![]() ![]() Once you've planned the content you'll publish, it's time to turn those ideas into new posts. The best part about using Google Sheets as your editorial calendar is that it can be the starting point for automated workflows that will save your team a lot of time. Use Your Spreadsheet as a Base of Operations This function is simple, but it will help you and your team to quickly add, catalog, and review ideas. Consider adding a new sheet for these ideas. Set up the form and, at the top of the form, select "Responses." Here, you can choose to store all form responses in your editorial calendar spreadsheet. Make it easy for your team to add new ideas to your content calendar with Google Forms. Track Your Editorial Budget in Google Sheets That’s it-you’ve got your Google Sheets editorial calendar! But if you want to add some extra functionality, you can also add a few special features that will help streamline your editorial workflow. This keeps your main view clean and focused. Want to hide old items? Select the rows under that month or another category, right-click and select Hide Rows. You might not need to fill in each column for each piece: I've included a Month column which I only fill once per month to group articles, something that could work equally well to organize a blog's articles by day or a publisher's content by author. Then, add every content piece for your editorial calendar in a new row. Make a new spreadsheet, and add columns for everything you want to track-something that will be a bit different for every blog, newsletter, or online publisher. Simply send the share link to your team, or add them via their Google accounts, and you're good to go! Combine this with endless room for dates, word counts, topics, status, budget, and everything else that drives your editorial process, and you’ve got a powerhouse editorial calendar tool.īuilding an editorial calendar on Google Sheets is super simple. Google Sheets is the classic spreadsheet tool with a twist: You can easily collaborate with a team. How to use Airtable as your editorial calendar. How to use Google Sheets as your editorial calendar. Here's how to build an editorial calendar in both: Another option is Airtable, a hybrid database tool that's as easy to use as a spreadsheet-with added flexibility. ![]() Ready to build a spreadsheet-powered editorial calendar? Most spreadsheet apps work similarly to each other, but Google Sheets often works the best for this since it's easy to share with your team and integrate with other apps. Getting Started with a Spreadsheet Editorial Calendar The result? Double the meetings, and more confusion for everyone. I’ve worked for managers who implemented a complex spreadsheet approach, when employees were used to a simple calendar approach. If your team is working well with a simpler solution, or if they want something more action-focused and less metric-focused, don’t rock the boat unless it’s for a very good reason. Maybe the rest of your team functions well with a simple spreadsheet or calendar approach. You should also consider your team’s standard workflows: Do they need this level of detail? Maybe only one person needs all the metrics. So if your team is strapped for time, or if your content team hierarchy is very flat, you may have a hard time getting a spreadsheet to work well for you. Without someone manually updating the data in your editorial calendar (or setting up a workflow that automatically does this), your spreadsheet will quickly become obsolete and ignored. Your editorial spreadsheet may be comprehensive, but if it makes it harder for your team to actually take action, you’ll end up with a net loss. Probably Not for You If…Ī spreadsheet editorial calendar can quickly become burdensome if it requires your team to constantly check the spreadsheet or to copy and paste important tasks and details. If your content team needs to track a lot of variables or metrics for each piece of content, a spreadsheet gives you the room to do that in a visual fashion.ĭo you run a lot of content promotions? Track content metrics for other departments or clients? Have a large or distributed content team? A spreadsheet is probably your best bet for keeping all the information you need in one accessible place. It can be complex to manage and customize, however, so a spreadsheet is best suited to teams with a lot of moving parts to manage. Since spreadsheets are so versatile, teams of all sizes can benefit from a spreadsheet-based editorial calendar. What Kind of Team Benefits from a Spreadsheet Editorial Calendar? This post is part of a 5 part series entitled How to Build an Editorial Calendar That Will Boost Your Productivity. ![]()
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