Avoiding Blogger Heartache: Setting up a Content Brief
Maintaining a blog is a labor of love. Crafting and maintaining your online presence can be a rewarding endeavor, fueling company growth and building a rapport with consumers while conveying your company’s core values. But like any cherished relationship, your blog needs careful attention in order to succeed in the long run.
Of course, an important part of any relationship is setting clear expectations. In order to achieve consistency in the frequency and style of your blog output, you need a clear method. Thankfully, there’s a solution that will help you put your best foot forward: a content brief.
What is a Content Brief?
A content brief is a comprehensive roadmap to creating a piece of content. It gathers all the essential details that a content creator needs to produce exceptional work. It provides contributing writers with a common sense of direction, and as well as specific guidance on factors like workflow, keywords for SEO, target audience, and style.
How well you apply and develop your content briefs will define the long-term chances of success for your aspiring blog. Think of it as a souped-up template that gives your team a clear sense of what is expected. Content briefs are the strategic bedrock for making content which can foster a meaningful connection with your target audience.
A Brief is Like a Box of Chocolates
A content brief contains carefully selected editorial guidelines. Usually, each piece of content should be preceded by a separate content brief. But this doesn’t mean starting from scratch, as much of the style advice is copied over in order to ensure consistency.
Here are some pointers on creating and adhering to a general content brief for your organization’s blog that works for you. This brief can then be adjusted as needed for specific posts.
Why - First things first: the “why” should be your top line. Clearly state your blog's mission in your content brief. Why are you creating this blog post, and what do you want it to achieve? Be ambitious but specific in setting out your declared goal.
Who - Take the time to pinpoint your core audience. Who are they? What topics are they interested in? Resist the urge to cast a wide net: it’s better to begin with a specific audience. This well-defined starting point allows you to tailor content effectively. Remember that you can always expand the scope of your content brief later on if needed.
What - What is scope of your blog post? Why is it relevant to your target audience, and how does it fit within the overall theme of your blog? Clearly set out your answers within your content brief. To further guide topic selection, brainstorm a list of sub-headings, ensuring that all content contributes to the overall message and resonates with our audience.
How - Crafting a strong vision for your blog's look and feel is key, but it's equally important to establish a consistent workflow for article creation. This workflow acts as the engine that drives regular content production, ensuring a steady stream of high-quality pieces for your audience.
When - How often will you blog? Weekly, several times monthly, once a month? Write this down in your content brief. Whatever you settle on, this is your publishing frequency to adhere to. Part of growing an audience is showing up at the expected time.
Secondary Audience - Consider the about who will comprise your wider audience. These could include industry peers, potential collaborators, or even competitors keen to learn from your insights. Targeting your primary audience should be your first priority, but be prepared for quality content to attract a wider circle of interested readers.
Encouraging Variety - Variety is the spice of life, and it’s good to go for a mix of content types. List the types of pieces which will appear on your blog. Run industry news pieces alongside more discursive or opinion-led items. This keeps things fresh, and caters to different reader preferences.
Quality Control - To ensure quality, set out a clear process for approval. This includes defining who greenlights topics, assigning writers, designating editors and proofreaders, and outlining a process for ongoing review and updates to the content brief itself.
Exclusions - While striving for a free and unrestricted atmosphere can definitely encourage engagement, it's important to acknowledge potential boundaries beforehand. Is there anything, particularly concerning your main themes, that you'd prefer to keep out of the discussion? You're not going to please all of the people all of the time, so feel free to keep this list minimal and focus on topics that truly align with your vision and goals.
No Navel Gazing - You shouldn’t typically reference your company or its products and services in your blog, and your brief should make this clear. Blog readers are typically not that interested in corporate self-promotion. What they are interested in is what you have to say and what value you can offer them through content. If you build trust and provide solutions through your writing, this indirect approach will resonate far stronger than directly pushing products or services.
Voice - Your voice is how you speak when you think no-one else is listening. Blog with the same passion and conviction that you talk to a friend over a coffee. Write with the same natural flow as your everyday speech, and you'll find your unique voice captivating your readers organically.
The Fixings - Remember to support your content with rich media: relevant photography, social embeds, video clips, etc. State this expectation clearly in your content brief. Use your editorial calendar to specify who will be responsible for producing each item and at what stage of the workflow.
The Three R's - Repurpose, refresh, and review! How often will you revisit and refresh existing content? How do you plan to repurpose blog articles into other content formats? And what is your method for reviewing your content for topics not yet covered by your blog? Spell this out in your content brief.
Distribution - What is your social strategy - Twitter, Facebook, Medium, LinkedIn, etc? How often will you promote blog content on your social channels? How do you plan to get creative with @mentions and #hashtags to get your content in front of as many interested people as possible? A multi-pronged approach will ensure your blog content reaches its full potential.
SEO - If you want your blog to reach its target audience, consistant application of SEO is crucial. Within your content brief, offer your team guidance on selecting relevant keywords which will be strategically placed througout the piece. This not only improves search engine visibility but also ensures your content organically addresses specific reader queries, leading to a more engaged audience.
Connect - Your content brief may link out to other company documents where necessary. Examples might include a separate file with more detailed company guidelines, or a document outlining your company’s core values.
Shared expectations are an important part of a successful relationship, and that includes working relationships. Knowing what should be expected of articles will help content creators use your blog to accomplish your company aims.
With a concise, clear, and well-structured content brief, you can avoid blogger heartache and produce content your audience will love.
“Your voice is how you speak when you think nobody else is listening. Blog with the same passion and conviction that you talk to your friend over a coffee.
”