A white paper produced for my SEO and Analytics course. This white paper covers the basics of creating a content calendar for a nonprofit thrift store. This was a group project.

1. by Gary Barber, Nia Duke, and Megan McGowan
Creating
a Content
Calendar
Nonprofit
Thrift Stores
for

2. Introduction
With the rapid advancement of
technology, brands can communicate
with their audiences more effectively
today than ever before. Consistently
publishing content on social media is
vital to establishing product interest,
maintaining brand loyalty and receiving
valuable insight from target audiences.
All of which can lead to sustainable
financial advantages. Retail clothing
brands in particular are now expanding
their content marketing strategies into
the social media realm by providing
engaging visual content on sites like
Facebook and Instagram.
Content calendars are increasingly
becoming the go-to foundation for
brands that wish to plan published
content far in advance. Like retail brands,
it is important for Non-profit thrift stores
to attract consumers through content
marketing especially since financial
profits are used for charitable purposes.
Over the years, thrift shoppers have
become more fashion driven, quality
focused, and technologically savvy,
making content marketing even more
imperative for Non-profit thrift stores.
In this paper, we will define content mar-
keting, discuss the benefits of content
calendars and provide specific examples
of the type of content Non-profit thrift
stores should be publishing.
A content calendar is somewhere
between a traditional calendar and
a spreadsheet. It shows the plan for
when and what you will publish. It may
contain details like SEO keywords, which
platforms to use, and a proposed budget
for the content creation.2
While it does
plan out days and weeks as a traditional
calendar, a content calendar should also
include deadlines, who will prepare the
content, content type, platforms, and the
overall message.
What is Content
Marketing?
An introduction to
Content Calendars
The Content Marketing Institute, an
online resource for content marketing,
defines content marketing as
The keyword here is valuable. Your
content marketing should provide a
benefit to your audience that helps drive
business and build loyalty to your brand.
“A MARKETING TECHNIQUE OF
CREATING AND DISTRIBUTING
VALUABLE, RELEVANT, AND
CONSISTENT CONTENT TO
ATTRACT AND ACQUIRE A
CLEARLY DEFINED AUDIENCE -
WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF DRIVING
PROFITABLE CUSTOMER ACTION.”1
2
2
2
Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores

3. Why You Need a
content Calendar
Creating valuable, relevant, and
consistent content is difficult, which is
why your thrift store needs a content
calendar. A content calendar allows you
and your team to develop a strategy
that is easily maintainable, while helping
grow traffic to your storefront and social
platforms2
. Providing your audience with
consistent high quality content drives
traffic and creates customer loyalty that
will ensure long-term success for your
business.
Using a content calendar will allow
your team to set daily, weekly, and big
plan goals that can be measured and
evaluated to determine their success7
.
It will also give structure to what seems
like a daunting task by revealing gaps in
content, planning, and production.
A content calendar is vital to making
sure your content is relevant to your thrift
store and its clients.
A content calendar streamlines the
creative process and offers multiple
benefits to your thrift store.6
A content calendar provides your
brand with a plan of attack. It provides
the framework for understanding the
audience, what they want, and where
they are so that you can connect with
them.
“A
CONTENT
CALENDAR GIVES
YOU A NEW PERSPECTIVE
BOTH IN THE WAY YOU
THINK ABOUT YOUR
CONTENT AND IN THE WAY
YOU SEE YOUR CONTENT”2
-KEVAN LEE
CONTENT CRAFTER AT BUFFER
TAKES THE GUESSWORK OUT
OF WHAT YOU WILL POST
OUTLINES A CONSTANT FLOW
OF HIGH QUALITY CONTENT
ALIGNS YOUR BUSINESS
CYCLES WITH THE CONTENT
THAT SUPPORTS YOUR
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
HELPS BALANCE THE
INFLUENCE OF YOUR BRAND
ACROSS PLATFORMS
MANAGES THE WHO, WHAT,
WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW
2
3
Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores

4. Understanding The
Thrift Store Audience
Getting to know your audience is key to
effective marketing. Unlike retail stores,
thrift stores are witnessing a significant
change in their audience demographics.
As audiences change and expand, it
is necessary to adjust or reform old
marketing strategies to better interact
with new consumers.
Just a few years ago, thrifting was not the
trendy activity it is now. Once deemed
as a service solely for the less fortunate,
thrift stores were usually frowned upon
by the average middle to upper class
individual. Today, this stigma is fading
as more individuals from the middle and
upper class discover the thrill of thrifting
driven by pleasure rather than need.9
As one’s clientele expands, so do client
expectations for product quality and
store image. Today, the importance of
quality seems to exceed other factors
such as pricing and service. Consumers
with higher expectations in regards to
product quality visit thrift stores more
frequently, making their preferences
and behaviors incredibly impactful.10
Store image is another factor that plays
a significant role in attracting thrift
shoppers. In regards to appearance, thrift
stores used to have a bad reputation.9
Today, more thrift stores refer to
themselves as high-end or upscale to
appeal to their evolving clientele. Studies
have found that the better the store
image and product quality, the more
frequently a shopper will visit a thrift
store.9
Publishing photos and videos
that show the organized, neat display
of merchandise in addition to quality
product brands will definitely help you
get more customers. Other factors that
attract thrift shoppers include cost of
merchandise, convenience of store
location, and friendliness of staff.9
The pleasurable benefits of thrifting
include:
“FUN, LEISURE, HAGGLING,
SOCIAL INTERACTION, AND
REALIZATION OF CONSUMER
FANTASY THAT RESULTS
FROM THE SEARCH FOR THE
UNEXPECTED.”9
Publishing visual content that highlight
these pleasurable benefits will definitely
draw in your target audience.
Knowing what type of items the typical
thrift shopper wants is essential to
developing a successful marketing
strategy. It is important for thrift stores
to cater to shoppers’ anticipations by
displaying outfits consitent with the
time of year. For instance, publishing a
photo of a witch costume along with its
price in October is a great way to attract
Halloween shoppers.
4
Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores

5. Where to Find Your Audience
Moreover, a large number of thrift
shoppers seem to be young adult
females who enjoy hunting for unique
fashionable items. Therefore, making
sure to publish content that displays
fashionable outfits or unique items will be
vital for your marketing campaign.9
Marketing strategies on social media
platforms like Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram are always evolving which is
why thrift stores should constantly stay
on top of trends to ensure that they are
successfully reaching their audience. A
content calendar will help you plan out
which platforms to post to to reach your
audience.
use by 23%
use
of
28%
use
of
use
of
53%
use
of
71%
5
Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores

6. Tools For Creating A
Content Calendar
Google Calendar
Basecamp
Asana
Evernote
Google Calendar is a free tool that can
be shared and edited by any number of
team members. The calendar offers daily,
weekly, and monthly views for planning
your content. It can also be used to set
reminders to your phone, email, and
desktop for the different stages of the
planning and posting process. There
are multiple free templates the can
be imported to begin your calendar
process.8
Basecamp offers a 60-day free trial
and a pricing program based on the
number of active projects being worked
on. Everyone on your team can use
the program, and you can add inactive
projects without having to increase your
payment plan. The software offers a
color-coded monthly and yearly view that
makes it ideal for big projects and long-
term goals. The program can be synced
with your desktop for offline use and
provides email notifications of upcoming
deadlines. Basecamp can also post
for you and uses an algorithm to post
when it will be most effective for your
audience.8
Asana offers a free and premium version
that is based on the size of your team.
While the content is not available offline,
the benefit of Asana is their integrated
burn down list, which is based on your
content calendar due dates. Asana keeps
track of your progress and integrates
emails and comments so that you can
communicate with your team within the
software. You can also place your images
and videos within Asana to create a
preview of your post.8
Evernote is also a free program that
offers desktop and mobile abilities for
creating your content calendar. Evernote
uses notes and notebooks that can be
arranged by post topic, time, or themes.
By creating a notebook for each month,
you can create notes for each post that
can be edited and shared by an unlimited
number of team members.8
There is no need to reinvent the wheel
when planning your content calendar.
There is a variety of free and paid
services that provide the basic building
tools you will need for success.
6
Creating a Content Calendar for Nonprofit Thrift Stores

7. A Visual Content Calendar
1 2 3 4 5
8 9 10 11 12
15 16 17 19
22 23 24 25 26
29 30 30
Content Calendar
April 1st
Tweet Happy April Fools Day!
April 4th
Post a photo that highlights your team
April 7th
Share an article
April 9th
Tweet others on community support
April 12th
Tweet about special promotion
April 15th
Tax Day
Remind followers to file returns in funny way
April 18th
Share a helpful tip
April 21st
Easter
April 22nd
Happy Earth Day
Share how you are preserving our planet
April 25th
Highlight your favorite followers
April 30th
Pose a question to your follwers and
respond to their tweets
S M T W Th F S
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Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores

8. Filling Out Your
Calendar
It will be most beneficial to your
business to keep two types of content
calendars. A visual representation that
resembles a traditional calendar will
help you keep track of daily and weekly
deadlines. A second calendar, similar
to a spreadsheet, will keep track of the
content creation responsibilities and the
overall themes and big picture projects.
Using both calendars will help keep your
team focused on content creation that
meets your company goals and fits within
your brand image.2
Your visual calendar should function as
a mental model for simplifying a difficult
concept. Use icons or short headlines to
show when content will be posted and
to which platform.4
This will allow you to
keep track of how often you are using
each social media platform. The visual
calendar will also help align posting
dates with bigger events like holidays
and store specific events.
The second calendar should be all about
the details. This is where you keep track
of who, what, and how. By tracking the
details of each post, you get a clear view
of the communication channels, division
of labor, gaps in content and the hurdles
to reaching your business goals.
WHO: If your project has multiple
collaborators, it is vital to clearly divide
the labor amongst the team. Make
sure your calendar show who is writing
content, who is editing, and who is
posting. Make sure everyone on your
team knows what he or she is responsible
for and whom he or she is working with.
HOW: How does the content align with
your business brand or goals? How will
the post be branded? For your content
to be valuable and relevant, you have to
understand how it relates back to your
brand or project ideas. If you are using
hashtags, links, or taglines make sure
they are noted on your calendar so that
you don’t forget them at posting time.5
WHAT: Go beyond the platform and
give details about exactly what you will
be posting. For more in-depth content
like a blog post, give a two or three
sentence description of the topic. For
quick content, like a tweet, provide a
topic or the bigger project to which the
tweet pertains.6
The two calendars will aid your thrift
store in keeping up with your content
and your audience. Scheduling out your
content in a visual and organized manner
will cut down on the choas when the
store gets busy around big events life
back-to-school and major holidays.
8
Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores

9. Measuring Success
Start out small. While you are getting
used to consistently planning and
executing post, keep it simple. Choose
the two social media platforms that
your audience is most likely to visit and
stick to them. Use this time to figure
out what type of post work best, how
your audience is responding, and what
schedule reaches the biggest audience.
Once you find the formula for success
on the first two platforms, expand your
reach one platform at a time.3
A strategic approach to your content will
maximize success for Non-profit thrift
stores. A content calendar will provide
you with effective workflow needed to
ensure that all of your content meets
the needs and wants of your audience
and your business. The goal is to find
a plan the works best for you and your
team and a planning tool that fits within
your goals and your resources. Start by
getting your content out and available to
your audience and monitor the results of
your efforts. Set aside time every quarter
to reevaluate and refine your content
calendar. The field of content marketing
is always changing, but with a solid
understanding of your audience and an
effective long-term plan for your thrift
store, you will maintain the success of
your business.
Keep track of the data and analyze
monthly, quarterly, and yearly to see how
effective your content is doing. On a
website or blog make sure you are using
Google Analytics to keep track of metrics
such as unique page views, number of
clicks, and referral source.2
This will help show you which post get
the most readers and which social media
platforms are referring your readers. On
social media platforms also keep track of
how many subscribers you have. While
likes and favorites are a good indication
of how many people are seeing your
content, subscribers are the key to long-
term success.
Conclusion
9
Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores

10. Resources
About the Authors
1.What is Content Marketing?. Retrieved March 3, 2015, from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/
2. Lee, K. (2014, May 13). The Complete Guide to Choosing a Content Calendar. Retrieved March 4, 2015, from https://blog.
bufferapp.com/all-about-content-calendar
3. Griffiths, J. How to Build a Content Calendar. Retrieved March 3, 2015, from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-me-
dia-strategy/how-to-build-a-content-calendar-plus-a-free-template-for-2014/
4. Leimenstoll, R. (2013, May 7). How To Make A Nonprofit Editorial Calendar. Retrieved March 2, 2015, from http://www.do-
norsnap.com/blog/nonprofit-editorial-calendar-how-to-make-your-content-strategy-easy-and-engaging/
5. Mallon, S. (2013, October 27). Build Your Content Calendar: 3 Easy Steps. Retrieved March 3, 2015, from http://contentmar-
ketinginstitute.com/2013/10/build-content-calendar-steps/
6. Moon, G. (2013, November 27). Content Marketing Editorial Calendar - Do You Need One? Retrieved March 2, 2015, from
http://coschedule.com/blog/content-marketing-editorial-calendar/
7. Sorokina, O. (2014, November 6). Why You Need A Social Media Content Calendar For Your Business. Retrieved March 2,
2015, from http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-content-calendar/
8. Ford, A. (2014, December 14). 6 Editorial Calendar Tools To Help You Crank Out Your Content. Retrieved March 2, 2015,
from http://yourbrandvox.com/blog/2014/12/9/6-editorial-calendar-tools-to-help-you-crank-out-your-content
9. Mitchell, M., Montgomery, R. (2010). An examination of thrift shoppers. Marketing Management Journal,94-107.
10. Wodon, D., Wodon, N. (2013, June 1). Analyzing the Determinants of Individual Sales at Nonprofit Thrift Stores: A Case
Study for Martha’s Outfitters in Washington, DC. Retrieved March 8, 2015, from http://www.amstat.org/education/posterproj-
ects/projects/2013/SecondPlace7-9.pdf
11. Search Engine Journal - Marketing News, Interviews and How-to Guides. Retrieved March 2, 2015, from http://www.search-
enginejournal.com/
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Creatinga ContentCalendarfor NonprofitThrift Stores
Gary Barber
Nia Duke
Megan McGowan
Gary is an art director with 15+ years of experience in design and brand
development with companies like Liz Claiborne. He is looking for a posi-
tion as a creative director after graduation from the iMedia program.
Nia Duke was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Bowie, Maryland.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Elon University in
2014 and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Interactive Media.
Nia particularly enjoys learning motion graphics and graphic design. Her
hobbies include dreaming, painting, thrifting and writing.
Megan is an interactive designer and web developer. She graduated
from Elon University in 2011 with a degree in Business Administration.
Megan served two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyzyl-Tuu,
Kyrgyzstan. She has an interest in interactive design, coding, and
programming languages.