Workflow and Approvals
A good workflow ensures the team always knows who is responsible for a piece of content at every stage.
Content development
Mapping out a clear workflow for your content helps you get a clear sense of what’s required at every stage of your content’s development and beyond.
Workflows give team members a clear sense of who needs to be involved at every stage of development.
Just as importantly, they also indicate when people don’t need to be involved.
Content needs input from a whole range of people to achieve its potential. And that process doesn’t stop when it goes live.
Putting together a workflow
A workflow establishes the steps required to get work or a project completed.
For content, your process might look something like this:
Planning stage
- identify a user need
- assign someone to create it
- assign a subject expert to contribute to and check copy
- put together an outline - remember to use our top tips for content creation
- do research and gather sources
- research optimal SEO keywords
Content creation
- produce first draft
- review by subject expert
- proof-read draft
- optimise for SEO
- produce second draft
- test with users
- approver review and comments
- final draft
- proof-read final draft
Publishing and review
- approve for publication
- upload to platform
- publish
- promote/cross-publish
- measure
- review
Your workflow may change depending on whether the creator is also the subject expert, and what format you choose. You may also decide to introduce more drafts, or extra reviewers if you wish.
However, the purpose of the workflow is to establish which stages the content must go through, and in which order.
You should also add deadlines and turnaround times to each of these stages, so that those involved know the expectations of them.
Assigning roles
For a workflow to run smoothly, team members must know their roles.
These roles may be applicable to all content within a department, or could be assigned based on the theme and campaign.
Typical roles include:
- Commissioner: Asks for the creation of certain content
- Content creator: assesses need and aligns with goals
- Content owner: responsible for maintenance of content
- Subject matter expert: provides authority and accuracy to content
- Copywriter: writes content
- Editor: specialist sub-editing and proof-reading channel
- Approver: gives permission for content to be published
- Platform publisher: responsible for publication of content
This process can vary depending on your content. Establishing clarity on who is involved and who has authority is important as it keeps the process moving forward.
Responsibility after publication
Content can be publicly available for a long time after publication, particularly if it is posted on a website.
Someone in the organisation needs to be responsible for making sure it remains accurate. They have to address any incorrect or out-of-date content.
How often you need to review your content depends on the type of content you’ve published.
For example, a news item or blogpost with a clear date should not need to be updated. But a static page providing actionable information should be reviewed regularly.
Types of content that will need checking for accuracy include:
- staff lists
- event information
- contact information
- links to internal and external URLs
- embedded content from external platforms
- deadlines
- requirements and procedures
Someone should also be in charge of reviewing content over time. They should determine whether people are still accessing the content, and whether the approach is still appropriate for the target audience.
This also applies to content embedded or linked from third-party platforms, which may be at risk of being changed or deleted.
It's important to review your content over time. The following pages give further useful advice.