Content marketing workflows are nothing but a procedure for creating content your team follows right from ideation to delivery as efficiently as possible. It can provide you with an outline. A content workflow relies more on the people, tools, and resources needed for content creation. Hence, defining the roles and providing the necessary documents, tools, and timelines at every stage for the content marketing workflow to work effectively becomes crucial. However, depending on the content type, you might have to update your content marketing workflows. It’s not new that the materials, people, and timelines defined in one workflow change depending on the content you create, such as a blog, video, live stream, or web copy.
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Types Of Content Marketing Workflows
Task-based Workflows
If you have a new content team, task-based workflows may work best for you. In task-based content marketing workflows, each task must be carried out before jumping to the next step. Task-based content marketing workflows are best for new content teams because whoever is assigned to the task knows what needs to be done and what happens next.
Status-based Workflows
More experienced teams most often prefer status-based content marketing workflows. In a status-based workflow, each stage is defined by status and does not include detailed descriptions of what needs to be done. These workflows can be easier to track and can be used with a wide variety of content types.
Why are Content Marketing Workflows Required?
It is a crucial marketing tip for content marketers to have a content marketing workflow. You might have a team of excellent content writers and SEO experts, but if you don’t plan to upload content on time, your efforts might go into vain. It is where a good content marketing workflow comes into the picture; good content marketing workflows ensure that:
- You create content that is consistent, timely, and accurate.
- It guarantees that you have realistic deadlines and outcomes.
- It enables you to plan for common roadblocks in content planning and launches.
- You can also manage your more effectively and efficiently.
How To Develop Content Marketing Workflows?
Before starting to develop your content marketing workflows, first identify these things:
- Identify the roles of every person involved in content creation.
- Identify the tasks of each person.
- Identify the ideal time for the completion of the tasks.
Now, let’s come down to the steps for developing a content marketing workflow template:
1. Information About The Channels
When you are developing a content marketing workflow template, do not forget to mention your clearly at the top of your template so that your team can get the idea of goal metrics for each content; below, we have mentioned some of the things that you can include into your information:
- Be very clear and specific about the content you require.
- Also, mention how content type fits into the company’s long-term goals.
- Mention the benchmarks for each content piece, such as SEO score, Grammarly score, etc.
- You can also give examples of exceptional content in the same format that has performed well.
2. Strategy Phase
Strategy plays a pivotal role in content marketing workflows; in this phase, make sure that you convey to your team all the prerequisites of the content; here is a list of a few things that you can include:
- Specify the minimum basic requirement of each content piece.
- How does each content play a role in the bigger picture?
- What is the purpose of this content?
- What is the plan for promoting the content?
3. Assigning Phase
In this phase of the content marketing workflow template, list all the requisite actions that need to be taken. Here is a list of a few items that you can add to your content marketing workflow:
- What skills do you need from your content writer in each piece of content
- The location of the brief to give your collaborators
- What tools or processes can be used when assigning collaborators
4. Publishing Phase
The 4th step of this phase includes everything related to reviewing, editing, etc. Here is the list of items that you can include:
- Mention the person who is responsible for reviewing and editing.
- Mention all the tools that are involved in publishing.
- Also, write down all the steps and actions that need to happen before or during publishing.
5. Promotion Phase
A well-defined content marketing workflow means that your team will be more consistent with how they promote content.
What to include:
- Include the channels that are to be used to promote the content.
- Include all the roles and skills required for smooth working.
- Mention all the tools and actions that are required for promotion.
6. Analyses Phase
In this phase of your content marketing workflow template, add everything your team needs to know about how to review the success of the content and where to report it.
What to include:
- Include the frequency at which the analysis has to be done: weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.
- Mention the tools to be used to analyse performance and where the results are to be reported.
- Write down the actions for not meeting the benchmarks.
How To Know That Your Content Marketing Workflows Are Good?
After following the steps we have mentioned above, it is time to check whether the workflow is working or not:
Good content marketing workflows ensure:
- Faster publishing of content.
- Your team is clear about their roles and responsibilities.
- Saves time and gives you more bandwidth for content promotion.
- It ensures higher-quality content and consistent brand messaging across channels.
A bad content workflow is associated with:
- Delay in publishing an individual piece of content.
- Team members have vague ideas about their roles and responsibilities.
- Content promotion often gets overlooked or done inconsistently.
Improve Your Team’s Efficiency
Content marketing workflows are necessary if you want to create content regularly and efficiently, with your team informed at every step. A content workflow can increase productivity, minimise errors, and boost your team’s engagement. Have you used a content marketing workflow before? If yes, then what were your experiences with defining content workflows? What has worked well for you, and what hasn’t? Comment your response below.
