Whether you are a first-time higher education content manager or long-time strategist, you’ve likely learned that one of the most difficult aspects of creating ROI for your content strategy is developing an effective content calendar.

Content calendars are essential because they break down the content process into building blocks, such as text, photo and multimedia assets, keywords, messaging objectives, calls-to-action and content amplification. The easier it is to keep track of these critical components, the more quickly you can deliver strategic content and begin attracting leads.

Fast Facts: Why Use a Content Calendar?

• Organization

See your content as a series of components or “building blocks” that are assembled to create content that is effective, measurable and repeatable.

• Transparency

Understand who owns each part of the process by assigning writing, photography, multimedia and approvals before content production begins.

• Consistency

Set standards for your content through a templated content calendar that identifies stakeholders and content elements.

While static content calendars are great for planning, they often lack the dynamic capabilities that an effective content strategy requires.

Enter Trello. A free—yes, free—content management tool that can help you own your inbound marketing strategy.

Trello is a flexible web-based platform for organizing your content, hosting your assets and communicating with content stakeholders.

The platform, which resembles a series of digital Post-It Notes, is the go-to tool for Converge when developing an inbound strategy for our higher education partners. We eve use Trello for our own, internal content management—and we are not alone. As of Oct. 2015, Trello boasts more than 10 million users.

We recommend Trello for higher ed content marketers because it is designed to keep up with the complicated path of your content from ideation to publication. With Trello you will more easily manage content producers to negotiate approvals with various internal stakeholders and oversee publication deadlines.

Fast Facts: Key Trello Features

• Stakeholder Notifications

Invite stakeholders to Trello as needed and tag them with @ in order to trigger an automatic email notification in their inbox.

• Short and Long-Term View

Trello’s functionality includes a content level view, as well as a long-term calendar that organizes content chronologically. The handy visual tagging feature also allows you to easily see content categories so that you can take inventory on the diversity of your content.

• Visual Display

Trello cards also offer a running visual history of content management so that you can track drafts, communication, photo and multimedia assets and approvals in an easy-to-read, chronological view.

• Asset Archive

Every Trello project can be archived and searched by keyword, so that assets can be reused and copy can be repurposed at a later date.

• Integration with Dropbox, Google Docs and More

Trello easily integrates with your favorite file hosting service, so that you can sync and share files across platforms.

Ready to put your content strategy to work? Check out these four steps to set up a simple content calendar in Trello:

Five-Step Guide to Creating a Content Calendar in Trello

Step One: Create a Trello Board for your Content Calendar

Trello boards are the home base for your content calendar. Here you’ll organize your content groups and manage the content process.

Step Two: Invite Stakeholders

Use the right-side menu to invite “members” or designated stakeholders for each piece of content. These stakeholders will receive notifications when there is activity on a specific Trello card. Additionally, their initials will appear on the card for a quick view of who is involved in a project.

Step Three: Set Up Your Content Flow

This an example of content workflow for an inbound blog that includes multiple content areas. Trello cards are organized by content area and can be dragged to different lists, such as “Ready to Publish” and “Published” as needed.

Step Four: Organize Content Pieces on Trello Cards

This is an example of a content card for an inbound blog. Content cards host the details for individual pieces of content.

The description field can be used to reflect critical information. “Labels” are used to identify assets and social media amplification. Checklists are used to track content progress. And stakeholders are “invited” to the card using the “Members” button. You can also directly attach asset files and archive cards for future reference.

Step Five: Check Out the Big Picture

The Trello Calendar view can be turned on using the “Power Ups,” feature. It allows you to see your content organized by due date so that you can review content from a long-term planning perspective. Are there gaps in publication? Are you too heavy in one content group?

For more tips for organizing your content strategy download our free Content Strategy Starter Kit.

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