Content calendar template.

A content calendar is a list of everything you plan to publish, with a date, a channel, an owner and a status for each piece. This one comes as an Excel workbook that also opens in Google Sheets, and as a PDF month planner you can type into or print.

The workbook does the boring parts for you. Pick the channel and format from a dropdown, move the status as the piece moves, and the year view counts what is planned and what is published.

What is in it

Part	What it does
Content plan	One row per piece: date, week, channel, format, title, goal, owner, status, link
Year at a glance	A theme and key dates for each month, with pieces planned and published counted for you
Example month	A filled month for a software company, to show the level of detail
Lists	The channels, formats and owners behind the dropdowns. Edit them once
PDF planner	A month grid, a plan page, an example and a checklist

How to use it

• Start with the year. One theme and the key dates for each month. Launches, events, the dates your customers care about.
• Plan one month at a time. Fill the month in one sitting. More than a month ahead and the plan goes stale.
• Start from one big piece. One article or video a month, cut into posts, clips and an email. Less to make, more to publish.
• Give every piece a goal and an owner. If nobody owns it, nobody makes it. If the whole month is awareness, add something that asks for a lead.
• Move the status every Friday. Idea, drafting, in review, approved, scheduled, published. The colors change on their own.

Where it fits

The calendar is the last step. It works best once you know what you are trying to achieve and who for, which is what our content marketing plan post covers. If you are stuck on what to put in it, our list of social media content ideas is a good place to start.

And if the hard part is making the videos and designs on the calendar, that is the part we do at Moonb.