mebeing
Content creation is a necessary aspect of any brand or business. If you’re a small business or blogger, you might create all your content yourself. However, large companies and businesses may have a whole team of content creators, broken down into various categories. Regardless of which applies to you, consistent and engaging content needs to be continuously created to encourage the growth of your brand.
Coming up with innovative video, audio, and written content on a weekly or even daily basis can be tedious enough as it is. Adding the stress of disorganization, changing timelines, and altered strategies don’t need to be a factor. Finding ways to streamline the content creation process will make your life, and the lives of your team, much easier, and here’s how to do that.
Keep Your Assets Organized
The number one way to keep your content creation process streamlined and efficient is through the organization. You’ll need access to a variety of digital assets to create your content. Finding what you need, when you need it, will save time and stress. Managing creative files effectively means you won’t end up with duplicated content and also can make use of all the amazing assets you already have.
Make sure you label all files and assets in a standardized way so that they can be easily located by whoever needs them. Create a filing system with relevant folders and sub-folders that are straightforward and descriptive. Be aware of who has editing access to these systems and make sure they are fully briefed on the organizational structure, so it is kept consistent.
Stick to a Systematic Content Workflow
Though you may run into exceptional circumstances sometimes, generally, your content workflow should look the same. Following a systematic structure will allow you to see exactly where you’re at in the process and what still needs to be done. It’s also more effective for productivity to have each step set out in black and white. There will be no uncertainty about what task comes next, or what needs to be done before publishing since you’ll have a checklist.
Here is a standard workflow format for creating content:
- Assign – The first step is to assign the content to a team member. Depending on which project management software you use, or if you don’t use one at all, you can assign the staff member the project along with the completion deadline. Provide the necessary brief, along with any details they may need to know.
- Creation – Step two is the actual creation of the content itself. Make sure you’ve allotted the adequate time to your team members to complete the content creation. Once they completed the piece (i.e. finished writing, recording video, taking photos, and so on), have them upload it to either your digital asset management system or a relevant cloud location.
- Editing – Next is the editing or quality control step. Have your editor, or yourself, look over the content to double-check that it’s on brand and all correct. There are editing apps you can use for copy editing that make it much easier. But be aware that it won’t catch everything.
- Post – Once the content is verified, it’s ready to post. You may have a designer or web/social manager who is in charge of this step. Depending on the content, this is the time to implement SEO, tags, and additional assets as needed, such as images for a blog post.
- Promotion – Lastly, you’ll want to promote the content. If it is part of a campaign, you may wish to allocate ad spend for it. If not, then advertising on social media, through your email newsletter or via link-building, would also be part of this step.
Automation
The final tip for streamlining your content creation process is through automation. Now you can’t use automation for everything, and writing or editing creative content is something that has to be done by a human. That said, there are ways that digital platforms can save you time and energy.
Scheduling platforms like HootSuite or HubSpot allow you to pre-schedule your content so that it posts automatically for you. These platforms allow you to create content in bulk and schedule it for whenever you need it, rather than rushing around day-to-day to get things posted. It’s great for posting about specific events or dates, such as International Women’s Day, as you can create and schedule the post even a month in advance. Creating these calendars will allow you and your team to be more efficient with their time and craft quality content in a strategic way.
