What are the most effective ways to establish a content approval process?

The most effective way to establish a content approval process is to start at the top. ★ Who has the final approval of content concepts - and who approves finished ready-to-publish content? If these are two different people, they both need to be in the concept approval meeting! ★ Where in the process is continued approval needed? (how many iterations of content will need to be approved) I have found that to be effective and efficient, I use an agile tool, like Plannable or Google Workspace, where you can work with team members asynchronously on content - and get instant edits and approval!

Customer centricity is and should always be your top priority : What do people want to know, how, and when ? It should lead your content goals and should help your prioritize one format over another. Don't forget that time can be your friend and your ennemi, measuring success of a content has to be on different time scales, as content upgrades have to be full part of your strategy. Ask yourself : where do your want to appear on the funnel ? Top, middle, bottom, everywhere ? When solving those questions, you should have a structure for your content strategy.

To establish an effective content approval process, it's crucial to streamline and clarify each step. Start by defining clear roles and responsibilities; this prevents bottlenecks and ensures accountability. Implement a centralized system or platform where all stakeholders can view, comment, and approve content. This fosters transparency and efficiency. Set realistic timelines for each approval stage, considering the complexity and priority of the content. Regularly review and adjust the process based on feedback and changing needs. This iterative approach keeps the system relevant and effective. A well-structured content approval process enhances both the quality and speed of your content pipeline.

To avoid creating content for the sake of content, plan ahead with the following in mind: What purpose does it serve? What is the end goal? Who is the end user this is geared towards? What will it take to make them take action? Once you have a plan, you can start building your content around the needs of your audience and business goals. An audit is a great way to identify what already exists, how to re-purpose good content, what impact it has driven and then where the gaps are to plug content into.

Clear goals and criteria are crucial. Beyond audience identification, integrate user engagement metrics like click-through rates and time spent on page. Utilize KPIs, sentiment analysis, and heatmaps for real-time adjustments, adding adaptability to your content strategy.

Whether you are running a small blog or an international streaming service, mapping your content approval process is crucial. Begin with creating a comprehensive reference document outlining the content approval process. Then you have to visualize the entire content creation and approval process. Include each step from ideation to publication, noting who is responsible for each task. Use flowcharts, diagrams, or project management tools. Assign specific roles to each involved stakeholder. Clearly define who is responsible for creating, editing, reviewing, and approving content at each stage. They can be proofreaders, PR or UX experts, lawyers, privacy specialists, or top company executives. NEVER FORGET TO REVIEW THIS PROCESS.

For complex workflows, consider getting a tool (for example, a project management tool or a Digital Asset Management tool) to help moving content from one stage to the next, keeping a neat trail of amends, comments and versions. In this day and time, the crazy journey of documents that keep changing names, to the point that they become "Document final final final this is it approved version 25" is not only impractical, but a real risk for your business.

Mapping your content workflow is crucial as it outlines the sequence of tasks and roles in content creation. Ideation ensures alignment with goals, reviewing enhances quality, approval ensures consistency and compliance, and publishing brings content to the audience. Each step is vital for maintaining integrity and optimizing impact throughout the content lifecycle.

As part of your content workflow, include SLAs and set prerequisites by aligning with the respective stakeholders. Clearly articulating the process and the steps one must follow will set everyone up for success.

If you're mapping your flow for the first time, make sure to include multiple team members/stakeholders in this process. Your goal should be to map out all existing processes - It's ok if there's more than one process at the outset. Your goal here is simply to gather intel about what is happening, what tools are being used, what steps are required and in what order, etc. I like to get very visual here - feel free to use different shapes/colors to help differentiate stakeholders, task, etc.

Build a team where each member has a unique contribution to make and are not under each other’s shadows. For example, one member’s strength could be copy-editing while another’s could be online marketing. Review their skills and discuss their preferred career trajectories with them. Build your team’s workflow according to that. Equip them with tools and resources based on their individual skillset, workload and chosen career path. For example, introduce the editor to copywriting, editing, proofreading and publishing manuals, and the content marketing specialist to digital marketing tools and resources.

Empowering your content team is the linchpin of a successful content approval process. Tailor your ensemble based on project size and complexity – writers, editors, designers, developers, subject matter experts, managers, and clients may all play key roles. Ensure clarity by articulating individual responsibilities, tasks, deadlines, and expectations. Equip your team with essential tools, resources, and guidelines to foster effective and efficient collaboration. It's not just about having a team; it's about cultivating a collective understanding and providing the necessary support for each member to excel in their role within the orchestrated content workflow.

Training and mentoring your team about their roles is essential. Too often assumptions are made, overlooking the facts that team members can be at different stages of their career. A newbie will need greater clarity on their role within a content approval system vs a seasoned marketer. But no matter the stage, everyone has to know their role and function within the system for it to work. There should be still be room for creative problem solving, but the team should know core responsibilities before they embark on any additional roles.

Content is a team job, and its is not just necessary to train the team members. It is important to empower them to flag any issues that they experience or foresee. There should be fair mix of authority and responsibility, as well as transparency and proactively. These factors help to ensure that avoidable delays and negative surprises are avoided.

There’s no point doing it all yourself when you have a 🧍🏾♀️Team🧍🏾♀️ Comparative advantage is your best friend - making your team skilled and adept to your workflows will optimize their performance and also improve their skills sets. Allowing them to even see ways to improve content process and make final output even greater ✨

Where things get going ✨ - Implement and monitor your content approval process using project management tools. - Track progress, roles, and feedback with content management systems. - Measure outcomes with analytics for traffic, engagement, and conversions. - Regularly assess and improve the process, addressing issues and gathering feedback.

The elephant in the room: the approval process often depends on the schedule of the person who needs to approve it. If it's your CMO, or whoever, sit down with them for 15 minutes to establish a quick and effective way to approve content that doesn't get tossed back and forth by their busy schedule.

Make sure that your process is clearly documented with key tasks, responsibilities, timelines and approvers identified. This plan should be accessible to everyone who will be involved in the process.

A big stumbling block in the content approval process comes when a senior leader exhibits these behaviors: + They make huge last-minute changes to content already approved by multiple stakeholders + They make suggestions at odds with the program goals, audience and/or platform + They are too busy to sign off and say go ahead, but get upset when they see the final content. What to do? + Seek their genuine buy-in to a clearly defined content strategy. +Say, I know you weren't happy with that content. What steps can we take to avoid that next time? Here are a couple of ideas (deadlines, etc.). + Do all of that as early as possible, and without rancor. These folks often become great partners if they feel listened to and see a clear process.

Your approval process will need to be executable through your project management software. If your PM tool doesn't allow for approval workflows, you're going to have a hard time. It is best if your PM tool allows for round-robin approvals (instead of only specific-user-based approvals) so that anyone with a certain role or permission level can complete the checks. This helps maintain the workflow even if an editor is out on leave. You want your approval flows to be effortless & automated. There should be flows for vetting new topics, creating briefs, assigning content to a specific author, putting it through editorial (and kicking it back to the author if there are edits that need to be done), and reassessing the piece after publishing.

If you're using a tool to manage your content workflow (such as GatherContent), make sure to consider who will need access to the platform. While it would be easiest for you if everyone involved does reviews and provides feedback in the tool, sometimes when working with SMEs it makes more sense to export content for them to review. Also, when asking external SMEs for feedback, be very thoughtful with your timeline. Remember that often your reviewers have many competing activities. Make sure you are communicating clearly & proactively about what you need from them & when. Work with your team to find a cadence & method that works for your needs.

Remember that less is more. With the large amount of content that often gets put out, having too many approval steps will slow down the flow of work and often leave a backlog of items. Figure out who the best people are for reviews and decide which types of content require a more rigorous process. For example, a case study will go through more approvals, but your daily social media posts can be left for the content team to evaluate.

Un punto clave para cualquier proceso es el uso de herramientas de autogestión. Por ejemplo Trello o ASANA. Estas te permiten flujos de trabajo ágiles, simples y transparentes. Decile bye bye al mail, y organizá con tu equipo un tablero o grupo para disfrutar de una dinámica prolija y organizada. Otros datos relevantes: - definir un proceso de trabajo y capacitar a todos los involucrados al respecto. Dicho proceso debería definirse en conjunto con las personas que luego lo usarán, para estar seguros de que facilitará el día a día de todos.

Use any project management tool or communication tool like Slack. This ensures that the correct people can effectively sign off on it. Have a workflow of authorisation or quality control that best suits your needs. I have had a quality control set-up used to manage a small content-writing team and it worked to suit the team's needs and met our team's goals.

Surprisingly, the secret to an effective content approval process lies in embracing controlled spontaneity. By encouraging creativity within a framework, we unlock innovation while ensuring alignment with our brand. It's not about rigid control; it's about orchestrating a symphony of ideas that harmonize with our messaging strategy. Flexibility within structure is the key to content brilliance.