Content is one of the most important things to consider when growing a business. Without content, how can you reach an audience? Well, the answer is: you can’t. That’s why producing and maintaining good quality materials is essential when operating a business.
But with77% of companies saying that they have a content marketing strategy in place, it is often not the creation of content that is a problem. Instead, businesses frequently struggle with the management of their materials. But once content is created, how do you go about maintaining it? Well, first you need a good content lifecycle management strategy.
What Is Content Lifecycle Management?
From the moment a piece of content is created, it has a lifecycle. Unconvinced? Think about content that you have recently created. Perhaps it was a detailed chart or a video advertising a new product. All content has three things in common; it was developed, published, and shared. These three elements make up the lifecycle of content.
There are several common mistakes that businesses make when dealing with content. One is assuming that all assets have a sell-by-date. Eventually, you’ll move on to newer content and your old assets are retired to the recycle bin. But this shouldn’t be the case. An effective business knows how to repurpose content so that it remains relevant long after it has been created.
With an effective content lifecycle management strategy in place, you can keep on top of your content. This will boost your productivity, enabling you to spend less time sifting through content and more time strengtheningbrand loyalty by ensuring that customers are exposed to high-quality materials.
But what steps can you take to produce a winning strategy? Read on to find out.
Organize, Organize, Organize
Did we mention that organization is an important part of content lifecycle management? By having an organizational strategy in place, you’ll get a birds-eye view of the different processes involved in the lifecycle of your content. There are a few steps you can take to ensure better organization of your business.
Use collaborative word processing software such as Google Docs to handle task management in teams. A shared space can be an excellent place to brainstorm ideas for content. Members of your team can put forward different suggestions, allowing you to bounce off each other. This helps to ensure a higher quality product at the end of the process.
With all your ideas well documented, you can return to them at a later stage in the life cycle. If you’re unhappy with certain elements of your content, you can use your notes to make improvements. They can also inform the creation of future content.
Frequently compile your best ideas. Documenting all your ideas is a good plan, but with so many different plans written down, it can be difficult to know where to start.
The most successful businesses compile their best ideas at least once a month. That way they have a definitive list of their content ideas available to consult at any time.Know how to set up a conference call to discuss different ideas with your team.
Alongside your best ideas, you should list all the content that is currently in use, as well as any assets that you are not currently using. This allows you to keep track of content throughout its lifecycle and avoids material going unused.
Create an editorial board. When managing content, it’s important to have a view over all the processes involved. The best way to do this is by creating an editorial board to oversee each of the different steps involved in content creation. The board should be independent of the creation process. This allows for more effective management and distribution of content.
Know the Seven Stages
There are seven stages to content lifecycle management. Not all these steps will always be relevant, nor do they always have to be followed in order. But if used as a guide, they’ll help you on your way to creating effective and long-lasting content.
- Planning – as we’ve already established, planning is essential in content creation. A clear plan will inform each of the seven stages. This ensures efficiency and that you get the most out of your materials. Practiceremote workforce management to ensure that you’re in touch with your team throughout the planning phase.
- Creation – you guessed it; this is the stage where you create your content. You may be creating a blog, images, or video. Whatever your brief, now is the time to brainstorm and collaborate with your team, ensuring that you’re producing the best content for your upcoming campaigns. Use this time to check and double-check your materials.
- Storage – one of the biggest content-related headaches is when materials are poorly organized across multiple storage devices. This can lead to long hours trying to locate the files that you need. To avoid this, be sure that your files are stored in the cloud. This gives access to you and your team wherever you are whilst being securely backed up.
- Editing – now is the time to have a last look at your content before publication. Do your assets properly meet all your guidelines? If so, it can be approved, and you can move on to the next stage. If not, what can you do to improve the content?
- Publication – your content is now ready to be sent into the world. Think about ways that you can distribute your assets that will maximize value and receive the best response.
- Reporting – this is one of the most important steps in the lifecycle of your content. With your assets now public, take time to analyze the public response. With effective reporting, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. This information can then be used to improve future content creation.
- Preservation – now that your content is no longer in use, it’s important that it can be archived for future reference. It can even be reused later down the line.
Know Your Content Lifecycle
A problem that some businesses face is becoming overburdened. They have too much content, and they simply cannot keep track of it all. This means that high-quality materials are often unused. Always be aware of the content in your possession.
Now you know the importance of content lifecycle management, start putting these tips into practice. With a clear view of the lifecycle of your assets, you’ll be running a more effective business.
Well, what are you waiting for? Get managing your content lifecycle today.
