Your agency may be on the hunt for the best software to build an editorial calendar for your clients. Every agency needs this data hub to organize content campaigns and track keywords and other content. But what program is the best for creating the most comprehensive editorial calendar for an agency? Can agencies use Trello for an editorial calendar?
Yes, Trello can be used to develop an editorial calendar for agencies. Let’s take a peek.
Using Trello: Kanban Cards
When agencies use Trello to develop an editorial calendar, the data is going to be set up on the screen Kanban style. What does this mean? Basically, all the data and all the assignments/content will be in front of you in the form of digital cards.
Your screen as an editorial calendar will look a bit like index cards neatly lined up, both horizontally and vertically. Trello organizes each assignment by specific categories: information/instruction, incoming, forming, writing, editing, final edits, and ready to upload, SEO audit, scheduled and published.
Each of these categories will help the agency better understand where a task stands in its development.
Information/Instruction
This category isn’t necessarily for your tasks, but, rather, it helps agencies figure out what everything means within Trello. This is the place to find all the answers to your lingering editorial calendar questions.
Incoming
The Incoming category holds brainstorming ideas for content. This is the place to store all the ideas related to holiday content or anything else that might be relevant each month.
Forming
Content that is in the midst of being fleshed out is placed in the ‘forming’ category. So the agency may be toying around with certain topics but want to tweak them a bit more before giving the green light.
Writing
Ideas and topics that are ready for content go to the Writing category. This helps agencies understand what is currently in the works.
Editing
Self-explanatory. These are the content pieces that are being reviewed and maybe sent back to the writer for changes.
Final Edits
This is the place for modified content that was reviewed but needed more works. Writers can place updates here.
Ready to Upload
When the article is approved, it gets sent to Ready to Upload.
SEO Audit
Review the content and ensure it’s optimized properly! This is where the content goes for jazzy optimization so that it shows up high on Google.
Scheduled
Content that needs to be scheduled for a live date is sent to the Scheduled category.
Published
Once a blog or article is visible to the public on the web, it’s labeled as published.
These are the 10 steps Trello uses in its editorial calendar process to ensure workflow completion. For each of these Kanban cards, agencies also can add other data like attachments and keywords. So Trello allows for some customization for each assignment. It’s easy and pretty basic, and for many agencies, it works just fine. But is it enough? Or, rather, when is Trello just not enough?
Why You Need More Pieces!
Agencies who simply need software to create a basic editorial calendar layout will probably enjoy Trello for its easy-to-navigate features. The kanban layout also enables all pieces of content to be visible on the screen at once.
With Trello, the editorial calendar also is easy to build. It doesn’t take much time to learn the program, so Trello could work great for those who aren’t super comfortable with more involved programs. So if Trello is so easy, it’s ideal for everyone…right?
Not necessarily. Trello doesn’t include some features that other software like Gryffin includes. You can’t drag and drop keywords into the calendar. And SEO functions are not necessarily built into the platform.
Drag & Drop Functions
With Gryffin, agencies can take keywords from SEO programs and drag them into the calendar under the appropriate content assignment. This allows for easy assignment of keywords for every task.
Track Rankings
Trello also doesn’t allow agencies to track rankings via its platform. If you want to see how a page is performing, you’ll have to click out and open up another program. With Gryffin, SemRush and Google Search Console link and sync to the program. Just click on an assignment and check out how the page is performing.
Track Keywords
Gryffin also tracks and identifies the keywords used for each campaign, volume, difficulty, placement and traffic. This helps agencies better understand content impact. By seeing the metrics for the keyword, agencies know how popular these terms are via search statistics.
Powerful Features
Gryffin is extremely simple to use, and the multiple layers of data provided in the editorial calendar help your agency have access to all the details for each assignment.
Organizing your editorial calendar is easy via Gryffin. Like Trello, all assignments/content are viewable via a kanban setup. Users also can switch up the view; choose a standard calendar view or a list view. Switching between vantage points can help agencies sort through their assignments for a macro or micro analysis of all their planned content.
If Trello has 10 stages of organization, what about Gryffin? With Gryffin, agencies can sort their assignments with multiple different tags or stages. These are entirely customizable based on each team’s workflows. The default, sample template that any agency can install and instantly use includes:
Order: A reminder to order an assignment.
Write: Send the article to a writer.
Ready to Edit: The article is ready for the editor to review.
Author Edits: The article needs updates or rewrites; this sends it back to the writer.
Add Images & Publish: A reminder to download images.
Client Review: This shows that the client is in the midst of approving.
Ready to Publish: The client has approved and it’s ready to go live!
Published: The article is live!
Archived: Maybe the article was reviewed and set aside. This is the place to file content that could be useful later or that was already published.
Customize your Content Workflow
While Gryffin offers these standard stages, agencies also can create their own. The editorial calendar can be customized with any stage or filing system! All new data can be updated into the calendar. As each assignment/task hyperlinks to a separate workspace, agencies have complete control over their editorial calendar depth. Link emails to a project workspace, upload photos and drop in any pertinent files.
Each project workspace also includes all relevant conversations between team members and/or the client. While the editorial calendar’s hub space shows up as a list, kanban cards or calendar filled with every assignment, each content piece of the puzzle funnels deeper into the system. Clicking any task within the editorial calendar also can pull up more details about the target audience, site or affiliated persona.
While Trello provides the tools to create a basic editorial calendar, for agencies who want access to SEO data and more customizable features, Trello might not get it done.
Gryffin offers advanced editorial calendar features to provide agencies with all the information they need about every project. Reviewing SEO analytics doesn’t mean opening up a new browser page or accessing yet another program. Gryffin links or syncs to both SemRush and Google Search Console to provide all the SEO data and page analytics with just a click.
Not sure if Gryffin is right for your agency? Try it today for free!