What's the best way to create a content governance plan using a framework?

1 What is a content governance framework?

A content governance framework is a tool that helps you define and document your content vision, roles, standards, workflows, and metrics. It helps you answer questions like: What is the purpose of your content? Who is responsible for creating, approving, and maintaining it? What are the quality criteria and best practices for your content? How do you manage and update your content across different channels and platforms? How do you measure and improve your content performance and impact? A content governance framework provides a structure and a common language for your content team and stakeholders to collaborate and communicate effectively.

2 Why use a content governance framework?

Using a content governance framework has many advantages when it comes to your online content creation. It can help you ensure consistency and coherence across your content to improve your brand identity, user experience, and SEO. Additionally, it can reduce errors and risks by setting clear expectations and guidelines for content quality and compliance. What's more, it can save time and resources by streamlining processes and avoiding duplication or gaps. Moreover, it can increase collaboration and accountability by clarifying roles and responsibilities in relation to each other. Finally, it can enhance your content strategy by aligning with your goals, audience, and context, as well as evaluating content outcomes and feedback.

3 How to choose a content governance framework?

When selecting a content governance framework, there is no one-size-fits-all solution; rather, it must be tailored to the size, culture, and objectives of the organization. Factors to consider include the scope and complexity of content production and management, the size and structure of the content team, and the maturity and flexibility of the content strategy. For instance, a simple framework may cover basic elements like Content Marketing Institute's Content Governance Model, while a more comprehensive framework might include aspects such as GatherContent's Content Governance Framework. Ultimately, choosing a framework that meets your level of detail, formality, and customization is key.

4 How to apply a content governance framework?

Once you have chosen a content governance framework, you need to apply it to your content strategy and operations. To do this, you should begin by assessing your current content situation. This includes auditing existing content, analyzing performance and user feedback, and evaluating current processes and workflows. Additionally, you should define a clear statement of what you want to achieve with your content, set SMART objectives for outcomes and impact, and assign roles and responsibilities. You should also develop a style guide for tone, voice, language, and format, create a quality checklist for best practices, document legal and ethical requirements for compliance, map out the steps of the content lifecycle from planning to maintenance, determine tools and platforms for creation and management, select KPIs to track effectiveness and efficiency, collect data and feedback to show results and insights, and report findings to your team and stakeholders.

5 How to improve your content governance plan?

A content governance plan is not a document that you can create once and forget. It is a dynamic and ever-evolving guide that requires regular review and updates. To improve your content governance plan, you need to test and validate your framework, learn and adapt from your content metrics and feedback, and adjust and optimize your plan. Check if your framework works for your organization, identify any gaps or challenges, seek feedback from stakeholders, monitor and measure content performance, evaluate outcomes, analyze insights, learn from successes and failures, make the necessary changes, update vision, goals, roles, standards, workflows and metrics, communicate changes to team members and stakeholders, and document updates.

6 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?