To scale content marketing and meet your content marketing strategy, you need to improve efficiency by implementing certain measures, processes, and using automation. I understand that time and resources can be a challenge when it comes to scaling up your content production. But don't worry, we've got some great tips to help you out!
What you will learn
- Scaling content is important to strengthen your online presence, improve rankings, and address your audience.
- Scaling content ideation and research will help you to meet your content strategy.
- Implementing content guidelines can help your content team to scale content creation.
- Automating the creation of content outlines and blog post writing with AI tools can save time and effort.
- An effective content management process can help you to scale content production.
- SOPs can bring clarity and consistency to your content process.
- Using a content calendar and Kanban board can help you to track and manage the content creation process.
Why you should scale content
If you regularly create fresh and valuable content, you enhance your online presence, improve rankings, and build strong connections with your target audience.
Google's algorithms prioritize fresh content, giving you a better shot at visibility and attracting organic traffic. Increase your chances of ranking higher in search engine results by consistently producing new and relevant content.
Scaling content allows you to display topical coverage, which improves your rankings.
When you create a wide range of content related to your industry or niche, you demonstrate your expertise and authority.
This comprehensive approach signals to search engines that you provide valuable information, increasing the likelihood of higher rankings.
Moreover, more content helps you nurture audiences through the buyer journey. By providing a diverse array of content at various stages of the buyer journey, you can engage and educate your audience, building trust and credibility.
This nurturing process increases the likelihood of conversions and repeat business.
Furthermore, scaling content is crucial because your competition is likely producing content at scale. To remain competitive and stand out in your industry, you need to keep up with or surpass your competitors' content efforts.
It may sound like a contradiction, but scaling can actually save you time. Read on, and I’ll show you how.
How to scale content marketing
In this section, I’ll discuss eight practical steps you can implement as a content manager to scale content marketing and make your content marketing team more effective.
1. Scale content ideation and research
Scaling topic and keyword research is a big deal for your content game.
If you've got a ton of content to create, starting keyword research from scratch every time would be challenging. That's where scaling comes in.
When you scale topic and keyword research, you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to create content.
Instead, you can build up a bank of keyword ideas that you can tap into whenever you need.
It's like having a treasure chest of potential topics and keywords at your fingertips, ready to spark inspiration and guide your content creation process.
Having a bank of keyword ideas streamlines your content process.
You can quickly pull out relevant keywords that align with your target audience's search behavior, helping you optimize your content for better visibility and ranking in search engine results.
Not only does scaling save you time and effort, but it also keeps your content on point.
Thorough keyword research gives you insights into the language and phrases your audience uses when searching for information.
By incorporating those keywords into your content, you speak their language and make your content more relevant and valuable.
Use free tools to discover valuable insights for topic and keyword research. You should try the following:
- Google Trends
- Autocomplete
- People Also Ask
- Related Searches
- Keyword Surfer Chrome Extension
Uncover trending topics, expand your keyword list, and understand your audience's burning questions to supercharge your content strategy.
2. Create content guidelines
A content guideline can be a lifesaver when you're juggling multiple writers or having to replace someone.
It's a game-changer for maintaining content velocity and consistency.
Timothy Carter from SEO.co describes content velocity as follows:
“Content velocity is best described as the measure of the amount of content a brand creates during a particular period of time. Content velocity is often measured in terms of months, quarters, or years.”
If you have a bunch of talented writers on board, you need to keep that content train chugging along.
But without clear guidelines, it can quickly become chaotic.
That's where a content guideline saves the day.
It acts as a compass, providing clear instructions for all writers to follow.
They’ll know exactly what content tone, style, and quality you expect, which makes their job easier and keeps that content flowing smoothly.
With a well-crafted content guideline in place, the show can go on seamlessly if someone on your team leaves.
New team members or remaining writers can refer to the document and get up to speed in no time, so there won't be any jarring disruptions in your content flow.
A content guideline is invaluable when onboarding new writers.
It's like a roadmap that introduces people to your brand's values, mission, and target audience.
They can dive right in and start creating content that hits the mark from day one.
Also, let's not forget about the editors and reviewers. They play a crucial role in keeping that content top-notch.
The content guideline ensures they have a clear framework to assess content against. It helps them maintain consistency and ensures that all content meets the established tone, style, and quality standards.
A content guideline should include instructions on the following:
- Desired tone
- Writing style
- Grammar and writing standards
- Content structure and formatting preferences
- Guidelines for SEO
Don’t forget to notify your team when you update your content guidelines. Keep it all in one place so everyone knows the rules of the content game!
3. Automate content outlines
Writing content briefs at scale can be really time-consuming. When you have a ton of content to handle or multiple writers to coordinate with, crafting a detailed outline for each piece can feel like an endless task.
This is where AI comes to the rescue! It can help speed things up by generating draft content outlines for you.
You simply give the AI some basic information like the topic, target audience, key points, and the tone you want, and it quickly churns out a preliminary brief for you.
No more starting from scratch every time; you can even save your prompt as a template.
You can focus on tweaking and customizing the draft to fit your exact needs.
With AI-generated outlines, the whole process becomes way smoother.
You can review and edit the initial drafts, making them shine with your personal touch.
Consistency is key, right? Well, AI can help with that too.
By training the AI model with your specific guidelines and preferences, you can ensure that the generated drafts maintain the desired tone, style, and formatting - no more worries about inconsistency ruining your content flow.
But here's the best part: time savings!
With AI doing the grunt work of generating briefs, you can reclaim precious hours in your day. AI can give you a real productivity boost!
Here is an example outline generated from a very minimal prompt using ChatGPT Plus.
4. Write content with AI
Writing articles can be a real time and resource drain, especially if you're working with limited means.
To establish yourself as an expert in your field and build brand authority, you need a steady stream of quality content.
That's where AI generative text can help. It's a game-changer for scaling content production without blowing your budget. With AI, you can create a consistent output of articles, giving you the opportunity to showcase your expertise and connect with your target audience.
According to Amine Rahal, Forbes Councils Member:
“You can think of brand authority as your company’s earned trust. It’s the degree to which your brand is seen as a leader or source of expert information within your niche or industry. It’s something earned, not given, so you need to perform consistently and reliably to build it.”
But while AI is a fantastic tool, it's important to remember that it's not the be-all and end-all.
It's like having a brilliant assistant who does the heavy lifting for you. You still need to add your personal touch to the generated text.
Editing and refining the generated content ensures accuracy and adds that personalized touch that makes your brand stand out.
One of the best things about using AI for content creation is that it levels the playing field.
You can compete with larger competitors who have seemingly endless resources. With AI tools like Surfer AI, you have the power to produce content efficiently, keeping up with the demand and making a mark in your industry.
Always remember the importance of your unique voice and brand identity, though.
Your audience wants to connect with you, not just generic text spewed out by a machine.
Infuse your personality and expertise into AI-generated content to make it truly yours. You add that human touch that resonates with your readers, building trust and loyalty.
Using the outline I generated earlier, here is the post introduction produced by ChatGPT.
5. Streamline content workflow
Having a well-organized content management process is key to scaling your content and keeping everything running smoothly.
When you streamline your content workflow, you create a system that allows you to organize and manage your content efficiently.
This means you can monitor progress, access information quickly, and keep everyone on track. No more wasting time searching for files or getting lost in a sea of content chaos!
But it's not just about being organized. Streamlining your content workflow also helps you hold people accountable. You can:
- Assign tasks
- Set deadlines
- Track progress
This will ensure that your content production stays on track.
A streamlined workflow helps you move content faster. With clear processes in place, you can eliminate bottlenecks and unnecessary delays. This means you can publish more posts, engage your audience consistently, and stay ahead of the game.
6. Write SOPs
SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) can level up your content workflow.
Recording every step of your content process in SOPs is a game-changer for efficiency and scalability.
SOPs are like having a detailed roadmap that guides you through each stage of your content workflow.
From editing to content promotion, every task is documented, ensuring clarity and consistency in your processes.
Using SOPs, you no longer have to rely on individuals to remember the steps or spend time explaining things repeatedly. Instead, your team members know exactly what to do at each stage.
It reduces dependencies and barriers, allowing your content creation machine to run smoothly.
But that's not all. SOPs empower your team and boost your content marketing output. They:
- Provide a clear framework for each task
- Eliminate guesswork
- Enable your team to focus on what they do best
With SOPs, everyone is on the same page, working towards a common goal.
The advantage of SOPs is that they make scaling a breeze.
As your content needs grow and you bring in new team members, SOPs ensure a seamless onboarding process.
Newcomers can quickly familiarize themselves with your processes and hit the ground running. You can handle increased content volume without slowing down.
7. Use a content calendar
A content calendar can be your secret weapon for streamlined content creation.
It keeps your content creation workflow on track and helps you plan ahead.
With a content calendar, you have a centralized hub where you can track and organize all your content activities.
You can map out the creation, editing, and publishing process, ensuring that everything stays on schedule.
It's like having a bird's eye view of your content production.
A calendar also plays a crucial role in scaling your content. As your content needs grow, it becomes increasingly important to plan and coordinate effectively. A content calendar allows you to see the bigger picture and strategically schedule your content.
It helps you identify gaps, ensure variety, and maintain a consistent flow of content that resonates with your audience.
You can plan ahead, brainstorm ideas, set deadlines, and allocate resources in advance based on your calendar. This level of organization boosts productivity and minimizes last-minute stress.
The beauty of a content calendar is that it brings structure to your content creation process. It keeps you accountable, helps you avoid content gaps, and ensures that your content aligns with your goals and target audience. Plus, it fosters collaboration and communication among team members, making sure everyone is well-informed.
8. Maintain a Kanban board
Kanban boards can be your ultimate ally in managing a complex content marketing workflow. As you scale your operations and have many moving parts, such a task board becomes invaluable.
A Kanban board is like your content marketing command center.
It provides a summarized overview of your workflow, allowing you to see the big picture at a glance. You can divide it into columns representing different stages of your content creation process, from ideation to publication.
It's like having a visual roadmap that keeps everyone up to date.
Better still, a Kanban board allows you to track progress in real-time.
You can see which tasks are in progress, which are completed, and what may need more attention.
By moving cards across the board, you have a tangible representation of your content's journey from inception to completion.
The great advantage of a task board is its flexibility. It can be as detailed or as high-level as you need it to be. You can get into the nitty-gritty of who's doing what and assign work accordingly. It helps you:
- Manage resources effectively
- Ensure accountability
- Identify any congestion or areas that require extra attention
Consider using a tool like Trello for your Kanban board.
With Trello, you can create lists to cover every stage of your content creation process. And by sharing your board with team members, they can participate in keeping the board up-to-date and see the whole picture too.
Your board could contain the following columns:
- Topic Ideas
- Research & Content Brief
- Write Content
- Review & Edit
- Publish
- Promote
- Done
With a task board, you have the power to stay organized, keep everyone on track, and adapt to changes effortlessly. It fosters collaboration and communication among team members, boosting productivity and efficiency.
Key takeaways
- Scale your content marketing to rank higher in search engine results, show topical authority, remain competitive, and build trust and credibility with your target audiences.
- Scale content ideation and research by maintaining a bank of keyword ideas and using free tools to generate more keywords.
- Create content guidelines and SOPs to ensure every content writer and editor knows exactly how to approach their tasks.
- Make use of AI tools - especially for generating content briefs and writing new blog posts.
- Use a content calendar to keep on track and plan ahead. Also, maintain a Kanban board so you can stay organized and have an overall view of your content marketing efforts at all times.
Conclusion
Content marketers know that scaling your content production process is essential if you want to have a competitive advantage and connect with your target audience. But to scale your content marketing efforts, you need to implement processes and take advantage of automation tools.
This is where content guidelines, SOPs, content calendars, and the use of a Kanban board (to name a few options) come in. These, together with the use of AI tools, will make it possible for you to save time and work efficiently.
Use our recommendations and build your own toolset to successfully scale your content marketing efforts.
