How to Create a Content Calendar in 2024 in 5 Steps (Free Template)

When you start producing content for one channel, tracking what you want to post and when might be easy, especially if the volume is low. 

For example, one blog a week is manageable. But when you start scaling your production, the number snowballs—quickly turning into a tangled mess.

Eventually, you stop publishing regularly and struggle to get back on track. But with a content calendar, you can avoid this issue.

A content calendar helps you operationalize your content strategy and stay on top of your marketing efforts. It takes you from reactive to proactive marketing—growing your efforts, one post at a time.

Below we’ll explore the benefits of a content calendar and look at a five-step process to create one with a free template.

What is a content calendar?

A content calendar, also known as an editorial calendar, is a document that outlines planned content relating to marketing activities for a brand. 

It acts as a roadmap for your content strategy. It also serves as a centralized tool to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to plan, create, and execute your content in a timely manner.

This tool helps you do several things, including:

• Create strategic alignment between cross-functional teams like sales and marketing.

• Plan a budget and additional resources by foreseeing bottlenecks, avoiding inconsistent production.

• Post content on a schedule when your audience is the most active.

• Identify opportunities to post seasonal and trending content by getting a bird’s-eye view of production.

Why do you need a content calendar for your content operations?

These tools bring semblance to your process. They also do the following:

1. Maintain a steady publishing cadence

The smaller the content team, the harder it is to keep up with a steady publishing cadence. That usually happens because you’re either diversifying channels too soon or scaling the volume too soon. 

In either case, it will be challenging to get things done without proper planning. With a content calendar, you get a complete overview of completed and upcoming content—letting you distribute it effectively.

When you see a blank spot, you know you have to plan something and get it published in time, keeping you and your team accountable. Eventually, this consistency pays off in more brand awareness, leads, and revenue.

2. Produce high-quality content at scale

The main blocker for consistently producing high-quality content is the lack of systems. For instance, if you publish four SEO blogs a week with no briefing, drafting, or editing systems, it can be hard to hit your deadlines. 

With a content calendar, you’re forced to look at your schedule and work backward from your deadline. It gives you ample time to research, ideate, create, and edit—resulting in better-quality work.

You can also add newer processes like AI content detection within a customizable template.

3. Remain stress-free and reduce the likelihood of errors

Running a content production workflow can get chaotic. Ask any marketer and they’ll tell you how important systems are. It’s common to get last-minute requests and run into unexpected issues like missed deadlines—leading to unnecessary stress.

With a single calendar, writers, editors, and managers can see what’s lined up and ready to go. This puts everybody on the same page and keeps production on track and at a realistic pace. Ultimately, you make fewer mistakes in the long run.

4. Align cross-channel initiatives in one place

Nobody markets on one channel anymore, especially after they’ve built a repository on one channel, for example, a blog.

Managing multiple channels in one go is easier when you use a calendar. You can create separate tags or sheets (depending on the tool) for blogs, social media posts, email campaigns, podcasts, etc. It lets you confidently create multichannel marketing campaigns while providing a holistic view that avoids overlaps.

“One of the main benefits we’ve seen from introducing a company-wide content calendar is the ease with which different departments in the business can collaborate on content,” says Oliver Farmiloe, marketing executive at Matchable. 

“For example, the client-facing team may wish for some marketing content to be created for a new client, or perhaps they want the social team to create content announcing a new partnership. Having all of your content plans in one place, with filters for different content formats, saves time.”

5. Manage internal and external resources in advance

If you’re creating a blog series and realize that your in-house writers are busy when you need them, you can plan to hire freelancers. This gives you enough time to vet them and create on-brand content.

You can also plan for other aspects like:

• Budgeting for writing, designing, and editing

• Budgeting for buying or renting content creation equipment

• Budgeting for subscriptions to content creation tools

• Subject matter expert availability for the campaign

• Existing content assets that need to be repurposed

• Internal resources that need to be created for the campaign

Remember to evaluate content marketing tools based on their existing functionality and integration capabilities.

6. Build transparency in your content operations

Transparency is key when you’re working with too many team members. Calendars give every stakeholder a clear snapshot of the current production process.

“I believe that content calendars help build transparency and accountability. You could see a founder or CXO closely watching content operations,” says Shivasankari Bhuvaneswaran, senior manager of content strategy and marketing at Gallabox. 

“The frequent check-ins and progress updates can be tiring. A calendar clearly shows the status of your content items—and helps you understand what the actual bottlenecks are, what is working well, and where you need to improve.”

How to create a content calendar in 5 steps

Here’s a step-by-step process for creating a content calendar:

Step 1: Choose your channels and content formats

Your chosen channels should align with your target audience, your business type, and your audience’s preferred content types.

For example, if you sell home décor products, Instagram and TikTok would be the ideal channels—alongside email and blog.

So list your channels and their respective content formats so you know what needs to be created. For instance, a video and image slideshow would require collaboration with designers to get the job done.

Here’s a potential list of platforms you can explore:

• Facebook

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

• Snapchat

• TikTok

• Email

• Podcast

• Blog

• Resource center

• Paid ads

Create a separate calendar/sheet using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel for each channel to give you a granular look at what you’re going to publish. The former has integrations with Google Calendar—making it easier to coordinate dates.

And if you want a combined calendar view, use calendar tools that pull these views into one place. Some of them include ClickUp, Trello, Airtable, and Notion.

Step 2: Define your fields for the calendar template

The formatting of the template is entirely up to you. As long as you can publish content with all the information present on it, you’re good to go.

However, most templates include this standard set of fields:

• Topic

• Post title

• Channel

• Content format

• Funnel stage

• Workflow stage

• Project manager

• Writer

• Editor

• Reviewer

• Draft due date

• Publishing date

• Link to drafts

• Link to media assets

• UTM links

• Additional notes

In addition, you also have fields that are more specific to the channel you’re targeting. Here’s what the most popular channels will include:

• Blogs:

• Keywords

• Meta title

• Meta description

• URL slug

• Optimization link

• Featured image

• Email:

• Email body

• Multiple subject lines

• Multiple CTAs

• Social media: 

• Hashtags

• Captions

• Accounts to tag

• Podcasts:

• Link to script

• Link to interviewee information

• Show notes link

• Original podcast audio/video file

• Edited podcast’s audio/video file

• Featured image

Customize the template to fit your specific requirements, making sure it captures all the necessary details for your content planning and execution. For example, color code the channels or types of content.

Step 3: Ideate your topics and fill the calendar

Brainstorm ideas based on your audience’s interests, pain points, and industry/content marketing trends. There are many resources to get started, but ideally, you should start with your customers.

“Conduct competitor research and speak directly with customers,” says Lauren Funaro, head of content at Scribe. 

“For competitor research, you can use a tool like Ahrefs to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for and identify gaps in your content. When speaking with customers, ask them what they value most in your product, what content they consume (and where), and what pain points they have.”

Use this data to create a content mix of evergreen (timeless) and trendy (related to current events) content. It will create variety during production and cement your authority in your niche.

Neelabja Adkuloo, senior content marketing manager at Mailmodo, takes a deeper approach to this process. Her content marketing team interviews in-house customer success and sales teams to identify directional indicators. Using that information, they conduct:

• Keyword research (keyword tools and search engines)

• Forum research (including Reddit, Quora, and Slack communities)

• Source research (podcasts, blogs, and media sites) 

“Once we have an understanding of the topics, channels, and formats, we run a competitive audit to get a baseline on what is already in play, where there is an immediate opportunity to win, and where there will be the stiffest competition,” says Adkuloo. “This is then built into a project management tool with clear launch dates.”

If you need help with this process, consider working with freelance content strategists with industry experience.

After you have a list of topics ready, fill your calendar and assign realistic publishing dates. 

Remember: Be flexible with the schedule and add a buffer period for each piece of content. This gives you breathing space if something doesn’t go according to plan.

Step 4: Create a publishing schedule for each channel

Your publishing cadence decides whether or not you’ll realistically be able to stay consistent on each channel. So choose wisely.

If you’re starting, keep it lean—for example, one blog post each week with repurposed social posts for different social networks. If you’re scaling, ramp it up slowly so that you can work with freelance marketing service providers or hire in-house marketers when the volume becomes too much for you.

Step 5: Assign roles and kickstart production

After you have everything laid out, decide which stakeholders are involved in which project and assign responsibilities accordingly.

Give them access to relevant materials that are listed on the calendar. These include image and video assets, brief and draft documents, optimization tool reports, and content scheduling tools.

Some examples for apps to schedule posts on social media platforms include HubSpot and Hootsuite.

After the process is officially set into motion, monitor it regularly to see if everything is going according to plan. When new content is published, update the sheet with relevant metrics to track performance.

And if you need help executing your marketing strategy, work with a freelance content writer. Funaro recommends looking for the following when hiring one:

• Examples of success in writing to your content goals. (Have they successfully written for direct sign-ups versus generating leads?)

• Ability to write to a different voice and tone. (If they have experience ghostwriting,

  that’s usually a great sign.)

• Ability to accept feedback and a long memory for feedback. (Will they remember your recommendations in the next article?)

3 free content calendar examples 

Need inspiration to create your next content calendar? Check out the ones we created:

1. Multichannel marketing content calendar for brands

Need an all-in-one template to monitor production on multiple channels? Use our content calendar template.

This calendar includes blog content and other channels like social media, email campaigns, webinars, and podcasts. It gives a clear overview of what’s happening on each channel while letting stakeholders always access the roadmap.

Access our content calendar template here 👉

2. Social media content calendar for small businesses

Use this social media calendar template to plan your social media campaigns in one place. This automated system includes a calendar for separate social media channels like Facebook and LinkedIn and lets you set the best times to post and track performance metrics as needed.

It lets you build a social media strategy in line with other marketing initiatives. For example, if your social media marketing plan for the next quarter is geared toward multiple product launches, you know your email and blog content need to line up with that.

Access our social media content calendar template here 👉

3. Social media content calendar for solopreneurs

Are you a solopreneur struggling to find a template made for you? Use our solopreneur social media calendar instead.

It simplifies the content planning and creation process and gives you peace of mind when handling everything independently. You can organize content ideas, set dates, and monitor performance in one place.

Access our social media calendar template for solopreneurs here 👉

Streamline content operations with a robust calendar

An effective content calendar can go a long way in improving internal processes and cross-functional collaboration.

If you invest the time in building a robust one, it can act as a guiding post for future marketing initiatives—allowing your team to be prepared for what’s to come. 

With a clear view of the content pipeline, everyone involved can stay on track, make informed decisions, and work cohesively toward shared goals.

Want to work with freelancers who have expertise in building content calendars? Sign up for Fiverr today.