Hi ...

Have you created an editorial calendar yet?  I actually created my first one for "myself" this week and immediately experienced benefits!  The difference is so great that the experience is a must to share with all of you!

Just what is an editorial calendar?  It's a calendar on which you place your planned online communications for at least a week in advance.  They have been a "must do" in all my coaching for businesses where more than one person does the online messaging for a business. An editorial calendar keeps you communications on track with a unified message and purpose. 

You can google "editorial calendars" and get a variety of templates with all sorts of ways you can assign your communications!  To be honest these methods remind me of one of my first sales managers.  He would say to us as we would be organizing our cold calling lists, desks and anything else we could find, that we were just getting ready to be ready. He'd also say, "just make the calls!" Likewise, in this conversation, editorial calendars just need to cover "your" basics.  Just get the job done!

How did I create my editorial calendar? What were my basics?
First I made a list of all the mediums on which I wanted my messaging to be delivered. The list included my weekly email for Keep Your Garden Growing, my email notice for my Garden Club call, social media daily postings, my blog postings, online press releases and  (after the fact - more on this further down) my Linkedin publisher capability!   

Next I assigned the topics I would talk about via each medium and also decide "if" I would use the medium (as in the case of the press release - not always necesessary).

Last, I broke down how many times I used each medium during the week and assigned a purpose for each message.  In the case of my blog my topic was creating my editorial calendar.  However, being that I want to blog 3 times a week, each one of blog postings had a different purposf as listed here:

1. Why I was creating an editorial calendar.
2. How well using the editorial calendar worked.
3. Share thoughts on my next week's calendar.

Once my purpose was defined, each individual blog post was assigned an appropriate day during the week to publish the post.

The assignment of topic, purpose, and days works great for daily postings also! My topic for my daily post this week is about knowing what to say in a post. However each daily post has a different purpose underneath the umbrella of knowing what to say in a post. This way each post reads differently and will make a different connection even though the topic is the same.

The entire process took me about 45 minutes of focused time.

Why did I create an editorial calendar?
Having not blogged in a while, I was inspired by an article on 3 reasons to blog!  Blogging had vanished from my online activity. BUT ..  I want to blog consistently,  I like to blog consistently,  and I asked myself what would it take?  The answer was to create an editorial calendar for "me!"

What is it that I experienced?
Right from the start the value of an editorial calendar appeared!   Couldn't help being a bit surprised and I must say, very pleased.  The first benefit showed up in the very first step, while I was making the list of all the mediums I wanted to be visible upon. I gave the first list I made serious thought, read and reread the list, felt good and confidently printed a final copy.  Shortly thereafter I realized I had neglected to include my publisher postings on Linkedin - something that is very, very important for me to maintain.  So ... I redid the list and printed a new final.  Have to give a BIG "thank you" to  my editorial calendar!  Made me realize how what you want to do can still slip through the cracks even when you give it focus!

The second benefit experienced was that I had "more time!"  And yes,,,what a wonderful surprise!   Even though I am experienced and well trained in what I do online and am never lost for what to say or how, I do run lots of things through my head constantly. Putting my online posting down on the editorial calendar removed all "that" thinking from my head.  The most amazing thing was I never realized the energy that was being used until I stopped using my mind for that!  Was great to be more open for all the other tasks I have in my day.  

So .... guess what?   I recommend that "all" of you implement an editorial calendar!  If you would like some help with this join us on the Garden  Club call this Thursday OR contact me and lets talk about what you need in a complimentary call and come up with a  plan that might work going forward for you one-on-one.

Reach me at 310-306-1453.  Call into the Garden Club via the info below.