Updated from an article initially revealed July 8, 2020
A couple of years in the past, folks talked about making the office extra appropriate for everybody. Today, given the altering function of the bodily workplace, the dialog has turned to the workspace.
A profitable workspace operates like a group, with constant communication, responsiveness, and suppleness. The challenges of working effectively in particular person roles and as a bunch stay whether or not or not your content material workforce works in the identical place.
This record of go-to instruments helps my workforce’s writers and editors work effectively throughout places and time zones.
1. Central, go-to guides and sources
Ensure that your workforce members can shortly familiarize themselves together with your firm’s content material advertising technique and implementation steps so everyone works from the identical web page.
The documented guides and processes we share embrace:
- Brand voice and messaging
- Company fashion guides and normal key phrase optimization, formatting, and different particulars
- Individual fashion guides for content material ways
Dedicated guides for every content material format guarantee everyone seems to be on the identical web page. We have particular fashion guides for:
- Landing pages – documenting the best way to create a mixture of written and visible content material that converts.
- Blog articles and visitor posts – detailing key phrase inclusion, heading tags, and content material construction.
- Email copy and newsletters – showcasing templates based mostly on objectives akin to pitches, content material distribution, and different promotional presents. (We use Omnisend to streamline our e mail messages and enhance open charges.)
These documented guides dwell in shared useful resource folders on Google Drive to make them accessible to everybody on the content material workforce.
Dedicated process and style guides for each format keep #Content team members on the same page, says @Shane_Barker via @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
TIP: We use the Loom app to document quick movies addressing widespread errors and fixes. These movies can reinforce the areas the place your workforce must pay extra consideration to your fashion guides.
2. Detailed job briefs
We write an in depth transient for every job to keep up transparency and decrease the necessity for revisions.
This instance of a short crafted for a deliberate visitor publish consists of three columns – particulars, description, and remarks by author (if wanted). The left column lists publish sort, title, whether or not the title has been reviewed by the chief editor, description urged to the shopper, phrase depend, goal web site, goal web site pointers, and audience.
3. Project administration by way of Teamline or ClickUp
To create a content material workflow, we combine Teamline with Slack. The challenge administration device lets us streamline all duties and maintain tabs on progress.
Teamline permits customers to create duties in challenge channels, assign them to the “concerned person,” add due dates, and add customized labels. We use customized labels to determine the duties’ precedence – medium, essential, pressing, and many others.
When working with freelancers, we use ClickUp to assign duties and monitor progress. ClickUp consists of a whole bunch of customizable options that assist me simplify my workflow and save time. And it retains freelance monitoring out of our inner Slack channels.
We create a separate card for every project. Then we are able to shortly transfer particular person job playing cards to lists akin to “assigned,” “for review,” “approved,” or “published.” That lets us maintain monitor of every project’s progress and higher decide its publication date.
It additionally lets us see which freelance assignments are on the authorized record so we all know which invoices should be paid.
ClickUp additionally helps us plan, monitor, and create a workflow for our content material advertising campaigns. This screenshot of the ClickUp interface reveals an inventory of duties separated by sort (points discovered, evaluate, and prepared). Assignee, due date (if assigned), stage (initiation, planning, execution), and precedence particulars additionally seem for every job.
4. An availability tracker built-in with a messaging device
Slack is a superb platform for workforce communication. We added the Mesasix Time Tracker device to it, letting us see who has logged in, is on break, and is offered for discussions.
With this info, we interrupt folks in the midst of one thing essential. It will help you enhance worker satisfaction and, in flip, your workforce’s effectivity.
The Mesasix integration additionally will help monitor general worker time to tell payroll processing by accounting.
Add the @Mesasix Time Tracker tool to @SlackHQ to track #ContentMarketing team availability, says @Shane_Barker via @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
5. Google Docs for simple collaboration
We use Google Docs to collaborate and work as a workforce to create content material. Multiple writers and editors can work on the identical doc concurrently. We may maintain tabs on who made which edits and when. If crucial, we are able to restore older variations of the doc at any time.
Google Docs device allows you to automate a desk of contents, add feedback, and assign motion objects to the accountable celebration to make sure clean workforce collaboration.
6. Communication instruments for messaging and assembly
Transparent and clean communication amongst your content material workforce members helps you preserve robust, lasting relationships in your group and with freelancers.
As I discussed, we use Slack to speak. We created separate channels for main firm bulletins, particular challenge pointers, and writing ideas. This helps workforce members shortly get the data they need, increase questions, and get quick suggestions.
When we get the workforce collectively on Zoom (you would possibly use one in all these alternate video-conferencing tools), we document work-related conferences for future reference and for anybody who can’t make the assembly.
Establish transparent and smooth communication among your #content team members, says @Shane_Barker via @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
Get to work
Managing a content material workforce has its challenges. But regardless of the place they work, you’ll be able to scale your content material advertising success with the best arsenal of instruments.
What instruments does your content material workforce discover useful? What questions do you could have about selecting the best device? Please share within the feedback.
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Please word: All instruments included in our weblog posts are urged by authors or sources. No one publish can present all related instruments within the area. Feel free to incorporate further instruments within the feedback (out of your firm or ones that you’ve used).Cover picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute