I’m educating our editorial calendar webinars this week, and this query got here up: What’s the distinction between an editorial calendar and a content material calendar and which do I want?
I see this query like I do the communications versus advertising query within the nonprofit sector. Sure, they’re technically totally different, however the sensible actuality in our sector is that they’re normally carried out collectively by the identical individual and subsequently usually used interchangeably.
Similar with this query.
Within the company world, the editorial calendar is commonly considered because the long-term strategic doc that lays out themes and large story arcs. The content material calendar is the day-to-day content material improvement and publishing calendar.
However I desire to think about these two phrases in a different way within the nonprofit sector.
I exploit “editorial calendar” to outline the doc that claims what you will publish, and when, and in what communications channels, whether or not that’s this week or six months from now.
I exploit “content material calendar” most frequently with organizations which might be heavy content material producers, usually with program workers producing plenty of long-form content material about a wide range of totally different matters which might be then turned over to the comms workers to repurpose and distribute by a number of channels. So on this case, the content material calendar is basically in regards to the manufacturing schedule for these long-form paperwork (experiences, white papers, guides, and many others.). The content material calendar covers what’s being developed when and by whom on this system aspect and when that content material will probably be prepared for the comms workforce to distribute broadly. So that you would possibly consider it because the “pre-editorial calendar work.”
Now, once more, this usually merged into one huge perform by nonprofit comms workers, as a result of it needs to be. They don’t have the sources or luxurious of managing each individually.
So, my backside line: Use an editorial calendar to handle your content material manufacturing and distribution total. When you’ve got A LOT of content material being developed in your group, then look additional upstream, and embed the “content material calendar” about how that content material will get developed into your bigger editorial calendar.
