Content governance: Setting up your content for success

Content governance stems from content strategy

Associations produce so much content: research reports, industry standards, educational materials, advocacy issue updates, program information, membership details, executive biographies, etc. Content strategy and content governance apply to all the content the organization creates.

Content strategy is the practice of planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of content that is

• useful, which means it’s relevant to the audience,
• usable, which means they can find it and use it,
• effective, which means it has an explicit and clear audience and set of goals, and that we know whether it achieved those goals.

Instead of old ways of creating content in silos, organizations with mature content strategy practices produce a collection of programs, products, information, resources and tools, create them as a set of holistic messages, and share those messages with its audiences.  (How mature is your content strategy? Download the assessment tool)

To do that, people’s thinking needs to shift. Everyone needs to realize that regardless of who creates an individual program, it’s all “our association’s” event, product, class, program, research, etc.  

Content governance is your website’s “rules of the road”

Content governance is how to make content strategy happen.

To understand why it’s necessary and what it takes, I like to use the analogy of driving. Before 1900, roads were shared by pedestrians and horses. There was no signage or traffic signals. When cars came along, there was suddenly a need for a new system of governance. People needed to figure out who is allowed to drive, how to make sure drivers understand the consequence of driving unsafely. And they needed to create regulations and policies to make driving safe. Over time, experts created extensive rules for driving and designed clear visual signage.

But that was only the beginning. Today before someone can get a driver’s license, we don’t simply hand them the book of rules of the road and the keys to a car. Instead, we educate people with classes, simulators, and practice with trained instructors. And then we make sure someone passes a test before they get that driver’s license. We’ve also set up the enforcement — if you don’t follow the rules, you get a ticket.

Similarly, before the web came along, there was no need for content governance. The volume and nature of the content didn’t warrant it. Each department and group created their own content, and each decided how to publish and manage it. But we are in a different world now.

Just like the rules of the road, there are three big steps to content governance.

1. Establish the policies
2. Educate people about the policies
3. Ensure that people follow the policies

This article focuses on establishing the policies. Each organization will educate and enforce the policies based on its culture and the ways they educate and enforce other policies.

Create the right team structure

There are four different models for team structure, as described and shown in Four Models for Managing Digital at Your Organization.

1. Most organizations start with the informal model. One person, or a group, decides to put their information online. It’s random, with no consistency or standards – and no organizational buy-in.
   
   
2. Some organizations swing the pendulum to a centralized model. Content creators send their content to a central department – digital, marketing, or communications. The department polishes, optimizes, and publishes the content. If the organization produces a lot of content, this approach can get expensive, or the digital department might become a bottleneck. In addition, it operates as its own silo, and content creators don’t learn how to improve their content to serve audiences better.
   
   
3. Some organizations try an independent, or decentralized model. In this model, someone creates the digital experience and the policies, but each department executes them. These become disconnected silos, and they may not follow the policies in the same way.
   
   
4. Where most organizations land, and the model I usually encourage clients to adopt, is a hybrid model. In a hybrid model, there’s a central vision and people with responsibility for carrying out that vision, but each content-creating department or group has a seat at the table. There’s two-way communication. There are two-way arrows between the digital department and the individuals in each group.
   
   Good ideas don’t only come from the digital department, and the two-way nature of the hybrid model lets people contribute to the organization’s policies and standards, so everyone can benefit from them.

Make sure the right people are doing the right work

There are many content and related roles: overall direction, content strategy, editorial quality, project management, visual design, user experience, technical development, social media management, analytics collection and reporting, search engine optimization, subject-matter expertise, committee liaison, and promotion. Depending on the size and shape of your organization, you may have one person wearing several hats or many people with each of these roles.  

When the association uses its expert marketing, digital, analytics, communications, and promotion teams well, its content succeeds. Audiences can find, understand, and use the association’s programs, products, and services more easily.

Fortunately, there is a tool that can help clarify roles. It’s called a RACI chart.

RACI stands for four different roles.

1. Who’s responsible for doing the work?
2. Who’s accountable for making sure the work gets done, which is usually the person’s boss?
3. Who gets to weigh in?
4. And who is just informed? Hey, FYI, we did this.

It can be challenging to distinguish between responsible and accountable, and in a small organization, the same person might have both roles. The consulted role is so important to pin down: Often people in a consulting role think they get to decide, but in fact, they’re just weighing in. The person responsible and accountable actually makes the final decisions, although they take in comments and opinions from multiple sources.

Here’s what a RACI chart looks like in use. We chose a typical example, a new newsletter.

The row across the top shows all the people involved and the left column lists the tasks (your tasks might be different, of course).

The actual work is to fill in in the boxes. You might do this as a group activity, or have multiple people do it and consolidate into a single chart, or create a draft, share it, and discuss it.

Without a RACI chart, everyone feels entitled to weigh in on everything. And all too often, weighing in equals “I said it so you should do it.”  

Download this sample RACI chart, including the filled-out sample (Excel, 13k)

Define your content lifecycles and workflows

All content follows a lifecycle, but it’s not the same for every type We might say, for example, that content is “current” for two years, but you need to articulate the exceptions. For example, you want to remove an alert that the office is closed right away but keep foundational research for many years.  

Read more about how to establish your content lifecycles, and download a template to help.

Start the workflow with a form

To manage the workflow best, it’s helpful to start with a project brief, also known as a request or intake form. It’s essential that the marketing or web team makes sure all requests start with this form. Leadership buy-in is key, so people understand that this is the way things work, the process everything must follow.

The form’s intent is to make sure people think through the purpose, audience, and goals for content before it’s published. It eliminates vanity projects, and also helps with content prioritization. Staff liaisons could give this form to any member groups that request or create content. 

The form should contain the following information:

• Needs and goals
  • Rationale for the content and why it is important
  • Audience needs this content fills
  • Which organization strategic goal does this address
• Anticipated publication date
• Topic/subtopic (up to 3)
• Audience information
• Metrics for success: What will you evaluate, and what number will you use to consider the content to be a success?
• Uniqueness
  • Other related content on this topic published by our organization
  • Content on this topic published by other organizations

Download a sample content request form (content, no formatting) (Word, 26k)

This type of form – and the processes, structures, and role clarity – are at the heart of content governance. It’s about changing people’s the mindset and perspective — from “my content” to “our content,” “my program” to “our program.”

Start, grow, and evolve

Finally, since none of this exists today, once we’ve documented the whole thing, you’ll need a plan for putting it into place because it’s not like a switch you flip on. After you establish the governance policies and standards, it’s key to determine what the tools are, what the guardrails are, how to educate people, and how to support what you’re doing. You’ll need to create a timeline for implementing governance policies, and a plan for reviewing them as well.

Establishing content governance is change management. It also is an HR issue, because getting people to change may involve shifting their job description, helping their boss reevaluate what their performance is based on. For example, rather than being rewarded for creating a certain volume or content, they have to be rewarded for changing their behavior. And to succeed, it can’t be marketing or the web team asking someone to change, the organization must support and champion the change.