The Social Brilliant

Editorial Calendar Instructions

Go to the calendar »

There’s one sure-fire way to take your blog from amateur hour to full-blown pro
status, and that’s to make absolutely sure you’ve got a plan. I guarantee the writers
of your favorite blogs aren’t sitting at their keyboards at 9pm the night before a post
gets published, juuuust finally deciding what to write about. Neither should you.

Going PRO means you always deliver on time and this editorial calendar is your ticket
to getting there.

STEP 1

Open up your Social Brilliant Editorial Calendar and click on the tab for the Planning
Worksheet. Use this year planner to fill in any important dates coming up for your
business — think launches or special events, webinars, speaking engagements, and
sale or promo dates. Keep this updated with any new or last-minute events and any
changes in plans. You always want to know what you’re talking about on your blog in
the context of what your business is actually doing.

STEP 2

Also add in notes on any dates that might alter the amount of business you get,
especially holidays, school years, buying seasons, heck, even the weather could
affect your customers’ buying habits.

STEP 3

Now, go through and highlight the specific dates on your planning worksheet where
you’ll be publishing a blog post. Whether you’re a once-a-week or a twice-monthly
publisher, decide right now exactly which dates you’ll publish on, and highlight
those days on your planner in a different color.
Social Brilliant 1 ©Roeder Studios 2019
 STEP 4

Pull ideas off your Brilliant Blog Topic Planner that are related (even vaguely) to any
of the special dates you noted in your planner. Cut and paste these titles onto the
publish dates you highlighted that make the most sense. For instance, if one of the
topics on your list includes “20 Holiday Gift Ideas For…”, make sure that you’re
scheduling it with enough time before the holidays for the post to be actionable! Any
topic ideas from your Brilliant Blog Topic Planner that are specific to a product or a
service you offer would be PERFECT to schedule leading up to a sale you’re
planning to offer.

STEP 5

Now fill in the blanks! Start with the highlighted date that’s closest to today and cut and
paste in one of your remaining Topic Planner ideas. Don’t leave a SINGLE highlighted
date blank.

I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING: “But what if I have a spur-of-the-moment

idea that I want to post about on my blog??? Shouldn’t I leave gaps for that
kind of thing?” The answer is NO. The idea is to make this as easy as you can
for yourself, and to remove any obstacles that get in the way of your posting
regularly. If you DO have an unscheduled amazing blog post that you want to
squeeze in, you can always swap out a post topic or publish an extra post.)

STEP 6

Flip to the Editorial Calendar tab of your Social Brilliant Editorial Calendar and pull in
your first few months worth of posts. Insert the Publish Date, Topic, and Category
(from the Brilliant Blog Topic Planner) here. Determine the date you’re committed to
write the post by and add it in the Written By Date column — make sure this gets
added to your to do list so you NEVER catch yourself scrambling to finish a post the
night before it’s scheduled to be published.

Create a Brilliant Blog Post Breakdown document for each scheduled post and add a
link to the document in your editorial calendar. That way, when it’s time to sit down
and write, all you’ll need is this Editorial Calendar and a big ol’ cup of coffee or tea!

Social Brilliant 2 ©Roeder Studios 2019

 Once posts are published, you can drop the live links into your calendar, so you can
look back proudly at the end of your year.

NOTE: Review your editorial calendar every quarter (put it on your calendar
so you don’t forget!) to make sure your holidays, special events, and business
events are all up-to-date and correct. If you’ve had any changes in business
plans, make sure they’re reflected on your calendar and that the titles on the
publish dates surrounding those events still make sense!

Social Brilliant 3 ©Roeder Studios 2019