The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Each of the three adept at their craft. Yet they all hang out in the tub together, scrubbing each other’s back.
Okay, that’s a silly comparison, but when it comes to creating and publishing content you need to wear a few different hats to ensure it is optimized for success through all phases of the lifecycle. Instead of the three men in the tub, think of the editor, the ad rep, and the librarian. Tap into each of these personas yourself or build your content team with people who fall into these categories.
Think like an editor
As an editor – or in the broader sense, a creator - you should be looking to serve your audience through the story. How will this piece of content provide value to the reader? Maybe it’s telling them something they didn’t’ know before. Maybe you’re showing them how to do something. Whatever you’re communicating, it needs to come from a place of helpfulness and empathy, serving the story and serving the audience.
Think like an advertising rep
But you also need to put on your ad rep hat, thinking a little more tactically about how you are going to present the content. How are you optimizing for engagement and driving action? And how are you monitoring and analyzing performance? You need to report on those KPIs and be constantly tweaking the publishing strategy based on consumption data. Keeping a close eye on the metrics that matter to you - whether they be impression based, engagement based, or conversion based - will help the editorial side of your brain (or your team) create more impactful content.
Think like a librarian
You’ve created beautiful images, videos, and copy. You’ve published them across newsletters, social media, third party publications, and your website. They’ve been picked up by influencers and major digital media. If you want to build on that success, you need to make sure everything you produce is archived in an easy searchable library. Digital content is not a one-and-done medium, but it can be a one version-and-done. There are countless ways to revise and republish content. Having all the creative and the data associated with it archived will save you and your team an inordinate amount of time when they’re repurposing existing assets. Depending on the scope of your creative output, your digital asset management (DAM) system may need to be fairly robust. And effective tagging is a must.
If you’re lucky enough – and at scale enough – to be able to build a content team, be sure to hire people who can focus on each of these three areas. Creators who can focus on effective storytelling. Analysts and strategists who can focus on optimization and furthering reach. Managers who can oversee the content library and enforce compliance and usage rights. And all three should scrub each other’s back.