Creating quality content
QUSETION: How does an organisation with ongoing online content requirements ensure their content is :
- Of a high standard?
- On message?
- On brand?
- Compelling?
- Consistent?
ANSWER: Make a style guide.
Ha ha. OK, bad joke. No. Not by creating a style guide. Or not only by doing that, anyhow.
And using spell checkers doesn’t really help either.
It’s all about communication. People engaged in content creation (text, design, video, etc) need to understand more than just the subject matter to create effective content.
They need to be brand experts and brand ambassadors. They need to understand:
- Voice: Who is the content from? Is it an organisation or a person? How should the content be seen by the audience?
- Context: Where will the content be placed? What will be next to it? Will it be reused in different contexts?
- Audience: Who will read it? When and why? Are there particular search terms being targeted that help identify who the likely consumer of the content is?
- Influence/Outcome: What are consumers of the content meant to do after they are finished?
- Search and Find: How should the content be structured to enable users to find it, and then to read it easily?
It’s only after all of these questions are answered that content creators can go about their business.
After that, it’s all about talent (which can’t be taught) and technique (which can). Oh, and a style guide.
Do your content creators (in-house or external) have all the information they need?
