Why You Need an Editorial Calendar for Internal Communications
Six reasons why it will make your life easier
đ An editorial calendar (or a publishing schedule) is a visual tool that allows you to schedule content in advance of publication, so you can more easily manage the content flow across multiple channels (e.g., intranet, newsletter, digital signage, etc.). The calendar allows you to visualize content for the week, month, or the year ahead.
- A calendar is a time management hack disguised as a publishing plan.
Depending on the tool you use, some of the basic stuff you can see on a calendar include:
- who has been assigned which content
- draft stages (idea, in progress, complete)
- channels to which the content is publishing
- repeating content
An editorial calendar also ensures that employees receive the right amount of information on any given day, that one day/week isnât jam-packed with content and the next day/week isnât barren.
A Calendar Can Make Your Life Easier
Here are six ways an editorial calendar can remove some of the stress of managing the content beast:
1. Same Page đ
Looking at a calendar during team meetings gets everyone on the same page about whatâs coming up, whatâs needed, and where there are opportunities for taking a chance or trying something new. Itâs a prompt to continue conversations about ongoing comms efforts and gives you a chance to update everyone on where material stands (e.g., the video is being edited; I have an interview with So and So tomorrow).
If you see gaps in the calendar, you can use this as an opportunity to try something new, like publish the photo essay youâve had tucked away for three months, or ask a subject matter expert for their take on expectations for the industry for the rest of the year.
- Empty spaces are opportunities for experimentation.
2. Strategic Alignment âď¸
The calendar keeps you in check by ensuring that your work aligns with your editorial strategy. If you see content that doesnât support your business or team goals, you know youâre getting off track. The foresight the calendar allows lets you adjust your content flow ahead of time, so you can stay in alignment.
- At a glance, you can also see if there is too much of one type of content (e.g., videos) or topic (e.g., philanthropy). Pare it back or pull something off the board and put it in your evergreen pile.
- To ensure you stay on track, check your calendar at least weekly, if not daily.
- Read: What Is an Editorial Strategy for Internal Communications?
3. Time Management â°
A calendar allows you to manage your time better. Say, for example, that your calendar is completely booked for the next two months. You can take your foot off the content gas pedal for a couple of weeks and concentrate on work that has been piling up in the background, those nagging tasks that get kicked around because youâre too busy feeding the content beast. The opposite is true, too, of course. If you see gaps in your calendar you know you need to find material that supports business objective A or highlights a team that hasnât been touched for a few months.
4. Relationship Management đ¤
A calendar helps you manage stakeholders. If a business partner requests a story about their team or suggests you interview So and So Amazing Person, you can point to the calendar and show them where they can fit into the scheme.
- You can also use the calendar as an excuse to say no to an assignment. âSorry, Sally, thereâs just no room on the calendar to write a mega feature article about how your team is doing what theyâre supposed to be doing.â
5. C.Y.A. đ
C.Y.A. = cover your ass. When senior leaders (or your bosses) want to know what youâre doing about reporting on employees that do X or how you are promoting product Y, you can point to the calendar and show them that you have it covered â past, present, and future.
6. Placement Holder đ
You can place âholdsâ on a calendar for certain dates or channels. For example, if you know when the company releases quarterly earnings, you can claim those calendar dates so nothing else competes with the news. Or, if you want to do something fun for Valentineâs Day or St. Patrickâs Day or âsummer Fridays,â you can put pins on the calendar as a reminder of the cultural event, even if you donât exactly know what content youâll create.
- Pro tip: Use placeholders as brainstorming prompts at your next team meeting.
Which Technology Should I Use?
Common editorial calendaring tools include Google Calendar and Google Sheets, Trello, Asana, Microsoft Planner, Airtable, Smartsheet, and about a thousand similar tools.
- đ Like with pizza, journalism, and cars, you get what you pay for.
- Iâve used Trello, Asana, Google Calendar, and Smartsheet. Theyâre all more than adequate and I recommend any of them.
- Google âeditorial calendar toolsâ and knock yourself out.
If you arenât allowed to use a third-party program, thereâs always Excel đ.
If you want something tactile, try Post-it Notes on a wall or create an erasable calendar on a whiteboard.
ÂĄThe most important thing! The items on your calendar are going to shift â all.the.time. Changes in business priority, market conditions, social/cultural upheavals, new products, leadership changes, and on and on will all impose themselves on your calendar.
- You must be able to update the calendar with ease.
- A drag-and-drop capability is a godsend.
Nice-to-Haves
Drag-and-drop is a huge plus. You may want to consider these other features:
- Color-coding. For example, you may want to make all content about sustainability green. Or you might want to color all videos red. Being able to color-code your content provides another way to understand your content workflow at a glance.
- Tagging or labeling. Just like you may color-code your assets, you might want to label them too. Again, this allows you to take in categories at a glance. In platforms like Trello, you can take tags to the next level. For example, your (green) calendar item may be categorized as âSustainability,â but you might also add the tag âinterview,â because the piece is a conversation with the head of Sustainability. If you click âinterviewsâ you can see all the interviews across all asset types (videos, blogs) and categories. This is just another way to see what youâre doing a lot/little of.
- Attachments. If you can add items to the calendar item (e.g., photo, article drafts), you can keep everything in one place, rather than the material being spread out across desktops and inboxes.
If youâd like help choosing and/or setting up an editorial calendar, Iâd be happy to help. Email me at editorshaun@gmail.com.
