Last year, I told you guys my 2019 cosplans and gave you insight into the workbook I wanted to use. The workbook kept track of my cosplay spending, due dates, and materials per cosplay.
While this might be great for taxes (if you earn money from cosplay), a cosplay content calendar template is really what we all need. I’m not going to get into what I accomplished last year in terms of my cos-goals and what I failed at. That’s all in the YouTube video (and if that’s where you’re coming from– hi!).
Instead, I’m going to explain to you how you can use my free cosplay content calendar template. If you want to see a brief glimpse of my 2020 plans, that will be included down below!
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How To Get the Cosplay Content Calendar Template
To get my free template, just type in your email right here:
It’s available in Google Sheets, which you should be able to have access to without a Gmail account. If not, please DM me on Instagram or send me an email for help! I personally use Google Sheets because I also use the Google Calendar so that it’s readily accessible on my phone and on my desktop!
How The Calendar Is Set Up
I was trying to decide if I wanted this calendar to be based on a weekly or monthly basis. I decided to go with weekly and to use Google Calendars for my big-picture/monthly ideas and due dates. This weekly cosplay content calendar allows you to plan out your content week by week and includes a checkmark box for that satisfying feeling of getting shit done! The Cosplay Content Calendar has room to layout your content on the following platforms:
- YouTube
- Your website or blog
- Tik Tok
- Email Newsletter
If you’re more into Twitter and Facebook, you can just retype in which platforms you prefer!
Weekly Layout
I have about 4 different platforms listed for where I plan on posting every week, including Instagram. I wouldn’t do any more than that because you’re going to overwhelm yourself. The first 4 rows are:
- Social network
- Done? Checkmark Box
- Date
- Time
These are pretty self-explanatory. Let me explain how I use the rest of the columns:
Content: This is either my blog or YouTube title, video for Tik Tok, or it says which character I’m featuring on Instagram (I left examples in there for you!). Simplicity is key.
CTA (Call to action): You want this in every post. This helps to keep your audience engaged in your content so that they don’t fly off to view someone else’s content. Make sure your CTA asks an open-ended question or leave a little air of mystery that will entice them to check out whatever it is you’re promoting.
Topic: I try to stick to certain topics or types of content. On YouTube, I do reviews, tutorials, and cosplay tips. Whereas on Instagram, I post selfies, videos, WIP pics, and professional cosplay shots. This section is just to lay out what type of content I’m posting so that I can make sure I’m being versatile.
Shares: This is marked with a checkbox, but you can take that out to type out the actual shares. This is just to remind me to reshare my video, blog, or cosplay photos on social platforms that I don’t want to spend too much time on. If you’re strictly on Instagram, you can use this section to note if another page shared your photo.
Engagement: How many comments, likes, shares, etc each piece of content gets. If it’s all in one place, you’ll get a better idea of which videos, blogs, and photos perform the best. This helps in really niche-ing down your content, too.
Instagram Cosplay Content
You’ll notice the bigger section at the top is strictly for Instagram. Even though you can use a service like Later to layout and schedule your cosplay photos, this helps me visualize future photo sessions. It also helps if you have a theme or a certain structure to your cosplay Instagram account. In 2020, I’m aiming to post every 3 days. Posting daily is a tactic of the past and it puts way too much pressure on creators. Instead, I’m using that extra effort to create unique content like blogs and videos.
Extra Features and Room For Ideas
To the very right-hand side, you’ll see that the Cosplay Content Calendar template becomes an area to list ideas. Of course, you can change or add columns to write down ideas for the platforms you’re most invested in (which reminds me, I should probably add a column for blog ideas).
As I said, I recommend using this template in Google Sheets. That way you can delete or add rows to the idea sections without messing up the format. You can also download the app so that you have your Cosplay Content Calendar template on you at all times.
As soon as you sign up for the template, it will give you an option to find the calendar on Google Sheets!
If you encounter ANY issues or technical problems with this calendar, please let me know and I’ll send you an updated version! Just message me on Instagram and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
My 2020 Cosplans and Goals
- Finish Iron Spider, Buzz Lightyear, and Kida.
- One Disney princess cosplay per quarter.
- Regular content! Especially YouTube and blog content.
- Relax, have fun with cosplay, and try not to take things too seriously.
- Let people get to know me as the person, not the cosplayer.
- Write eBooks and a comic!
- Monetize Cosplay & Coffee
- MERCH! I keep forgetting to mention this, but merch is my big TO-DO!