Content management and team collaboration

There are pros and cons to having a really good content management system. The upside is you can do so much with a powerful CMS, and the downside is you can do so much with a powerful CMS. Content management is not a tangible, physical thing you can grab on to and use like a content management system. A CMS is designed to take your content management strategy and put it to work. Content management today is about team collaboration. It’s a systematic approach to creating, maintaining and retiring content for your target audience in a team environment. Even “one man teams” have team members – their readers. Content management even extends into social media.

Workflow is the centerpiece to a well-functioning content management strategy. A broken workflow creates broken content and creates a broken CMS. The CMS in itself won’t be broken, but the application of its use will be defeated. Here is an example of a very simple workflow:

1. Author researches and creates content. Submits for approval.
2. Reviewer/publisher approves content and publishes to the website.
3. Content goes live.

Or the adverse effect could happen:

1. Author researches and creates content. Submits for approval.
2. Review/publisher rejects content and returns to author pending changes.
3. Cycle repeats until approved.

An inconsistent company and team approach is needed to make even the simplest workflow unsuccessful. Authors should know what the voice of the organization is and publishers should know the rules and guidelines that should be followed. Effective communication between parties, whether it’s interpersonal or automated through a CMS, is crucial for timely content creation and management. The more complex the workflow the more team collaboration becomes important.

What makes a good content management team?
A team may consist of many different combinations of members, and one size doesn’t necessarily fit all. Here is a quick list of common roles played in a content management team and process:

• Stakeholders
• Legal
• Marketers
• Project managers
• Information architects
• Content strategists
• Web analysts
• Developers
• Designers

Each team member may play a crucial role in the success of your content management strategy. Different content may require different workflows, and team members may span many roles over many different workflows. Without a clear process set forth and good team communication you can see how confusing content management can really become.

So what does each role typically do in common workflows?

Stakeholders
This category could range from your clients to business leadership. There is a clear message that needs to be conveyed and feedback will be often given at this level. Direction is also found from this role as well.

Legal
Privacy policies, terms and conditions and other legally sensitive content may need legal’s approval before publication.

Marketers
The marketer’s role has expanded on content management as more businesses realized the importance of communication and messaging to their clients. A marketer’s role in your workflow could range from putting ideas to words to defining ideas and objectives for the overall web presence.

Project Managers
This category may not always find itself in every content management process, but these are often the team leaders that coordinate the group to accomplish various goals and objectives presented by stakeholders. They could be the central hub of communication for the team and should work to keep the team on task.

Information Architects
You have a lot of information to get on the web whether it’s your website, social media presence or blog. This group can often take the goals and objectives and help determine where the content should be placed for optimal results.

Content Strategists
This is a growing, quite possibly booming, profession in today’s modern content management era. Perhaps Kristina Halvorson, writer of Content Strategy for the Web, puts it best when she defines The Discipline of Content Strategy:

Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.

Necessarily, the content strategist must work to define not only which content will be published, but why we’re publishing it in the first place.

Sometimes content strategists carry the same torch as information architects.

Web Analysts
This is another team member that often didn’t get included in a content management strategy until more recently because analyzing web data was still a raw art form versus the mega marketing tool that it is today. These individuals often take business goals and objectives and find ways to measure them. Once they become measurable this group is usually involved to help declare initiatives as successes or failures.

Developers
Sometimes it’s just not enough to put words down to get the action you need, and sometimes content requires landing pages with web forms. This group is often responsible for taking the tools the CMS give them and ability to create code to turn tactics into tangible results.

Designers
This group is often responsible to give the website or media channel life, and while they may not often play an active role in creation and management of content one should not underestimate their importance in the overall scheme of content management.

Does your team have similar roles? Does your team include roles that do not fall under these “categories?” How do you manage multiple teams or your team in your content management strategy? I’d love to hear ideas and other points of view. Continue the conversation below!