Content teams present unique challenges to modern businesses. On the one hand, they’re increasingly essential. Even as so much of business is now automated, the need for strong content to drive and retain consumer engagement has never been clearer. On the other hand, content teams are also somewhat ill defined. They’re often comprised of remote and/or contracted contributors, which can make them seem more like resources than actual parts of a company team.
This can mean that as important as content teams are, business leaders can have trouble keeping them appropriately engaged. By following the tips we’re going to go over here though, the same leaders can begin to remedy this common problem.
Here are some ways to keep a content team engaged.
1. Build a Supportive Culture
A supportive culture is important with regard to any kind of team in the modern workplace. The past article ‘4 Ways to Inspire Employee Engagement and Boot Employee Retention’ included this idea, and conveyed the key point that business leaders should “show genuine support and appreciation of all employees.” The specific point in that post was more about being inclusive of all genders, races, and ethnicities, which of course is essential. But a supportive culture can also leave out part-time or remote contributors sometimes, and this often leads to content teams feeling isolated. A properly constructed workplace culture will specifically include them, and will almost certainly keep them more engaged as a result.
2. Provide Positive Feedback
The idea of positive feedback seems to be a given — except, all too often, where writers are concerned. In writing, constructive criticism is so important that it can often become the sole focus of feedback. This is understandable, but as a post about feedback by The Startup noted, it can also be discouraging. While content writers must be able to take constructive criticism, a total lack of positive feedback can ultimately leave them defeated and unmotivated. Thus, by letting a content team know when things are going well, or when individual pieces are well received or show improvement, is vital in keeping the team engaged.
3. Support Direction with Data
While it’s a given that modern businesses need content, many companies fail to understand how to make it work. This often means they’re employing content teams that aren’t making much of a difference, which can be frustrating for all involved. Speaking to this problem, Ayima Kickstart’s marketing experts identify “optimised content” as a common problem businesses face. This is a comment on data and technical understanding — on most businesses’ failure to recognise that even terrific content will be useless if it’s not written based on a strategy. To maximise content effectiveness, business leaders should strive to support content teams with the data and strategies they need to make their work suitable for search engines and target audiences alike. This will make the content successful, which will keep content teams happy.
4. Tie Communication to Documents
It may sound like a small problem, but content teams can suffer when communications and documents are separate from each other. Comments and criticism offered outside of the context of individual pieces of content can seem harsh or uncalled for, and edits requested on content without accompanying conversation can seem cold and detached. For these reasons, particularly if you’re managing a content team remotely, it can be wise to invest in a system that ties communications and document sharing together. One go-to option in this regard, Slack is described by Hot-to-Geek as “a single place for messaging, tools, and files” — which is really what you should look for. It doesn’t need to be Slack specifically, but any system in which you can freely communicate with content writers while going over work can boost engagement.
Author: River Janin
Photo Credits: Pixabay
