Building an online community with the help of your content is a great strategy and it’s one that absolutely works! But there are various things to consider in making the most of your content - at the most basic level you need to PLAN and know what to do with it. Sounds simple right, but often content can become your master without you even realising it has taken control!

This blog will help you take back and keep control with one of the best ways to succeed - by developing your own content marketing framework and exploring the skills needed by your team.

What is a Content Marketing Framework?

What exactly is a content marketing framework? It can mean different things to different people but essentially it enables organisations to work effectively with their content. The way we approach it is to focus on content STRATEGY, PROCESS and PEOPLE. Whilst the framework has to address fundamental questions such as WHY you'll be creating your content, for WHOM you will be creating it, the focus of this post is to look at the skills needed by your team to take control of your content.

A Content Mind-Set

The first question to ask is what skills and resources do you have at your disposal? Do you have a dedicated in-house team of writers and videographers, a pool of industry professionals looking to share their insights, or something in between? Whatever resources you have there is a second question to answer that is as crucial as the first.

Do your people have a content marketing mind-set?

• Are they empathetic to the audience
• Do they understand the impact of content on your business?
• Can they differentiate content?
• Are they versed in storytelling?
• Do they get involved in experimenting with new ideas?

If they have these qualities, then you're in a great place to work your content. 

Strategy

At its core your content marketing strategy is your WHY. Why are you creating content, who are you helping and how will you help them in a way that no one else can? Regardless of the roles that you decide are needed to deliver your content, you need a strategy. Once you have decided on your strategy you can then create a plan.

The worst strategy is to randomly create content as a result of a speaking engagement, an interview you did recently or simply "we just need to post more regularly". Without a strategy  it is best to stay put.

Planning

Understanding your strategy means that the in-depth planning can begin. Content that is very good is well thought out and carefully planned. Creating content involves people and processes - and the processes will largely depend on your organisation culture whether more entrepreneurial or risk averse. Whatever processes you use they have to be in alignment with the way your organisation works.

With your planning you need to set timelines. How long does it take to publish a blog post for example? Who needs to be involved and what is their time availability? You need to work through setting timelines for all the content you want to create. Once that information is available you will know whether you will be creating content quarterly, monthly, weekly or hourly. To deliver to your plans and keep the team motivated you may need to bring in external resources. 

Community Management

In developing your online community you may decide to appoint a community manager. From our experience, the marketing and social media functions cannot nurture your critical fan base whole heartedly and this is where the community manager comes in and plays a really important part.

The Community Manager role is yours to define, but in broad terms, this is someone who is your eyes and ears and responsible for tuning into what your community values and wants. In most case being the public face of your business and more importantly, they are in touch with your people - customers, clients, suppliers.

Content Creation

Creating content for blog posts, e-books, interview scripts, podcasts and video takes skill and patience, especially if the content is to stand out. Before a writer can be briefed you need to be clear on what you want the piece of content to do. Why is it being created? Which buyer persona? It should of course fit with your content strategy and as long as that is the case the work can begin. Can you create your content internally or do you need to engage professional freelancers?

Design

When the content has been written it is then, that the design professionals can be called in - in the case of a blog post that is, so they can source relevant images. Although there are great websites for free images too!  However, if the project is to create an e-book that has images on all pages and the copy sits in or around the visuals, it would be best to have the design briefing at the outset of the project. For an important content piece it's always best to get design experts in. 

Editing (writing, video and audio]

Editing is super important! Not just to review the content but really to look at where it works and where it perhaps doesn’t. Does the opening statement, in whatever form (audio, written or video) grab the attention of the audience? Is the content focused on a single theme, does the order of the content flow well? These are just some of the things editors look at. The content creator can become too close to their own work, so an editors’ eye is crucial for those final tweaks and improvements. 

SEO & Marketing