Here's a scenario: The head of the marketing department, the content manager, the social media manager, the content editor, and the copywriter are sitting in a meeting to develop a content marketing strategy. Goals are defined, topics are suggested, distribution and campaigns are planned. During the meeting, each person responsible takes their own notes. Afterwards, they refer to key points, quickly scribbled lists, and Post-it notes and now work quietly on their own.
So, what's missing in this construct? That's right, regular coordination, feedback, communication, and collaboration. As a result, articles are not finished by the deadline, social seeding is delayed, and content pieces miss their target. The solution to this problem is an editorial plan!
There are various ways to implement an editorial plan. As a Google document that all participants have access to. With an internal Excel sheet that is emailed back and forth between those responsible. Or with collaboration-focused software that simplifies teamwork, adherence to agreements, and scheduling in a convenient and logical way. A virtual desk, so to speak, that
- makes all agreements from the editorial meeting available to all participants;
- enables cloud-based collaboration in real time;
- synchronized the editorial plan with the schedule;
- Allows individual access rights for all employees involved in content production.
contentbird presents its improved editor and content calendar for greater collaboration in content marketing.
{{divider}}
Content collaboration on a whole new level with the editor & content calendar
Close cooperation is essential for the success of a content strategy. Research by the German Marketing Association has shown that of the 80% of companies that work with editorial plans, only 10% use tools, software, or platforms for planning and only 15% use such tools for performance analysis.
This means that in 65 to 70% of cases, there is a lack of efficient and effective integration of the various processes beyond the editorial meeting. The contentbird platform transforms this bumpy workflow into a smooth overall process. To achieve this, ideas and research, briefings and content creation, scheduling and distribution, content tracking, and KPI analysis are synchronized and centralized.
Instead of lengthy email communication and cumbersome document approvals regarding progress in editorial planning, all parties involved are kept up to date on the current status of processing at all times.
{{divider}}
The contentbird Creation Intelligence Editor
The Creation Intelligence Editor is at the heart of content production. It bundles all the features that support the creation of relevant and converting content. Individual characteristics for each piece of content can be stored in the content pipeline, as well as the framework conditions of the overall strategy. This makes it easier for authors to maintain a common thread in content production.
When it comes to content creation, the name says it all: a smart correction mode and clever version comparison shorten the usual editing process. No more document chaos, no endless correction loops, no tedious email correspondence, and no more copy-paste. Instead, you get an easy-to-use interface that allows you to apply Flesch reading best practices and optimization recommendations to your text with a single click.
These features—based on methods and practices widely regarded as promising among content marketers and SEOs—not only help improve individual articles so that they are better received by search engines and target groups. They also enable a sustainable learning curve for authors and content editors, allowing them to write optimized content in the long term.
Content creation is also made easier by the fact that sources of inspiration, links, and briefings are always just a click away in the editor. The readability index updates in real time and, together with the WDF*IDF analysis, is a real help in creating success-oriented content.
Authors, SEOs, and social media managers are provided with all the information they need at a glance in the Creation Intelligence backend. This turns corporate blog posts into data-driven content with a higher chance of conversion. Creation Intelligence replaces gut feeling with proven content best practices. From targets to corporate design and content wording to deadlines, Creation Intelligence maps out all the steps involved in content creation.
The key feature is that all those involved in the process can only be assigned the administrative rights and access necessary for their work. This prevents errors and unintentional changes. At the same time, it keeps the effort and clarity for the respective person within reasonable limits. The contentbird Editor thus enables close collaboration while allowing all employees to maintain their area of expertise.
{{divider}}
The contentbird Content Calendar
The contentbird content calendar is an important planning tool that brings everything together. The dates for publishing blog posts, the seeding dates for social media posts, the planned deadlines for content pieces. The content calendar not only gives you an overview of all your deadlines, it also allows you to synchronize them with the activities in the content pipeline. That is the greatest strength of the content calendar.
Of course, it is also possible to enter individual appointments—such as the date of the next editorial meeting or the dates of training courses and analysis periods during which you want to measure the performance of your content marketing efforts.
Particularly practical: appointments can be easily moved manually in the content calendar using drag and drop if changes occur. The content calendar not only allows for particularly clear collaboration within the team, it also eliminates the need for separate content planning tools.
Instead of jumping back and forth between Excel spreadsheets and calendar apps, one click in the contentbird backend is all it takes to access and view everything.
{{divider}}
Bye-bye gut feeling — using strategy to achieve content success
Is content marketing not possible in a way that is time-saving, reliable in terms of planning, interactive, intuitive, and high-quality?
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our virtual desk.
The intelligent linking of our editor with the content calendar, distribution tool, and analysis feature does exactly that. It reduces the trial-and-error rate and gives every content marketing strategy the necessary fact-based, promising objectivity.
PS: You can find more information about the content creation process here here!
