--- name: content-calendar-planning description: >- Use when the user wants to plan a content calendar or editorial strategy — topic clusters, cadence, formats, and a repurposing plan across channels. Also use when the user mentions content calendar, editorial calendar, content strategy, topic clusters, pillar content, content cadence, or "what should we publish and when." Produces a structured calendar with clusters, schedule, and a repurposing flow. license: MIT metadata: publisher: AAJ slug: content-calendar-planning category: Content & Copy phase: Execute difficulty: Starter version: 1.1.0 agents: [Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Windsurf, Cline] inputs: Audience/personas, business goals, target topics or keywords, publishing capacity, and channels outputs: A capacity feasibility verdict, a topic-cluster plan with authority scoring, a dated publishing schedule, and a repurposing flow from each core asset to social related_aaj: - https://aajconsult.com/tools/content-calendar-template related: [persona-builder, geo-content-optimization] tags: [content-calendar, editorial, content-strategy, topic-clusters, repurposing, seo] --- # Content Calendar Planning Plan content as a **system that compounds**, not a list of one-off posts. The leverage is in topic clusters (a pillar plus supporting pieces that interlink), a sustainable cadence, and a repurposing flow that turns one core asset into many — so each piece builds authority and feeds the next. ## When to use The user needs an editorial plan — what to publish, in what order, how often, and how to get more from each piece. ## Before you start 1. **Read the brand/product context** (`.agents/product-marketing.md` / `.agents/aaj-brand.md`) and reuse personas if present; otherwise pull from the `persona-builder` skill. 2. **Anchor to goals.** Tie content to outcomes (rank for X, generate leads via Y), not output volume. 3. **Be honest about capacity.** A cadence you can sustain beats an ambitious one you'll abandon. ## Workflow 1. **Define topic clusters.** For each priority theme, a **pillar** (comprehensive, the thing you want to rank/be cited for) plus 3–6 **cluster pieces** that go deep on sub-questions and link to the pillar. Map clusters to personas and funnel stage. 2. **Set the cadence** that fits capacity (e.g., one pillar + two cluster pieces a month), and sequence clusters by priority. 3. **Lay out the calendar** using `resources/calendar-template.md`: date, cluster, title, format, persona, funnel stage, primary keyword/question, and CTA. 4. **Build the repurposing flow** for each core asset — AAJ's pattern is **core asset → companion guide → social (carousel, thread, posts, newsletter)** — so one pillar becomes a week of distribution. 5. **Layer SEO/GEO/AEO** on each piece (answer-first intro, question-first H2s, internal links to the pillar); hand to `geo-content-optimization` for the citation work. ## Run the engine Costs the plan in hours before it costs you a quarter. Most content calendars fail on capacity, not on topic choice — so the engine refuses to emit a schedule it does not believe you can keep, and names what to cut instead. > Paths assume you installed with `npx skills add`. From a clone of this repo, use `skills/content-calendar-planning/resources/…` instead. ```bash node .agents/skills/content-calendar-planning/resources/calendar-engine.js --demo node .agents/skills/content-calendar-planning/resources/calendar-engine.js --help ``` **`plan`** takes capacity, clusters, and an optional goal date: ```bash node .agents/skills/content-calendar-planning/resources/calendar-engine.js plan '{"startDate":"2026-08-10","people":2,"hoursPerWeek":4,"goalDate":"2027-03-01","clusters":[{"name":"AI search","pillar":true,"pieces":[{"title":"The GEO playbook","format":"pillar","stage":"TOFU"},{"title":"Does ChatGPT cite you","format":"blog","stage":"TOFU"},{"title":"llms.txt, honestly","format":"blog","stage":"MOFU"},{"title":"Agent-readiness checklist","format":"guide","stage":"MOFU"}]}]}' ``` It returns four things: **utilisation** (required hours against real capacity, with a binary feasible/infeasible verdict), **cluster authority** (a pillar with fewer than three supporting pieces reads as a one-off and will not compound), **time to impact** (content published after `goalDate − rampMonths` cannot contribute, so it reports how many pieces land too late), and a **dated schedule** round-robined across clusters so no cluster stalls. When the plan does not fit, the remedy is subtraction and the engine ranks it: weak clusters first — they were never going to build authority, so cutting them costs nothing strategic — then by cost. **`audit`** scores a calendar you already publish: ```bash node .agents/skills/content-calendar-planning/resources/calendar-engine.js audit '{"published":[{"date":"2026-05-04","title":"GEO playbook","cluster":"AI search","format":"pillar","stage":"TOFU"},{"date":"2026-05-18","title":"Does ChatGPT cite you","cluster":"AI search","format":"blog","stage":"TOFU"}]}' ``` Returns median and longest gap (a gap three times the median reads as abandonment), cluster structure with orphan detection, and funnel balance. Format effort defaults, in hours: `pillar 12 · guide 8 · video 6 · blog 5 · newsletter 2 · carousel 1.5 · thread 1 · post 0.5`. Override any with an `effort` object. ## Present the result Deliver the cluster map (pillar + supporting pieces per theme), the dated schedule, and the repurposing flow for the first cluster, plus the cadence you're committing to. ## Guardrails & common mistakes - **Clusters over scattershot.** Random topics don't compound; interlinked clusters build topical authority. - **One pillar, many derivatives.** Don't create everything from scratch — repurpose the core asset. - **Cadence you can keep.** Consistency beats bursts; under-commit and over-deliver. Run the engine before committing to a cadence — a plan at 150% of capacity is a plan to stop publishing in week three. - **Tie each piece to a goal and a persona.** Content with no job is the first thing to cut. - **Interlink deliberately.** Cluster pieces link up to the pillar and across to each other. ## Related AAJ resources - Interactive tool: https://aajconsult.com/tools/content-calendar-template ## Related skills `persona-builder` (who it's for) · `geo-content-optimization` (make it citable) · `copywriting` (write it) · `social` (the repurposed distribution). ## Credits Original AAJ skill, reflecting AAJ's cluster-and-repurpose content system. The Agent Skills format and Corey Haines' `coreyhaines31/marketingskills` (MIT) were references for structure and coverage; this skill is independently written. See the repository README.