Stop 04 · Content Marketing & CopywritingTopics · 2/9

Content Calendar Planning

In short

A content calendar turns 'we should post more' into 'Tuesday 6 pm: carousel on budget tips, written by Riya, approved by Monday'. Calm, predictable, and nothing slips.

Planning content in advance across channels and dates — balancing evergreen content, timely/reactive content, and promotional pushes into a coherent, sustainable schedule.

The blob sticks colourful sticky notes onto a big wall calendar for a college fest.

Think of it like this

The college fest schedule

A fest committee plans which event happens on which day, who's in charge, and when posters go up. Without that chart, two events clash and the DJ never shows up. A content calendar is that chart for posts.

Watch it happen

One week of posts, planned in advance

Mon: blog

Tue: reel

Wed: email

Thu: carousel

Fri: reel

Sat: story

Sun: rest

1/5A simple weekly rhythm. Each slot has a format, a topic, an owner and a deadline.

The big ideas

What you need to know

A shared sheet works

Date, channel, format, topic, owner, status and link. Google Sheets or Notion is enough to start.

Plan around key dates

Festivals, exam season, sales and product launches should be marked weeks ahead.

Track status

Idea, drafting, in review, scheduled, published. Everyone sees what's stuck.

Leave room for trends

Keep a few slots free for timely posts so the plan doesn't feel rigid.

See it in code

Walk through the code

excel

1=IF(AND(G2<>"Published",A2<TODAY()),"Overdue","")2=COUNTIF(G2:G40,"Published")/COUNTA(G2:G40)3=COUNTIFS(C2:C40,"Instagram",G2:G40,"Scheduled")

1/3Flags any row past its date that still isn't published.

A is the publish date, C is the channel, G is the status. Format the second result as a percentage.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Planning only one day ahead.

Do this instead

Plan at least two to four weeks ahead so reviews and design don't become a rush.

Oops

A calendar with dates but no owners.

Do this instead

Every slot needs one person responsible, or it quietly doesn't happen.

Your mission

Build a two-week calendar

~30 min

Quick check

Why mark festivals like Diwali in the calendar weeks in advance?

Go deeper

1Build a one-month content calendar for a hypothetical brand across 2-3 channels.
2Learn to batch content creation instead of scrambling day-of.
3Practice balancing evergreen versus timely content in your calendar mix.