| name | content-calendar |
| description | Plan a content calendar tied to product, brand, or marketing goals. Use when the user asks for a content plan, editorial calendar, content strategy, posting schedule, or wants to map content to themes and audiences over a period of time. |
content-calendar
plan content with intent. tie every entry to a goal, an audience, and a channel.
what this skill does
builds a content calendar that's actually a plan, not a list of dates. each entry has: who it's for, what it's trying to do, where it goes, who owns it, and what counts as success.
when to use
- a team is starting content from scratch
- existing content is happening but nobody can name why
- before a launch, to plan supporting content
- quarterly, to set the next cycle's themes
inputs required
before building the calendar:
- goals for the period (1-3 max; if more, the calendar will drift)
- audiences the content needs to reach
- channels available (owned, earned, paid; blog, social, email, video, podcast)
- team capacity (writers, editors, designers; hours per week)
- content already in motion (don't double-book)
- brand voice (extracted or canonical; content without voice is just text)
if any of these are missing, surface that before planning. content calendars built on hope drift fast.
the structure
period: [Q1 2026 / month / week — whatever fits]
goal 1: [specific, measurable]
goal 2: [optional]
goal 3: [optional]
themes (3-5 for the period)
theme 1: [short label]
why: [the bet this represents]
audience: [primary]
channels: [list]
content count: [planned pieces]
calendar by week
week 1
[piece]: [title / topic, channel, owner, due date, status, goal it serves]
[piece]: ...
week 2
...
quality bar
- every piece names its audience
- every piece names its goal
- every piece names its primary channel
- every piece names its owner
- every piece has a date
what's not in this calendar
- content that doesn't tie to a goal
- "let's just be present on platform X" without a why
- reposts of last quarter's content with new dates
the rules
-
one goal per piece: if a piece is supposed to drive signups AND build authority AND nurture leads, it'll do none of them well.
-
named owner: "marketing team" is not an owner. one person's name. accountability requires a name.
-
less than you think: most teams plan 2-3x more than they ship. plan to capacity, not to ambition.
-
theme over topic: a theme is a bet on what to teach or claim. a topic is a single piece. themes generate topics; topics don't accumulate into themes.
-
don't fill weeks for the sake of filling: a week with one strong piece beats a week with five mediocre ones. plan capacity, not cadence.
-
leave 20% open: news happens. opportunities show up. burnout happens. a fully-booked calendar can't absorb any of these.
-
end-of-period review goes on the calendar: if you don't schedule the review, it doesn't happen, and the next calendar is built on guesses.
channel-specific guidance
blog / longform
- 1-2 substantive pieces per week is plenty
- name the search intent or the share intent before drafting
- check past performance before committing to a topic
social
- frequency depends on platform; resist the urge to match what others do
- if posting daily means posting filler, post less
- distinguish original content from reshare
email
- frequency tied to subscriber expectation (set on signup)
- one primary CTA per email
- segment by audience, not by guess
video
- highest production cost per unit; plan accordingly
- one good video > four mediocre ones
- platform-native vs. cross-platform: decide upfront
podcast
- consistency matters more than frequency
- guest pipeline is a separate ops problem; build it before announcing
- transcripts and clips are content too; plan their lifecycle
output
a full calendar in markdown with the structure above. plus:
- a one-page summary for sharing
- a per-channel view (what's on the blog this quarter, what's in email, etc.)
- a per-owner view (what each person is responsible for)
- gaps list (themes with too few pieces; weeks with too many)
what this skill doesn't do
- write the content (that's downstream of the calendar)
- guarantee distribution (the calendar plans creation; promotion is a separate plan)
- replace conversation with the people who'll execute (review the draft with them)
related
- voice-extract (voice for the content)
- messaging-architecture (the claims content should reinforce)
- launch-planning (launches generate content needs; align here)
- release-narrative (content that ships alongside product releases)
