Why most content calendars fail? (And the truth about content calendar templates)

Bonus Alert: Before you dive deeper and find out why most content calendars fail, don’t forget to download the content calendar templates available to you as a bonus for being a loyal reader. How is that for a cool freebie, eh?

Is your content calendar adaptable, agile, and smart enough to survive the test of time? Content calendars fail every day. Either they do not deliver, do not get results, do not offset content creation costs or do not move the brand forward. In the age of creators economy where content is the only currency that works, how do you make sure that your content calendar continues to get results?

30-second summary

Hey there roadrunner! I know you want to grab your free content calendar template and get started with content planning. That’s why I created this section for you. Here’s what you will miss out if you skip from here.

• The truth about content calendar templates
• What are content calendars?
• Why do you need a content calendar?
• How to make a content calendar?
• How does a content calendar look like?
• What is included in a content calendar?
• 15 tools to create content calendars
• What are content calendar templates (plus freebies)

The truth about content calendar templates 

Content calendar templates work, BUT there is a way to handle them, re-create them, and deploy them to your content marketing arsenal. Wowzer! (And guess what amigo, this is what you will uncover in this blog post today). 

Pro Tip: What’s the fastest way to fail with content calendars? Use content calendar templates as it is. 

You are 5 minutes away from knowing the truth about content calendar templates 

I will reveal the truth about content calendar templates 5 minutes down this post, but before you are ready for that, let’s first break down a content calendar and see the elements that go into creating a winning content calendar that works. Ready? Hop on, ninja, you are in for an insightful ride here. 

What are content calendars? 

First, a quote by Michael Porter. 

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. 

Michael Porter

Content calendars, as much as they are a tool to tell us what to do, in an era of content overwhelm, content overload, content madness, content mania and so on, calendars are a tool to tell us what not to do. This means when you remove what not to focus upon, you automatically focus on creating content that works for you and your business. 

Look at your content calendar like this:

Simply put, content calendars are timeline views of your content plan. They tell you when a piece of content will be published on which platform. Now, this is only the starting point. You can make your content calendar as elaborate or as simple as possible.  

Content calendars are timeline views of your content plan.

Consider this! You can choose to have the following content calendars or not:

1. Editorial content calendar 
2. Social media content calendar 
3. Email/Newsletter content calendar 

Then, you can choose to further break them down into the following: 

• Content calendar for Instagram
• Content calendar for Facebook 
• Content calendar for YouTube 
• Content calendar for Pinterest 
• Content calendar for TikTok 
• Content calendar for LinkedIn 
• Content calendar for Snapchat

Handpicked for you

You can also choose to have your work planner integrated with your content calendar. It would not only tell you when a piece of content will be published on which platform but also the various stages of content creation e.g. First blog draft; Cover designs; post designs; post copy or captions; hashtags; team review; A/B testing; Live testing; Recording; Publishing etc.

It will look something like this:

• Content creation calendar 
• Content publishing calendar 
• Content updates calendar 

Do you need so many content calendars?

Does it make sense to have so many calendars? Of course not! The amount of time you will invest in creating, updating, keeping, and delivering all these content calendars is the amount of time you are not doing anything that will make your content marketing strategy work.

How to decide how many content calendars do you need? 

The question now is not how to create a content calendar. The question is how to choose which content calendar will work for you. Which one should you choose for your business? Do you make one or two or just outsource it to keep your sanity?

Ok, that may be far-fetched but calendars tend to be tricky and overwhelming. Hold on ninja, you are gonna unlock the answers to all these questions in this post.

Here’s how to decide what content calendar is suitable for your business: 

Step one: Have a clear vision 

Content marketing without a vision is just content creation. It doesn’t get results. Before you start working on your content calendar, have a clear vision first. This vision could be an extension of your brand vision or the smaller product or service vision.

E.g., My vision for Content Creation Academy is to empower all online business owners with no copywriting or design skills to create great-looking and great-performing content without ever feeling stuck. 

If I take this vision as the base for creating my content calendar, I will try and cover all the challenges my audience will face to carry out this vision. And everything that comes from this exercise will make it to my first draft of content calendar. Easy-peasy, right? Well, it’s easy for ninjas and you are one of them, amigo! 

Step two: Define SMART content goals 

Once you know the vision, defining the goals would be easy. But if you attach vague goals to your content, you will never achieve them. Instead, opt for SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals. A content calendar without having clearly defined content goals is again just that – mere content creation.

Do you notice the difference? It’s huge, isn’t it? Imagine when you start working for your content calendar based on such SMART goals, your chances of creating content that converts increases significantly.

Step three: Choose content publishing platforms 

If you create the same content for all platforms, you create content for none. Yes, more platforms add up to more eyeballs, more prospects, more potential buyers and fans. But are they all your target groups?

Do you want to cast a wide net and potentially catch nothing or cast a robust net in a well-researched area and stock up on leads? The answer will define how you will end up shaping your content calendar.

Essentially, in content marketing, more platforms do not always convert to more revenue. It does convert to more work though. The point is that you need to be clear on the content publishing platforms you will target and then weave your calendar around that platform considering all the potential types of content you can create for that platform. 

E.g., if you zero in on Instagram, your content calendar will feature Instagram feed content like posts and carousels, Instagram stories, Instagram Reels, IGTV video content, Instagram lives, Instagram highlights, related landing pages, Instagram captions etc.

Why you need a content calendar? 

Awesome, now that you have decided what kind of content calendar you need for your business, it’s time to find out why do you need one in the first place. A content calendar or editorial calendar or social media calendar will essentially help you do the following:

15 reasons you need a content calendar for your business 

1. Get results from your content (real, measurable results) 
2. Build your brand authority 
3. Be consistent with content creation and publishing 
4. Nurture your audience/prospects/customers/fans 
5. Get your teams onboard your content strategy 
6. Align various marketing teams 
7. Plan content campaigns for the week, month, quarter or year 
8. Make informed forecasts for your business 
9. Plan ahead for critical product launches 
10. Strategically optimize content creation efforts by reviewing what works 
11. Jump early on trends and capitalize for profits 
12. Support other marketing verticals with pre-planned content 
13. Integrate last-minute content without hampering the entire content schedule 
14. Automate content creation and eliminate approval roadblocks 
15. Steer the direction in which your brand will move 

How to make a content calendar? 

Ah, this is gotta be my favourite part – creating content calendars! Why? Because making a content calendar is not only about filling up a random calendar with something to post, but also about the overall content marketing strategy.

If you don’t have a content marketing strategy in place, you cannot create a content calendar. Ok, maybe you can, but I can guarantee it’s not gonna work in the long run.

If you have come this far and are itching to get started with making your content calendar, I get you. It’s the most amazing thing you will do for your business. Because you are bringing the ideas to life that will potentially transform your business, get you more customers and sales, and build your brand authority.

There are two ways to make a content calendar for business: 

1. Make a content calendar from scratch
2. Use a content calendar template 

Making a content calendar from scratch (recommended) 

Ideally, as a business owner, this is how you should start. When you start from a blank slate, you do not carry any leftovers from a content calendar template. But hey ninja, there is nothing wrong with using an existing or borrowed template too. Hang on, we will get there later.

Follow these steps to create your content calendar from the ground up: 

• Duration: define the duration of your content calendar. Do you want to plan the whole year ahead or begin modestly with two weeks?
• Calendar: Now that you know the timeline of your content calendar, pick any calendar format that suits you and block the period of the content calendar
• Content goals: Based on your content marketing goals, identify the ones you would want to include in this calendar
• Content pillars/Content buckets/Content topics: Bingo! You know the timelines, you have your goals in front of you, now it’s time to pick the content pillars that align with your content goals. E.g., Content goal – Promote new eBook; Content theme/pillar/topic – Key pain points your eBook covers and answers. There you go ninja, you are one step away from seeing how your content publishing plan looks like two weeks from now.
• Content ideas (this makes it to the content calendar): Break down your content pillar into multiple content pieces that will help you deliver that information to your audience. Start filling up your content calendar with these content ideas. Easy-peasy, right?
• Content publishing platforms (this makes it to the content calendar too): Now that you know what content you need to create, it is easier to identify which platform will yield maximum results for your business.
  • E.g. Content idea: How to solve X for your business in 30 minutes?
  • E.g. Content platform – Pinterest + YouTube + Blog

Making a content calendar using a content calendar template 

Hey ninja, liking it so far? Why not subscribe to my newsletter to get instant alerts when I publish a new post? Every Friday, I send out an email to all my subscriber ninjas talking about the hottest topic in content marketing and sharing the links to my latest blog posts. Join hundreds of other fellow content marketers.

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If you are someone who would like to test the waters before diving deep, I got you. Remember, I promised you a content calendar template as a bonus to this post right at the beginning? Well, this is where you will need it.

Go ahead and download the content calendar template for you. 

Here’s how to use the content calendar template: 

• Define content goals
• Define content theme/content buckets/content pillars
• Breakdown the content pillars into multiple content ideas

If you find it challenging to come up with content ideas for your business, I made this free eBook just for you. The ‘Unlimited Content Ideas Generator’ will help you come up with ‘unlimited’ content ideas mapped to your buyer’s journey. This means no matter if you are creating content for the awareness stage for your business or trying to nurture those who have already made a purchase, the eBook will help you to come up with content ideas for the exact stage.

Isn’t it cool? What are you waiting for? Go ahead and grab the free eBook and start filling your content calendar template today. 

• Fill up your content calendar template with the new content ideas
• Identify the content publishing platforms that will yield the maximum impact for the content ideas and tag them to the dates
• Note: if you also want to add your content creation calendar to this content calendar template, simply trackback the time you or your team needs to create all the content and block those dates in the calendar

What does a content calendar look like? 

Look at you, by now you already have a content calendar template, a plan on how to fill it up, and access to unlimited content ideas. That’s a partial content strategy already in your lap ninja! Partial because an exact content strategy needs to be tailored around your specific business goals.

If you are wondering how a content calendar looks like, there is no specific answer to this. In my decade long content marketing experience, I have seen that editorial calendars come in all shapes and sizes, whoa!  

There are few things you should remember when it comes to how content calendars look visually:

8 things to remember about content calendar designs

1. It’s not about aesthetics: Content calendars are backend documents and only you or your team will ever have access to the document. Rather than spending time trying to beautify the calendar spend your time trying to make it more intentional and result oriented.
2. At a glance view: If your content calendar is too layered and doesn’t offer an at-a-glance view of your content journey, you should relook at it.
3. Evenly distributed: Across your chosen content publishing platforms, make sure the content is evenly distributed and visible on the calendar.
4. Specific entries: Treat your content calendar as a sacred document that holds the key to the success of your content marketing efforts. Make sure there aren’t any filler spots and all entries in the calendar align to the bigger content marketing goals. Be as specific as you can be when it comes to your content scheduling.
5. Includes platforms: If the calendar doesn’t include the publishing platform, it’s not giving you a holistic picture. Make sure you always include which post is going on which platform.
6. Week-view, month-view, year-view: Your content calendar should be adaptable to show you how your week looks like, how the month looks like and how the year looks like.
7. Timeline view: Many marketers make the mistake of putting everything related to the content in the calendar itself. When you add too much to the calendar you lose focus from the goal of the content calendar – telling you what is published when.
8. No conversations: A content calendar is not the place to have team conversations. Always keep it separate from the content planning part. You can use a tool like Slack or Asana to include feedback, comments, team conversations.

How does my content calendar look like? 

Hey, it’s time to talk about content calendar templates. Now that you have downloaded my content calendar template, make sure you use it as per the steps below to ensure it works for you and your business. Ready, ninja? Let’s do it.

Here’s how my content calendar looks like. I use Trello (free version) and the calendar power-up. Since I only focus on Pinterest, Email, Blog, and Instagram, my calendar features only those entries.

Wanna know more about content calendars or content calendar templates? Reach out to me on Instagram and send a DM. Let’s get your content calendar rolling. Yay!

Hey ninja, are you still wondering why most content calendars fail? Are you thinking that I used clickbait to get you through the post? No. There is so much that goes into creating a content calendar that we are still not through it.

Why do content calendars fail? (The real reason) 

I did not want to list out 10 reasons why content calendars fail. I wanted to take you through the journey of what goes into an editorial calendar or social media calendar so that you experience and know why anyone not giving the calendar its due is bound to fail.

Now that you know what a content calendar is, why do you need one, how to create a content calendar and how does a content calendar look like, let’s touch upon a few more things before I give you the reasons why content calendar templates don’t work.

What should a content calendar include? 

Are you still thinking about everything that you need to do to create your first content calendar? I know it’s a lot. But amigo, when you have your foundations strong, you can build a robust editorial calendar without blinking twice.

Let’s make it even easier. Here are the things that the content calendar template should include:

1. Content ideas that you want to publish (only the final ones, it is not the same as a content ideas bank)
2. Final titles (not mandatory but it helps) 
3. Content platforms (or social media platforms) 
4. Content creation schedule 
5. Content publishing schedule 
6. Links to the final media repository 
7. Your team (not required if you are a solopreneur) 
8. Content repurposing schedule 
9. Content updates schedule 
10. Content marketing campaigns 
11. National/International days 
12. Industry events/Niche events 
13. Case Studies 
14. Final published link 

Imagine the confidence you will have when your content calendar looks like this and features all the information that you need to see briefly. Isn’t it fantastic? 

What are content calendar templates? 

A simple search for ‘content calendar templates’ on Google brings up about 661,000,000 results. Whoa, that’s a lot. Content calendar templates are available a dime a dozen. Most of them are free too.

Add to that the numerous calendar apps that allow you to create a calendar and schedule all your posts right from a single interface. Ok ninja, don’t mix content calendar apps and content scheduling apps, they are two different things and should not merge.

Content calendar templates are meant to give you a basic structure or a skeleton upon which you can build your own calendar. The problem happens when you use the templates as it is, yeah!

A template is only meant to give you a fill in the blanks grid. But that’s never enough. If you don’t do the work on your content strategy basics, your business goals, no template will ever give you results.

Pro tip: If you download a content calendar, use it as a base to build your own. Don’t borrow its ideas, its content pieces, its schedule.

Tools to create a content calendar 

Well, you are almost there ninja. By now, you know every important information about creating a content calendar, using a content calendar template, and how to start one from scratch.

As a final step, let’s see what the available tools for content calendars or content calendar apps are that you can use right away. This list isn’t exhaustive. With the current boom of the creator economy, more and more developers and makers are coming up with content creation and support apps to help content creators and influencers.

15 best content calendar apps you can use 

1. Microsoft Excel (recommended online version) 
2. Google Sheets (recommended)
3. Trello
4. Monday
5. Asana
6. WordPress Editorial Calendar 
7. Google Calendar 
8. Apple Calendar
9. Todoist
10. Canva
11. Notion
12. Hubspot
13. Loomly
14. SproutSocial
15. Evernote

Why do content calendars fail? 

Conclusion

And here we are, as promised, five minutes into the post. Here lies the answer to the question ‘why do content calendars fail?’

• Content calendars fail because they don’t take into account all the work you just did here.
• Content calendars fail because they aren’t aligned with the short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals of the business.
• Content calendars fail because they aren’t aligned with the goals of the overall marketing strategy.
• Content calendars fail because they are either too stripped off details or inundated with information.
• Content calendars fail because they lack the content audit mechanism.
• Content calendars fail because they don’t take into account the past performance of published content and tweak the upcoming content plan.
• And finally, content calendars fail because they use content calendar templates as-is.

That’s all, folks! If you liked this post, please leave a comment and let me know. If you know someone who would benefit from this post, share it with them, it will mean the world to me. Feel like adding something I missed out on, the comments box is all yours. Also, if you like and use the content calendar templates, don’t forget to spread the word.

PS: Part VI of the content series ‘Everything about content creation: Basics’.