7 Tips for Your 2024 Content Calendar
Content calendars help you see where you plan to go with your brand messaging, product offerings, and even case studies. Your strategy should be well-timed so it’s well-received.
Read on to learn 12 tips for your 2024 content calendar to take you through the year (and beyond!).
1. Create a Plan that Resonates
Strategy without execution is fruitless. You can have the best of plans, but it means nothing if you don’t take the first step. Consider a sales coach who insists you make 100 cold calls daily — but the phone isn’t your strong suit. You won’t do it. Much like a digital content calendar, if it’s too cumbersome or too involved to resonate with your abilities, reconsider your plan.
2. Break it Down
The breakthrough usually happens after the breakdown. If you know you’d like to create one blog per week, determine 3-5 categories that ring true for your business. A personal chef might have these categories: Zoom training for aspiring chefs, meal prep offerings, on-site cooking, and on-site teaching. Each week she can create one blog related to any of those topics (in rotation) and start her content calendar from there.
3. Build Upon What Excites You
When you create a blog, you’ll likely create an image or share a photo to add to it. Why not optimize this for your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn social threads? You don’t have to do them all (Read: Tip 1 above!), but do what feels right.
4. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
If you create a blog and Facebook post this week, you can re-share it on LinkedIn next month. Or, if it’s relevant in a few months, you can re-share it on social. When you create your content calendar, make space for relevant “throwback” posts at future dates. Consider a throwback post during holiday weeks when you still want to share a post but won’t have the time to spend online since you’re spending it with family or friends.
5. Quotes and Stats
One easy add for content calendars is quotes and statistics. People like to be inspired and informed. As you map your content calendar, consider what your audience needs to know and create a bite-size social post for it. The content after the infographic or graphic should provide insight into how that fact relates to your business. This tip is especially useful for B2B companies with a supply chain requirement, longer requisition period, or service-related sales.
6. Guests Posts
One of the greatest ways to drive traffic and enhance SEO is to have insights from others. Consider a guest post from a peer or leader in the industry as part of your content calendar strategy. However, if they write one for you then you should prepare to write one for them. Of course, you can link back to each other’s page and gain a nice backlink in the process.
7. Plan for the Quarter, Then the Year
Consider dripping it out rather than creating your entire year in one shot. As mentioned above, you can plan for “throwback” posts during busy or holiday weeks. So this pushes your calendar out past the quarter easily. Consider the cyclical nature of your business. When is it most active, and what are you selling during this time? Prepare for the busy influx at least one quarter ahead so people can start becoming excited about your offerings. Companies like eBay, Walmart, and Amazon prepare for Black Friday sales as early as June.
Do you need help creating your content calendar or content strategy? Reach out to MDINC today to discuss.
