Content strategy working group: the basics
If content people in your organizations are dispersed throughout departments rather than on a single team, it’s really important to have a mechanism in place to ensure all content aligns to a common strategy.
Enter the content strategy working group.
Purpose:
OK. I’ll bite. What’s the deal?
The working group creates strategic alignment across departments, channels, and even regions. So, what does this mean? Here’s what the group strives to do:
- Align expectations of content teams.
- Ensure all business, audience, and content team goals are considered.
- Plan for upcoming content requirements and needs.
- Develop and promote a proactive and collaborative approach to content.
- Enable content strategy team members to liaise with their departments, gathering concerns and insights, and distributing information.
Members:
Sounds great! Who gets to sign up?
The group should include representatives from senior management plus enthusiastic content creators across all departments and channels.
A designated content leader should lead the group, representing content strategy across the organization, but all members provide strategic leadership related to their area of expertise.
Meetings:
The content strategy working group meets at varying intervals to plan for and review content initiatives. Usually it’s annually, quarterly, and monthly.
So … what should we talk about?
Here are some ideas to get you going:
- Upcoming content needs: What content is anticipated over the next quarter? Month?
- Content measurement: How well has specific content performed? What does this mean for us?
- Content planning: What needs to get scheduled over the next month or two? How does this fit into the long term content vision?
- Content resourcing: Who’s going to do what, and out of which budget?
- Content training: Who needs what support, and how can we help them?
- Content education and advocacy: How can we promote content strategy across the organization?
- Approvals and action items: What new approaches or processes are ready to launch? How can we move content strategy forward?
Time commitment:
OK, this all sounds fantastic. Wins all around. But … we’re already busy. What’s the time commitment?
Well, that depends on the size of your organization and how much content is being produced. To figure out how much time group members will need to spend, ask yourself:
- How much content is being overseen?
- How frequently should meetings be held?
- When, how, & to whom do strategy & tactics need to be communicated out?
So, the content strategy working group format can be tailored to your organization’s needs and resources. And often, once you start getting alignment among content planners and creators, you’ll find people have more time to spend on content strategy.
Further reading
Top 4 content governance Q & As
Content teamwork: Aligning your people and processes [Slides]
