Marketers take note: If you want to execute a strong, seamless content strategy, you need a content calendar.
Content calendars aren’t just about organizing your upcoming posts; they also help ensure that your content aligns with your strategic goals and maximizes your resources efficiently.
Whether you’re managing multiple social platforms or experimenting with various content types, a content calendar provides you with the blueprint for consistent, impactful content creation.
In this article, we’ve rounded up the top 9 content calendar templates, each designed to streamline content planning and boost productivity.
From simple spreadsheets to more complex solutions, we’ve compiled a range of templates to suit your needs.
Let’s dive in.
What Is A Content Calendar?
Before jumping into the best content calendar templates, let’s start with the basics.
A content calendar is a fundamentally a time-management system tailored for content creation. It helps you organize your workflow into manageable weekly or daily blocks, enabling you to maintain a clear and structured approach to producing content.
It also gives you a bird’s-eye view of your content strategy, allowing you to understand what you have in the pipeline and when and where it will be published.
This way, you can align your content with upcoming events, marketing campaigns, product releases, etc., to ensure each piece of content meets your audience where they are and serves its intended purpose.
A content calendar is an indispensable tool for social media marketers, bloggers, freelancers, and content creators. With a content calendar, you can consistently produce high-quality content, which is key to building an engaged community.
While some people prefer to use specialized software for their content calendar needs, it’s possible to start with something as simple as an Excel sheet.
Here, we’ll highlight some existing content calendar templates that you can easily leverage and adapt to your brand’s needs to get started.
Why Should I Use A Content Calendar?
Whether you’re the only content specialist in your in-house ecommerce company or an agency social media manager, a content calendar makes you better organized with your campaigns.
It’s also a helpful tool for collaborating with multiple teammates, as it can help inform them of what’s needed and when.
Why? At a glance, it’s easy to understand what went live, along with the copy and asset used. Sort your posts by social platform and assign some color coding. Usually, each tab is marked by month.
Because you can see the bigger picture (at least a month in advance), you can map out themes and daily social posts ahead of schedule, plan well-researched infographics with your designer, and track how your posts are doing.
You’re better equipped to craft your message to your target audience, keeping their wants and needs in mind when the seasonal trends come and go.
You can plan around holidays and significant world events, from Valentine’s Day to Pride Month or any national event relevant to your brand values.
(Not to toot our own horn, but we have our own marketing calendar to help you with just that!)
Plus, by planning ahead, you’re less likely to commit a faux pas – as the content will be brainstormed, briefed, approved, and published before crunch time. It’s a protective measure.
Without further ado, here are our picks (most of them are free!).
Top 9 Content Calendar Templates For 2024
1. CoSchedule Marketing Calendar Template
Screenshot from CoSchedule.com, April 2024If you’re running a WordPress blog, CoSchedule may be your best bet.
It truly shines in content marketing with its user-friendly interface and AI-driven features, such as the AI Social Assistant, which can help you draft social messages to enhance engagement and save time.
The intuitive calendar is easy to use. It has 15 seamless integrations, including WordPress, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Mailchimp, and more.
The Bluesky and Google Business Profile integrations can help streamline your content management across different platforms, while functionalities like the TikTok Slideshow Scheduling feature allow for dynamic content creation directly from your calendar interface.
We recommend this one if you manage your blog and social media. It’s a great choice for individual and small to medium-sized marketing teams looking for a straightforward, efficient way to manage their content.
- Cost: Free plan offers a social calendar with up to three users and two social profiles. Paid options start at $19/month for additional users, social profiles, and more advanced features.
2. Airtable Content Calendar Template
Screenshot from Airtable.com, April 2024If you’re managing a content calendar in Google Sheets, Excel, or CSV files and looking to upgrade, Airtable is an excellent choice.
Airtable simplifies content management with its robust automation features for reminders and task tracking, which are perfect for those who prefer not to juggle complex spreadsheet formulas.
The platform supports multiple data fields for important content management, such as Title, Writer, Due Date, Status, and Image, and allows for easy customization to suit your specific workflow needs.
Airtable’s straightforward content calendar template enables you to manage everything from social media content to blog posts and more, providing a clear overview of author workloads, ideas in the pipeline, and key results essential for any content strategy.
You can assign tasks, track deadlines with multiple calendar views (including a grid, kanban, or calendar format), and send reminders through built-in alerts to make sure everyone is staying on track.
- Cost: A free version is available; more advanced features are included in the paid plans, which are tailored to team size and specific needs.
3. HubSpot Social Media Content Calendar Template
Screenshot from HubSpot.com, April 2024Excel geeks, rejoice!
HubSpot’s free Social Media Content Calendar is pretty flexible. Just insert the month + year into the Monthly Planning Calendar tab, and adjust the template to suit your brand.
The template is structured with several tabs dedicated to various platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X (Twitter), and Pinterest, ensuring you can manage updates across your social channels with precision.
Each tab is thoughtfully designed, providing examples of how to best engage with your audience on each platform.
There is also a Content Repository tab to help you track all the content you’re producing, which is invaluable for organizing and reusing your existing content.
It even comes with a comprehensive starter guide PDF that helps you understand how to make the most of the template.
It’s more for social media than blog posts, so we recommend this one for social media specialists in startups and in-house social media managers for ecommerce brands – though it could be tailored to fit a variety of needs.
- Cost: Free – just download the template.
4. Trello Editorial Content Calendar Template
Screenshot from Trello.com, April 2024A popular project management tool, Trello is an ideal content calendar choice for massive teams already on an Agile framework and using similar products (Jira, Confluence, etc.).
The drag-and-drop functionality is easy to use. One glance, and you know what the task status is.
Trello offers a specialized free editorial content calendar template that’s ideal for seamlessly managing the entire lifecycle of blog posts and social media content.
Using the template, you can visually track each piece of content from conception to publication. You can manage drafts, coordinate illustrations, and attach necessary assets directly to each Trello card dedicated to specific content pieces.
The template enhances team collaboration by enabling you to add editors, designers, and social media managers to cards, ensuring that all stakeholders are kept up-to-date.
You’ll also find checklists to ensure all steps are completed, filterable card labels, and a calendar view to give you a clear perspective on your publishing pipeline, making it a powerful tool for large teams focused on detailed content planning and execution.
- Cost: Free – sign up and download the template.
5. Hootsuite Social Media Content Calendar Template
Screenshot from Hootsuite.com, April 2024Similar to HubSpot’s template, Hootsuite has a downloadable, free Google Sheet spreadsheet with five tabs: Instructions, Strategy, Monthly View, Weekly View, and Evergreen Content Library – for Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and any other platform you might want to add.
The weekly view is a fairly unique feature that you don’t see in every template.
The Instructions tab provides tips on using the template, while the Strategy tab helps you plan your overall strategy – including your business goals, social goals, content pillars, pieces, and tactics. Like HubSpot’s template, Hootsuite’s evergreen content tab enables you to build a library of content to revisit when needed.
It even lists key dates of interest available throughout the year for each month – such as events like Black Friday and Small Business Saturday (USA) – to help you stay on top of important marketing moments.
The simple-to-use template is customizable yet ideal for Excel pros who don’t want to use a paid tool and the extra features that come with it. It’s ideal for businesses of all sizes and is a practical choice for teams looking to optimize their workflows without investing in premium tools.
- Cost: Free to download by filling out a lead generation form.
6. Adobe Express Content Scheduler
Screenshot from Adobe.com, April 2024Adobe Express’s free content scheduler is a great free tool for taking control of your social media planning and publishing process.
It provides a visually oriented interface where posts are prominently displayed in a large format for easy readability of captions and clear viewing of images.
It also has color-coding and labeling rows to help you stay organized, allowing you to categorize posts and note important campaign details or team communications.
You can connect your social accounts directly to the content scheduler and schedule them in advance or publish them with the click of a button. Users can also save ideas as unscheduled posts, create draft posts, and easily rearrange content using the drag-and-drop functionality.
Adobe Express also offers a plethora of templates and materials to help you create and edit content in-platform.
- Cost: Free to use, with more advanced features available for those who sign up for Adobe’s Premium and Teams paid tiers.
7. Small Business Trends Social Media Calendar Template
Screenshot from SmallBizTrends.com, April 2024The content calendar template from Small Business Trends is tailored specifically for – you guessed it – small businesses!
It draws from the company’s effective marketing strategies to help you streamline your social media and marketing efforts. It is available for download in various formats, including Word, Excel, and PDF, making it customizable for your business’s needs.
The template itself is fairly straightforward. It features a Monday to Friday overview of content across Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok, as well as a section for “All Platforms.”
It’s plug-and-play, meaning you would simply enter your plans for each channel, each day (and duplicate them week over week).
What we love about this template is that Small Business Trends offers suggestions throughout for what you might do that day. For example, “Share posts from satisfied customers” on Instagram on Wednesday, or “Have an unveiling of your latest product or service” on TikTok on Monday.
While not exhaustive, it’s a nice touch to help provide inspiration, especially for individuals and small businesses just getting started. We like this template for its simplicity and low learning curve.
8. Backlinko Content Calendar Template
Screenshot from Backlinko.com, April 2024Backlinko offers a versatile, free content calendar template that’s a practical tool for both individuals and small teams looking to enhance their content production efforts.
Available as an Excel spreadsheet or a Google sheet, the template features two main components: a basic monthly calendar view and a more detailed content list and workflow sheet.
The monthly view offers a clean slate for basic scheduling, while the workflow tab is meticulously designed to guide users through the various stages of content creation (from drafting to publishing), making it particularly useful for managing multiple pieces simultaneously.
This is where the real strength of Backlinko’s template lies. The step-by-step guide to content development in the workflow tab covers everything from meta descriptions to design, email marketing, and more, ensuring everyone on your team stays on track with each piece of content.
9. Monday.com Content Calendar Template
Screenshot from Monday.com, April 2024The Monday.com content calendar template is a nice option for teams that want to consolidate their content creation and distribution pipeline.
Simply dive into its versatile dashboard, and customize the template to align perfectly with your team’s operational flow.
Designed to support a ton of content types and phases – from the initial brainstorming to the final publishing stages – Monday.com’s template ensures every piece of content is tracked and managed efficiently across platforms.
It features a centralized content management system that allows users to assign tasks to essential team members such as writers, designers, and editors.
You have multiple viewing options, such as Gantt, calendar, Kanban, and form views. It also allows you to integrate with tools like Google Drive, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Dropbox.
In addition, you can access built-in automation for reminders and notifications to keep everyone on track.
This one is ideal for both small-scale projects and larger content operations, with its focus on efficiency and scalability.
- Cost: Free – just sign up and get started.
How A Content Calendar Can Improve Your Content Planning
Effective content planning is crucial for elevating your marketing strategy.
If you want to take control of your marketing strategy and create impactful content that resonates with its target audience, a content calendar is for you.
As this article highlights, creating a content calendar doesn’t have to be complicated or arduous – especially when plenty of intuitive and powerful templates are already in place to get you started.
Explore our top picks, find your match, and set the stage for a year of impactful content creation. Happy planning!
More resources:
Featured Image: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock
Nguồn: Searchenginejournal
