Is your Content Calendar Ready for 2019?
It is no secret that you have to build your online presence. And to build your online presence you need to build your content. If it seems like too much work, not to worry. Creating a simple content calendar will help keep you on track.
What is a Content Calendar?
A content calendar allows you to schedule content topics while tracking details such as when and where you plan to post it. You will plug in your ideas and also follow past content to look for opportunities to repurpose posts across different channels such as your social media. This overview is planned over the course of the year and can evolve to allow for newsy items such as changes in the housing market or important trending information that will attract attention to your content.
Evergreen versus Topical Content
There are two basic types of content:
Evergreen: This content is timeless. It can include things such as Buying and Selling Tips, First Time Buyer Tips, The Different Types of Homes, Condos versus Houses, etc.
Topical: This content is also referred to as "seasonal" or "timely" because it provides timely or more seasonally driven content. You can build content based on the holidays, leverage relevant current events in real estate, come up with fun posts such as Super Bowl recipes, or watch the news for local events that might be of interest to your followers.
Having a good mix of both types of content is a must. Evergreen works as an anchor to help establish your content, while topical content helps keep people engaged.
Getting Started: Topical
Your calendar can begin with the basic key dates of the year using topical content including:
Scheduled events you wish to highlight in the community
Holidays from Valentine’s Day to New Year’s Eve
Logical industry related seasonal topics, such as home maintenance for winter, home comfort tips, selling tips in the down season, etc.
Events such as the Super Bowl
This will provide the base for your content calendar. When inserting these content ideas into your calendar, remember you want to be posting related content in advance of the event. There are two reasons for this. First, people will be searching for holiday recipes for example, several weeks before, while someone interested in selling their home in the spring will most likely be looking in late winter. Second, it takes a while for Google to index your seasonal content. Therefore your seasonal content should be posted at least a month or even two out so that people can find it.
Begin Building Content Ideas: Evergreen
Once your base is built, you can start looking for wholes and jump off points to add more ideas. Some people like to create content types for inspiration such as:
Market Trends
Mortgages
For Buyers
For Sellers
First Time Buyers
First Time Sellers
Check Lists, etc.
Once you create these subjects you can begin to make a list of ideas. You then can take those ideas and plug them into logical spots on the calendar.
Be Flexible
Your calendar will keep you on track so you can continue to create new posts. However, because there will be times you will find timely posts based on news items you can plug those in as they arrive. Your evergreen content can be shifted to accommodate these types of posts.
Use a Variety of Content Types & Channels
Remember that content should be distributed across many different channels. This includes your website, your blog and social media. If this seems like too much to manage, a simple rule of thumb is to re-purpose content. If you write a blog, post a link to social media with a teaser to drive traffic across your different platforms. As well, you can rewrite and freshen up past posts to make them a little more relevant for the current market. This works well for info on mortgages for example.
As well, don't depend strictly on text. You should be using images in hand with video. Video is an excellent tool to provide tours of homes, take people on a community walk or to talk about the market. You can also do interviews with clients, your broker, people who live in the community, etc. to help keep things interesting. These videos can then be posted to your social media platforms, or even added to your blogs as an additional piece of info. If you can talk about it, you can use it as video!
Include where you want to post your content for each date so you don't forget to post it across your various channels. Also note when you want to use video and/or text into your calendar and schedule when you will record it.
A quick tip on social media: Set up an Instagram account. This is becoming the preferred social media platform and it is easier to use because it loves images. This allows you to do quick posts on a regular basis.
It's never too late to start a content calendar, as once it's started your content strategy can begin. That said, the sooner you start, the sooner your content will be out there.
