How a calendar keeps communications manageable

The key components that a communications calendar should include are:

• Messaging
• Visuals
• Timing
• Channels
• Person responsible for each communication

The calendar shows every communication event (email, social media post, mailed letter, paid advertisement, et cetera) that the organisation will send out and indicates when each communication will go out. This creates opportunities for communication events to work together across channels and creates accountability for sending out communications on time.

Some organisations have so many communication events going out to their target audience and stakeholders that they need several calendars. In this case, it’s best to separate calendars by audience rather than channel. For example, your organisation may have one calendar it uses to track donor communications and another calendar it uses to track communications to your target audience. Organisations with fewer communication events may be able to use one calendar and just indicate various audiences, such as by designating them with a certain colour.

While a communications calendar is helpful for showing what will be communicated, when, on what channels, and by whom, an editorial calendar is often helpful to use alongside your communications calendar. An editorial calendar breaks down how each communication piece will be created. For example, if a blog post is one of the communication events on the calendar, there is a process that will occur to write the blog, gather accompanying images for it, and publish the blog. The communications calendar would show the finalised blog post and when it will be published as well as the social media posts that will promote it. However, the editorial calendar would show steps for getting the blog ready to publish.

Keeping editorial and communications calendars separate results in cleaner and more user-friendly documents. These calendars should always be coordinated, though. For example, a blog post should never be placed on a date on the communications calendar that is prior to when it is set to be finalised on the editorial calendar.