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I tried to implement a content calendar into our content development cycle about five times. Each time, I would tweak it a bit, create it in a different program or reorganize it. But it never stuck. We would use it for a couple weeks and then slowly forget about it. And here's why: Because we weren't planning far enough ahead. The content calendar wasn't any use to us because we were writing our blog posts and creating content one week at a time. If our weekly email went out Thursdays at 4 p.m., we were still strategizing what we wanted to write about on Tuesday. We didn't have a use for it. It wasn't until we started planning ahead that we saw the real power of the content calendar. And since then, our entire content development cycle has changed for the better! 

We often hear from church leaders that they don't feel like they have the time or capacity to develop a robust blog. But we know that using a project management tool like this could drastically change that!

Here are three tips for implementing a content calendar: 

1. Use it to collect new ideas
   When it comes to content development, one of the hardest things to do is to come up with an idea. We use our content calendar as a place to manage each piece of content of course, but we also use it as a place to park ideas. So each time I hear a new idea from one of our Communications Strategists, when a team member emails me and says, "I think it would be cool if we wrote about..." or when I hear a client ask a question that others are asking as well, I add that basic idea to the calendar. 
   
   
2. Plan ahead at least a few weeks at a time 
   We started seeing real success when we began to go through our list of ideas and decide what we were going to publish each week in advance. Not only does this get us on the same page, but it gives us time to contact someone on the team to help us create the content, edit it and add any design that we may need. We recommend you take time each week to jump into your calendar and decide what you want to post and when. This might be based on a weekly enews or your typical ministry cycle. 
   
   
3. Don't be afraid to revise 
   We started out with 10 columns we thought we'd need to help us organize each new piece of content. But after using it for a few weeks, I realized it was just crowding our document, so now we only use six columns regularly. The purpose of using a content calendar is to help you stay organized and efficient, so don't worry about fitting your content into the mold of the calendar. Evaluate how you are using the calendar every once in a while, and don't be afraid to revise it if you need to. 

In order to help you get started, we've put together a free content calendar! Feel free to use it as is or edit it based on your church's unique needs.

Download the calendar below!