The 2012 Content Makers Calendar

A guide to the content opportunities for the first four months of this year!

Hindsight is a great thing!

It becomes soooo much easier to spot what you should have done and when you should have done it.

The only problem is, when you spot what you should have been doing – the opportunity to capitalise on it has usually been and gone.

It happens to me too, so you are not alone if you think you’re the only one who
gets bogged down in that you become reactive instead of preparing your content well in advance.

So, in order to save you from your hindsight woes, here is a list of suggestions to get your content making plans in gear for the starting quarter of 2012!

I would outline the whole year – but there is being too organised – and I like to keep my outlines closer to now and more easier to achieve.

The trick with advanced planning is to aim to develop the marketing content that you need the month before you need it. That way you can spend your time closer to the events marketing the content out online – which allows time for web pages to be crawled, guest posts to be posted and all your other tricks of the trade you can use to spread your content as far as possible.

As many other areas of people’s lives will also be filled with seasonal promotions and marketing then your content should be more relevant to your viewers and should echo with what’s going on in their heads.

December

[N.B.Although we have started the new year, there are still some figures and facts what will only be available to people as they are processed in January, so some of the post ideas for this month will still be viable options for creating discussions and content around]

# Create round up of the year – best posts, best advice, best interviews, best things you discovered online and offline.

# Most inspirational person, quote, interview, website or advice.

# Create content around resolutions and focus plans for the coming year.

# What mistakes to avoid making in the coming year

# What are the best ways to achieve goals in your relevant area.

Find the most useful articles and pieces around how to help people stay on track with their New Year challenges.

January:

# Create valentines based content.

# Tap into love and passion themes about your content.

# Make a contrary version so that you cater for people who are not into relationships and partnership.

E.G. Position your content  to stand against the norm can be successful. Events in bars and nightclubs which cater for people who are single and who are sick of Valentines day proved hugely popular alongside events which catered for couples. How does your content fit to the prescribed or traditional view of days like valentines day?

TIP: Other days like pancake day, Mothers day and Bank holidays can be good sources for content topics. What do people do on these days? Are they shopping as families, or individuals? Do they need special services for delivery, posting, communicating their sentiments? Can your content solve any of their problems or help make their experience of these days more memorable or easy to plan for?

February

Easter is on its way! A good time for chocolate, eggs, and other religious services.

Can you tap into the theme of renewal, resurrection or the feeling of hope and family at this time?

March

In the UK there are many bank holidays which start to occur at this point in the year. The Queen’s jubilee and other important dates crop up. Also, the school holidays allow for families to be out together. Where do they go and how can you help them? Does your product or service cater for families? Is it for teachers? What other ideas can you brainstorm or mind map out for this holiday period? Does the weather affect what people do? What was last year like?

TIP: Exam revision kicks into gear for many students about to sit their GSCE’s and A levels. Education and revision techniques  are a major topic about this time of year, so anything you can offer in terms of helping people read quicker, memorise facts, relax from revision (help them fight stress, nerves or panic attacks, etc) may get better reception through the search engines.

Exams are something we all take, or have experienced so most people can find things to comment on about this topic – which gives you all some potential content starting points.

That’s the first Quarter of the year outlines, but there may be other dates and days you feel best suit your business. So add them into your own Calendar and give yourself enough time to create them and market them to your viewers.

Best of luck!

P.S. Time for me to start planning a decent Valentines gift for my lovely wife! I only have just over five weeks left and she’s a tricky one to buy for!!

P.P.S I know the title indicates the full year - but trust me, if you laid out your entire plans for 2012, you probably would be too overwhelmed to actually go through with most of them. Let's leave ourselves some room to grow and change things about. I will add a Q2 overview near the time, but please feel free to leave me your thoughts and comments below!

Thanks : )