We are serving up our insights on all things content calendars. Whether you're just starting on social media or looking to revamp your existing content strategy, this episode is packed with practical tips to keep your marketing organized, accountable, and impactful.

We break down the basics of a content calendar, why it's essential for businesses of any size, and how to tailor it to fit your unique goals and audience. We walk you through everything from setting KPIs and brainstorming content ideas to choosing the right tools and maintaining flexibility to ride the latest trends.

Of course, you'll also get their honest takes—plus a few laughs and groan-worthy jokes—about the realities of marketing in today's digital world.

Grab your to-do lists, maybe a little wine, and get ready to take your content planning game to the next level with practical advice you can use.

Here are our top 3 takeaways from this episode:

Balance structure with flexibility.

Plan out your posts and batch content (hello, less stress!), but leave room to pivot quickly for trends and relevant moments.

Set clear goals and track what matters.

It’s not about vanity metrics. Focus on engagement, impressions, and if your content reaches your target audience.

Know your content buckets & pillars.

Mix up your education, promo, behind-the-scenes, and entertaining content so you’re not just salesy or repetitive (plus, your analytics will love you for it).

Market It Like It's Hot Moments

00:00 Content Calendars: Importance Explained

04:52 Content Strategy: Balancing Structure & Flexibility

07:06 Targeting Audience via TikTok

12:46 Defining Content Pillars

15:57 Self-Management Tips for Solopreneurs

18:31 Team Roles and Responsibilities

21:01 Balancing Content Themes Creatively

23:37 "Social Media Engagement Tracking"

26:55 "Authenticity Over Perfection"

30:49 "Knock-Knock Fridge Joke"

The Rebel Hour

Join us for a live, no-fluff strategy session where you can ask real questions, get real answers, and finally fix what’s not working with your marketing. Whether you’re stuck on content, confused by SEO, or spiraling over your site, this is your space to vent, troubleshoot, and walk away with the next steps you can actually use.

Submit your question ahead of time or grab the mic live. It’s bold, it’s unscripted, and it’s built for small businesses ready to grow.

Stay in touch and get the latest updates by following us on:

• Instagram: @myrebelmarketing
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• Rebel Marketing

Copyright 2025 Rebel Marketing

Welcome to another episode of Market Like It's Hot, where Izzy and I get together and chat about all things marketing from content calendars to AI and maybe throw in some jokes or frustrations about, other companies and their marketing. Today, we will be talking about a content calendar and how all the ins and outs, how to create one, setting goals. And I guess I have to introduce ourselves, Izzy. Right? My name is Yasmin Robles. I am the founder of Rebel Marketing, formerly known as Robles Designs. Izzy, who who are you, really? Who are you in your heart of hearts?

Okay. I'm Izzy Dodosky, and I'm crazy. I don't

know. But don't you, I don't know if if you're if you saying that you're crazy, does that actually mean that you're crazy or that you think you're crazy? But then if you think you're crazy, maybe you're not crazy because you're thinking about it.

I think my inner anxiety tells me I'm crazy all

the time. How about that?

Is that a good answer?

Alright. So today, we're going to be chatting about content calendars. And from the notes that I'm looking at, it'll be great for both people starting out, but also if you're trying to revamp your your content and trying to figure out what the best use of your time and energy is, maybe even money if you're paying someone to just post for you. Izzy, do you wanna kick it off?

Yeah. So the idea with content calendars and, like, why they're so important and why you probably would want one in the first place is, one, keeping yourself accountable on posting. Because, the thing that we probably hear the most with people who are, like, even wanting to get started with social is, one, they don't, like, carve out the time to do it, or two, they just, like, don't know what to post. And the content calendar kinda hits on both those things. So when it's like, okay. What am I supposed to post today? It's like, you've already had time to, like, maybe sit down for an hour or two and, like, get that created throughout for throughout the month, but that's what I think at least.

So if I were to explain it to, like, a five year old, it's basically a a timeline or an organ or maybe they wouldn't know what a timeline is. It's basically your to dos for your social media. Yeah. Alright. So how how can we tailor a calendar to our own business goals?

Yeah. So, again, it's, like, just depends on what industry you're in and what you're trying to do and what you're trying to post. So for, like, us, we block out, like, maybe once a month time to record Instagram reels and different things and make sure that we have those to post throughout the month. And then I will go put those into our scheduling thing to make sure that I will post them. And then the other thing is it's, one, holidays. You might miss them if you don't have your content calendar ready. But it just kinda for everyone, I think, and their business goals, it just kinda helps plan a little more and hold you accountable.

Yeah. One of my favorite things to do when I'm procrastinating, the important things that I have to do is to I guess if I was doing the content calendar would be to look at all of the holidays ahead of time, like, way, way ahead of time, maybe throughout the year, and then just create content for those. So at least I know those are ready because I don't wanna do whatever other work I should probably be doing. Yeah. Alright. So you wrote finding a balance between structure and flexibility. What you mean we can't just be rigid?

What do you mean?

Can we can we change a content calendar? These were your notes.

I know.

For me for for me, what this means is just because you let's say so what we tell people when they're DIYing their content calendar what would I tell them? I don't wanna speak frizzy. But is it's really to batch them as much as possible. So that example of doing all of the holidays, if that's the only thing you can think of to do, You can also batch content for the rest of the month for your for your platforms. But that doesn't mean that if you see something that's trending that you can easily do or maybe there's a post that you schedule that is not, it would not be great in with whatever is happening with the world. Right? It might just not be taken the right way anymore. So you get to be flexible in shifting that calendar.

Yeah. With what I was thinking when I wrote that was the structure and flexibility just because sometimes when I already have, content planned out for the week, if something else happens where, I feel like it's more important to post about that. Like, if we just went to an event, sometimes I'll move, like, a static post compared to what I already had scheduled just to make sure it's so relevant and we're able to get on those trends. And then especially with, like, some of the TikToks and stuff that we have prerecorded, trying to post those so at least they're still relevant for the time. But the thing is it's like the structure of the content calendar is there just in case, you know, you're you're not having these random pop ups of posts, and then you don't have to think about it every day and do those things. And that's where the kind of flexibility comes into it. So

So what is one of the first steps to starting the plan for your calendar?

Figuring out what you want to post and, what is the tone that you're trying to give off with the post. So, I mean, a law office is going to post probably different than how we will post. And just what is the goal with their socials? Like, are you trying to be big on TikTok? Are you trying to at least, like, get a lot of engagement on all the different platforms? Like, what platform might work on Instagram might not work on TikTok. So Yeah.

And I think it also has a lot to do with your target audience because as a law firm, I would imagine so I doom scroll a lot on TikTok, but I also, review local businesses not review, but, like, look stock. Basically, stock. I stock local businesses on Instagram and LinkedIn. And what I've seen, for example, you can post on Instagram and LinkedIn as a law firm depending on who you're targeting. It could be a little bit funnier. It could be a bit more professional. Maybe you're wearing your suit and tie in one of them. But then TikTok could still again, depending on your target audience.

So taking, for example, immigration law lawyers right now, that's a they're trying to give as much information as possible, but they know that their audience is likely on TikTok. So that's where they're putting a lot of their effort, and they are repurposing some of their content on, like, Instagram, Facebook, but they're getting bigger on TikTok. So I think knowing your audience and that's just lawyers. Right? Depending on what kind of law you practice, whether it's tax or business or immigration, you gotta find out where where the people that you're trying to get in front of are and what they wanna see. Yeah. Can you tell me a few examples, though, of some k like, KPIs, which is key performance indicators, if you don't know? Not you, Izzy. I mean, the the audience. So I that's number one question when interviewing Izzy was, what is a KPI? She passed.

I passed.

Yeah. Oh. So what are, yeah, what are some some things that we should keep track of?

Followers throughout the month. Are they increasing? Are they decreasing? If it's decreasing, that's probably not good, and they're probably not liking your content. So maybe it's time to readjust. Overall, likes and comments, to kinda just, measure what the current engagement is. It also varies per platform. So, like, for TikTok, how many saves are you getting? How many sends are you getting? Different things like that. Also, just if it's videos, what are the views like compared to the people who are actually engaging with it, and how can you get a higher engagement rate? And then also impressions, so how many people is the post actually reaching, and what does that demographic look like? Because if it's not the demographic that you're trying to target, then maybe it's time to fix the content a little bit.

Yeah. Yeah. Are there some that could be con I know I don't know if anyone in the audience has heard of vanity metrics. Would we still watch those? Or well, I guess, first, what are those? And then would we still take a look at those, just maybe not regard them as highly? What do we do with them?

I think they're still important to monitor, but in terms of continued to grow your account, I think that the things on the back end make more sense to make like, keep track of. So

Mhmm. And for those, that are listening that don't really know, vanity metrics to me mean, for example, if you were to tell me that your email list has 10,000 people on it, but, like, maybe two people open that email list, it doesn't matter that you have that many people on your email list. It really matters more or so, for example, the open rate or the click through rate. The that's what I consider a vanity metric. It's like a nice number to look at and makes you feel good, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really make you money. Alright, Izzy. So we've got our goals. We've got our KPIs set.

We've stocked our target audience enough that we know them very well. How do we get started with brainstorming and creating the actual ideation for the content?

Yeah. So, one, what are you liking? And if you're your target audience, like, what is that content wise? Where are they posting and where they're going? Also, stalk your competitors. See what they're posting. See if they're doing anything. And sometimes that's helpful just to kinda get a start on what you're wanting to post, but, also think of different things in other industries that you've seen that have worked for them and maybe be the first to do it within your own. That's the I always like to think about stuff like that. And then keyword research. So are you going to start paying for ads? Are you gonna start doing certain things like that? What hashtags hashtags are you using? Especially on things like TikTok and Instagram reels, hashtags really matter.

I actually saw this post on LinkedIn the other day of this, like, 40 year old, social media person is trying to tell us that hashtags don't matter anymore. And everybody I'm glad I felt valued in the comments after because everybody was disagreeing with him my age. It's like, on Facebook and stuff, I definitely agree. But on things like TikTok, that's how people get to the next video that they're trying to look for, like, what category they're looking for. So yep.

Yeah. I it it goes back to knowing the platform, knowing the audience. I I'm part of a different I'm a part of way too many organizations. And this morning, I was checking in and commented on someone's question about what platforms we're on, and it's it's never really an easy answer for any business to ask, what platform should I be on because it depends on your goals and how you treat that content. Whether you use hashtags or not, it depends on the audience, the platform, the content you're posting. Yeah. I just I don't know. Alright.

So what are content pillars? I can answer this one. Okay. So content pillars to me are the top things that you can speak to, within, obviously, your content. So it could be, like, if you're planning your blog posts. Right? And as a let's say you're a law firm that practices, that helps out businesses. Business small businesses are your target audience. Your content pillars would include maybe items about small business taxes, maybe explaining some things that are happening, like that BOI or something that kept getting pushed back for businesses. So content pillars are really like those.

You can I feel like you can deviate from them, but it's the number one thing you wanna be known for? Does that make sense? Did I explain that? If I did not explain that correctly or not correctly, but if you still need help with that, message us, and I will, I I don't know, post the correction or something of what content pillars are. But, really, it's what themes that you can speak to. So as a website agency, website marketing strategy, all sorts of things, agency, we could we could do articles or post about SEO. We could do stuff about actually, you know, planning your marketing because that's one of the most important things. You can't just post things. You gotta plan them out, have strategy behind them. So that's a few things that we could consider content pillars. Hopefully, I get a gold star.

Okay. So alright. So we've gone through we've got our KPIs. We nerded out. We stalked our, our competitors, maybe cried a little bit. We brainstormed. We I'd gathered ideas for content. Now what do we do? We have what kind of tools, kind of formats? What are we doing, Izzy?

Yeah. So you can always go with the free option and just make an Excel sheet and then, like, put in what content, you're going to be posting for that day and the date and the caption just to kinda get that all planned out. Or, there's different scheduler options. So, like, Metricool, Sprout Social, there's a bunch of them out there now. But it's really just to keep you organized and make sure that things are going to be posted. And even though there are some pros and cons with both things, it's just nice to have it scheduled for you. So

Yeah. Yeah. I you can we still save stuff on draft mode in certain platforms? I used to do that, but I'm old. So, if you don't have a scheduler, I think check the platform, see if you can save posts on draft mode. But I have also saved a lot of them. This was years ago. And then the app what was it? I think it was Instagram. It updated, and I lost all of them.

So

Oh, really?

Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. What? So maybe I shouldn't tell people to maybe only save, like, the next three days. If you don't have a tool like Metricool, Sprout Social, maybe just save them if you really wanted to, for, like, the next three days or something, but not a whole month's worth of drafts. Mhmm. Yeah. Alright.

So we've talked about tools. What about establishing a consistent publishing schedule?

So, again, it's really what you're wanting to post and what your goals are. So I would say for businesses that are just like, we wanna post something to stay relevant. I usually say two to three days, out of the week. But if you're trying to be, like, on TikTok and different things, I would maybe say a little bit more than that. It just depends on, like, how much time you have and, like, what you're trying to get out of it. Yeah. I don't know. What would you think?

Yeah. I think knowing yourself is the most important thing. So if you are a solopreneur, you know, on a budget, you can't pay not yet. You can't pay for some a tool, like, that will schedule things out for you. Using Google Sheets or an Excel sheet to just plan everything out will help you. And then I would say setting alarms or setting some kind of reminder to post because I know that the best and even if for myself, if I plan something, if I don't have 20 reminders telling me to do it, I probably will will forget. Even if you are, let's say, using a project management tool like Asana, maybe it's a task that's recurring that reminds you to post. And then just and we're bad at it too sometimes when we go to events and we are super excited about meeting people, then I leave and I'm like, I got no pictures at all.

I got no proof that I was at that event. So getting into that habit too of of taking selfies and tagging people, people love to be tagged in photos, I would say that would get you a consistent schedule. The planning part will help a lot. Batch planning will help a lot as well. So that way you don't feel like every day you have to think about what you're going to post. Or if you're going to post, you've already got that in your Excel sheet, your Google Sheet, Metricle, whatever it is. You've done your research on hashtags or competitors, and yeah. And then you can just hit publish or hit post.

So let's talk about organizing and managing your content. You know, let's talk about creating a a content workflow. I think we kind of touched on it a little bit, but what is that content creation workflow look like?

Again, I think it all depends on what you're trying to post. But for one thing, if you're going to be doing infographics and different things like that, I would say one of the most important things is, like, being consistent with, like, the colors, the text, everything like that. So at least it looks pretty if you're posting on something like Instagram or somebody's trying to stalk your feed. Use your logos in it as well every time, again, just to keep it consistent. If it's TikTok or something else, what I would say with TikToks, post them faster than not. Trends go every day, so make sure that you're at least relevant with what you are posting. Yeah. Just, again, flexibility and adapting.

Yeah. Definitely, if you have a team, I would say define who is doing what. So and it depends on the size of your team. Really, Izzy is our person that records the videos, will think of research the trends, tell me what to do, where to fall, so on and so on. But if you have a a bigger team, I would say, if you but you don't have a marketing coordinator, maybe somebody can be designated to look at what those trends are, who's the person that's going to be recording and posting, what that what does that approval process look like, and and how who is the one that's responsible for tracking those KPIs that you set? When you're a solopreneur, that's gonna all kind of fall on you. But as long as I think going back to those reminders, going back to, setting Asana tasks that are recurring or whatever other project management system you're using, just so that you can stay on top of it and you're not just posting because you feel like you have to post. There's a purpose to it. Mhmm.

Alright. So content buckets and themes. What are those, Izzy?

It's a loaded question.

For me, maybe it would be easier, I guess, if we had a an example. You can think of an example. I'll keep talking. For me, what content buckets and themes are, for example, educational. We could talk about what is an SSL certificate. Right? That's educational. But there's also the fun rebel marketing, kind of post. So for ex we took photos that look like they are from nineties nineties ish family.

There's, like, lasers in the background, whatever. So, those did very well. And then are there sounds that are trending, or there is there something funny that you can post? So it's these content buckets, depending on your business, would help, it not be stale, I feel. So if we have we're a boutique, I would say maybe a little bit of promo about sales, but maybe educating on how to style certain clothing that you have in there, maybe something about what just got shipped in, maybe some behind the scenes of things that are as they're being, I don't know, put on the rack or whatever. So think of these content buckets and how you can sprinkle them throughout your calendar so that then it just doesn't feel like you're being salesy the whole time.

Yeah. Or it's just like themes kind of, like, the way I also think about it's what's recurring. So for us, I know that I typically post us going to different events and different things, or if it's just to be promoting the podcast x amount of days out of the month or even to Duolingo faking its death for a whole theme series. You know what I'm saying? So it's just like that's why it's kinda up in the air. Mhmm. And the other thing is is, like, you were talking about, if it's educational, the thing that I would add to that is that you want to kinda switch those up sometimes so it's not just one thing after another, because then it kinda makes your content repetitive. So it's nice to be able to interchange different, themes or subjects that you're trying to post about. So

Yeah. Yeah. And I think you touched on Duolingo. I've noticed Duolingo I don't know if I'm I'm sure it was on purpose. It's a big company. But on LinkedIn, they've been posting more about how what their hiring process is like Mhmm. And how there was one post I saw that talked about the not rigorous, but the amount of time that they put into hiring someone and why every hire is well thought out as to how they fit within their team, the the role, etcetera. That's probably not something that they're gonna be posting or really promoting a lot on another platform.

So think about thinking about those themes and those buckets, it could be different or slightly different for the platform that you're trying to promote on.

Yeah.

So we talked a little bit about themes, being flexible and adaptable to trends that are happening. Anything else you wanna talk about when it comes to adapting to to changes?

I think so.

Alright. Cool. Because we're awesome, and we we checked that one off. Yeah. Alright. So nerding out. Tracking performance and analyzing results. Everyone I know every single business owner loves looking at numbers and the metrics, and they just love it.

I just know it in my heart. But in case they don't, easy. Remind us what are those key metrics that they can be looking at, and how how can they make it easier on themselves? How often do they look at them? What what can we help them with that won't overwhelm them?

Well, one, I usually check every month just to make sure I'm not going insane. But two, once again, engagement impressions, likes and follows are typically what I try to look for. Then again, it's, like, different for every platform. That, once looking at it, kind of helps me get a better idea of what needs to be posted in the future, and that kinda influences what we will be posting for clients, like, going forward. So just looking at the different posts and which one did the best and what was the tone of that and, what was the content like, so we can continue to build engagement throughout. So and then, I track it through you can either do it through, like, the app if it's a business profile on how, different things are measuring. But with, the different scheduling tools too, sometimes they will just have the analytics for you for all the platforms on there as well. So

I just hope that people don't feel overwhelmed because they a lot of the work goes into the planning, setting those goals. But then you really do have to track how everything is going, not just a set it and forget it kind of thing. Even if you are hiring an agency, are they what have they spoken to you about goals right before they started posting? Have they mentioned how those goals are are they going well? Or have they met the goals? What are the KPIs? Have they shifted? Have they made pivots with graphics? I think making sure that your money if you are paying for someone to do it, making sure that your money is well spent and that it comes down to analyzing those results. Alright. Do we have any last minute tips, best practices, do's and don'ts, or good examples of a well done campaign?

I just said get into it.

Yep. Rip that Band Aid off. Mhmm. Except not literally because I did that once and it hurt. But, it left a mark. It's a strong Band Aid. But when it comes to content creation, yes. Just I'm a proponent of just ripping that Band Aid off.

Mhmm. Yeah. I would batching content, I think, helps the most, especially if you're a solopreneur. Just because you're juggling so many things and having to post having to think about even posting once a week or scheduling it out once a week can get a bit a bit much. So one if you go down into your content calendar and have some wine and just start planning things out once a month, that I think that's you that should help you out a lot.

Yep. Get into it.

Yeah. Well, I mean, we we say rip that band aid off, get into it, but it's really like if you don't have a lot of followers yet or you're just starting out or you're a solopreneur, I'm so sorry. But if you if a post doesn't do well, nobody except you will know. Like Yeah. And then you could I don't know. You could delete it, hide it, whatever. Yeah. But nobody will know.

And then you can just try again. Just do it, I guess. Yeah. And try to be authentic with it and and think of think of how I don't I don't wanna think of whether it sounds cliche, whether someone has already done it, whether it just might not appeal to other people. So if we take, let's say night routines. Right? There's on TikTok, there's people that are showing their I I swear it probably takes them three hours to get ready for bed, with skin care and everything. I'm like, how I don't there was no portion of your nighttime routine where you yelled 15 times at your kids so that they would go to bed. I don't I don't know.

But then there was a creator who broke down her night routine, and it was, like, the most realistic. There was still some skin care. She had her favorite pillow. She mentioned all these things, but it was really authentic and just a realistic look at what a night routine would be. Mhmm. And I love that. Like Yeah. I don't know.

Or maybe I was just watching videos that were not part of my I was not part of their target market. I don't know. Be authentic, guys.

I'm just gonna become TikTok famous this year. I think I've just decided.

And I will support you with that.

Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah. So everybody gets to follow Izzy. Follow her on LinkedIn first. And Yeah.

I'll be on LinkedIn.

Yeah. Yeah. On that note be

a pop voice on LinkedIn.

You're gonna be a what?

It's like one of their new little buttons that you can get, a top voice on LinkedIn.

Oh, I thought you said a hot voice. I was like, okay.

I'm also a hot voice on LinkedIn.

Yeah. Alright. Cool. Cool. Well, we are on a podcast, so maybe you are a hot voice. Alright, guys. If you think Izzy is a hot voice, go find her last LinkedIn post and just type in the comments hot voice.

Hot voice. That's a

task for the, for the day. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So overall, I think be authentic, Rip that band aid off, just not literally. And, start planning and start tracking your your insights. Thank you so much. Where can they can find you on LinkedIn, right, Izzy? Where what's our website?

Myrebelmarketing.com.

And isn't there something on our website where Yeah. This is, like, a

thing that would, like, a % help your business, but, like, all you have to do is, like, sign up and, like, download it, but you still won't do it for some reason.

Man, is your truth hurts. Yeah. But, yeah, you can download that myrebelmarketing.com/checklist. I know it says checklist. It's more like a workbook. I think that we were might have been trying to overwhelm you, but not overwhelm you. So download that. Let me know if you get overwhelmed.

And if you do, maybe we can help you out. Yeah. And we will catch you in the next episode.

Get into it.

I do I do have a question for you, Izzy.

Okay.

What kind of doctor is Doctor Pepper? What kind of doctor is Doctor Pepper? Mhmm.

I have no clue. I'm so scared.

A physician.

I'm about to hang up.

I thought you loved Doctor Pepper.

I do love Doctor Pepper. Physician.

Easy. We'll we listen, and we don't judge.

Okay. Fair. Yeah.

Alright. On that note, do you want another one? Sure. Why should you always knock before opening the fridge? I don't know. There could be a salad dressing.

Okay.

Yeah. Alright. Okay. Mhmm. Alright.