What are the best practices for creating and managing an online content calendar?

If you want to create engaging and consistent online content, you need a plan. A content calendar is a tool that helps you organize your content ideas, schedule your publishing dates, and track your performance. But how do you create and manage an effective content calendar? Here are some best practices to follow.

1 Define your goals and audience

Before you start filling your calendar with topics and titles, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your content and who you want to reach. Your goals and audience will guide your content strategy and help you measure your results. For example, if your goal is to increase your email subscribers, you need to create content that offers value and encourages sign-ups. If your audience is young and tech-savvy, you need to use a tone and format that appeals to them.

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Sofia Martimianakis

Marketing and Communications Specialist ‧ Children's Lit Author ‧ Editor ‧ Writing Ripples of Change, One Story at a Time
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In my experience, it helps to outline the steps required to reach your goal. A content calendar is a great place to schedule each task that will bring you one step closer to your goal. For example, if your overarching goal is to increase audience engagement, a multi-pronged approach may be your best bet. Breaking down your strategy into steps is also an effective way to keep track of which strategies are driving results.

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2 Choose your content types and platforms

Next, you need to decide what types of content you want to create and where you want to distribute them. Depending on your goals and audience, you might choose to create blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, ebooks, or other formats. You also need to choose the platforms that suit your content and reach your audience, such as your website, social media, email, or third-party sites. You can use a content matrix to map out your content types and platforms and ensure you have a balanced mix.

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Sofia Martimianakis

Marketing and Communications Specialist ‧ Children's Lit Author ‧ Editor ‧ Writing Ripples of Change, One Story at a Time
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Letting content that's working with your target audience guide your platform strategy is a good place to start. But it's also important to think about the type of content you'll be producing and whether or not it will benefit from visuals or audio, for example. Topics can certainly be imagined across various platforms, but which ones will allow the content creator to fully get the message across to your audience? And which platforms play to your content creator's strengths? These are questions to consider when planning which platforms to go with.

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3 Create a content calendar template

A content calendar template is a document or tool that helps you plan and visualize your content schedule. You can use a spreadsheet, calendar app, or content management system to create your template. Your template should include the title or topic, content type and format, platform and channel, publishing date and time, status and progress, assigned team member or role, keywords and tags, and performance metrics for each piece of content.

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4 Generate and prioritize content ideas

Once you have your template ready, you need to fill it with content ideas that match your goals, audience, types, and platforms. To generate content ideas, you can use sources such as keyword research, competitor analysis, customer feedback, trending topics, content gaps, and content repurposing. Furthermore, it's essential to prioritize your content ideas based on their relevance, urgency, and impact. To do this efficiently, you can use a scoring system or a prioritization matrix to rank your ideas and assign them to your calendar.

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Tom Fishenden

Making charity comms matter through creative approaches.
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For this, I always find that using Awareness Days and key messaging of national or regional relevance can make a huge difference. Understanding the key dates for conversation within your sector can help to build out a sense of narrative in comms work - giving connective meaning to your comms which in turn make people much more receptive to the message you're trying to convey.

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5 Review and update your content calendar regularly

A content calendar is not a static document; it is a dynamic tool that requires regular review and update. Checking your content calendar at least once a week to ensure everything is on track and making necessary adjustments is essential. Additionally, monitoring your content performance and using the data to improve your content strategy and calendar is equally important. The metrics you should track include traffic and views, engagement and shares, conversions and leads, as well as revenue and ROI.

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Tom Fishenden

Making charity comms matter through creative approaches.
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I find a content calendar needs to update as your needs change. If you've launched a new project one month, but find that it's launch hasn't been as successful as you want - then your plan should reflect this. It can be easy to feel like a content calendar is a replacement for a reactive comms strategy, but the truth is it should be used in combination with reactive communications to maximise reach.

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6 Collaborate and communicate with your team

Creating and managing an online content calendar is a team effort that involves different roles and responsibilities, such as content writers, editors, designers, marketers, and managers. To ensure a successful content creation process, it’s important to collaborate and communicate with your team. Using tools and platforms can help you share and access your content calendar, assign tasks and deadlines, provide feedback and approval, store and organize your content assets, and integrate with other tools and systems.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Bhavik Sarkhedi 🪜

I Help Founders, CEOs & C-level Executives Increase Online Presence Organically via LinkedIn, Content Marketing, and SEO | Serial Entrepreneur with 2 Exits | Among The Global Personal Branding Experts 2025 List by Forbes
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Creating and managing an online content calendar involves several best practices. Firstly, I always start with a content strategy, defining the goals and understanding the target audience. Secondly, I consider key dates or events relevant to the business and plan content around them. I also ensure there's a mix of content types, like blog posts, videos, infographics. It's crucial to regularly review and update the calendar, accommodating changes in trends or business priorities. I also believe in setting deadlines and assigning roles for accountability. Lastly, using a good project management tool, like Trello or Asana, aids in seamless management and tracking.

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What are the best practices for creating and managing an online content calendar?

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1 Define your goals and audience

2 Choose your content types and platforms

3 Create a content calendar template

4 Generate and prioritize content ideas

5 Review and update your content calendar regularly

6 Collaborate and communicate with your team

7 Here’s what else to consider

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