Editorial Calendar SOP

Standard operating procedure for planning, managing, editing, publishing, and reviewing an editorial calendar.

Steps

• Define the editorial planning period
  The content manager defines the planning window, such as weekly, monthly, or quarterly, and confirms the target publication cadence. The content manager records the start date, end date, and any blackout dates or campaign milestones in the editorial calendar.
• Collect content requests and priorities
  The marketing coordinator gathers content requests from stakeholders and records each request with topic, objective, target audience, due date, and priority. The marketing coordinator flags duplicate topics, missing details, and conflicting deadlines for resolution.
• Review and approve the draft calendar
  The editor reviews the draft calendar for completeness, workload balance, brand alignment, and deadline feasibility. The editor verifies that each planned item has an owner, a publication date, a content format, and an approval path. The editor records any deviations or required changes before the calendar is released.
• Assign owners and update status fields
  The content manager assigns a responsible role for drafting, editing, and publishing each item. The content manager updates the status field for each item using a controlled set of values such as planned, in progress, in review, approved, scheduled, or published.
• Edit content against the style guide
  The editor checks the draft for accuracy, tone, grammar, formatting, and alignment with the style guide. The editor records required revisions and returns the draft to the owner if the content does not meet the acceptance criteria.
• Schedule publication and confirm readiness
  The publisher schedules the approved content in the publishing platform and confirms the title, metadata, date, time, and distribution channel. The publisher verifies that all linked assets, images, and approvals are attached before scheduling.
• Monitor publication and record deviations
  The publisher confirms that the content went live as scheduled and checks for errors in formatting, links, or metadata. The publisher records any deviation from the approved plan, including delays, rework, or missed publication windows, and escalates unresolved issues to the content manager.
• Review performance and update the next cycle
  The content manager reviews performance metrics such as engagement, completion rate, and on-time publication. The content manager documents lessons learned, identifies non-conformances, and updates the next editorial cycle with revised priorities, deadlines, or workflow improvements.