18 Editorial Calendar Tools That Help Manage And Organize Your Content
Without an organized Editorial Calendar, it’s easy for blogs to get out of hand. Posts can become sporadic, authors will blow past deadlines and many great ideas will be lost in the clutter. With these 18 tools, you can make sure your editorial calendar never has a hair out of place.
1. Podio
Podio is useful if you’re the only one using it or if you need to collaborate with a large group of people. You can assign tasks with reminders and keep tabs on how projects are coming along. It’s much easier than sending follow-up emails.
2. Mindmeister
This is great for ideation. If your team can’t get together in person, sign into the mind map online and brainstorm. Even if everyone can’t get together at the same time, you can save and send the map for people to add to.
3. Mindseng
Mindseng is a great idea bank for evergreen ideas. If you want to focus on a particular type of content throughout a month, pull up that idea section to see what topics you already have.
4. Evernote
Evernote is a utilitarian plug-in that goes beyond storing ideas and dates. Save blogs ideas and check off which ones have already been used. Also, save websites to help with research on various topics.
5. MonkeyOn
For the passive-aggressive editor who wants to politely remind authors about impending due dates, this service sends reminders or Monkeys on Your Back to pester people about dates and tasks. It keeps track of monkeys you’ve sent to others and monkeys that are currently on your back.
6. Oh, Don’t Forget…
Perfect for editors looking to pester contributors on their personal numbers. Type in a cell number, date, time and message and this service will send scheduled texts reminding people about whatever you want. You can schedule these in advance so authors get reminders without you remembering their due dates.
7. Google Calendar as Desktop
If you use Google Calendar to manage your content, consider making it your desktop. You can refresh it to update but will update by itself every morning.
8. Zootool
If you’re doing research or tracking down the right photos, use the lasso to rope the URL or picture you need. With all of your research and graphics in one place, creating your content will be a breeze.
9. Kapost
This is a paid service that combines the calendar, workflow, distribution and analytics all in one. Rather than multiple different tools, you pay to use this one.
10. Strides
This is more than an organizational tool, this is a scavenger hunt. You submit your mission and tasks below to complete it. It’s definitely a fun alternative to to-do lists.
11. WordPress Calendar
WordPress has a cut and dry calendar to help bloggers organize their posts. If your blog is run through WordPress, why not use the same site for your calendar?
12. Buddymedia
Creating blog content is hard enough and adding a social element can be overwhelming if you’re just starting out. If you already have the URL for posts or want to promote evergreen content, this is a great service for scheduling social media in advance and managing your responses.
13. Google Analytics
If you’re trying to figure out what draws traffic and shares, look to your analytics.
14. BlogDesk
If you run multiple blogs, you probably have multiple editorial calendars. BlogDesk was built for content managers who run multiple blogs and struggle to keep everything sorted out.
15. The Interviewr
If your blog contains a weekly interview series of if you run a news blog where you’re grabbing quotes and taking meetings with many different people, this program tracks your meeting schedule, contact list and interview questions. You’ll never be unprepared for a meeting again.
16. GatherContent
GatherContent is ideal for teams editing the same content from different locations. The most convenient tool is the “Dreft, Pending review and Approved” buttons. Clients and supervisors can approve content before it goes live without emailing back and forth.
17. Goosync
Goosync syncs your Google Calendar with your mobile calendars. If you find yourself scheduling on-the-go, this add-on will make sure all your information is up to date.
18. Todoist
Works with most browsers, Todoist keeps your events, contacts and calendar in an easy to organize format.
CopyPress writer
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