The Ultimate Blogging Calendar for Creatives

Last month at the Bayside Workshop, I talked about my new secret weapon in my Blogging + Social Media Arsenal and I am so excited to be sharing a little more about it today! I stumbled upon Co-Schedule a few weeks ago and it has literally changed everything about the way I blog! (Seriously, this application makes me feel like Superwoman!)

I’m a huge proponent of EFFICIENCY within your workflow and if you aren’t already pre-scheduling your blog posts and social media messages – Today’s Tech-Talk Tuesday post is for you! Why do I schedule everything in advance? I’m very rarely in the office, my schedule varies from day to day (week to week), I travel constantly, and I simply cannot be tied to a computer while my blog posts are going live, Monday through Friday!

While I was on my honeymoon in Italy, for example, my blog was still actively posting and social media messages were being released to Facebook and Twitter without me ever opening a computer. (And can you believe that I physically left my laptop at home for the entire two week trip? I did… and it was the best decision ever!) I can’t allow my business to stop functioning simply because I’m out of the office, especially during Engagement Season, and therefore I setup scheduling into my workflow as a means of staying connected to my audience regardless of where I am in the world!

In the past – I used to schedule blog posts in WordPress, write them down on a printed Blogging Calendar, and scheduled social media posts on two to three separate websites (Hootsuite, Facebook, etc.) to promote throughout the day! It took a long time to preplan everything and I constantly felt like the job of scheduling blog posts, social media, and keeping things organized was getting the best of me. I felt scattered, all over the place, and seemingly disorganized!

And that’s when I came across Co-Schedule and everything changed!

CoSchedule is a user friendly, drag-and-drop editorial calendar for WordPress Blogs! The application allows me to schedule blog posts and automatically send messages to my social networks (such as Facebook & Twitter) seamlessly in the blogging process. It’s built right into your Blog Posts and you can access a full calendar for additional scheduling from your WordPress Dashboard or the Co-Schedule website!

The Pros:

Gorgeous Calendar Display built into WordPress – This was the feature that initially drew me to Co-Schedule. It’s as simple as that. A gorgeous calendar that allows you to color coordinate, create tasks, and see everything displayed in an easy to understand way! It’s built right into WordPress too, which makes it incredibly convenient!

Easy Social Media Scheduling for Multiple Networks – I love that in addition to the physical Blogging Calendar, I have the capability to schedule my Facebook Posts (both to my professional and personal pages), Twitter, Linkedin, and Google Plus! I especially love that when scheduling links, I can choose which image will appear in the thumbnail AND that my tweets can be more image-based, which I’ve found increases audience interaction!

Amazing Customer Service + Free Trial – I love that this company is so easy to work with! There is a Free-Trial if you’re looking to give Co-Schedule a test run and that really appealed to me. Plus, if you have questions along the way, the team is very quick to help! I messaged their support team last week and received a response within two hours.

The Cons:

My only ‘Con’ is the lack of Pinterest and Instagram scheduling through Co-Schedule! That would be downright incredible and would add even further Social Media Marketing capabilities that could be a game changer for many photographers + creatives in the industry! Pinterest integration used to exist within the platform, but it was removed due to inconsistencies and errors. Hopefully they can reintroduce that feature in the coming months. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed!

And now that the shooting season is slowing down for the winter, I’m excited to start writing more about the amazing Vendors, Software, Apps, and Tips that I’ve discovered this year in my Tech-Talk Tuesday posts! I only write about companies that I believe in and I don’t sell Sponsored Posts (or get paid to publish these articles) so rest assured that this is my blog, my voice, and will remain so in the coming year! I disclose all of my affiliates + referral links, like Co-Schedule, here! Because I wouldn’t have it any other way!

This January, I’ll be speaking about Social Media Marketing at the Creative at Heart Conference and I can’t wait to share even more tips on managing social media and being more efficient with it as a part of your workflow!