👹 How to Manage a Content Calendar and Workflow (1/2)

The authority on mixternal comms

Feeding the content beast. Created using DALL-E

In a recent poll of Mister Editorial’s readers I asked what you wanted to learn more about. The top vote-getter resulted in the 🔥 article When Should We Say Something About Social Issues? A Way Forward. A close second was the topic of how to manage an editorial workflow, which is what this two-part series is all about. The tips apply to internal and external (mixternal!) comms.

A few caveats:

• This series assumes you know what an editorial (content) strategy is and that you have the most basic elements nailed down, including an understanding of business goals, audiences, multimedia, channels, etc.

• If you don’t have these basics ☝️, start with What Is an Editorial Strategy for Communications, then go here Six Steps to Develop an Editorial Strategy for Communications, and then come back to this article.

• Managing an editorial (content; storytelling) calendar is not the same as managing an internal comms calendar, but they are similar. Here’s a basic setup of the latter. (h/t Kyla Sims)

• The tools I show in this series are recommendations, not endorsements.

Lastly, this series is not about how to solicit content from contributors, manage content series, capture and analyze readership data, or how to even generate story ideas. This series is narrowly focused on actually managing the content flow.

A Tested Concept

There is no one and best way to manage content. What follows is a review of the way I’ve managed content flows for 10+ years. I managed editorial for Bloomberg and BlackRock this way and I use the method in my current role in publishing mixternal storytelling at Lam Research.

• I also used the same method to manage articles for a web magazine I ran for 10 years.

• Ever the student, I continue to refine the method, especially as new technology and channels avail themselves, but by and large, I think I’ve cracked the code.

🍿 Part 1 is loooong because I go into detail about each step, providing helpful screenshots along the way.

• In part 2 I’ll show you examples of the individual story “cards” and checklists, explain color coding (labels), and more.

These step-by-step instructions are for paid members.

• If you’re not yet a paid member, please consider becoming one. You’ll get insights like this for less than it costs to go to the movies.