How do you evaluate your content governance?

1 Audit your content

One of the first steps to evaluate your content governance is to audit your existing content. A content audit is a systematic review of your content inventory, performance, and quality. It helps you understand what content you have, where it is, how it is structured, how it meets your users' needs and expectations, and how it supports your business objectives. A content audit can reveal gaps, overlaps, redundancies, inaccuracies, outdatedness, or compliance issues in your content. It can also help you measure the effectiveness of your content against your key performance indicators (KPIs) and user feedback.

2 Assess your workflow

Another way to evaluate your content governance is to assess your content workflow. A content workflow is the sequence of steps and tasks involved in creating, reviewing, approving, publishing, and maintaining content. It defines who does what, when, how, and why. A content workflow can help you streamline your content production, ensure accountability and quality control, and avoid bottlenecks and delays. To assess your content workflow, you can map out the current state of your workflow, identify the pain points and inefficiencies, and compare it with the best practices and standards in your industry or domain.

3 Review your policies

A third way to evaluate your content governance is to review your content policies. Content policies are the rules and guidelines that govern your content creation, management, and delivery. They can cover aspects such as content types, formats, styles, tones, voices, sources, references, accessibility, localization, security, privacy, retention, and archiving. Content policies can help you ensure consistency and coherence across your content, comply with legal and ethical requirements, and protect your brand reputation and credibility. To review your content policies, you can check if they are clear, comprehensive, updated, and enforced across your organization.

4 Survey your stakeholders

A fourth way to evaluate your content governance is to survey your content stakeholders. Content stakeholders are the people who have an interest or influence in your content, such as content creators, editors, managers, owners, sponsors, users, customers, partners, or regulators. They can provide valuable insights and feedback on your content governance from different perspectives and experiences. To survey your content stakeholders, you can use methods such as interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, or polls. You can ask them about their satisfaction, expectations, challenges, suggestions, or preferences regarding your content governance.

5 Benchmark your competitors

A fifth way to evaluate your content governance is to benchmark your competitors. Competitor benchmarking is the process of comparing and analyzing your content governance with that of your direct or indirect competitors. It helps you understand how you stand out or fall behind in your market or niche, and what you can learn or improve from others. To benchmark your competitors, you can use tools such as content analysis, content scoring, content auditing, or content intelligence. You can look at aspects such as content quality, quantity, diversity, relevance, usability, or engagement.

6 Test your scenarios

A sixth way to evaluate your content governance is to test your scenarios. Scenario testing is the process of simulating and evaluating how your content governance would respond to different situations or events, such as changes in user behavior, market trends, business goals, or technology. It helps you anticipate and prepare for potential opportunities or challenges, and improve your content agility and resilience. To test your scenarios, you can use methods such as scenario planning, scenario analysis, or scenario-based design. You can create realistic and relevant scenarios based on your research, data, or assumptions, and measure the impact and outcomes of your content governance.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?