While many content strategists work predominantly with product or service-design teams, equally as many work in marketing. For those in marketing, the line between marketer and strategist gets heavily blurred. As always, while the job title matters little, figuring out where to focus your time and energy matters a lot.
One of the easiest things to lose sight of is the editorial calendar.
Whose job is it?
Does the head of marketing need to own it, to keep everyone else aligned? Does the content strategist own it, as they’re responsible for strategic planning? Does the blog team own it, since blog posts are more structured and scheduled than social media or other marketing areas?
Here are some questions to consider:
- Who has ownership of the strategic plan? If the answer is “no one” or “everyone,” you need to make one person accountable. That’s the person who should “own” the editorial calendar.
- What does a RACI chart of your marketing team look like? This is a great exercise even if you think everything’s going smoothly, and the person who is typically “accountable” should own the calendar.
- What are the main forms of communication between your team and your users? Are these channels aligned toward the same goal? All these forms of communication should be displayed on the calendar.
- How much transparency exists between channels? The more transparency, the easier an editorial calendar is to manage. The less transparency, the more important it is to have an editorial calendar!
Editorial calendars make the content world go ’round.