choose LinkedIn over TikTok. Because even though they might be using TikTok for entertainment, they’re more likely using LinkedIn to discover professional tools and services.

Email

Close to 4.5 billion people use email to communicate. Making it a key platform for reaching and engaging with your audience.

You can use email to promote your products. Here’s an example from tech brand OnePlus:

You can also educate your audience via email. 

Check out this email from crowdfunding platform Ketto HealthFirst about how to protect your skin in summer: 

Podcast Streaming Platforms

You can use streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts to reach podcast listeners—that’s more than 460 million people worldwide. And connect with potential customers.

Imagine you run a fitness coaching business.

By hosting a podcast that covers topics like workout routines, nutrition tips, and interviews with fitness experts, you could attract an audience interested in health and fitness. 

This not only helps you build a community of fitness enthusiasts, but drives interest toward your fitness coaching business.

Check out this podcast from the Colossus Fitness brand, which offers fitness coaching programs:

4. Determine Your Publishing Cadence

Next, determine how many posts you can publish on each channel. You can plan this monthly or quarterly, depending on what works best for your strategy.

Take into account your overall content production budget. 

Suppose you have a $10,000 monthly budget for content production. Here’s how you can allocate it across your chosen channels and content formats:

If your monthly budget for blog post production is $6,000, consider hiring two freelance writers who charge $1,000 per blog post. Assign two pieces per writer, totaling four posts per month—and publish on a weekly cadence. 

This will cost you $4,000. 

You can allocate the remaining $2,000 to hiring an editor who will polish these posts so they’re ready for publication. 

In addition to freelancers, factor in the capacity of your in-house writers to determine how many more posts they can create.

Note: In-house content production doesn’t come for free. Business owners are still paying for the time spent on writing these posts.

Similarly, you can determine your publishing cadence for your other online channels. 

5. Establish a Content Production Workflow

Develop a step-by-step process for content production. Include the following key elements for a seamless workflow. 

Keyword research: Find the best keywords for your business. Use Semrush’s keyword research tools to guide you. Like Keyword Magic Tool (for keyword suggestions), Keyword Strategy Builder (to create SEO topic clusters), and Keyword Gap (to identify competitors’ keywords that you don’t target).

Topic generation: Use the keywords you’ve identified to brainstorm topics around which to create content. Semrush’s Topic Research tool helps you generate ideas for engaging content. 

Content creation: Assign the topics to your writers or content creators. Provide them with clear guidelines, including keyword usage, tone of voice, and any specific points to cover. This stage involves writing, designing, or recording the content. Use Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant to optimize your content for search engines. 

Editing and review: Once the content is created, it should go through an editing and review process to get it to a publishable state.

Approval: Get final approval from relevant stakeholders. This might include managers, clients, or team leads who need to sign off on the content before it goes live. 

Scheduling: Schedule your content to ensure you publish it according to plan. Consider Semrush’s Social Poster to help you organize your social media content scheduling. 

Promotion: Plan how you’ll disseminate each piece of content across various channels. This could include promoting your content via emails, using paid advertising, or other online channels. 

6. Choose the Right Editorial Calendars for Your Needs

You can create separate editorial calendars for your different content formats, channels, or teams. 

For instance, you can have one editorial calendar for blog posts and another for ebooks—even though you’ll use both to improve your visibility in organic search. 

Use our editorial calendar template to build as many different editorial calendars as you need. 

Here’s how.

Open the template and select “Make a copy.”

Navigate to the “Content Calendar” tab to start building your editorial calendar. 

Find the elements specific to your content formats in the “Additional Fields” tab. 

Let’s say you plan to create a podcast editorial calendar. 

First, duplicate the “Content Calendar” tab—let’s name it “Podcast Editorial Calendar.”

Then, navigate to the “Additional Fields” tab. And copy the elements dedicated to podcasts. 

Paste these elements inside the “Podcast Editorial Calendar” tab. 

Consider adding, reorganizing, or removing specific elements to match your workflow. 

Similarly, you can create dedicated workflows for blog posts, downloadable assets, social media, videos, etc.

7. Share Your Editorial Calendar

Share your editorial calendar(s) with your team members. Especially those who’ll directly collaborate with you on content production. 

Also, share it with all freelancers and contractors involved. 

You can also give editorial calendar visibility to other departments, like sales and customer service. It can help position the content team as a critical part of the company’s pipeline- and revenue-building engine. 

Encourage different teams to use your content in their daily operations. By integrating your content into various aspects of the business, you help it reach its full potential. 

For example, a sales team can use blog posts, ebooks, and other materials as part of their sales collateral to educate prospects and close deals. 

Here’s a post sharing the Semrush blog’s content marketing strategy guide with our LinkedIn followers:

Customer service can use readily available content to answer common questions, provide support, and enhance the customer experience.

Continuously Refine Your Editorial Calendar

Your content production workflow will likely change over time as you adjust to new trends, technologies, and team dynamics. So, regularly review and adjust your editorial calendar while making sure it helps you meet your goals. 

Semrush offers more than 55 digital marketing tools you can use to establish a solid brand presence across different online channels. 

Sign up for a free Semrush account to plan, create, and execute your content marketing campaigns effectively.