Easy Steps to Scale Content

by Chris Bolman, Director of Growth, Percolate

Creating great content (and lots of it!) is becoming a vital part of getting people’s attention, so we asked our friends at Percolate to share some of their insight. They’ve got lots of experience with improving content workflows and getting pieces published more efficiently, so your business stays fresh and engaging.

In today’s world, more and more people experience media digitally on a daily basis – as a result, brands are moving away from a world of advanced editorial planning to posting and tweeting fresh, quick, and current content. Brands are becoming broadcasters - on their blog, social media, email and everywhere in between! But becoming a broadcaster can be a challenge, particularly for small businesses without a huge marketing team.

In developing Percolate, we set out to design software that reduces the time and cost it takes to create great marketing content. After years working with some of the world’s best marketing organizations, we’ve identified some practical steps your team can take to increase your content productivity:

Outsource content, both internally and externally

79% of marketers say that content creation is one of their top three needs. But great content doesn't necessarily need to come from within the marketing department - everyone can contribute. Well-rounded content covers a range of subjects, and can come from other team members, customers or even external consultants. Here are a few tips to remember:

Look for easy content wins

Some types of content are easier to scale than others. Thought-leadership pieces for example are great for your brand to contribute to industry conversations, but are less shareable. Look for opportunities to reposition newsworthy content, as well as evergreen content (for example an interesting article like “The 10 Greatest Marketing Campaigns of All Time”). Remember that great content generates ongoing engagement and traffic - leading to increased awareness and sales.

Repurpose content

Try to be creative in the way you use successful content. Evergreen content (aka content that’s continuously relevant) can reduce the workload on marketing staff, particularly when it’s re-used to create multiple pieces of content. A series of themed blog posts can be converted into a whitepaper, a slideshare presentation, a webinar or all three! And a section of client success stories can be turned into an infographic (with a little visual design help of course).

Standardize content workflow

Many brands we’ve worked with go through multi-step approval processes, and a single piece of content can pass through creative and even legal teams before getting the green light. Long e-mail threads with multiple versions slow down the review process and get in the way of scaling content. Shared drives and well-rehearsed approval systems can go a long way. It’s always best to create clear processes for content creation, editorial review, sign-off, distribution, and measurement, so that there are focused roles and responsibilities in your content workflow. Establish publishing frequency, and create deadlines for internal editing. It’s also a good idea to make sure that your team has shared access to both the content calendar and working drafts.

Create an exclusive, pre-approved brand toolkit

As social networks continue to become more visual, marketers also need to adapt their content while maintaining a consistent brand voice. When optimizing for speed and volume, having a quick toolkit at your fingertips with your brand’s pre-approved logos, product images, colors and fonts makes developing on-brand content much easier and faster.

Think your business could benefit from Percolate? MOO readers get one free month of their service (if they haven’t already used it, that is!) - just send an email to chris.bolman@percolate.com with "Percolate Moo promotion" in the subject line to get started.

Written on:

26 Jun 2014

Categories:

Networking, SEO and the Web, Marketing Tips