How to plan a content creation framework (steps and tasks)

Launching a content creation marketing strategy involves a lot of planning in advance and constant work

Content creation is one of the most common digital marketing strategies to reach new users, so that companies get more contacts or potential customers and these can solve their doubts with educational material. But for this process to be enriching for both parties, it is essential that the brand plans its content marketing campaign from the first step (such as researching the competition) to the last (disseminating the content).

In this sense, defining a content creation framework is similar to establishing an editorial plan. However, the framework offers a more comprehensive planning by taking into account all elements related to content marketing: steps, tasks and tools. In contrast, the editorial plan focuses on the development of materials, without including dissemination as part of the content creation process.

So, if you think your company can benefit from this business strategy to achieve its long-term goals, read this article before you start blogging.

5 steps to designing a framework

For planning to be useful, it needs to be comprehensive, so the process of designing a framework for content creation is divided into five key parts that feed into each other. Let's look at them one by one:

1. thinking about what content you will offer

Conceptualising your strategy means establishing a clear thematic offering and original ideas that differentiate you from the competition. To do this, you can research your competitors' content for inspiration and opportunities, always keeping keywords in mind. In addition, it is essential to create content for each stage of the buyer's journey: attraction, interaction, conversion and delight. Remember that a new contact is not looking for the same content as a regular customer.

2. organise content into a timeline

With your SMART goals in mind, you can determine what content to publish and when. To do this, think about the buyer's journey: if your goal is to get more leads, then focus on the attraction phase. Set a realistic timeline with your company's resources to create quality content that actually brings value to users. Don't get carried away by rushing or ambition.

3. Establish the work path for each piece of content

This step consists of clarifying the workflow involved in the creation of content from the idea to its publication. In this way, you create a routine that you can adapt according to your experience to streamline and improve the process. This is where the documentation process, the initial outline or index, the draft, editing, layout or design, etc. come into play. In addition, you must take into account who will be responsible for each task (we will talk about this later).

4. designing the method of proofreading and optimising the content

Although this step is sometimes ignored, it is just as important as the rest. The revision of the content (whether it is a video, an article or an infographic) is essential to correct errors or improve some deficiencies. It also serves to keep all the content of the company unified (i.e. according to the established style guide) and to give a more professional and reliable view to the user. Who likes to find a spelling mistake? In this sense, it is preferable that the correction is done by a different person than the one who created the content. In this step, the content is also optimised for search engines through the SEO techniques that you have agreed to use.

5. storing the content

Finally, as you publish content in whatever format or channel you publish it, it is very important to organise it. In this way, you create a library of all your material that you can refer to for future recycling. It also serves as a database that will help you avoid creating identical content. In this sense, the best way to store all publications is to create a unique naming system where, for example, the format, the stage of the buyer's journey it addresses, the campaign it belongs to and the year are indicated. Even so, you can establish your own method adapted to your needs.

Tasks involved in content creation

Each step in planning the framework is linked to one or two inseparable tasks of content marketing. In turn, these should be performed by different, specialised workers, so your strategy will be carried out by a larger or smaller team, but always organised and never overworked. Let's look at the five tasks you should consider when building your team:

• content and strategy management: This is to manage all the actions of the campaign to ensure its smooth running. Therefore, this is where the long-term strategy is created and the final results are analysed. The professional in charge of this task is the content manager, who is an expert in content marketing and is considered the team leader.
• copywriting: This task can be carried out by a single person or several copywriters, depending on the scope of the campaign. They do not need to be experts in the field, as their task is to research, talk to the rest of the company's team and create informative and didactic content. It is also quite common to outsource copywriting and hire freelancers.
• proofreading: As with copywriting, this task can be carried out by a specialised in-house professional, a freelancer or, as a last option, an external content marketing worker with extensive knowledge of copywriting. The aim is to receive an assessment from a person outside the strategy in order to improve it and get a different opinion. Remember that, in addition to the spelling and stylistic correction of the text, SEO positioning must also be checked.
• design: Having a designer will make your campaign more attractive and pleasant. Often, the decision to continue consuming a content or not is made in a few seconds and depends on the visual design focused on the user. In this sense, it doesn't matter if the content is fantastic: if the design does not match the quality of the text, few people will bother to read it.
• dissemination: Although the editorial plan does not take it into account, the distribution of content is also part of the strategy and must be planned. For this, the company needs a community manager or a person in charge of the company's corporate communication. In this sense, it is very useful to make a dissemination plan.

Necessary tools for content creation

In order to advance in each step of the process and develop each task successfully, it is necessary for your company to handle some basic tools that we will discuss below:

• a CMS, a content management system, i.e. the platform where you will organise the content of your website. Two of the best known are WordPress and HubSpot, but you can research others to find the right one for your company. In this other article, we have compiled the 4 best ones.
• a calendar: To keep track of work, monitor goals and organise all the teams, it is essential to set up a calendar that can be accessed by everyone involved. You can download our template for creating content marketing calendars here.
• metrics: As in any marketing campaign, it is necessary to monitor the results and a final check of the objectives. To do this, you can use the metrics offered by your CMS. You can also check which metrics are considered essential in an online marketing strategy.
• internal communication tools: The aim is to ensure effective conversations between teams and between all the people responsible for driving content creation forward. Two examples of tools for professional communication are Slack or Discord.

If you've got this far, you'll have seen the importance of planning through a complete and comprehensive framework. The clearer you are about each stage of the process, the teams involved and how to carry out the tasks, the more effective the campaign will be. Users will find the content more engaging and your company will reap the many benefits of content creation. Are you going to miss out?