Anyone who’s walked the PR planet for years knows that social media (and breaking news) can quickly overturn your best content plans. That’s why you and your editorial calendar must be flexible!

  1. Here are some tips from PRSA for creating and maintaining an editorial calendar:
    • When choosing a format, ask yourself these questions:
    • Will you be using an editorial calendar for both traditional PR activities (press releases, TV interviews, etc.) and for online content you create (blog posts, Facebook Live, etc.)?
    • Will you need separate content calendars for calls-to-action, keywords and generating leads?
    • Do you prefer a weekly, monthly or quarterly calendar?
    • Is the calendar visually appealing and easy to organize and revise?
    • Will your team communicate online via Slack or are you a solopreneur who prefers a paper calendar?
    • Do you need a dashboard-style content calendar that has separate fields for deadlines, reviews, sales-campaign collaborations, departmental/client approvals and publishing dates? Agencies, corporate communicators and larger teams typically use these.
    • Is the calendar simple, realistic and structured for maximum efficiency?
  2. Once you’ve chosen your template, mark special dates, events and occurrences on your calendar. There are four types of content to plan for:
    • Date-Specific Content (known that likely won’t change)
    • Evergreen Content (not tied to a particular day and can be used any time of year)
    • Breaking News (this can’t be planned, but it’s still important because it gives you opportunities for prominent placements and can help build credibility with reporters)
    • Repurposed Content (peruse past content and pick out your most popular stories/posts).

In the end, the right calendar format, organization, and a willingness to think nimbly can attract exciting content opportunities.

Source: PRsay on PRSA.org

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