You have finalised your editorial plan and your first pieces of content are ready to be published. It is not long until the start of the campaign you have planned to promote your company. Before you begin, however, there is still one more step to define, detail and organise: the company editorial calendar.

What is the editorial calendar and what is it for?

To get into the specific details of creating a company editorial calendar that has a positive impact on the success of your marketing strategy, it is essential to understand what it is. In a strategy that makes the most of the possibilities of content marketing, it is not enough for content to be developed following the rules of good copywriting that turns to your advantage the rules ofSEO optimisation.

Drawing up a document structured in a specific way will help you to “measure out” the number of pieces of content over medium-to-long periods, to develop a communication strategy that is aligned with the goals you want to reach and to optimise coordination between the activities relating to the different channels on which the content will be published.

Start designing your company editorial calendar

1. Think long term

It is not enough to publish content that is SEO-optimised and impeccably written; it is also necessary for publications to be consistent over time. For this reason, a company editorial calendar should ideally be scheduled over medium-to-long periods, preferably spanning a minimum period of between 4 and 6 months. Do not rush: your strategy needs time to deliver results.

2. Set the right frequency

There is no fixed rule to follow regarding the ratio between time and the number of pieces of content to publish. There are several variables you will need to take into account, linked to your company’s resources and possibilities:

Looking at the strategies put in place by the most successful corporate players, the number of pieces of content to publish is on average

When planning the number of pieces of content you want to publish, do not forget that it is important for your presence to be as consistent as possible: use all the channels you have chosen, alternating between them, while avoiding overloading one and risking leaving another uncovered. Too little content does not help to spark interest, while too much content in too short a period generates a drop in appeal for your site and your company pages.

3. Make the most of the big occasions

Every company, just like every sector, experiences recurring events each year that correspond to the most important moments or periods for your business: industry trade fairs, the start of the summer/winter season, sales, holidays, the launch of a new product or its related offers are just some examples of the most important days a company finds itself living through and dealing with. These will be the periods when your content appears most frequently in users’ searches, both among the answers proposed by search engines and among the results provided by social networks. Use these peaks of attention to your advantage, by scheduling more intense activity in the run-up to these dates.

Fill in the boxes of your company editorial calendar

This is the most practical part, the stage where you will actually have to go ahead and fill in the boxes of your company editorial calendar.

You have decided how to develop your strategy with a very precise copywriting style that is SEO friendly and distinctive to your company. But how do you choose when and how to use content in order to make the most of its potential?

4. Start from the important dates

As already mentioned, all companies have important dates, and the advice is precisely to start distributing content from the periods that have historically been of greatest interest for your business. It is in the run-up to these events that you will need to think about more sustained promotional activity, making use of all the channels you have chosen for your strategy: publishing on multiple platforms, as well as making your promotional activity more “digestible” for users, is the best way to broaden your reach and reach a higher number of potential customers and future partners.

5. Distribute content evenly

Once you have established the publication frequency of your content, stick to the plan. Even when the dates you are choosing have no particular value for your company, it is important that the schedule is respected. Publication based on correct distribution conveys a sense of continuity and solidity, the idea that the company is always present for its customers and that it is available to offer a professional service, with no limitations tied to the time of year.

6. Diversify the type of content

In general, content marketing is also effective when it serves different functions. The goals set when producing quality content are mainly three:

On this last point in particular, people often fall into the trap of thinking that content not strictly linked to the company’s activity or to the quality of its products conveys a sense of poor professionalism, as well as being an economic investment with no real return. In reality, this type of content works perfectly to create an initial contact with the customer and to make the rapport with existing customers more solid.

Varying your content is very important in order to capture the attention of as many users as possible: some profiles will potentially be more interested in and willing to read your content regardless of its type and form; others, certainly greater in number than the first, may simply be curious or not yet aware of how your products might be of interest to them. Being able to interact with these people could exponentially grow the audience of your future customers and increase your revenue.

So which are the most useful pieces of content, and which are the best forms?

7. Make the company editorial calendar cohesive

When we talk about the cohesiveness of the company editorial calendar, we mean scheduling that smoothly coordinates the results of the content published across the different channels you have selected in the editorial plan. Be careful: correct and consistent coordination does not mean publishing identical content on all platforms, a practice that in many cases could completely cancel out the benefits offered by content marketing.

When we talk about a cohesive company editorial calendar, we mean a content structure that is harmonious and supported by a common, functional thread across all channels: while it is true that the main supporting macro-structure comes from applying the rules of content marketing, it is important to understand how the micro-structures represented by the posts are the elements that, in practice, keep the marketing strategy you have chosen for your company in balance.

The reader must feel guided by your content along a path that helps them take ownership of the concepts that will allow them to understand your philosophy, appreciate your skills and desire the products and services your company can offer them. From this perspective of project-based planning, the publication of “out of context” content, detached from the mere function of presenting and selling, can genuinely create added value linked to communication that naturally manages to convey the personality of your projects, your company and the people behind it.