I suck at blogging. I have for the last year, maybe even longer. And that really bugs me. I love blogging. So I am confessing my sins and recommitting myself. But I know that to be successful you need a plan. I tell clients all the time that an editorial calendar will ease their blogging pain and help them keep on track to their blogging goals. Why don't I simply take my own advice and create an editorial calendar?
I have two inspirations for my 2011 editorial calendar. The first is one that has actually stuck with me for years - Mike Stansone's Sansone's post about editorial calendars. His post is so simple and straightforward; I've thought about it often over the last few years. It's a perfect model for an easy, breezy blog editorial calendar.
My other inspiration is a recent post from Gretchen Rubin (of the Happiness Project) who discussed choosing a one-word theme to "set the tone" for 2011. I decided to adopt this approach for my blog's editorial calendar. The one word gives me a consistent prompt but also allows me a fair bit of freedom.
So, here is my 2011 editorial calendar:
Monday = Inspire
Inspire encourages me to start the week off right. Also, I intend for this to be primarily visual (so an image or a video) though there is certainly room for an inspiring quotation or idea.
Tuesday = Advise
The main reason I started MNIK was to share ideas about digital marketing and social media. We did a lot of interesting work last year and I'm about to start teaching my third class on social media at UBC - I certainly don't have a lack of war stories or insights about online marketing or best practices in social media. This is a day to get back to basics and what this blog is supposed to be about.
Wednesday = Shill
Some of what I blog about are product reviews. Sometimes technical products, sometimes books. Sometimes I've been asked to participate in a blogger outreach program. Or sometimes I want to (explicitly) promote my own clients or my own projects. So Wednesday is shill day - the day I'm not blogging for purely altruistic reasons ;)
Thursday = Geek
I am a geek at heart. Not just a technical geek (though certainly that) but also a word geek, a wine geek, a cooking geek. So expect some kind of technical tip or "how to" or app review or extreme geek piece on the origins of the word "kitty-corner". This might also be the day for infographics.
Friday = Discover
This is the day to share the new: a new blog, the day for my book summaries from my 2011 reading project, a new website. I also have an interview series I'm planning to start - this would be the day I share those as well.
I'm not planning on blogging on weekends.
This is my blogging plan for 2011. What do you think - doable? Are you recommitting to blogging or podcasting or some other form of online expression?
Photo Credit: keso