Creating an Editorial Calendar: The Foundation of Your Content Marketing Strategy

According to a recent survey conducted by Gleanster Research, managing the overall content creation process was the single biggest challenge that most medium- and large-sized companies faced on a daily basis. To make matters worse, 36 percent of respondents indicated that they were missing deadlines on a regular basis, significantly derailing their efforts as a result.

Luckily, the exact cause of these types of issues also happens to be one that is easily avoided. By creating an editorial calendar, you essentially create the backbone of your entire content marketing strategy. Your entire team can reap the benefits in a number of important ways.

Why You Need an Editorial Calendar

On the surface, an editorial calendar is a calendar that outlines the specific due dates for all important content launches well into the future. It's a wonderful, visual way to see where you stand and what you need to do in terms of your short-term and long-term goals.

Underneath, however, it's an invaluable resource to start putting better content out into the world immediately. Think of it like a daily planner - each day you know what type of content is going to be launching, who is going to be writing it, what important details are going to be included, and more. It's an opportunity to take this resource and bend it to your existing workflow. Instead of laying down guidelines for your team and forcing them to adjust the way they like to work to meet this new tool, the tool itself is inherently malleable by design. 

An editorial calendar is also a great way to plan for the entire process of content creation from start to finish. Everything from idea conception to publishing is all handled through one centralized point of access, not only giving you all of the benefits of firm project management but also helping with communication. Everybody can be on the same page at the same time (no pun intended) because all they have to do is check the calendar to see where they've been, where they are, and where they're supposed to be going next. It doesn't get much easier than that. 

Forming the Backbone of Your Future Content Planning

Once you've had the chance to get your editorial calendar up and running, you'll have access to a wide range of different benefits that would be difficult to get in any other way. For starters, a calendar allows you to custom build your content marketing strategy for specific audiences in a much easier way than ever before. Based on user preferences and behaviors you can clearly outline what types of content are making their way to which channels and, more importantly, when. 

An editorial calendar also gives you the ability to plan keywords well in advance, letting you design the content around the keywords your users are paying attention to, rather than trying to cram those keywords into a piece once it is already finished.

These are among the many reasons why taking the effort to create an editorial calendar is well worth your time. The great thing about it is that it is a resource you only have to build once. As soon as your editorial calendar is up and running, everything from creating content to distribution becomes significantly less challenging and the results that you're after are well within your reach.

Tips for Getting Maximum Mileage Out of Your Marketing Content

Too many marketers look at the content they're creating as "one and done." You spend a huge amount of money designing the right print mailer, send it to all of the relevant people on your list, and then never think about it again, right?

Wrong.

The truth of the matter is that this content is still high-quality because you wouldn't have sent it out into the world if it wasn't. It's a shame to write it off so quickly, especially when you can use just a few, simple techniques to increase its overall return on investment beyond what you originally thought was possible. If you want to guarantee that you're getting maximum mileage out of your marketing content, there are a few, key tips that you're definitely going to want to keep in mind.

Repurpose Whatever You Can

Creating a piece of high-quality, original content from scratch is not only expensive but time-consuming. This isn't exactly a secret, but it is a problem that marketers are creating for themselves more often than not by insisting that every last piece of information going out into the world has to be wholly original from the top down.

The fact of the matter is that it doesn't - sometimes repurposing a piece of older content is a great way to not only get maximum mileage out of those materials, but it can also help fill gaps in your editorial strategy and more.

For example, say you hosted a webinar that went off without a hitch. Those ideas don't have to die the minute the last viewer logs off. Take all the notes from the webinar and turn them into a slideshow for your website or use them as the basis for a direct-mail flyer to go out in the near future. You get the benefit of building FROM something instead of creating from scratch and also get to stretch the ROI of that original content as far as it can go at the same time.

Redistribution: Using Changes to Your Advantage

Another one of the most important ways to get maximum mileage out of your marketing content involves careful redistribution. Consider how things may have changed since that original piece of content went out into the world. Maybe you designed a post for Facebook that was hugely successful but now a new social media network has entered the marketplace. A few key adjustments could make that old piece ready for a brand new audience.

The same can be said of taking something from the print world and bringing it into the digital realm, and vice versa. Take that informative print flyer you sent out a few weeks ago and use it as the framework for a blog post. You get the benefit of increasing the longevity (and again, the ROI) of that original content and you get it in front of a whole new crop of people at the same time.

While many people think of content marketing as "disposable," it absolutely does not have to be that way. A good piece of content is a good piece of content - period. By carefully practicing techniques like redistribution and repurposing, you can stretch the value of that content as far as it will go, and get as many miles out of it as you can.

What Are These New Facebook Reactions and What Do They Mean for My Business?

A few months ago, Mark Zuckerberg treated his staff to a movie night. The film...Pixar's Inside Out. The Facebook staff watched in confused amazement wondering who these emotions were and more importantly, where is the big, blue and white like-button thumb? A few individuals voiced what everyone else was thinking...wouldn't it be swell if Facebook allowed people to have more than one possible emotional reaction to the things they see and read?

A legendary hack-a-thon ensued, spanning an entire month. The result? We now have the choice to not just like something, but to LOVE something, laugh at something, or express shock, sadness and anger. To express our new emotions, all we have to do is hover over the traditional blue and white thumb and six new emojis emerge. For mobile users, simply hold down the thumb and your new emojis will appear.

From a social standpoint, we are all feeling liberated at our ability to express more than one emotion without the necessity of typing out a complete thought. But what does this mean for businesses and people marketing on Facebook? Quite a bit actually...

Aside from the obvious point that you can now identify and quantify how many people feel about your post, there are some handy things you can now do as a business owner that may give you an upper hand with your competition. Because these emotional responses are public, you can do some recon work and check out how people are reacting to your competitors' content as well. Based on your gathered intel, you can now customize your content to better reflect what people are interested in.

This new functionality can also enable you to get more bang for your buck while advertising on Facebook. If you go to your Insights page on Facebook, you can access data on people's reactions to each post. If one or more posts are engaging more individuals or are loved by more individuals, you can choose to boost that post for a fee. This takes the guesswork out of deciding where to spend your advertising dollars.

We are all well aware of the reality that it's just not realistic that you're going to "like" every post that makes it into your feed because sooner or later the content will be about some atrocity that's being committed that you want to stop. So, instead of liking the post, you, like most people, just keep scrolling. It's not that the post was not engaging, it's just that people don't want to "like" the content. With the new reactions, people can express sadness or anger at the content of the post, letting them know that it was read and stirred some emotion. The upside for your business is that you can post more meaningful content about issues that are important to them and not worry about losing points for attention because all of the reactions count as "likes" on your page.

Have you ever had one of those days when your server goes down or your payment processing company is having issues? It can really derail your day and cause some ruffled feathers with your customers. People love to go negative on social media if they feel they're not being heard. The reaction emojis can now help you avoid negative comments in your feed if something is not going quite right with your company. Next time this happens, try pinning a post to the top of your page explaining the situation and perhaps offering a discount to anyone who was inconvenienced by the event. Ask them to show some love to your company by clicking the heart emoji and watch a potentially negative experience turn into an opportunity to engage in a positive way with your customers.

As these reactions catch on, you can be sure more creative ideas will begin to flow on using them to benefit your company. You may even try holding a competition for a free giveaway while also showing people how to use the new reaction emojis. Ask people to show some love in exchange for a free product or service that you offer. Not only will you boost your likes, you will also make people loyal fans. Get creative and have fun. After all, it's what the new emojis are all about.

Time Management for Entrepreneurs: Stop Killing Time and Start Investing Time

"The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity." - Timothy Ferriss

At the end of each day, do you take stock of what you've done and feel as though you were constantly busy, but you can't for the life of you figure out how your time was spent? As days turn into weeks and weeks into months...we often feel exhausted, but with no real accomplishments to show for our efforts.

The problem is, most people see time as an infinite resource. They approach life like they're driving down the street and miss a Starbucks, but happy in their knowledge that there's another one a mile down the road. Likewise, we always think "tomorrow is another day" and promise ourselves we'll keep track of our time and use it wisely then. This mindset is the best way to never accomplish what you want in life.

When we think of money, though, our mindset is a bit different. Our society encourages us to work hard when you're young and invest your money so that when you retire and no longer make money, you'll have that nest egg to spend. If you invest in your time, though, really spectacular things can happen.

Understand your productivity cycles.

Ernest Hemingway wrote in the morning because that was his most creative time of the day. Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on the other hand, reportedly didn't get out of bed before 11:00 am, preferring to work late into the night. Having a solid understanding and respect for when you are at your most productive will enable you to reserve your most important work for when you're at your mental best.

Make a list of the most important things you want to accomplish.

Making a list of the things you need to accomplish can help us overcome what's called the Zeigarnik Effect. No, it's not a mosquito-borne virus. You've experienced the Zeigarnik Effect on those nights you can't sleep because you're endlessly trying to remember everything you need to do and keep it organized in your mind. This happens during the day as well, when you're trying to concentrate on the task at hand, but your mind is still whirring in the background keeping your list organized. Give your brain a break and write it all down. Take a few minutes to prioritize those items for better efficiency.

Do the most important things first each day.

By doing the most important things first, you can always be assured that something important is done each day. Night owls, fret not, you can still save the most brain-intensive or creativity-intensive items for those 2:00 am writing sessions, just make sure that if something absolutely needs to be done in the morning, it gets done.

Don't discount small blocks of time.

As a society, we've taken to killing time on our phones during those periods of time when standing in line, or commuting on a bus or train. Time is too valuable to kill! Instead of checking Facebook while waiting for your coffee, identify things on your list that take up small amounts of time and get those done while you're waiting instead.

Finally, schedule in some down time for yourself. Nothing kills productivity more than a burned-out mind. Take a look at how you're spending your time and see how you can better spend it using these easy tips.