Time is of the essence when you’re running a nonprofit organization. A marketing content calendar can help you make the most of yours, especially if you’re juggling multiple responsibilities.

What’s a Content Calendar?

It’s a schedule of upcoming content for marketing channels, including copy, emails, videos, infographics, ads, printed materials and more. Your calendar should detail the content type, publish dates and marketing channel.

Benefits of Using a Content Calendar

Efficiency: Planning your nonprofit’s content marketing calendar breaks the process into manageable steps so you don’t have to worry about last-minute production. Getting ahead of content creation can also prevent a domino effect of pushing other tasks to the back burner, impacting long-term workflows.

Content quality: Give yourself time to brainstorm, produce and edit content that represents your nonprofit goals and mission. The review process will help you refine your content to suit your target audience’s interests and needs.

Continuity: Sharing content consistently supports engagement and keeps donors and volunteers informed. Preparing a calendar also reduces the risk of inconsistency, especially if the person in charge of design and distribution is unavailable.

Less stress: Whether you have one person or a team on the job, generating content on the fly can be stressful. Creating a calendar a few weeks or months out reduces the sense of urgency and allows for flexibility if plans change.

Tips for Getting Started

Set Goals

It’s essential to set goals so you can tailor your messaging. What do you hope to do with your content? Perhaps you want to grow your following on a particular social media platform or increase engagement on another. Consider how each piece of content will help your nonprofit reach those goals.

Know Your Audience

Are you sharing information with your donors or trying to attract more volunteers? Messaging will vary between those groups.

Make sure you understand your audience’s preferences based on the platform, too. Facebook followers might differ from the users going to your website and neither may be the same as your direct mailing list. Determine the information they need to complete a desired action or find resources wherever they consume your content.

Pick Platforms

Long-form content like blog posts and case studies are better suited for a website. You can break those into smaller, bite-sized pieces to share on other platforms once you’ve published them on your site. Videos, testimonials and infographics are ideal for social media posts. Consider sharing fundraising requests in emails and direct mail campaigns.

Outline Content

Generate a range of topics and formats, including stories, live streams and social media updates. Narrow that list to content that resonates with your audience and aligns with your mission.

Consider creating content based on awareness days, upcoming events, fundraising timelines and anniversaries. Incorporate evergreen topics, such as educational guides, FAQs and success stories to post at any time. Switch up how you present your content to keep your constituents engaged and cater to different learning styles.

The blank page can be intimidating when you’re starting a project like this, so here’s a free template to help get you started!

Publish Your Content

Using online tools like Meta Business Suite to schedule Facebook and Instagram posts or a third-party platform like HubSpot allows you to select publish dates. Spacing out social posts, emails and other content maintains your presence in front of your followers and subscribers on different marketing channels.

Monitor and Analyze Your Content Performance

Refer to your goals to determine which metrics to monitor and analyze. That may include reach and conversion rates to identify effective content and areas for improvement. Social media platforms offer performance metrics like audience growth and engagement. Web analytics reveal traffic sources like organic search and email marketing.

Content Marketing Services at MadAveCollective

Spend your hours focusing on those you serve without sacrificing your marketing efforts. Let us create a custom nonprofit marketing strategy to achieve your goals, engage donors and attract volunteers. Learn about our services and schedule a consultation